BSO Releases Tanglewood Program For Summer 2013

It can be mildly painful to think about the lazy days of summer at the end of a now-chilly November, but the Boston Symphony Orchestra hopes you go there in your imagination with Tuesday's release of details for its 2013 program at Tanglewood.

And BSO managing director Mark Volpe says the timing is a reflection of the organization's selling cycle.

"We start selling holiday Pops concerts in the summer," he said with a laugh, "so we’re always a season or two ahead, it’s just the nature of the beast."

The months-long, outdoor festival attracts thousands of music lovers to loll and picnic on the campus' lush lawns, and it keeps the BSO players — always dressed in white — on their toes throughout the season. Tanglewood is one of the world’s most revered classical paloozas, and also serves as the BSO’s summer home.

In 2013 the orchestra hopes to keep up the momentum it enjoyed at Tanglewood in 2012. The 75th anniversary season proved to be the third best in the festival's history, attracting some 350,000 music lovers.

News of former music director James Levine's replacement might generate significant buzz before summer hits, according to Volpe.

"We have seen some people this fall, and we’re going to see some people this winter," he said. "And circumstances can change, but we seem to be making progress, so we’ll see."

For now Volpe is focusing on Tanglewood's robust 2103 lineup. Here’s a tease of it:

-- A newly remastered print of the 1961 film "West Side Story" will be screened on July 13, accompanied by the BSO performing maestro Leonard Bernstein’s iconic score live.

-- Cellist Yo-Yo Ma teams up with American string virtuosos Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile and Stuart Duncan on Aug. 15 for a genre-bending program inspired by their 2011 recording, "The Goat Rodeo Sessions." Yo-Yo Ma will also perform Dvořák’s "Cello Concerto."

-- That wild and crazy guy Steve Martin returns with The Steep Canyon Rangers to perform a program of comedy and bluegrass on June 23 with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops.

-- Tony Award-winning vocalist Audra McDonald ("The Gershwins' Porgy & Bess") joins the annual John Williams Film Night on Aug. 24.

-- On June 29, Garrison Keillor returns to Tanglewood with "A Prairie Home Companion" for his 14th live broadcast from Lenox.

-- To mark the 100th anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s birth, Tanglewood (July 31 and Aug. 1) will present a double opera bill of Purcell’s "Dido and Aeneas" and Britten’s "Curlew River."

-- George Benjamin’s opera, "Written on Skin," will have its U.S. premiere on Aug. 12 with Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center, as part of the Festival of Contemporary Music.

-- On July 11 an Emmanuel Music concert performance of John Harbison’s opera, "The Great Gatsby," will celebrate the composer’s 75th birthday.

-- Also, Bryn Terfel, Katarina Dalayman and Amber Wagner will perform Act III of Wagner’s "Die Walküre," with director Lothar Koenigs, on July 20.

-- Joshua Bell partakes in the BSO's opening night with an all-Tchaikovsky program July 5.

-- Christoph von Dohnanyi will lead Brahms's Second and Third symphonies Aug. 9 and 10.

-- Pianist Leon Fleisher will perform works by Ravel on July 12.

The BSO will announce Tanglewood’s popular artist series in January — when you’re just about ready to torch your snow shovel and book a flight to Fiji.