Tanglewood announces a wide-roving lineup for 2016
Featuring programs that range from beloved classics to new music, the 2016 Tanglewood season promises to bring some of the most spectacular performers to the Berkshires.
Highlighting the summer season will be Andris Nelsons, who will lead several concerts. With the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he will conduct performances of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony (July 29), Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony (July 30), and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet (August 21). The Tanglewood tradition of concert opera will continue under Nelsons’ guide when he leads the BSO in Acts 1 and 2 of Verdi’s Aida, featuring soprano Kristine Opolais (August 20). Nelsons will also lead the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in in Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1, featuring Paul Lewis as soloist (July 31).
The Boston Symphony concerts will begin July 8, with Joshua Bell as soloist in Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3. Orff’s Carmina Burana and Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé Suite No. 2, featuring the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, will be the focus of a concert July 9. Jacques Lacombe will conduct both concerts. Charles Dutoit, who has been named the 2016 Koussevitzky Artist for his work with and commitment to the BSO, will lead music by Mozart and Rossini in a concert August 19, and with the TMC Orchestra he will lead works by Kodály, Tchaikovsky, and Stravinsky on August 15. Dutoit will also lead a chamber concert August 18 at Ozawa Hall. Pinchas Zukerman will serve a dual role as conductor and violinist an all-Mozart program on July 15.
Christoph von Dohnányi returns to Tanglewood to conduct works by Strauss and Tchaikovsky (July 16) and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (August 28). Dohnányi will conduct the TMC Orchestra in Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony on July 18 at Ozawa Hall. Other conductors who will return to the Tanglewood podium will include Sir Andrew Davis, who will lead the BSO in works by Vaughan Williams, Dvorák, and Sibelius (July 22); Juanjo Mena, in music by Ginastera, Mozart, and Beethoven (July 24), and Falla’s complete Three-cornered Hat (July 23); Giancarlo Guerrero, leading two concerts (August 5-6), and Stéphane Denève, who will join John Williams for the annual Tanglewood on Parade (August 2).
Conductor Gustavo Gimeno will make his BSO and Tanglewood debuts with music by Prokofiev, Ravel, Gershwin, and Stravinsky (July 17). Moritz Gnann will also make his debut with Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 (August 7), and David Afkham will make his first Tanglewood and BSO appearance in with music by Beethoven and Schumann (August 14).
The Tanglewood conducting fellows will also lead the TMC Orchestra in a semi-staged performance of Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins as well as Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14, with soprano Dawn Upshaw and baritone Sanford Sylvan (August 8).
The 2016 Tanglewood season will host a number of high-profile pianist in works by Mozart, including Emanuel Ax in Piano Concerto No. 22 (August 12), Jonathan Biss in Piano Concerto No. 27 (July 29), Nelson Freire in Piano Concerto No. 9 (August 7), and Menahem Pressler in Piano Concerto No. 23 (August 19). Other soloists will include Yefim Bronfman in Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (August 5) Daniil Trifonov in Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (August 6), and Yuja Wang in Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (July 17). In addition, two pianists will make their BSO debuts. Igor Levit will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (August 14), and Dejan Lazic will appear as soloist in Saint-Saëns’ Concerto No. 5 (August 21).
Yo-Yo Ma will appear with the Silk Road Ensemble on August 7 as soloist in a BSO concert August 27. Renée Fleming will offer Strauss’ Four Last Songs July 16.
Ozawa Hall will also host a mix of old and new music, with Jordi Savall, Herpèrion XXI, and Tembembe Ensamble Continuo kicking off the offerings with a concert July 7. Soprano Renée Fleming and the Emerson String Quartet will perform music by Brahms, Wellesz, and Berg (July 13). The Danish String Quartet will make its Tanglewood debut with music by Nørgård, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven (July 28). The Knights will offer a program based on The Times They Are a-Changin’ (July 14). The Australian Chamber Orchestra will perform music from Barry Humphries’ Weimar Cabaret (August 14). Gil Shaham will perform Bach’s six Sonatas and Partitas (August 17). The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra will present Scarlatti’s La Gloria di Primavera (August 25). Chanticleer will appear in concert (July 27). And pianists Jeremy Denk (August 24), Nelson Freire (August 3), and Daniil Trifonov (August 4) will appear in solo recital.
The Festival of Contemporary Music, under the direction of Steven Stucky, will showcase the TMC Orchestra in the American premiere of George Benjamin’s Dream of the Song along with Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony, led by Stefan Asbury (July 25). The festival will run from July 21-25 and will feature the American premiere of a new string quartet by Phibbs; the world premieres of new works by Gee and Meltzer; as well as music by Salonen, Stucky, Lindberg, Currier, Lutoslawski, and others.
Keith Lockhart will lead the Boston Pops in a concert of favorites from the American Songbook, featuring Seth MacFarlane (July 10) and a live performance of Raiders of the Lost Ark to accompany a showing of the film (August 26). The Boston Pops brass section will join forces with the Boston Crusaders, Phantom Regiment, Bluecoats, and Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps for a brass spectacular (July 6). And John Williams will lead the Pops in the popular film night on August 13.
Tickets for the 2016 Tanglewood Season go on sale January 24. tanglewood.org; 888-266-1200
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