TANGLEWOOD—ONE OF THE WORLD’S PREMIER SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVALS AND FAMED SUMMER HOME OF THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SINCE 1937—ANNOUNCES 2017 SEASON, JUNE 18-LABOR DAY WEEKEND; TICKETS GO ON SALE JANUARY 29 AT WWW.TANGLEWOOD.ORG AND 888-266-1200

BSO MUSIC DIRECTOR ANDRIS NELSONS—EXPANDING HIS COMMITMENT TO TANGLEWOOD—LEADS TEN PROGRAMS OVER FOUR WEEKS, INCLUDING OPENING AND CLOSING BSO CONCERTS—MAHLER’S SYMPHONY NO. 2 ON JULY 7 AND BEETHOVEN’S NINTH SYMPHONY AUGUST 27—AS WELL AS THE BSO’S FIRST FULL-LENGTH CONCERT PERFORMANCE OF WAGNER’S DAS RHEINGOLD, AN UNPRECEDENTED UNDERTAKING FOR THE FESTIVAL (7/15)

TANGLEWOOD TO FEATURE SEVERAL NEW INITIATIVES COMPLEMENTING THE FESTIVAL’S BELOVED TRADITIONS OF WEEKLY PERFORMANCES BY THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, AN EXTRAORDINARY LINEUP OF GUEST ARTISTS FROM THE WORLDS OF CLASSICAL, BROADWAY, DANCE, AND POP CULTURE, FREE FAMILY FUN ACTIVITIES AND ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMS, ON-SITE CAFES AND FINE DINING, A WIDE VARIETY OF DISCOUNTED TICKET PROGRAMS, FREE TICKETS FOR PATRONS 17 YEARS AND YOUNGER, AND FREE TOURS OF THE ICONIC GROUNDS

ADDITIONAL BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCES UNDER THE DIRECTION OF ANDRIS NELSONS INCLUDE MAHLER’S SYMPHONY NO. 4 WITH SOPRANO KRISTINE OPOLAIS (7/9); THOMAS ADÈS’S THREE STUDIES FROM COUPERIN (7/14); THE WORLD PREMIERE OF JOHN WILLIAMS’S MARKINGS, WITH VIOLINIST ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER (7/16); AND AN OPERA GALA PROGRAM WITH MS. OPOLAIS AND DMITRI HVOROSTOVSKY (8/26)

MR. NELSONS TO CONDUCT THE BOSTON POPS—SHARING THE PODIUM WITH JOHN WILLIAMS FOR FILM NIGHT (8/19)—AND THE TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER ORCHESTRA IN TWO PROGRAMS:  THE LEONARD BERNSTEIN MEMORIAL CONCERT FEATURING STRAUSS’S AN ALPINE SYMPHONY AND PAUL LEWIS PERFORMING BEETHOVEN’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 3, AS WELL AS AN OZAWA HALL PROGRAM FEATURING HÅKAN HARDENBERGER AND THOMAS ROLFS PERFORMING MUSIC OF MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE (7/10)

LINK TO COMPLETE 2017 TANGLEWOOD SEASON LISTING
LINK TO DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF WEEKLY PROGRAMS

NEW TO TANGLEWOOD IN 2017
TANGLEWOOD TO INTRODUCE NEW INITIATIVES, A HIGHLIGHT OF WHICH WILL BE SUMMER SUNDAYS AT TANGLEWOOD OFFERING PATRONS OF ALL AGES A WIDE VARIETY OF ENTERTAINING AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES TO TAKE PLACE BEFORE AND AFTER SUNDAY-AFTERNOON BSO CONCERTS

TANGLEWOOD TAKES FLIGHT:  A CELEBRATION OF BIRDS AND MUSIC WITH MASS AUDUBON TO COMBINE BIRD WALKS WITH PERFORMANCES OF MESSIAEN’S CATALOGUE OF THE BIRDS, BOTH AT PLEASANT VALLEY WILDLIFE SANCTUARY AND TANGLEWOOD, AND FEATURING PIERRE-LAURENT AIMARD AND TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER FELLOWS (7/27-30)

SCHUBERT’S SUMMER JOURNEY—A SERIES OF SIX OZAWA HALL RECITAL AND CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERTS, DEVISED AND CURATED BY EMANUEL AX, CELEBRATING SOME OF THE COMPOSER’S MOST INSPIRING WORKS AND FEATURING SUCH PRESTIGIOUS ARTISTS AS MR. AX, ANDRÈ SCHUEN, THOMAS ADÈS AND THE EMERSON QUARTET, COLIN JACOBSEN, YO-YO MA, JAMIE BARTON, GARRICK OHLSSON, PAMELA FRANK, AND SIMON KEENLYSIDE

THOMAS ADÈS MAKES HIS TANGLEWOOD DEBUT AS BSO ARTISTIC PARTNER LEADING THE BSO IN BRITTEN’S SINFONIA DA REQUIEM AND BEETHOVEN’S EMPEROR CONCERTO WITH EMANUEL AX (7/22) AND THE TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER ORCHESTRA IN HIS OWN POLARIS AND SIBELIUS SYMPHONY NO. 7 (7/24)

GARRICK OHLSSON, TANGLEWOOD’S 2017 KOUSSEVITZKY ARTIST, TO BE FEATURED IN FIVE PERFORMANCES THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER, INCLUDING THREE SHED CONCERTS AND
TWO OZAWA HALL PROGRAMS

BOSTON POPS AND TANGLEWOOD ON PARADE
KEITH LOCKHART TO LEAD THE BOSTON POPS IN SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM (7/8) AND THE POPULAR FILM SCORES TO JAWS (6/18) AND E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (8/25), WHILE FILM IS PROJECTED ONTO SCREENS FOR SHED AND LAWN PATRONS; TANGLEWOOD ON PARADE TO FEATURE JOHN WILLIAMS, KEITH LOCKHART, CHARLES DUTOIT, BRAMWELL TOVEY, AND MORITZ GNANN LEADING THE BOSTON SYMPHONY, BOSTON POPS, AND TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER ORCHESTRAS IN MUSIC OF COPLAND, KODÁLY, MENDELSSOHN, AND WILLIAMS, WITH TCHAIKOVSKY’S 1812 OVERTURE
AS CLOSER (8/1)

BSO GUEST CONDUCTOR HIGHLIGHTS
 GUSTAVO GIMENO/BERNSTEIN’S AGE OF ANXIETY SYMPHONY (7/21); CHARLES DUTOIT/DVOŘÁK’S NEW WORLD SYMPHONY (7/28) AND BERLIOZ’S TE DEUM (7/29); BRAMWELL TOVEY/WALTON’S BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST(7/30); CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI/SCHUMANN’S CELLO CONCERTO WITH YO-YO MA (8/6) AND JULIAN ANDERSON’S INCANTESIMIAND BEETHOVEN’S SEVENTH SYMPHONY (8/12);  GIANCARLO GUERRERO/THE RITE OF SPRING(8/11); AND DAVID AFKHAM/MAHLER’S DES KNABEN WUNDERHORNAND RÜCKERT-LIEDERWITH BARITONE SIMON KEENLYSIDE (8/18); AS WELL AS BSO ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR KEN-DAVID MASUR/AARON JAY KERNIS’S MUSICA CELESTISAND MUSIC OF PROKOFIEV AND TCHAIKOVSKY (7/23) AND THE DEBUT OF LAHAV SHANI/SCHUBERT’S GREAT C MAJOR SYMPHONY AND MOZART’S VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 1 WITH JOSHUA BELL

HANS GRAF TO LEAD STAGED PRODUCTION OF MENDELSSOHN’S A MIDSUMMER’S NIGHT DREAMIN A RECENTLY DEVISED ADAPTATION BY STAGE DIRECTOR BILL BARCLAY (8/5)

OZAWA HALL
MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP IN LOU 100:  IN HONOR OF THE DIVINE MR. HARRISON (6/28&29), APOLLO’S FIRE IN VIVALDI’S FOUR SEASONS (7/5); DANIIL TRIFONOV IN WORKS OF SCHUMANN, SHOSTAKOVICH, AND STRAVINSKY (7/12); A HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY PRESENTATION OF PURCELL’S THE FAIRY-QUEEN (8/9); AND THE BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS IN WORKS OF GUBAIDULINA, BACH, AND DVOŘÁK (8/16)

FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
2017 FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC, AUGUST 10-14, SHOWCASES  FORMER TMC ALUMS PIANIST JACOB GREENBERG, CELLIST KATHRYN BATES, AND VIOLIST NADIA SIROTA—DISTINGUISHED MUSICIANS, LEADERS IN THEIR FIELDS, AND ACTIVE CHAMPIONS OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC—WHO WILL CURATE PROGRAMS, COMMISSION WORKS, AND PARTICIPATE IN PERFORMANCES

BEYOND TANGLEWOOD’S CLASSICAL MUSIC OFFERINGS
DAVID SEDARIS (8/20), WITH ADDITIONAL POPULAR ARTIST DATES—INCLUDING PERFORMANCES ON JULY 3 AND 4 AND LABOR DAY WEEKEND—TO BE ANNOUNCED IN THE NEW YEAR

PURCHASING TICKETS
2017 TANGLEWOOD SEASON TICKETS, $12-$124, GO ON SALE JANUARY 29 AT 888-266-1200 OR WWW.TANGLEWOOD.ORG

SPONSORSHIP
COMMONWEALTH WORLDWIDE CHAUFFEURED TRANSPORTATION IS PROUD TO BE CELEBRATING ITS FOURTEENTH YEAR AS THE OFFICIAL CHAUFFEURED TRANSPORTATION PROVIDER OF THE BSO

FOR FULL SEASON DETAILS OF THE 2017 TANGLEWOOD SEASON, INCLUDING DOWNLOADABLE PHOTOS AND VIDEO, PROGRAM LISTINGS, AND ARTIST PHOTOS AND BIOGRAPHIES, CLICK HERE

Click here to view the 2017 Tanglewood Season Program Listing

The 2017 Tanglewood season, June 18-Labor Day Weekend, offers visitors an exceptional lineup of performances and musical activities for music lovers of every age, highlighted by 10 programs led by Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director Andris Nelsons and major new initiatives designed to give patrons a wide spectrum of musical, entertainment, and educational activities, including some to enjoy before and after selected performances throughout the summer. In his most significant commitment yet to Tanglewood, Mr. Nelsons will lead both the opening and closing BSO concerts, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, and Beethoven Symphony No. 9; Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Kristine Opolais; an opera gala with Ms. Opolais and Dmitri Hvorostovsky performing excerpts from Simon Boccanegra, La traviata, and Eugene Onegin; the world premiere of John Williams’s Markings with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter; and the first-ever BSO and festival concert performance of the complete Das Rheingold, a tour de force milestone in the history of the festival. Mr. Nelsons will also conduct the Boston Pops Orchestra for the first time, sharing the podium for Film Night with John Williams. Also new to Tanglewood in 2017, highly acclaimed composer/conductor/pianist Thomas Adès will make his first Tanglewood appearances as BSO Artistic Partner, leading orchestral concerts, performing as pianist with the Emerson Quartet, and  working closely with the Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center, the BSO’s acclaimed summer music academy.

In addition to these BSO highlights, the 2017 Tanglewood season will launch new initiatives designed to give visitors a variety of activities to enjoy during pre- and post-concert hours around the BSO’s weekend performances, as well as a concert series to take place off-campus beyond the Tanglewood grounds, offering music lovers a new and different way to enjoy the festival’s musical offerings. Sunday afternoons at Tanglewood will offer visitors a chance to engage in entertaining and educational activities both before and after Sunday-afternoon BSO concerts (2:30 p.m.), starting when the gates open at noon. Though specific details of these programs will be announced at a later date, the Sunday-afternoon offering are expected to include such activities as lectures and musical demonstrations for all ages, sing-alongs, food and wine tastings, face painting, yoga and Qigong, and games for children and families. Since many of the activities take place throughout the Tanglewood campus, visitors will be encouraged to spend more time enjoying and touring the Festival’s iconic grounds and buildings.  Also, in a unique and first-ever endeavor between Tanglewood and Mass Audubon, Tanglewood Takes Flight:  A Celebration of Birds and Music with Mass Audubon will bring a new dimension to the activity of bird walks by partnering the walks with live performances, including music from Messiaen’s Catalogue of the Birds, a monumental series of 13 piano pieces portraying the birds of Europe, to be performed by Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Piano Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center at both Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary and Tanglewood (7/27-30). Please read below for a full description of these and other new initiatives for the 2017 Tanglewood season.

Along with these new programs, visitors to Tanglewood in 2017 will have many opportunities to enjoy the treasured traditions of the festival, including weekly concerts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and performances by the Boston Pops and Tanglewood Music Center orchestras; a lineup of extraordinary BSO guest artists, featuring some of the world’s most cherished musicians widely known to Tanglewood audiences, as well as new talents making their first appearances at the festival;   chamber music and recital programs spotlighting today’s most sought-after artists in the intimate atmosphere of Ozawa Hall; weekly performances by the young Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center, the BSO’s prestigious summer music academy, including the 2017 Festival of Contemporary Music; and a Popular Artist series sure to inspire music fans near and far to come hear their favorite musicians perform at the iconic festival. In addition, Tanglewood continues to offer many free and discounted ticket and educational programs, including free tickets for patrons 17 and younger, as well as a wide variety of café and fine dining options, and free tours of Tanglewood’s expansive grounds and famous performance spaces.

One of the premier summer music festivals in the world and summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937, Tanglewood is located in the beautiful Berkshire Hills, between Stockbridge and Lenox, Massachusetts. Tickets for the 2017 Tanglewood season, $12-$124, are available through Tanglewood’s website, www.tanglewood.org, SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200, and at the Symphony Hall Box Office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston MA. Full season details of the 2017 Tanglewood season, including downloadable photos and video, program listings, and artist photos and biographies are available here.

TO VIEW WEEK-BY-WEEK DETAILED PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS CLICK HERE
TO VIEW A COMPLETE 2017 TANGLEWOOD PROGRAM LISTING CLICK HERE

OVERVIEW OF 2017 TANGLEWOOD SEASON, JUNE 18-LABOR DAY WEEKEND

1. AUDIENCE FAVORITES, TANGLEWOOD TRADITIONS: ANDRIS NELSONS, YO-YO MA, EMANUEL AX, JOSHUA BELL, CHARLES DUTOIT, CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI, THE BOSTON POPS WITH KEITH LOCKHART, FILM NIGHT WITH JOHN WILLIAMS, TANGLEWOOD ON PARADE, POPULAR ARTISTS

Ray and Maria Stata BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons leads 10 concerts, including the BSO’s first-ever complete concert performance of Das Rheingold
In what promises to be one of the highlights of the 2017 Tanglewood season, and a significant event in the world of opera, Mr. Nelsons will lead the first BSO concert performance of the complete Das Rheingold, the first of the four dramas that make up Wagner’s masterpiece Der Ring des Nibelungen. The performance will feature Thomas J. Mayer as Wotan, Sarah Connolly as Fricka, and Jochen Schmeckenbecher as Alberich, among other eminent and prestigious singers known the world over for their acclaimed performances of Wagner’s music.  Mr. Nelsons will also conduct BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès’s Three Studies from Couperin, on a program with music of Haydn and Ravel, and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 with Daniil Trifonov as soloist.  Kristine Opolais joins Mr. Nelsons and the BSO for a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 on a program with Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A, with teenaged violinist Daniel Lozakovich in his BSO debut; Ms. Opolais will also be featured in a Nelsons-led opera gala program with baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky. For his first Tanglewood Opening Night concert, Mr. Nelsons will lead the BSO in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, with soloists Malin Christensson and Bernarda Fink. Mr. Nelsons leads the BSO’s season-closing concert, beginning the program with Ives’s “The Housatonic at Stockbridge,” from Three Places in New England, prior to the traditional performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Ode to Joy.

In a first-ever outing for Andris Nelsons, the BSO maestro will join John Williams to share the podium for what is consistently one of the most popular events each summer, John Williams’ Film Night,  Tanglewood’s annual homage to film favorites and movie magic. In another close association with Mr. Williams in 2017, Mr. Nelsons will lead the world premiere of the composer’s Markings, with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, who will also perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto on a program that will close with a BSO signature work, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.

Mr. Nelsons will lead the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in two programs:  the Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert with Paul Lewis performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 on a program with Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony, and an Ozawa Hall program featuring Håkan Hardenberger in two works by Marc-Anthony Turnage: From the Wreckage, for trumpet and orchestra and, along with BSO principal trumpet Thomas Rolfs, Dispelling the Fears, for two trumpets and orchestra. The program will also include Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1, Classical, and Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements. These 10 programs, which take place over a four-week period of the 2017 festival, represent Mr. Nelsons’ longest commitment to the Tanglewood season since he took on the title of BSO music director in the fall of 2014.

Prior to the BSO’s Opening Night concert on July 7, Music Director Andris Nelsons will spend time coaching the exceptionally talented Tanglewood Music Center Fellows ahead of their Brass Extravaganza concert on Sunday, July 2, at 10 a.m. at Ozawa Hall. This performance will be the first of the TMC’s regular Sunday morning chamber concerts of the 2017 season. In addition to coaching musicians and leading rehearsals, Mr. Nelsons and acclaimed Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger will conduct at least one piece in the Brass Extravaganza. Maestro Nelsons—a talented trumpeter who previously held the Principal Trumpet chair in the Latvian National Opera Orchestra—is also expected to give a rare performance on the trumpet with the TMC Fellows, as will BSO principals Thomas Rolfs, Richard Sebring, Toby Oft, and Michael Roylance. The program will include the world premiere of a TMC commission for brass and percussion by Max Grafe. Additional program details will be announced at a later date.

Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Charles Dutoit, Christoph von Dohnányi, Mark Morris Dance Group
Tanglewood’s 80-year tradition of presenting the very best of the classical music world is reflected in the selection of guest artists and ensembles making appearances in the 2017 season.  Preeminent artists with close connections to Tanglewood—making virtually annual appearances at the festival for decades, and featured prominently in 2017—include cellist Yo-Yo Ma (Schumann Cello Concerto with BSO 8/16; two Ozawa Hall appearances 8/3 and 8/17) and pianist Emanuel Ax (Beethoven Emperor Concerto with BSO, 7/22; four Ozawa Hall appearances 8/3, 13, 17, and 23), who has taken on a special role this summer at Tanglewood as creator and curator of the six-concert series, Schubert’s Summer Journey, details of which appear below.

Another Tanglewood favorite, violinist Joshua Bell, performs Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 1, while beloved guest conductors Charles Dutoit (Dvořák’s New World Symphony and Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Yefim Bronfman, 7/28; Berlioz’s Te Deum with tenor Paul Groves and Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the left hand with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, 7/29) and Christoph von Dohnányi (Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Julian Anderson’s Incantesimi, 8/12; Mozart’s Symphony No. 25/Schumann’s Symphony No. 2, 8/6) make welcome return appearances. Always popular at Tanglewood, theMark Morris Dance Group will perform in Ozawa Hall to the music of Lou Harrison on the occasion of the centenary of the composer’s birth (6/28&29). The immensely popular Tanglewood Festival Chorus will be featured prominently in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2; Berlioz’s Te Deum; Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast; the opera gala program; and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

Boston Pops and Keith Lockhart and Tanglewood on Parade
Summertime at Tanglewood wouldn’t be complete without several performances by the Boston Pops under the direction of Keith Lockhart, who leads Sondheim on Sondheim and two special movie presentations with live orchestra accompaniment—Jaws and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. 

Tanglewood on Parade is the festival’s annual day-long celebration of music featuring performances and family-fun festivities throughout the afternoon and evening hours, including daytime performances with the Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center and students from the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Tanglewood’s summer program for talented high school-aged musicians.  Afternoon activities lead up to a gala 8 p.m. concert featuring performances by the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center orchestras, led by John Williams, Keith Lockhart, Charles Dutoit, Bramwell Tovey, and BSO Assistant Conductor Moritz Gnann, conducting music of Kodály, Mendelssohn, and John Williams, as well as Copland’s Piano Concerto with Garrick Ohlsson as soloist. Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, complete with the sounds of cannons and bells, brings the program to a rousing close just in time for a grand fireworks display over the Stockbridge Bowl adjacent to the Tanglewood grounds.

Beyond Tanglewood’s Classical Music Offerings:  David Sedaris and the Popular Artist Series
One of America’s preeminent humorists, David Sedaris brings his sardonic wit and incisive social critiques to the Koussevitzky Music Shed in connection with his new book, Theft By Finding (8/20); additional Popular Artist dates, including performances on July 3 and 4 and Labor Day Weekend, will be announced in the new year.

2. NEW TO TANGLEWOOD IN 2017: TANGLEWOOD SUMMER SUNDAYS; THOMAS ADÈS AS BSO ARTISTIC PARTNER, GARRICK OHLSSON AS 2017 KOUSSEVITZKY ARTIST, AND TANGLEWOOD TAKES FLIGHT, A CELEBRATION OF BIRDS AND MUSIC WITH MASS AUDUBON

New Audiences Initiatives and Exciting Activities in Conjunction with BSO Concerts
In addition to summer Sunday activities at Tanglewood, as described above, the 2017 Tanglewood season also features new offerings in connection with its concert schedule, including the first Tanglewood appearances by BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès; concerts by Tanglewood’s 2017 Koussevitzky Artist, Garrick Ohlsson; a series of six Ozawa Hall recital and chamber music concerts celebrating many of the iconic works of Franz Schubert, devised and curated by Emanuel Ax; and, as previously mentioned,  a first-ever collaboration between Tanglewood and Mass Audubon, focusing on bird song walks and musical performances both at Tanglewood and the Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Lenox, MA.

First Tanglewood Appearances of Thomas Adès as the Deborah and Philip Edmundson BSO Artistic Partner
The highly acclaimed composer/conductor/pianist Thomas Adès will make his first appearances at Tanglewood as BSO Artistic Partner in 2017; he began his three-year appointment in the new role with a series of programs this past fall (link to fall concert release). As BSO Artistic Partner, Mr. Adès—one of the greatest musical minds of the 21st century—will be an integral figure at the BSO as composer, conductor, performer, and teacher, both in Symphony Hall and at Tanglewood; in 2018 and 2019, he will serve as the Director of the Festival of Contemporary Music. During the 2017 Tanglewood season, Mr. Adès will lead the BSO in a program opening with his own …but all shall be well, followed by Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem, and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, with Emanuel Ax as soloist; he will also lead the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in Ozawa Hall in his own Polaris and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 7. In addition, Mr. Adès will join the Emerson Quartet, baritone Andrè Schuen, and double bassist Harold Robinson for a wide-ranging program of music of Schubert to include the Quintet in A for piano and Strings, Trout; the program will also include Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Shroud for string quartet.  Besides these three programs, Thomas Adès will also coach TMC Composition Fellows and chamber music ensembles.

Tanglewood and Mass Audubon Enter Into First-Ever Collaboration
Tanglewood Takes Flight:  A Celebration of Birds and Music with Mass Audubon, Tanglewood’s multi-faceted, first-ever collaboration with Mass Audubon, stretches the idea of concert-going in a new direction for the Festival:  the series will feature six guided bird walks/talks, the earliest of which will take place at 5:30 a.m. at Pleasant Valley, and five concerts, with three performances to take place as early as 7 a.m., in close proximity to the scheduled early morning bird walks. The bird walks will be partnered with music from Messiaen’s Catalogue of the Birds, a monumental series of 13 piano pieces portraying the birds of Europe, to be performed by Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Piano Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center at both Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary and Tanglewood (7/27-30).

As part of this special series, on July 27, Ozawa Hall will present Pierre-Laurent Aimard in a fascinating centuries-spanning program that will explore the many recreations of birdsong in music by a diverse range of composers from the Baroque to the present day, including music of Daquin, Schumann, Ravel, Bartók, and Julian Anderson. The centerpiece of the concert will be a selection of movements from Messiaen’s Catalogue of the Birds, to be interspersed with electronic works by French composer Bernard Fort, incorporating the same bird calls. The program will be preceded by a “Birds at Dusk” session on the Tanglewood Grounds with Mass Audubon ornithologist Wayne Petersen.

Garrick Ohlsson is 2017 Koussevitzky Artist
Garrick Ohlsson, the 2017 Koussevitzky Artist, will be featured in five Tanglewood programs this summer. On August 1 he is the soloist for the annual Tanglewood on Parade concert, performing Aaron Copland’s Piano Concerto with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra.  Mr. Ohlsson returns to the Shed stage to perform Chopin’s Piano Concertos 1 and 2 with the BSO on August 4 and 5, respectively.  He will also be featured in two Ozawa Hall programs: a performance of Elgar’s Piano Quintet in A minor on July 26, and a solo recital of works by Schubert and Scriabin (as part of the Schubert’s Summer Journey concert series described below) on August 8. Created to pay homage to some of the living legends who have made an impact on Tanglewood’s and the BSO’s continuing legacy of great performances and educational accomplishments through the Tanglewood Music Center, the Koussevitzky Artist recognition was first given in 2015 to Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax; Charles Dutoit was the 2016 Koussevitzky Artist. 

Garrick Ohlsson—the first American pianist to win the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition in 1970—has had an impressive international career that has included close ties to the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  In the four decades since his BSO debut in 1971, when he performed Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 under Seiji Ozawa, Mr. Ohlsson has been featured in over 40 concerts with the orchestra. At Tanglewood, the pianist has been frequently featured in Ozawa Hall in the works of Chopin, a specialty of Mr. Ohlsson’s. His solo recital appearances at Tanglewood have included two all-Chopin programs, in 1982 and 1993; the complete Beethoven piano sonatas in 2006; two critically acclaimed programs in 2010, and a 2013 recital featuring works by Chopin, Schubert, Beethoven, and Griffes. Mr. Ohlsson also performed as soloist with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra with Kurt Masur in 2009—a memorable performance of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat. Mr. Ohlsson’s repertoire includes over eighty concertos, as reflected in his numerous collaborations with the BSO, which have featured works of Beethoven, Brahms, Prokofiev, Mozart, Barber, Lutosławski, Bartók, Grieg, Rachmaninoff, and, of course, Chopin.

Schubert’s Summer Journey—Six Ozawa Hall concerts Celebrating the Composer’s Music
Schubert’s Summer Journey—a series of six Ozawa Hall recital and chamber music concerts devised and curated by Emanuel Ax—will feature some of the composer’s most inspiring works performed by an extraordinary lineup of BSO musicians and guest artists well known and beloved by Tanglewood audiences. Many of the works to be performed were composed during the last year of Schubert’s life, in 1828.

Schubert’s Summer Journey begins on July 6 with a vocal and chamber music performance featuring Julia Hsu and Peter Serkin in Schubert four-hands repertoire and BSO principal clarinetist William R. Hudgins, principal horn James Sommerville, TMC Vocal Fellows, and Mr. Ax in chamber and vocal music, including the program’s opening work, The Shepherd on the Rock, for singer, clarinet, and piano—the last work Schubert composed before his death in 1828. On July 20, the highly acclaimed young Italian baritone Andrè Schuen, in his American debut, joins Thomas Adès for a series of Schubert songs to open the program. Next on the program, the Emerson Quartet is front and center for a performance of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Shroud for string quartet, written for and premiered by the group in September 2016. To close the July 20 program, Mr. Adès will join the Emerson Quartet for a performance of one of Schubert’s most beloved works, the Trout Quintet. On August 3, Mr. Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Colin Jacobsen, and mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, a former TMC Fellow, come together for a program of Schubert songs, including the famous “Gretchen am Spinnrade,” on a program with Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat, and the world premiere of a new work by Mr. Jacobsen for mezzo-soprano and piano trio, based on the poetry of Lydia Barker.

On August 8, 2017 Koussevitzky Artist Garrick Ohlsson will perform a program of piano works by Schubert, including the Sonata No. 20 in A, contrasted with selected piano works of similar form by Scriabin; Mr. Ohlssohn recently recorded the complete Scriabin works for solo piano to be released in the coming year. On August 17, Messrs. Ax and Ma are joined by Pamela Frank for a program of Schubert chamber music including the Arpeggione Sonata for cello and piano, written in the last year of the composer’s life, and the Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat; the program will also feature several major contemporary composers of our time, as well as Tanglewood Music Center Composition Fellows, all of whom have been asked to compose short songs inspired by Schubert. This series ends on August 23 with Mr. Ax performing Impromptus by both Schubert and Samuel Adams, who composed his Impromptus specifically with the intent that they accompany Schubert’s. This program will also include Schubert’s song cycle, Schwanengesang, one of the last works Schubert composed before his death, featuring baritone Simon Keenlyside.

3. EXTRAORDINARY LINEUP OF GUEST CONDUCTORS WITH THE BSO; OZAWA HALL RECITALS AND CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES

Guest Conductors
In addition to special appearances byCharles Dutoit and Christoph von Dohnányi(described above), the 2017 Tanglewood festival welcomes return appearances by conductors Gustavo Gimeno leading Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, Age of Anxiety, with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet; Bramwell Tovey leading Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast with bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green(7/30); Giancarlo Guerrero leading The Rite of Spring (8/11); and David Afkham leading excerpts from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Rückert-Lieder with baritone Simon Keenlyside (8/18), as well as BSO Assistant Conductor Ken-David Masur leading Aaron Jay Kernis’s Musica Celestis and music of Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky (7/23).  The 2017 Tanglewood season will introduce the prodigiously gifted 27-year-old Israeli conductor Lahav Shani in his BSO debut leading Schubert’s Great C major Symphony and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with Joshua Bell as soloist (8/13).

Another highlight of the summer will feature Hans Graf leading a staged production of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a recently devised adaptation by stage director Bill Barclay, featuring vocal soloists, the women of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, four actors performing various passages from the play, along with original stage props, costumes, and lighting, and a video projection designed to contribute to the dream-like atmosphere of the work (8/5).

Complete details of guest artist programs can be found here.

Ozawa Hall
In addition to appearances by the Mark Morris Dance Group in Lou 100: In Honor of the Divine Mr. Harrison, the series of six Schubert’s Summer Journey concerts, and performances by 2017 Koussevitzky Artist Garrick Ohlsson, all previously mentioned, Ozawa Hall will also present programs featuring Apollo’s Firein their distinctive take on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (7/5); Daniil Trifonov in works of Schumann, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky (7/12); the Handel and Haydn Societyperforming Purcell’s The Fairy-Queen (8/9); and the Boston Symphony Chamber Players performing Bach’s Cantata No. 199, Mein Herze Schwimmt im Blut, with soprano Yulia Van Doren, and works by Gubaidulina and Dvořák—the Piano Quintet with special guest pianist Paul Lewis (8/16).

4. 2017 FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC AND TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER

Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center, who will be featured in vocal, chamber music, and orchestral performances throughout the summer, will also participate in performances for the 2017 Festival of Contemporary Music, August 10-15, which has invited TMC alumni pianist Jacob Greenberg, cellist Kathryn Bates, and violist Nadia Sirota—distinguished musicians and active proponents of contemporary music—to curate programs, commission works, and participate in performances. In addition to four world premiere works by Nico Muhly, Anthony Cheung, Nathan Davis, and Kui Dong (with Muhly, Davis, and Dong receiving first Tanglewood performances of any of their music), the festival will feature works by such giants of the contemporary music world asSofia Gubaidulina (Meditations), Harrison Birtwistle (a selection from Orpheus Elegies), György Ligeti (Clocks and Clouds), and Henri Dutilleux (The Shadows of Time).  The 2017 Festival of Contemporary Music will also introduce many composers whose work will be performed for the first time at Tanglewood, including Jack Body (Flurry), Phyllis Chen (Chimers), Ben Johnston (Quartet No. 4), George Lewis (Anthem), Lei Liang (Gobi Canticle), Rene Orth (Quartet), Terry Riley (G Song), Caroline Shaw (Blueprint), Dai Fujikura (Tocar e Luchar), Anna Thorvaldsdottir (Hrim), and Huang Ruo (Confluences).

BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons opens the Tanglewood Music Center’s series of Ozawa Hall performances with a program featuring Håkan Hardenberger in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s From the Wreckage and Håkan Hardenberger and BSO principal trumpet Thomas Rolfs in Turnage’s Dispelling The Fears, for two trumpets and orchestra, on a program that also includes Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony and Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements (7/10); Mr. Nelsons also leads the TMCO in a Shed performance of Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony and Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto with Paul Lewis as soloist (8/20). Stefan Asbury leads the TMCO in a program to include Brahms’s Tragic Overture and Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 (7/17).  BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès conducts the TMCO in his own Polaris and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 7, on a program that will also include music from Britten’s Peter Grimes and Sibelius’s The Bard (7/24). Under the direction of Stefan Asbury, the TMCO will also be featured, along with the Lorelei Ensemble, in the final program of the 2017 Festival of Contemporary Music, performing works of Ligeti, Dai Fujikura, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Huang Ruo, and Dutilleux (8/14).  They will also perform as part of Tanglewood on Parade on August 1, the details of which are described above. All of the TMCO’s Ozawa Hall performances will also feature TMCO Conducting Fellows leading some selections for each program.

TO VIEW WEEK BY WEEK DETAILED PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS CLICK HERE; TO VIEW A COMPLETE 2017 TANGLEWOOD PROGRAM LISTING CLICK HERE

5.  TICKET INFORMATION AND BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TANGLEWOOD

Tickets for the 2017 Tanglewood, season, $12-$124, go on sale to the general public on Sunday, January 29, at 10 a.m. Tickets are available through Tanglewood’s website, www.tanglewood.org, through SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200, and at the Symphony Hall Box Office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston MA. Tickets will also be available for purchase in person at the Tanglewood Box Office at Tanglewood’s Main Gate on West Street in Lenox, MA, in June 2017. American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, Discover, and cash are all accepted. For further information and box office hours, please call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492 or visit www.tanglewood.org. $20 tickets for attendees under 40, one of the BSO’s most popular discount ticket offers, will be available for select BSO and Boston Pops performances in the Shed. In addition, Tanglewood continues to offer free lawn tickets to young people age 17 and under, as well as a variety of special programs for children, including Kids’ Corner, Watch and Play, and the annual Family Concert, this year to take place July 22.Additional ticket information appears near the end of this press release.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TANGLEWOOD, THE BSO’S SUMMER HOME SINCE 1937
One of the most popular and acclaimed music festivals in the world, Tanglewood—the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home since 1937—is located in the beautiful Berkshire Hills between Lenox and Stockbridge, MA. With an average annual attendance of more than 300,000 visitors, Tanglewood has a $60 million impact on the Berkshire economy each summer. Tanglewood presents orchestra concerts by the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and visiting ensembles, featuring many of the greatest classical musicians of our time; recital and chamber music concerts in the intimate setting of Ozawa Hall; programs highlighting the young musicians of the Tanglewood Music Center; and performances by some of today’s leading popular artists. Introduced in 2013, $20 tickets for attendees under 40 will be available for select BSO and Boston Pops performances in the Shed. Tanglewood is family-friendly, with free lawn tickets available for children and young people age 17 and under, and a variety of special programs for children, including Kids’ Corner, Watch and Play, and the annual Family Concert, this year to take place on Saturday, July 22. Tanglewood is also the home of the Tanglewood Music Center, the BSO’s preeminent summer music academy for the advanced training of young professional musicians, and Days in the Arts, a multi-cultural arts-immersion program that gives 400 fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-graders from communities across Massachusetts the opportunity to explore the arts in week-long sessions throughout the summer. These are just two of the BSO’s many educational and outreach activities, for which more information is available online at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s website, www.bso.org—receiving approximately 17 million visitors annually and generating over $118 million in revenue since its launch in 1996. Music lovers can follow Tanglewood via its new social media accounts on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TanglewoodMusicFestival/, on Twitter @TanglewoodMA, and on Instagram @TanglewoodMusicFestival. The Boston Symphony is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bostonsymphony, on Twitter @bostonsymphony, and on Instagram @bostonsymphony. The Boston Pops is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thebostonpops, on Twitter @thebostonpops, and on Instagram @thebostonpops.

WHAT FOLLOWS ARE SECTIONS ON WEEKLY CONCERT DESCRIPTIONS; TICKET PURCHASING AND SPONSORSHIP INFORMATION; FAMILY-FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES AND PATRON PERKS AND AMENITIES; AND THE BSO MEDIA CENTER

2017 TANGLEWOOD SEASON WEEK-BY-WEEK PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS

TANGLEWOOD PRE-SEASON, JUNE 18 -JULY 6
KEITH LOCKHART AND THE BOSTON POPS PERFORM THE SCORE TO JAWS ALONGSIDE THE MOVIE (6/18); THE MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP RETURNS TO TANGLEWOOD JUNE 28 & 29 FOR A PROGRAM WITH TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER FELLOWS HONORING LOU HARRISON; APOLLO’S FIRE: THE CLEVELAND BAROQUE ORCHESTRA BRINGS ITS DISTINCTIVE TAKE ON VIVALDI’S THE FOUR SEASONS TO OZAWA HALL (7/5); TANGLEWOOD KICKS OFF ITS SIX-PART SERIES OF PROGRAMS DEVOTED TO THE MUSIC OF SCHUBERT (7/6)

On Sunday, June 18, at 8 p.m., Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops bring Jaws to life, performing John Williams’s Academy Award-winning score live in sync with the iconic movie. Directed by Steve Spielberg, Jaws is one of the original summer blockbuster movies.

Following a one-year hiatus from Tanglewood, Mark Morris and the Mark Morris Dance Group return to Ozawa Hall Wednesday, June 28, and Thursday, June 29, for a program marking the centennial of the revered American composer Lou Harrison (1917-2003). Performed in collaboration with Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center, Lou 100: In Honor of the Divine Mr. Harrison will feature four works choreographed by Mark Morris to Harrison’s music: Pacific, set to the third and fourth movements of the Trio for violin, cello, and piano; Serenade, set to the Serenade for guitar and percussion; a new work by Mr. Morris set to Varied Trio for violin, piano, and percussion; and Grand Duo, set to Grand Duo for violin and piano.

Prior to the BSO’s Opening Night concert on July 7, Music Director Andris Nelsons will spend time coaching the exceptionally talented Tanglewood Music Center Fellows ahead of their Brass Extravaganza concert on Sunday, July 2, at 10 a.m. at Ozawa Hall. This performance will be the first of the TMC’s regular Sunday morning chamber concerts of the 2017 season. In addition to coaching musicians and leading rehearsals, Mr. Nelsons and acclaimed Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger will conduct at least one piece in the Brass Extravaganza. Maestro Nelsons—a talented trumpeter who previously held the Principal Trumpet chair in the Latvian National Opera Orchestra—is also expected to give a rare performance on the trumpet with the TMC Fellows, as will BSO principals Thomas Rolfs, Richard Sebring, Toby Oft, and Michael Roylance. The program will include the world premiere of a TMC commission for brass and percussion by Max Grafe. Additional program details will be announced at a later date.

On Wednesday, July 5, Apollo’s Fire: The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra returns for a second visit to Tanglewood, this time bringing its distinctive take on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Conductor/harpsichordist Jeannette Sorrell and the orchestra present The Four Seasons as the revolutionary creations of musical storytelling they were meant to be—illustrating the naturalistic effects along the way, so that Vivaldi’s pictorial descriptions come to life. The orchestra will also perform Vivaldi’s Concerto in G minor for two cellos, strings, and continuo, and Dall’Abaco’s Concerto in E minor, “per più strumenti,” Op. 5, No. 3.

The six-part Schubert’s Summer Journey series of concerts kicks off on Thursday, July 6, with pianists Emanuel Ax, Peter Serkin, and Julia Hsu (in her Tanglewood debut), along with BSO principals William R. Hudgins (clarinet) and James Sommerville (horn) and Tanglewood Music Center Vocal Fellows. Program 1 of the series features an all-Schubert program featuring works from the final year before his death in November 1828, including The Shepherd on the Rock, D.965, for soprano, clarinet, and piano, believed to be the last song he composed; and Auf dem Strom, D.943, for piano, French horn, and piano. The program also includes a selection of part-songs with piano with Tanglewood Music Center Vocal Fellows, and three works for piano four-hands, performed by Peter Serkin and Julia Hsu: Lebensstürme, D.947; Variations in B minor, D.823; and Rondo in A, D.951, Schubert’s final work for piano-four hands.

WEEK 1, JULY 7-13
ANDRIS NELSONS AND THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OPEN THE ORCHESTRA’S 2017 TANGLEWOOD SEASON WITH MAHLER’S SYMPHONY NO. 2 (7/7); KEITH LOCKHART AND THE BOSTON POPS PRESENT SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM (7/8); MR. NELSONS AND THE BSO PERFORM MOZART AND MAHLER WITH VIOLINIST DANIEL LOZAKOVICH AND SOPRANO KRISTINE OPOLAIS (7/9); PIANIST DANIIL TRIFONOV PERFORMS IN OZAWA HALL (7/12); BROOKLYN-BASED CHAMBER ENSEMBLE THE KNIGHTS RETURN TO TANGLEWOOD (7/12)

Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra open their 2017 Tanglewood season Friday, July 7, with a gala performance of Mahler’s grand, deeply emotional, and ultimately triumphant Symphony No. 2, Resurrection. Soprano Malin Christensson (in her Tanglewood debut) and mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink join Mr. Nelsons and the orchestra, along with the all-volunteer Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Mr. Nelsons returns to the podium for his second concert of the season on Sunday, July 9, for an afternoon program featuring 15-year-old Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich in his BSO and Tanglewood debuts performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, and Mr. Nelsons’ second Mahler symphony of the weekend—Symphony No. 4 featuring soprano Kristine Opolais.

On Saturday, July 8, Tanglewood presents the symphonic Sondheim on Sondheim with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops. Sondheim on Sondheim is a retrospective of the life and work of America’s finest contemporary musical theater creator told through his own words via film, live performers, and his music. These performances—directed by Sarna Lapine and featuring a cast of vocalists including Philip Boykin, Carmen Cusak, Gabriel Ebert, and Lisa Howard—will include lush new arrangements for full orchestra, performed for the first time.

The Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra kicks off its 2017 season under the direction of Andris Nelsons on Monday, July 10. The performance features Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger, one of Mr. Nelsons’ closest artistic collaborators, and Thomas Rolfs, BSO principal trumpet and a former TMC Fellow. Highlighting the program are two concertos written for Mr. Hardenberger by acclaimed English composer Mark-Anthony Turnage. Mr. Hardenberger is soloist in the 2004 concerto From the Wreckage, an emotional journey transporting listeners from a spiky introduction to the calm plateau of its final resolution. Hardenberger is joined by Thomas Rolfs for Turnage’s 1995 double trumpet concerto Dispelling the Fears. Mark-Anthony Turnage’s music has been performed frequently at Tanglewood since he was a TMC Fellow in 1983. Also on the program is Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1, Classical, and Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements.

Russian pianist Daniil Trifinov performs the music of Schumann, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky in Ozawa Hall on Wednesday, July 12. Mr. Trifinov opens the program with three works by Schumann: Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (“Scenes from Childhood”), Toccata, and Kreisleriana, written in only four days in 1838. He’ll also perform selections from Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues—a collection of short pieces, one written in every major and minor key—and Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Petrushka, an arrangement of music from the ballet for solo piano.

Brooklyn-based chamber orchestra The Knights, led by conductor Eric Jacobsen, are joined by violinist Jennifer Koh, Musical America’s 2016 Artist of the Year, on Thursday, July 13, in Ozawa Hall. The ensemble performs Purcell’s Fantasia upon One Note, John Adams’ Common Tones in Simple Time, a new work for violin and chamber orchestra by Grammy-nominated composer-pianist Vijay Iyer (co-commissioned by the BSO), and Mozart’s Symphony No. 40.

WEEK 2, JULY 14-20
ANDRIS NELSONS, THE BSO, AND A CAST OF VOCAL SOLOISTS PERFORM WAGNER’S COMPLETE DAS RHEINGOLD (7/15); DANIIL TRIFINOV JOINS ANDRIS NELSONS AND THE BSO FOR MOZART’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 21 ON PROGRAM WITH MUSIC BY RAVEL, HAYDN, AND ADÈS (7/14); MR. NELSONS LEADS THE BSO IN THE WORLD PREMIERE OF JOHN WILLIAMS’ MARKINGS, FEATURING SOLOIST ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER (7/16); THE EMERSON STRING QUARTET IS JOINED BY AN ENSEMBLE OF SEVEN ACTORS TO TELL THE STORY OF SHOSTAKOVICH’S 50-YEAR QUEST TO CREATE AN OPERA FROM CHEKHOV’S THE BLACK MONK (7/19); THE EMERSON QUARTET RETURNS WITH BARITONE ANDRÈ SCHUEN, PIANIST THOMAS ADÈS, AND DOUBLE BASSIST HAROLD ROBINSON FOR THE SECOND PROGRAM OF SCHUBERT’S SUMMER JOURNEY (7/20)

Andris Nelsons leads the orchestra in three performances over the BSO’s second weekend at Tanglewood, Friday, July 14-Sunday, July 16. Mr. Nelsons opens the weekend on Friday, July 14, with performances of two pieces written as an homage to French Baroque composer François Couperin, composed nearly 90 years apart: Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin and BSO Artist Partner Thomas Adès’s Three Studies from Couperin. Also on the program is Haydn’s Symphony No. 83, La Poule (“The Hen”), last performed by the BSO in 1990, and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467, featuring Russian pianist Daniil Trifinov.

On Saturday, July 15, Maestro Nelsons leads the BSO in one of the great highlights of the 2017 Tanglewood season: the festival’s first-ever complete concert performance of Wagner’s epic Das Rheingold, the first of the four dramas from Wagner’s masterpiece Der Ring des Nibelungen. The performance features a cast of all-star vocal soloists among the most respected for these roles, including bass-baritone Thomas J. Mayer as Wotan (in his BSO and Tanglewood debuts); mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly as Fricka; tenor Kim Begley as Loge (BSO and Tanglewood debuts); and baritone Jochen Schmeckenbecher (BSO and Tanglewood debuts) as Alberich, along with other prestigious singers known for their expertise performing Wagner’s music. The performance of Das Rheingold—sung in German with English subtitles—will run without an intermission.

Closing out the weekend on Sunday, July 16, Andris Nelsons and the BSO are joined by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter for the world premiere of Boston Pops Conductor Laureate John Williams’ Markings, for solo violin, strings, and harp. Ms. Mutter also joins the orchestra for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, one of the most popular concertos for the instrument. Berlioz’s dazzling Symphonie fantastique completes the program.

Conductor Stefan Asbury and TMC Conducting Fellows lead the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in Ozawa Hall on Monday, July 17, in a program including the turbulent Brahms Tragic Overture and Elgar’s majestic Symphony No. 1.

On Wednesday, July 19, the Emerson String Quartet returns to Ozawa Hall for the first of two programs. Accompanied by an ensemble of seven actors, including David Strathairn and Jay O. Sanders, the Emerson Quartet presents “The Black Monk: Shostakovich, Stalin, and the Dread of a Second Chance—a Russian Fantasy.” The program, written and directed by James Glossman, weaves the tale of Dmitri Shostakovich’s 50-year obsessive quest to create an opera from The Black Monk, Chekhov’s theatrical chamber masterpiece and love, art, madness, and freedom. Through music—including a complete performance of Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 14—supported by actors and multimedia projections, we see Shostakovich himself trying over decades to retell Chekhov’s haunting and heroic story of a writer struggling for his sanity, only to be sidetracked again and again by the composer’s own struggle to survive as an artist amid the ever-changing imperatives of Stalin’s Soviet state.

For the second program in the Schubert’s Summer Journey concert series on Thursday, July 20, in Ozawa Hall, Thomas Adès and Italian baritone Andrè Schuen, in his U.S. debut, open the program with five night-inspired songs by Schubert—“Auf der Bruck,” D.853 (“At the Bruck”); “Der Wanderer an den Mond,” D.870 (“The Wanderer Speaks to the Moon”); “Nachtstück,” D.672 (“Nocturne”); “Wanderers Nachtlied II,” D.768 (“Wanderer’s Nightsong”); and “Willkommen und Abschied,” D.767 (“Welcome and Farewell”). As the centerpiece of the program, the Emerson String Quartet performs Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Shroud for string quartet, a rather personal work for the composer, with the first and fifth movements memorializing two of his close friends, Christopher Mills and Dag Jiggens. The middle three movements, which are lighter in tone, are dedicated to the Emerson Quartet. Closing the program, Mr. Adès and bassist Harold Robinson join the Emerson Quartet for Schubert’s surpassingly tuneful Trout Quintet for piano and strings, D. 667, which the composer completed when he was just 22 years old and which remains one of the most familiar works in the chamber-music repertoire.

WEEK 3, JULY 21-27
PIANIST EMANUEL AX JOINS BSO ARTISTIC PARTNER THOMAS ADÈS AND THE BSO FOR BEETHOVEN’S EMPEROR CONCERTO ON A PROGRAM WITH MUSIC BY ADÈS AND BRITTEN (7/22); PIANIST JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET JOINS CONDUCTOR GUSTAVO GIMENO AND THE BSO FOR BERNSTEIN’S SYMPHONY NO. 2, THE AGE OF ANXIETY (7/21); BSO ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR KEN-DAVID MASUR IS JOINED BY PIANIST NICOLAI LUGANSKY FOR PROKOFIEV’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 3 (7/23); 2017 KOUSSEVITZKY ARTIST GARRICK OHLSSON AND THE TAKÁCS QUARTET PERFORM IN OZAWA HALL (7/26); PIERRE-LAURENT AIMARD PERFORMS A PROGRAM INSPIRED BY BIRDS IN MUSIC (7/27)

Captivating French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet joins the BSO and conductor Gustavo Gimeno—who returns to the Tanglewood podium after making his debut with the orchestra last summer—for Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety, a piece dedicated to Serge Koussevitzky and premiered by the BSO in 1949. Mr. Gimeno also leads the BSO in Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès opens the Saturday, July 22 BSO program leading his own …but all shall be well, a piece inspired by lines from T.S. Eliot’s quotation of Julian of Norwich in Four Quartets: “Sin is Behovely, but All shall be well, and All manner of thing shall be well.” The program also features Emanuel Ax in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, the last and most monumental of Beethoven’s concertos; as well as the dramatically expressive Sinfonia da Requiem by Benjamin Britten, a composer for whom Mr. Adès has a great affinity.

On Sunday, July 22, BSO Assistant Conductor Ken-David Masur is joined by Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky for Prokofiev’s sparkling Piano Concerto No. 3. Mr. Masur opens the afternoon program with Aaron Jay Kernis’s airy and moving Musica Celestis (“Heavenly Music”), written by the Grawemeyer Award-winning composer in 2000. Closing the concert is Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2, Little Russian.

Composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher Thomas Adès joins forces with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and TMC Conducting Fellows on Monday, July 24, in Ozawa Hall. The first work on the program is Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes, an opera commissioned by the legendary Serge Koussevitzky and premiered by the Tanglewood Music Center under the direction of Leonard Bernstein in 1946. Mr. Adès then leads the TMCO in his own composition, Polaris, a work exploring the imagery of the cosmos and its relation to nautical navigation. The program also features two works by Jean Sibelius: the enigmatic tone poem The Bard, and his Symphony No. 7, the composer’s last extant symphony.

On Wednesday, July 26, the world-renowned Takács Quartet returns to Tanglewood for the first time since 1997 for a recital program featuring music by Haydn, Beethoven, and Elgar. Tanglewood 2017 Koussevitzky Artist Garrick Ohlsson, making his first appearance of the season, joins the quartet for Elgar’s Piano Quintet to close the program. The Takács Quartet also performs Haydn’s String Quartet No. 27 and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 13.

As part of Tanglewood’s collaboration with the Mass Audubon, pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard performs a fascinating centuries-spanning program that explores the many recreations of birdsong in music by a diverse range of composers from the Baroque to the present day, including Daquin, Schumann, Ravel, Bartók, and Julian Anderson. The centerpiece of the concert will be a selection of movements from Messiaen’s Catalogue of the Birds, interspersed with electronic works by French composer Bernard Fort incorporating the same bird calls. The program will be preceded by a “Birds at Dusk” session on the Tanglewood Grounds with a Mass Audubon ornithologist Wayne Petersen.

WEEK 4, JULY 28-AUGUST 3
CHARLES DUTOIT AND THE BSO ARE JOINED BY PIANIST YEFIM BRONFMAN FOR A PROGRAM OF BEETHOVEN, BRAHMS, AND DVOŘÁK (7/28), and PIANIST PIERRE-laurent AIMARD AND TENOR PAUL GROVES FOR A PROGRAM INCLUDING RAVEL’S PIANO CONCERTO FOR THE left HAND AND BERLIOZ’S TE DEUM (7/29); BRAMWELL TOVEY leads THE BSO IN BEETHOVEN’S VIOLIN CONCERTO, WITH soloist PINCHAS ZUKERMAN, AND WALTON’S BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST (7/30); TANGLEWOOD ON PARADE TAKES PLACE TUESDAY, AUGUST 1; EMANUEL AX, YO-YO MA, COLIN JACOBSEN, AND JAMIE BARTON PERFORM THE THIRD PROGRAM OF SCHUBERT’S SUMMER JOURNEY (8/3)

Conductor Charles Dutoit leads the BSO in two programs on Friday, July 28, and Saturday, July 28. On Friday, Mr. Dutoit is joined by pianist Yefim Bronfman for Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2, one of the composer’s most barnstorming, free-spirited works. The BSO opens the program with the Overture to Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus. Mr. Dutoit also leads the orchestra in Dvorak’s New World Symphony.

On Saturday, Mr. Dutoit is joined by Pierre-Laurent Aimard for Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the left hand, a piece written in 1929 and 1930 for Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm during World War I. Mr. Dutoit also leads the BSO in two works by Berlioz: the Overture to Benvenuto Cellini, and the composer’s monumental Te Deum, featuring tenor Paul Groves and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

Violinist Pinchas Zukerman returns to Tanglewood on Sunday, July 30, for a performance of Beethoven’s lyrical Violin Concerto with the BSO and English conductor Bramwell Tovey. Mr. Tovey and the BSO are then joined by bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast. An incredibly ambitious oratorio written for a large-scale orchestra including two brass bands along with the baritone soloist and chorus, the work is one of the composer’s most celebrated compositions.

One of the festival’s most beloved traditions, the ever-popular Tanglewood on Parade takes place this year on Tuesday, August 1, offering audiences a full day of musical activities for the entire family, culminating in an 8 p.m. concert in the Shed featuring all of the festival’s orchestras performing in a single concert. Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart and Pops Laureate John Williams, along with conductors Charles Dutoit, Bramwell Tovey, and BSO Assistant Conductor Moritz Gnann lead the BSO, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in a program of works including Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man; Copland’s Piano Concerto, featuring 2017 Koussevitzky Artist Garrick Ohlsson; the suite from Kodály’s Háry János; the Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Oveture; and music from John Williams’ scores to Jurassic Park, Minority Report, and Jaws. The traditional Tanglewood on Parade finale, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, closes the concert, followed by fireworks over the Stockbridge bowl.

On Thursday, August 3, Schubert’s Summer Journey continues with a recital performance featuring Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Colin Jacobson, and mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, a former Tanglewood Music Center Fellow. Mr. Ax and Ms. Barton open the program with four songs from Schubert’s teenage years: “Der Konig in Thule,” D.367; “Gretchen am Spinnrade,” D.118; “Schäfers Klagelied”, D.121; and “Rastlose Liebe”, D.138. Ms. Barton also joins Mr. Jacobsen, Mr. Ma, and Mr. Ax for the world premiere of a new work for mezzo soprano and piano trio, written by Colin Jacobson based on the poetry of Lydia Barker. Also on the program is Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat and Sonatina No. 3 in G minor for violin and piano, another early work from the composer.

WEEK 5, AUGUST 4-AUGUST 9
2017 KOUSSEVITZKY ARTIST GARRICK OHLSSON PERFORMS CHOPIN’S PIANO CONCERTO NOS. 1 AND 2 WITH THE BSO ON TWO PROGRAMS LED BY CONDUCTOR HANS GRAF, AUGUST 4 & 5; MR. OHLSSON ALSO PERFORMS A SOLO RECITAL OF WORKS BY SCHUBERT AND SCRIABIN (8/8); CELLIST YO-YO MA JOINS CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI AND THE BSO FOR SCHUMANN’S CELLO CONCERT (8/6); THE HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY PRESENTS A PERFORMANCE OF PURCELL’S THE FAIRY-QUEEN (8/9)

On Friday, August 4, and Saturday, August 5, 2017 Koussevitzky Artist Garrick Ohlsson joins conductor Hans Graf and the BSO for performances featuring Chopin’s two piano concertos. On Friday, August 4, Mr. Ohlsson performs Chopin’s First Piano Concerto, written shortly after the composer finished conservatory. Maestro Graf also leads the BSO in Rachmaninoff’s melancholic Symphony No. 3, the composer’s final work in the genre, written almost 30 years after his second.

On Saturday, August 5, Mr. Ohlsson returns to perform Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto with the BSO, a virtuosic and remarkably successful work considering it was written when the composer was still a student and just 20 years old. The second half of the program features one of the best-known musical works inspired by Shakespeare—Mendelssohn’s incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream—in a specially designed production adapted by stage director Bill Barclay, which received its world premiere with the BSO at Symphony Hall in Boston in early 2016 as part of the BSO’s three-week Shakespeare celebration honoring the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death. Mr. Graf and the orchestra are joined for this performance by soprano Kiera Duffy, mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer, and singers from the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Chorus, as well as four actors, including Will Lyman as Oberon; Karen MacDonald as Titania; and Carson Elrod as Felix Mendelssohn/Puck. The costumed actors will perform various passages from A Midsummer Night’s Dream interspersed throughout the performance, as prescribed in Mendelssohn’s score, with costumes by Kathleen Doyle and sets by Cristina Todesco.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma returns to the Shed on Sunday, August 6, with revered German conductor Christoph von Dohnányi on a program featuring two works by Schumann—the free-flowing and adventurous Cello Concerto, featuring Mr. Ma, and the elevating Symphony No. 2 in C, the longest of the composer’s four symphonies. The afternoon concert opens with Mozart’s Symphony No. 25, last performed by the BSO at Tanglewood in 2000.

Garrick Ohlsson presents the fourth program in the Schubert’s Summer Journey series on Tuesday, August 8, bookending his Ozawa Hall recital with two of the composer’s sonatas, Sonata No. 14 in A minor, D.784, and Sonata No. 20 in A, D.959, one of his final three sonatas. The Schubert sonatas are contrasted by selected works by Scriabin—one of Mr. Ohlsson’s concentrations right now, as he recently finished recording the composer’s complete piano works—including the Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp, Op. 53.

On Wednesday, August 9, the Handel and Haydn Society performs Purcell’s The Fairy-Queen. Often referred to as a semi-opera, The Fairy-Queen is based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Led by conductor Harry Christophers and narrated by Antonia Christophers, the performance also features countertenor Robin Blaze as Mopsa and bass-baritone Matthew Brook as the Drunken Poet, Corydon, and Hymen; along with a cast of vocal soloists.

WEEK 6, AUGUST 11-17
GIL SHAHAM AND ALISA WEILERSTEIN JOIN GIANCARLO GUERRERO AND THE BSO FOR BRAHMS’S DOUBLE CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN, CELLO, AND ORCHESTRA (8/11); CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI LEADS A PROGRAM OF MUSIC BY JULIAN ANDERSON, BRAHMS, AND BEETHOVEN (8/12); ISRAELI CONDUCTOR LAHAV SHANI MAKES HIS BSO DEBUT WITH PROGRAM FEATURING JOSHUA BELL (8/13); BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS PERFORM AUGUST 16; EMANUEL AX, PAMELA FRANK, AND YO-YO MA PERFORM FIFTH SCHUBERT’S SUMMER JOURNEY PROGRAM (8/17)

Violinist Gil Shaham and cellist Alisa Weilerstein join forces on Friday, August 11, for a performance of Brahms’s Double Concerto for violin, cello, and orchestra, with Costa Rican conductor Giancarlo Guerrero and the BSO. Brahms composed the concerto—his final orchestral work—as an olive branch to his old friend and close musical collaborator Joseph Joachim, with whom he’d had a falling out over Joachim’s divorce. Also on the program are Dvořák’s Carnival Overture and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, the score to an intensely dramatic ballet and on its own some of the most dramatic music ever written.

Conductor Christoph von Dohnányi returns for a second concert on Saturday, August 12, leading the BSO in Julian Anderson’s Incantesimi, a BSO-commissioned work that receives its American premiere with the BSO in January 2017. Incantesimi is a study in long lines, using “five musical ideas that orbit each other in ever-differing relationships.”  Mr. Dohnanyi and the orchestra are then joined by violinist Nikolaj Znaider for Brahms’s lyrical and refined Violin Concerto. The BSO closes out the program with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, one of the composer’s most popular works.

On Sunday, August 13, young Israeli conductor Lahav Shani makes his BSO debut on a program featuring Tanglewood regular, violinist Joshua Bell in Mozart’s energetic and playful Violin Concerto No. 1, written in 1773 when the composer was just 17. Mr. Shani also lead the BSO in the overture to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Schubert’s Symphony in C, The Great. The composer’s ultimate symphony (in both senses of the word: it is his biggest and last work in the genre), the C major was famously praised for its “heavenly length” by Robert Schumann, who observed also that it “transports us into a world we cannot recall ever having been before.”

The Boston Symphony Chamber Players make their annual Tanglewood appearance on Wednesday, August 16. Opening the program is Sofia Gubaidulina’s Garden of Joys and Sorrows, for flute, viola, and harp, a one-movement piece inspired by Eastern storyteller Iv Oganov’s “Sayat-Nova” and verses by 20th-century German poet Francisco Tanzer. The program also features soprano Yulia Van Doren in Bach’s Cantata No. 199, Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, and pianist Paul Lewis in Dvořák’s Quintet in A for piano and strings, Op. 81.

On Thursday, August 17, pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Pamela Frank, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma perform the fifth program in the Schubert’s Summer Journey series in Ozawa Hall. The program includes Schubert’s Sonatina No. 2 in A minor for violin and piano, D.385; Arpeggione Sonata for cello and piano; and the composer’s second Piano Trio, in E-flat, D.929. In addition, Tanglewood Music Center Vocal Fellows will join Mr. Ax for new songs written by a selection of contemporary composers for this performance inspired by Schubert.

WEEK 7, AUGUST 18-23
JOHN WILLIAMS AND ANDRIS NELSONS LEAD THE BOSTON POPS IN JOHN WILLIAMS’ FILM NIGHT (8/19); PIANIST PAUL LEWIS JOINS ANDRIS NELSONS AND THE TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER ORCHESTRA FOR BEETHOVEN’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 3 FOR THE LEONARD BERNSTEIN MEMORIAL CONCERT (8/20); BRITISH BARITONE SIMON KEENLYSIDE JOINS THE BSO AND CONDUCTOR DAVID AFKHAM FOR A PROGRAM OF MAHLER AND BRAHMS (8/18); MR. KEENLYSIDE ALSO JOINS EMANUEL AX FOR THE FINAL PROGRAM IN THE SCHUBERT’S SUMMER JOURNEY SERIES (8/23); DAVID SEDARIS PERFORMS IN THE SHED (8/20)

On Friday, August 18, British baritone Simon Keenlyside makes his Tanglewood debut performing selections from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Rückert-Lieder with conductor David Afkham and the orchestra. Mr. Afkham also leads the BSO in Brahms’s energetic Symphony No. 2.

One of Tanglewood’s most popular summer traditions, John Williams’ Film Night, takes place on Saturday, August 19. Boston Pops Laureate Conductor John Williams shares the podium for this performance with BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons, who will lead the first half of the concert, including music from classic cinema scores by Erich Korngold, Bernard Herrmann, and Alex North. Mr. Nelsons made his debut with the Boston Pops Orchestra during the 2015 Tanglewood season, when he stepped in for Mr. Williams to lead “Throne Room and Finale” from Star Wars during Tanglewood on Parade. The second half of the program sees Mr. Williams leading music from his own scores, including selections from the Harry Potter series, E.T., and Far and Away. Also on the program is music from Mr. Williams’ score to Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, with a special guest trumpet soloist to be announced at a later date.

Andris Nelsons leads the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in the Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert on Sunday, August 20, in the Shed. Brilliant English pianist Paul Lewis joins Mr. Nelsons and the orchestra for Beethoven’s dramatic and tumultuous Third Piano Concerto. Strauss’s large-scale An Alpine Symphony, the composer’s last tone poem, depicting an eleven-hour hike of an Alpine mountain, closes the program.

That evening, Tanglewood presents best-selling American author and humorist David Sedaris in his Tanglewood debut at 8 p.m. in the Shed. Mr. Sedaris will be celebrating the release of his new book, Theft by Finding, which comes out on June 6, 2017. In addition to Theft by Finding, David Sedaris is the author of Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice, as well as collections of personal essays, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and his most recent book, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls.

On Wednesday, August 23, at 8 p.m., pianist Emanuel Ax opens the sixth and final concert in the Schubert’s Summer Journey series with the four Impromptus, D.935, and Samuel Adams’ Impromptus, three movements inspired by Schubert’s work. Mr. Adams intended for his three Impromptus to be performed as links between Schubert’s four Impromptus, creating a larger seven-movement arch. Baritone Simon Keenlyside joins Emanuel Ax to close out the program with Schubert’s Schwanengesang, D.957 (“Swan song”), 14 songs composed in 1828 in the final months of the composer’s life and published posthumously as a set.

WEEK 8, AUGUST 25-27
ANDRIS NELSONS AND THE BSO CLOSE THEIR 2017 TANGLEWOOD SEASON WITH TWO PERFORMANCES: AN OPERA GALA FEATURING KRISTINE OPOLAIS AND DMITRI HVOROSTOVSKY (8/26) AND BEETHOVEN’S SYMPHONY NO. 9 (8/27); KEITH LOCKHART AND THE BOSTON POPS PRESENT E.T. WITH ORCHESTRA (8/25)

Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops present a live performance of John Williams’ score to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial—a best picture Oscar nominee and one of the most popular films of all time—alongside Steven Spielberg’s movie on Friday, August 25. E.T. with Orchestra brings the magic of the silver screen to life with this live performance by the Boston Pops of the Academy Award-winning score.

On Saturday, August 26, two of today’s most acclaimed singers—soprano Kristine Opolais and, in his Tanglewood debut, baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky—join Music Director Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra for an evening of opera and song, to feature arias, duets, and choruses from the Italian and Russian lyric stage. The program will include excerpts from Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra and La traviata, and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

For the second year in a row, Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in its traditional season-ending performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Sunday, August 27. The performance features soprano Katie Van Kooten in her BSO and Tanglewood debuts; mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford; tenor Russell Thomas; and bass-baritone John Relyea, along with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Maestro Nelsons and the BSO open the program with Charles Ives’s tribute to Western Massachusetts, “The Housatonic at Stockbridge” from Three Places in New England.

One Day University at Tanglewood, Sunday, August 27, 2017
One Day University, the acclaimed lifelong learning series, is returning to Tanglewood on Sunday, August 27, featuring three award-winning professors, each presenting their best lecture in Ozawa Hall.  Topics to be discussed include “Understanding America Through Three Remarkable Photographs,” with Rutgers University Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History, Louis Masur; “The Supreme Court: An Insider’s View,” with George Washington University Professor of Law and National Constitution Center President Jeffrey Rosen; and “Music and the Brain:  Why We Like What We Like,” with Yale University Professor of Music Craig Wright. General admission for One Day University at Tanglewood is $159, and includes VIP parking and either one free lawn admission or a 10% discount on a Shed ticket for the BSO season-finale performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at 2:30 p.m. on August 27, led by BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons.

2017 TANGLEWOOD SEASON: HOW TO PURCHASE TICKETS AND ORDER A BROCHURE, FAMILY-FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES, PATRON PERKS AND AMENITIES, THE BSO MEDIA CENTER, AND SPONSORSHIP

HOW TO PURCHASE TICKETS AND ORDER A BROCHURE
How to Purchase Tickets
Tickets for the 2017 Tanglewood season—regular-season ticket prices range from $12-$124—go on sale to the general public on Sunday, January 29, at 10 a.m. Tickets are available through Tanglewood’s website, www.tanglewood.org, through Symphony Charge at 888-266-1200, and at the Symphony Hall Box Office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA. Tickets will also be available for purchase in person at the Tanglewood Box Office at Tanglewood’s Main Gate on West Street in Lenox, MA, in June 2017. American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, Discover, and cash are all accepted at the Tanglewood Box Office. For further information and box office hours, please call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492 or visit www.tanglewood.org. All ticket prices include a $2 Tanglewood grounds maintenance fee. Tickets purchased online or over the phone are also subject to a $6.50 handling fee.

How to Order a Brochure
Tanglewood brochures with complete programs and information on how to order tickets will be available in early February by calling 617-266-1492 or visiting www.tanglewood.org. For Berkshire tourist information and reservations, contact the Berkshire Visitors Bureau at 413-743-4500 or visit www.berkshires.org.

FREE AND DISCOUNTED LAWN TICKETS, NEW ACTIVITIES FOR MUSIC LOVERS OF ALL AGES
Free and Discounted Ticket Programs
The BSO’s $20 tickets for attendees under 40 will be available during the 2017 Tanglewood season for select performances. Beginning in May 2017, these tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis throughwww.tanglewood.org and through Symphony Charge. Certain blackout dates will apply. Eligible patrons may purchase up to two tickets per show and must provide proof of age when picking up their tickets at “will call” in order to receive the discount. Tickets for Saturday-morning rehearsals range from $13-$33. Tanglewood is pleased to offer free lawn tickets for children and young people age 17 and younger. Up to four free children’s lawn tickets are available per parent/legal guardian per concert at the Tanglewood Box Office on the day of the concert, as all patrons, regardless of age, must have a ticket. Please note that the free lawn ticket policy does not apply to organized groups. For Popular Artists concerts, free lawn tickets are only available for children under age 2.

New Activities Come to Tanglewood every Sunday in 2017
New this season, Tanglewood will bring new activities for all ages to the festival grounds each and every Sunday afternoon throughout the season, similar the activities presented during the annual Tanglewood on Parade concert. The Tanglewood grounds will open at noon on Sundays for an afternoon of kid-friendly events including scavenger hunts, face painting, and musical arts and crafts activities. Offerings for adults will include wine and food tastings in pop-up tents found throughout the grounds, back massage services, and a post-concert session of yoga or Qigong.

Additional Family-Friendly Activities
Tanglewood provides special programs for kids, such as the popular Kids’ Corner, a craft-related project supervised and supported by BSO staff on weekends, and the Watch and Play program, an interactive musical performance designed to engage children ages 3-10 in the Tanglewood musical experience. In addition, through its Tanglewood for Kids program, Tanglewood offers free lawn tickets, up to four per family, to all children and young adults age 17 and under. Tanglewood will present its annual Family Concert on Saturday, July 22, at 1:30 p.m. The pre-concert activities begin at 11:30 a.m. Tickets for the Family Concert are free to youth age 18 and under and $12 for each adult.

TANGLEWOOD PATRON AMENITIES, PERKS, AND EDUCATION OPTIONS, AND YOGA ON THE LAWN EVERY SATURDAY
UnderScore Fridays, Talks and Walks, and BSO 101
The orchestra will offer three UnderScore Fridays performances on July 21, August 4, and August 18. At these performances patrons will hear comments about the program directly from an onstage BSO musician. “Talks and Walks,” a series of informal conversations presented by guest artists and members of the BSO family, takes place in the Tent Club on Thursday afternoons, from July 6 through August 24. The Tent Club opens at noon and the talks begin at 1 p.m. To purchase tickets, available for $137 for a full series, call 617-638-9394 or email [email protected]. Friends of Tanglewood and Business Partners receive a discount ($112 for the full series) and advance ordering privileges.

BSO 101—a free music appreciation series led by BSO Director of Program Publications Marc Mandel with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra—takes place on two Wednesdays from 12:45–2 p.m. in the Tanglewood Tent Club. BSO 101 sessions focus on music to be played by the BSO each Tanglewood weekend, examining and illuminating aspects of musical shape and form and of the composer’s individual musical style. All of these sessions include recorded musical examples, and each is self-contained, so that no prior musical training or attendance at any previous session is required.   Attendees are encouraged to bring a lunch, though there is also the option of buying lunch at the Tent Club. This year’s BSO 101 sessions are scheduled for July 12 and August 9.

Yoga on the Lawn Every Saturday Morning, 10:15-11:15 a.m.
Once again this summer, in collaboration with the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, Tanglewood is pleased to offer hour-long yoga classes taught by fully accredited Kripalu teachers from 10:15–11:15am on Saturday mornings (weather permitting). Located on the lawn near the Tanglewood Visitor Center, these weekly classes are available at no additional charge to Saturday-morning BSO Rehearsal ticket-holders, on July 8, 15, 22, and 29, and August 5, 12, 19, and 26.

Friday- and Saturday-evening Prelude Concerts, Walking Tours, and Lawn Chair Rentals
Tanglewood offers free hour-long walking tours of Tanglewood’s grounds and performance spaces on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays (email [email protected] or call 617-638-9394 to confirm dates and times). Friday-evening Prelude Concerts, at 6 p.m. in Ozawa Hall, feature BSO musicians in small ensemble and chamber music settings. Saturday-evening Prelude Concerts, July in Ozawa Hall, feature Tanglewood Music Center Fellows in performance. Admission to Prelude Concerts is free to all BSO concert ticket holders.

Tanglewood offers Lawn Chair Rentals, for a fee of $5, available by the beer garden near the Shed at Shed concerts, and at the Bernstein Gate for Ozawa Hall performances. For the convenience of patrons, a Bank of America ATM is located outside the main gate.

MEDIA CENTER OFFERINGS AT BSO.ORG INCLUDING NEW BSO APP AND MOBILE WEB OPTIONS
The BSO’s Media Center and www.bso.org
The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s extensive website, BSO.org, is one of the world’s largest and most-visited orchestral websites, receiving approximately 17 million visitors annually and generating over $118 million in revenue since its launch in 1996. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BostonSymphonyon Twitter at www.twitter.com/BostonSymphony, on Google+ atwww.google.com/+bostonsymphony, and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/BostonSymphony. Video content from the BSO is also available at www.YouTube.com/BostonSymphony.

The site’s Media Center consolidates its numerous new media initiatives in one location. In addition to comprehensive access to all BSO, Boston Pops, Tanglewood, and Symphony Hall performance schedules, patrons have access to a number of free and paid media options. Free offerings include WCRB radio broadcast streams of select BSO, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood performances; a free music stream of Boston Pops recordings; audio concert preview podcasts; Emmy Award-winning audio and video interviews with guest artists and BSO musicians; music excerpts highlighting upcoming programs as well as all self-produced albums by the BSO, Boston Pops, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and Tanglewood Music Center Fellows, and complete program notes for all performances, which can be downloaded and printed or saved offline to an e-reading device such as a Kindle or Nook.           Paid content includes digital music downloads produced and published under the BSO’s music label BSO Classics and includes performances by the BSO, Boston Pops, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and Tanglewood Music Center Fellows. The BSO Media Center is available by visiting www.BSO.org/mediacenter.   

BSO App and Mobile Web Offerings
With the start of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2015-16 season, the BSO launched a free app providing concertgoers with a new platform through which to interact with the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood.  A highlight of the app, “Watch & Listen,” provides users with a variety of concert-related content including program notes, audio podcasts, and multimedia video podcasts. The app also provides ticketing and schedule information, as well as practical information about, and planning your visit to, Symphony Hall. In addition, it includes a social media feed connecting concertgoers with other listeners on Facebook and Twitter, as well as to reviews, comments, photos, and other social-media-generated content. The app is available for download and installation on iPhone devices via the iTunes App Store, and on Android devices via Google Play.

The orchestra’s website, BSO.org, is also mobile-device compatible. Patrons can visit BSO.org on their mobile device to access performance schedules, purchase tickets as well as pre-performance food and beverages, download program notes, listen to radio broadcasts, music clips, and concert previews, watch video exclusives, and make donations to the BSO—all in the palm of their hand.

RADIO BROADCASTS AND STREAMING 
Concerts from the Shed are broadcast across New England throughout the Tanglewood season in Boston on WCRB 99.5FM, a service of WGBH, and WJMF 88.7FM in Providence; in Albany on WAMC 90.3FM and its network of translators; and in Connecticut on WMNR 88.1FM. In addition, Sunday afternoon concerts are broadcast on WFCR 88.5FM in Amherst; in New Hampshire on WCNH 91.5FM and WEVO 89.1-HD2; and on a delayed basis on the classical music stations of Vermont Public Radio and of the Maine Public Broadcasting Network. Live streaming of these broadcasts and schedule details are available at www.classicalwcrb.org; www.wamc.org; www.wmnr.org; www.nepr.net; www.vpr.net; and www.mainepublic.org. On-demand audio of concerts is available at www.bso.org and www.classicalwcrb.org. .

SPONSORSHIP
Commonwealth Worldwide Chauffeured Transportation is proud to be celebrating its fourteenth year as the Official Chauffeured Transportation Provider of the BSO. The Sunday, August 6 afternoon Shed concert is sponsored by Dell EMC.

For further information, call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is online at www.bso.org. All programs and artists are subject to change.

Click here to view the 2017 Tanglewood Season Program Listing