Andris Nelsons Will Conduct Four Tanglewood Concerts This Summer

Andris Nelsons will lead four concerts at Tanglewood this summer. The music director-designate will conduct an all-Dvorak program July 11 with Anne-Sophie Mutter perfoming the violin concerto, and he’ll also be present for a gala the next night. He’ll be back the following weekend when his programs will include contemporary work – Swedish composer Rolf Martinsson’s “Bridge” (along with Brahms' Third, which he conducted last October, and Tchaikovsky, July 19) and Pulitzer-Prize winning composer Christopher Rouse’s “Rapture” (along with Beethoven’s Fifth and Lalo’s “Symphonie Expagnole” with Joshua Bell, July 20).

John Harbison and Michael Gandolfi will curate this year’s Festival of Contemporary Music, focusing on American composers, July 17-21. Christoph von Dohnanyi is back for Mahler’s Second, July 26, which was magnificent at Symphony Hall this past year. A concert version of Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide,” (the best way to experience this great music) is Aug. 16.

Annual favorites Yo-Yo Ma and James Taylor will, of course, be back. Here’s the BSO announcement and full lineup:

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BOSTON SYMPHONY ANNOUNCES 2014 TANGLEWOOD SEASON,
JUNE 28-AUGUST 30; TICKETS GO ON SALE SUNDAY, JANUARY 26,
AT 888-266-1200 AND WWW.TANGLEWOOD.ORG

2014 TANGLEWOOD SEASON WELCOMES ANDRIS NELSONS FOR HIS FIRST FESTIVAL APPEARANCES AS BSO MUSIC DIRECTOR DESIGNATE, CONDUCTING FOUR PERFORMANCES WITH THE BOSTON SYMPHONY AND TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER ORCHESTRAS

ANDRIS NELSONS LEADS THE BOSTON SYMPHONY IN AN ALL-DVOŘÁK PROGRAM (7/11); MUSIC OF BRAHMS AND TCHAIKOVSKY ON A PROGRAM WITH HÅKAN HARDENBERGER PERFORMING ROLF MARTINSSON’S TRUMPET CONCERTO (7/19); AND LALO’S SYMPHONIE ESPAGNOLE WITH VIOLINIST JOSHUA BELL ON A PROGRAM WITH BEETHOVEN’S FIFTH SYMPHONY AND CHRISTOPHER ROUSE’S RAPTURE (7/20)

IN A GALA EVENING IN CELEBRATION OF MAESTRO NELSONS ON JULY 12, THE BSO’S MUSIC DIRECTOR DESIGNATE LEADS A DANCE-INSPRIED PROGRAM FEATURING THE TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER ORCHESTRA AND CAST OF ACCLAIMED SINGERS IN EXCERPTS FROM STRAUSS’S DER ROSENKAVALIER, AND THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA IN RACHMANINOFF’S SYMPHONIC DANCES AND RAVEL’S BOLERO; A PRE-CONCERT DINNER AND POST-CONCERT PARTY WILL ADD TO THE FESTIVE ATMOSPHERE OF THIS SPECIAL OCCASION

2014 TANGLEWOOD SEASON TO SHOWCASE A WIDE RANGE OF AMERICAN MUSIC WITH PRESENTATIONS BY THE BSO, IN OZAWA HALL, AND DURING THE FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC: HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA’S ALL-AMERICAN OPENING NIGHT PROGRAM FEATURING OPERA STAR RENÉE FLEMING IN MUSIC RANGING FROM OPERA ARIAS TO POPULAR SONG (7/5); BERNSTEIN’S CANDIDE, IN A BSO CONCERT PERFORMANCE LED BY BRAMWELL TOVEY (8/16); THE WORLD PREMIERE OF WILLIAM BOLCOM’S CIRCUS OVERTURE TO OPEN A BSO CONCERT CELEBRATING LEONARD SLATKIN’S 70TH BIRTHDAY (8/8); SELECTIONS FROM COPLAND’S OLD AMERICAN SONGS FEATURING BARITONE THOMAS HAMPSON WITH THE BSO, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI (7/18); AND A BOSTON POPS PERFORMANCE OF THE SCORE TO THE WIZARD OF OZ, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF KEITH LOCKHART, TO ACCOMPANY A FILM PRESENTATION OF THE UNIVERSALLY BELOVED MOVIE CLASSIC (8/22)

ON THE SPECIAL OCCASION OF THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF OZAWA HALL, TANGLEWOOD WILL PRESENT THE NEW CHAMBER VERSION OF AMERICAN COMPOSER JACK BEESON’S OPERA LIZZIE BORDEN WITH MEMBERS OF THE BOSTON LYRIC OPERA ORCHESTRA UNDER DAVID ANGUS (7/31); AMERICAN-THEMED APPEARANCES BY THE BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS (7/1), CHANTICLEER (7/9), THE NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA OF THE USA WITH VIOLIN SOLOIST GIL SHAHAM AND CONDUCTOR DAVID ROBERTSON (7/24), THE KNIGHTS WITH SPECIAL GUEST DAWN UPSHAW (7/23), JEREMY DENK PERFORMING IVES’S CONCORD SONATA (8/13); THE FATHER-SON DUO OF ELLIS MARSALIS, JR., AND DELFEAYO MARSALIS (8/17), AND
THE MARIA SCHNEIDER ORCHESTRA (8/24)

TANGLEWOOD’S CELEBRATION OF THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF OZAWA HALL WILL ALSO INCLUDE A CONCERT PERFORMANCE OF HANDEL’S TESEO WITH THE PHILHARMONIA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA AND SOLOISTS UNDER THE DIRECTION OF NICHOLAS MCGEGAN (8/14) AND APPEARANCES BY THE EMERSON STRING QUARTET PERFORMING MUSIC OF SHOSTAKOVICH (7/10), THE SEQUENTIA ENSEMBLE FOR EARLY MUSIC (7/15), EMANUEL AX, LEONIDAS KAVAKOS, AND YO-YO MA IN AN ALL-BRAHMS RECITAL (8/7), THE DEUTSCHE KAMMERPHILHARMONIE BREMEN, WITH SOLOIST LARS VOGT, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF PAAVO JÄRVI, (8/6), AND BARITONE THOMAS HAMPSON AND PIANIST WOLFRAM RIEGER IN A RECITAL CELEBRATING THE 150TH BIRTH YEAR OF RICHARD STRAUSS (7/16)

2014 FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC, JULY 17-21, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
JOHN HARBISON AND MICHAEL GANDOLFI, FOCUSES ON AMERICAN COMPOSERS, INCLUDING JOHN ADAMS, STEVE MACKEY, GEORGE PERLE, BERNARD RANDS, AND ROGER SESSIONS, WITH A SPECIAL SPOTLIGHT ON A YOUNGER GENERATION OF AMERICANS, INCLUDING
ANTHONY CHEUNG, HANNAH LASH, ERIC NATHAN, AND KATE SOPER

JAMES TAYLOR RETURNS FOR HIS EVER-POPULAR TANGLEWOOD CONCERTS ON JULY 3 AND 4,
WITH TICKETS GOING ON SALE FOR THESE PERFORMANCES ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 16;
ADDITIONAL 2014 POPULAR ARTIST CONCERTS TO BE ANNOUNCED AT A LATER DATE

BOSTON POPS HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE KEITH LOCKHART-LED PERFORMANCES BY JASON ALEXANDER (7/13) AND JOSH GROBAN (8/30), AND FILM NIGHT WITH JOHN WILLIAMS (8/2)

A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION (6/28) AND WAIT WAIT…DON’T TELL ME! (8/28) BRING THEIR
POPULAR RADIO PROGRAMS TO THE KOUSSEVITZKY MUSIC SHED

ONE DAY UNIVERSITY (8/24) AND TANGLEWOOD FOOD AND WINE CLASSIC (8/7-10) RETURN IN 2014

TICKETS FOR THE 2014 TANGLEWOOD SEASON, PRICED FROM $10 TO $121 FOR REGULAR SEASON CONCERTS, ON SALE JANUARY 26 AT 888-266-1200 AND WWW.TANGLEWOOD.ORG;
TICKETS FOR JAMES TAYLOR’S JULY 3 AND 4 CONCERTS GO ON SALE JANUARY 16

TANGLEWOOD OFFERS FREE LAWN TICKETS TO YOUNG PEOPLE AGE 17 AND UNDER, A 50% DISCOUNT ON LAWN TICKETS TO COLLEGE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS, AND A VARIETY OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN, INCLUDING KIDS’ CORNER, WATCH AND PLAY, AND THE ANNUAL FAMILY CONCERT (8/23)

FOR FULL SEASON DETAILS ABOUT THE 2014 TANGLEWOOD SEASON, INCLUDING DOWNLOADABLE PHOTOS AND VIDEO, PROGRAM LISTINGS, AND ARTIST PHOTOS AND BIOGRAPHIES, CLICK HERE

Tanglewood—the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and widely known as one of the world’s most beloved music festivals—has announced details of its 2014 season, June 28-August 30. The BSO’s July 5 all-American Opening Night Gala program with opera superstar Renée Fleming featured in an evening of music ranging from opera arias to popular song, launches a season that will shine a spotlight on a wide variety of American music, performed by an extraordinary roster of the leading artists of our day. Among the many highlights of the 2014 Tanglewood season will be performances by Jason Alexander, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, Christoph von Dohnányi, Charles Dutoit, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Josh Groban, Thomas Hampson, Garrison Keillor, Paul Lewis, Keith Lockhart, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Gil Shaham, James Taylor, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Dawn Upshaw, and John Williams. In some of the most eagerly anticipated events of the 2014 Tanglewood season, Andris Nelsons will lead four programs in his first festival appearances as BSO Music Director Designate (7/11, 12, 19, and 20). Tickets for the 2014 Tanglewood season go on sale Sunday, January 26, at 888-266-1200 and www.tanglewood.org.

In addition, the 2014 Tanglewood season will present Bernstein’s Candide, in a concert performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and cast of singers led by Bramwell Tovey (8/16) and a Boston Pops performance of the score to The Wizard of Oz, under the direction of Keith Lockhart, to accompany a brilliantly restored print of the universally beloved movie classic (8/22). As part of a season-long celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood will present two concert operas: Handel’s Teseo with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and soloists under the direction of Nicholas McGegan (8/14) and the new chamber version of American composer Jack Beeson’s opera Lizzie Borden with members of the Boston Lyric Opera Orchestra under the direction of David Angus (7/31).
Situated in the beautiful Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts, Tanglewood offers music lovers a wide spectrum of musical guests and programs that spotlight the festival’s rich tradition of presenting summertime concerts at their best since 1937. The 2014 Tanglewood season will feature more than 100 performances, including concerts by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center; chamber music, recital, and concert opera presentations in Ozawa Hall; and a series of Popular Artist concerts, highlighted in 2014 by the return of James Taylor with his extraordinary band to the Koussevitzky Music Shed on July 3 and 4.
Tickets for the 2014 Tanglewood season, priced from $10 to $121, go on sale Sunday, January 26, at 888-266-1200 and www.tanglewood.org; tickets for James Taylor’s July 3 and 4 concerts go on sale Thursday, January 16. Tanglewood is family-friendly, with free lawn tickets available for young people age 17 and under, and a 50% discount on Friday-evening lawn tickets for college and graduate students, among the many options for discounted tickets. Tanglewood also offers a variety of special programs for children, including Kids’ Corner, Watch and Play, and the annual Family Concert, this year to take place on August 23, as well as a wide spectrum of education options for adults, ranging from pre-concert talks to One Day University (8/24), the latter featuring professors from prestigious universities offering in-depth lectures on music and beyond. In addition, this year’s Tanglewood Wine and Food Classic will take place August 7-10.
For further information about the concert schedule, family-friendly programs, educational offerings, and purchasing tickets visit www.tanglewood.org.
2014 TANGLEWOOD SEASON OVERVIEW
Andris Nelsons Conducts The BSO And Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra
In 2014 Tanglewood welcomes Andris Nelsons for his first festival appearances as BSO Music Director Designate (link to announcement release). His first of four concerts with the BSO will be an all-Dvořák program, with the composer’s symphonic poem The Noonday Witch, the Violin Concerto with soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter, and the Symphony No. 8 (7/11). For his second BSO program on July 19, Maestro Nelsons will be joined by Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger performing his compatriot Rolf Martinsson’s Trumpet Concerto, on a program with music by Brahms and Tchaikovsky. The following Sunday afternoon (7/20), Maestro Nelsons will open his BSO program with Christopher Rouse’s Rapture, followed by Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, with violin soloist Joshua Bell, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.

In a special gala concert on July 12, Andris Nelsons will lead a dance-inspired program featuring both the Boston Symphony and fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center, the BSO’s prestigious summer music academy. For his first performance with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Maestro Nelsons and the orchestra will be joined by a group of acclaimed opera singers for excerpts from Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier; the program will also feature the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances and Ravel’s Bolero. The evening’s performance will be preceded by a celebratory dinner on the occasion of Maestro Andris’s first Tanglewood appearances as BSO Music Director Designate; the festivities will continue with a post-concert party, also in honor of Mr. Nelsons.

2014 Tanglewood Season Celebrates American Music
In addition to the BSO’s all-American Opening Night Gala Concert with Renée Fleming (7/5) and the orchestra’s performance of Christopher Rouse’s Rapture with Andris Nelsons conducting, Tanglewood will offer a special focus on American music with orchestral, opera, and film presentations in the Koussevitzky Music Shed, and in opera, chamber music, and recital programs in Ozawa Hall, which marks its 20th Anniversary Season in 2014. Along with the concert performance of Bernstein’s Candide and the movie presentation with live orchestra of The Wizard of Oz, mentioned above, Tanglewood will present American baritone Thomas Hampson in a selection of Old American Songs by Aaron Copland, with Christoph von Dohnányi conducting (7/18), and the world premiere of William Bolcom’s Circus Overture to open a BSO concert celebrating Leonard Slatkin’s 70th birthday (8/8). The American music theme will extend to the season-long celebration of the 20th anniversary of Ozawa Hall with an appearance by Chanticleer in a program entitled She Said/He Said, with music ranging from Renaissance madrigals to new arrangements from Chanticleer’s popular and jazz repertoire (7/9); a performance of Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story and a new work by Sam Adams by the National Youth Orchestra of the USA under the direction of David Robertson (7/24); The Knights with special guest Dawn Upshaw performing Maria Schneider’s Winter Morning Walks (7/23); and a recital program featuring pianist Jeremy Denk performing Ives’s Concord Sonata (8/13). The Boston Symphony Chamber Players will present the Tanglewood premiere of a new work by an American composer commissioned for the ensemble’s 50th anniversary season in 2013-14; that program will also include music of Debussy and Schubert (7/1). The Ozawa Hall 20th Anniversary Season will also feature two jazz programs: American jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis, Jr., and his son, trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, will perform jazz standards and original compositions in a program entitled The Last Southern Gentlemen (8/17); and the highly acclaimed Grammy Award-winning Maria Schneider Orchestra will perform on August 24.

The 2014 Festival of Contemporary, July 17-21, under the direction of John Harbison and Michael Gandolfi, will present programs featuring works by American composers, with a special emphasis on music from a younger generation of Americans, many of whom have been Fellows at the Tanglewood Music Center. Along with several of this country’s most prominent composers—John Adams, Steve Mackey, George Perle, Bernard Rands, and Roger Sessions—the festival will also feature several rising stars in the world of composition: Anthony Cheung (TMC 2005), Hannah Lash (TMC 2005), Eric Nathan (TMC 2010), and Kate Soper (TMC 2006). In addition to works by Mr. Harbison (TMC 1959) and Mr. Gandolfi (TMC 1986), the festival will also feature works by American composers Martin Boykan, David Dzubay, Keeril Makan, James Matheson, Andrew Waggoner, and Anna Weesner. Works by Korean composer Seung-Ah Oh (TMC 2006), German composer Benjamin Scheuer (TMC 2012), and British composer Charlotte Bray (TMC 2008) will also be included. The Festival of Contemporary Music programs will feature the Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center, along with guest artists to be announced at a later date.

Additional Boston Symphony Orchestra Highlights
Highlights among the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s offering of 22 concerts throughout the summer include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, with conductor Christoph von Dohnányi (7/26); excerpts from Verdi’s Nabucco and Aida under the direction of Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (7/27); an all-Tchaikovsky program with Yo-Yo Ma performing Variations on a Rococo Theme, for cello and orchestra, with conductor David Zinman (8/10); and Prokofiev’s score to Alexander Nevsky on a program with Emanuel Ax performing Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, with Stéphane Denève conducting (8/15). The BSO’s portion of the 2014 Tanglewood season will close on August 24 with Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, featuring pianist Yefim Bronfman, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, under the direction of Charles Dutoit. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor, will be featured in the programs of excerpts from Verdi’s Nabucco and Aida on July 27; Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky on August 15; Leonard Bernstein’s Candide on August 16; and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and Ninth Symphony on August 24.

Boston Pops Orchestra with Keith Lockhart, John Williams, Jason Alexander, and Josh Groban
Besides leading the Boston Pops in the score to The Wizard of Oz to accompany the universally beloved movie classic (8/22), Keith Lockhart will conduct Boston Pops concerts featuring Broadway veteran and Tony Award-winner Jason Alexander in a program of comedy, song, and dance (7/13), and superstar singer Josh Groban in a program that brings the 2014 Tanglewood season to a close on August 30. John Williams will lead Tanglewood’s Film Night, one of the most eagerly-anticipated evenings of the Tanglewood season, with special guests to be announced at a later date (8/2). The annual day-long musical celebration, Tanglewood on Parade, culminating in an evening concert with the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center orchestras, led by Keith Lockhart, John Williams, and Stéphane Denève will take place on August 5.

James Taylor And His Extraordinary Band Make Welcome Return to Tanglewood
Tanglewood welcomes back James Taylor and his extraordinary band for two performances in the Koussevitzky Music Shed, July 3 and 4. A spectacular fireworks display over the Stockbridge Bowl will follow the concert. Mr. Taylor, who regularly performs to sold-out audiences at Tanglewood, has returned to the festival 21 times since his first performances there in 1974. Tickets for James Taylor’s July 3 and 4 concerts go on sale Thursday, January 16.

Prairie Home Companion and Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!
Tanglewood will present two of this country’s most popular radio programs in 2014: A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor will be broadcast live from the Koussevitzky Music Shed on June 28, and Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! with host Peter Segal will be taped on August 28 for future broadcast.

Additional Ozawa Hall Highlights Celebrating the Venue’s 20th Anniversary Season
The intimate setting of Ozawa Hall provides the backdrop for two staged operas: Handel’s Teseo with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Nicholas McGegan (8/14) and the new chamber version of Jack Beeson’s Lizzie Borden, performed by a Boston Lyric Opera chamber ensemble under the direction of David Angus (7/31). The Sequentia Ensemble (7/15), Chanticleer (7/9), National Youth Orchestra of the USA (7/24), Emerson String Quartet (7/10), and Boston Symphony Chamber Players, celebrating their 50th anniversary season (7/1), are among the prestigious ensembles to perform in Ozawa Hall during the 2014 Tanglewood season. The Knights, the popular New York-based chamber orchestra, will present a program featuring soprano Dawn Upshaw and trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger (7/23). Ozawa Hall will also host several other prominent artists in recital, chamber music, and orchestral concerts, including baritone Thomas Hampson with pianist Wolfram Rieger in a program celebrating the 150th birthday of Richard Strauss (7/16), and all-Brahms programs with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (8/6) and pianist Emanuel Ax, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and violinist Leonidas Kavakos on August 7. One Day University And The Tanglewood Wine and Food Classic
On Sunday, August 24, One Day University, the acclaimed adult educational series, returns to Tanglewood with lectures on What Would The Founding Fathers Think of America Today? with Wendy Schiller from Brown University; The Art of Aging with Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland from Yale University, Sponsored by The Boys From Brooklyn; and Rhapsody In Blue, Gershwin’s Remarkable Masterpiece with Orin Grossman, Fairfield University.

The Tanglewood Wine and Food Classic, August 7-10, features wine from around the world and locally sourced foods enjoyed in the incomparable setting of the Tanglewood grounds.

A full schedule of Popular Artist program will be announced at a later date.

TICKET INFORMATION IN BRIEF AND SEASON DATES
Tanglewood’s 2014 season opens on Saturday, June 28 and closes Saturday, August 30. Tickets, priced from $10 to $121, go on sale Sunday, January 26, and 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. Information about the July 12 Gala Concert in honor of Andris Nelsons— including details about the pre- and post-concert festivities and gala-priced concert tickets—is available by contacting Kathleen Pendleton at 617-638-9391 or kpendleton@bso.org.

Two special discount ticket offers introduced last season will be available again in 2014: $20 tickets for attendees under 40, one of the BSO’s most popular discount ticket offers, will be available for BSO and Boston Pops performances in the Shed; Tanglewood will also once again offer the BSO's popular college card. In addition, Tanglewood continues to offer free lawn tickets to young people age 17 and under and a 50% discount on lawn tickets to college and graduate students, 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 August 23. For ticket information and details about the Tanglewood Wine and Food Classic please click here. 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 each season, 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 last year—$20 tickets for attendees under 40—will be available for 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, a 50% discount on Friday-evening lawn tickets for college and graduate students, 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 August 23. 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 throughout each week-long session of the summer. These are just two of the BSO’s many educational and outreach activities, for which more information is available at www.bso.org—the largest and most visited orchestral website in the country, receiving about 7 million visitors annually and generating over $80 million in revenue since its launch in 1996. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is online at www.bso.org. Music lovers can follow the BSO on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bostonsymphony or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bostonsymphony. WHAT FOLLOWS ARE SECTIONS ON WEEKLY CONCERT DESCRIPTIONS; TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER ORCHESTRA AND FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC PROGRAMS; TICKET PURCHASING AND SPONSORSHIP NEWS; FAMILY FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES AND PATRON PERKS AND AMENITIES; AND THE BSO MEDIA CENTER

2014 TANGLEWOOD SEASON WEEK-BY-WEEK PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS

PRE-SEASON OFFERINGS, JUNE 28-JULY 4
TANGLEWOOD KICKS OFF 2014 SEASON JUNE 28 WITH GARRISON KEILLOR’S RETURN TO THE SHED WITH A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION; BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS PRESENT CONCERT IN CELEBRATION OF THEIR 50TH ANNIVERSARY, JULY 1; JAMES TAYLOR RETURNS TO THE SHED JULY 3 & 4

American Public Media’s A Prairie Home Companion returns once again to the Tanglewood grounds on Saturday, June 28, for the program’s annual live broadcast from the Koussevitzky Music Shed. Host Garrison Keillor and a colorful cast of friends from the shores of Lake Wobegon will take the stage for this Tanglewood tradition, a favorite for audiences since A Prairie Home Companion was first broadcast live from the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home in 1998.

On Tuesday, July 1, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players make their 2014 Tanglewood appearance in Ozawa Hall, performing a new work commissioned in celebration of the ensemble’s 50th anniversary season. Also on the program are Debussy’s Sonata for flute, viola, and harp—the first of the composer’s instrumental sonatas, all of which were composed in the last three years of his life—and Schubert’s Octet in F, D. 803, one of music history’s most ambitious pieces of chamber music.

James Taylor, one of Tanglewood’s most beloved guests, takes back the Shed stage along with his extraordinary band in two concerts, Thursday, July 3, and Friday, July 4. A festive Independence Day fireworks display follows the July 4 concert.

WEEK 1 (JULY 5–10)
ALL-AMERICAN OPENING NIGHT GALA CONCERT FEATURES WORLD FAVORITE RENÉE FLEMING, JULY 5; ISRAELI CONDUCTOR ASHER FISCH LEADS BSO IN PROGRAM OF LISZT AND WAGNER, WITH GARRICK OHLSSON AS SOLOIST IN BRAHMS’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2, JULY 6; CHANTICLEER BRINGS SHE SAID/HE SAID PROGRAM TO OZAWA HALL, JULY 9; EMERSON STRING QUARTET PERFORMS SHOSTAKOVICH’S FINAL FIVE STRING QUARTETS, JULY 10

Celebrated soprano Renée Fleming opens the 2014 BSO season at Tanglewood in an all-American program on July 5. With the Boston Symphony, she will present great works of the American concert hall and opera stage, plus favorites from musical theater and popular genres.
Israeli conductor Asher Fisch, who made his debut leading the BSO in an acclaimed performance of music by Wagner during the 2012 Tanglewood season, leads the orchestra in a Shed concert on Sunday, July 6. The program this summer, which also features dynamic American pianist Garrick Ohlsson, includes orchestral excerpts from Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Brahms’s lush and inventive Piano Concerto No. 2, and Liszt’s boisterous tone poem Les Préludes.

On Wednesday, July 9, all-male a cappella ensemble Chanticleer comes to Ozawa Hall with a program called She Said/He Said. The complex and emotionally charged dialogue between the sexes is an eternal theme for composers, from the bawdiest Renaissance madrigals through standards by Cole Porter. In another vein, godliness bestowed upon women is extolled in works by Andrea Gabrieli and Eric Whitacre. She Said/He Said will feature female voices as diverse as Hildegard von Bingen and Stacy Garrop, German Romanticism from Brahms and Fanny Mendelssohn, and songwriting by Joni Mitchell. The program will conclude with newly created arrangements contributing fresh material to Chanticleer’s popular and jazz repertoire.

In an extended concert with two intermissions on Thursday, July 10, the eminent Emerson String Quartet provides the rare opportunity to hear the last five of Shostakovich’s immortal string quartets, some of the greatest chamber works of the 20th century, in a single evening. The selected quartets are Nos. 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15, all composed in the Cold War-era USSR between 1966 and 1975.

WEEK 2 (JULY 11–17)
ANDRIS NELSONS MAKES FIRST TANGLEWOOD APPEARANCES SINCE BEING NAMED BSO MUSIC DIRECTOR, JULY 11 WITH SOLOIST ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER, AND JULY 12 IN A PROGRAM OF STRAUSS, RACHMANINOFF, AND RAVEL; JASON ALEXANDER JOINS KEITH LOCKHART AND THE BOSTON POPS ON JULY 13; BENJAMIN BAGBY’S SEQUENTIA ENSEMBLE RETURNS TO OZAWA HALL, JULY 15; THOMAS HAMPSON CELEBRATES STRAUSS’s 150TH BIRTHDAY, JULY 16

In two highly anticipated performances on Friday, July 11, and Saturday, July 12, Andris Nelsons makes his first Tanglewood appearances since being named the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s music director designate. The July 11 concert, for which Mr. Nelsons and the orchestra are joined by German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, features an all-Dvořák program including the Violin Concerto, the pastoral and tuneful Symphony No. 8, and the rarely performed 1896 symphonic poem The Noonday Witch. On July 12, Maestro Nelsons leads a dance-inspired gala performance featuring both the BSO and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. On the first half of the program, he leads the TMCO in excerpts from Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, featuring sopranos Sophie Bevan and Angela Denoke and mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard. The second half features the BSO in Rachmaninoff’s colorful and energetic Symphonic Dances and Ravel’s iconic Bolero.

The Boston Pops Orchestra and conductor Keith Lockhart makes their 2014 Tanglewood debut on Sunday, July 13, with special guest Jason Alexander. Singer, dancer, and master of comedic timing, Mr. Alexander is best known for his appearances on television (as George Costanza in Seinfeld) and in film. A Broadway veteran and Tony-Award winner, with the Boston Pops he will perform selections from The Music Man, Pippin, and Merrily We Roll Along, plus a few surprises.

On Tuesday, July 15, the Paris-based Sequentia Ensemble for Medieval Music comes to Ozawa Hall with its director and cofounder Benjamin Bagby for a performance as part of its Lost Songs Project: Music from the Court of Charlemagne. This program explores the musical world of Charlemagne and his circle, through political and religious songs, laments, storytelling, and epic. All of these appear today in shadowy and fragmentary forms, like phantoms from 1200 years ago, requiring deep study, reconstruction, and imagination. Through Mr. Bagby’s scholarly work and dramatic presentation, these Lost Songs sing again as they once sang for Charlemagne and his court.

Renowned baritone Thomas Hampson gives an Ozawa Hall recital with pianist Wolfram Rieger on Wednesday, July 16, celebrating the 150th anniversary of Richard Strauss’s birth. In this program, Mr. Hampson explores the world of the composer and his influences as a writer of song at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. In addition to songs by Strauss himself, this concert will include music by Berg, Korngold, and Zemlinsky.

WEEK 3 (JULY 18–24)
ANDRIS NELSONS LEADS SECOND WEEKEND OF PROGRAMS: JULY 19 FEATURES TRUMPET SOLOIST HÅKAN HARDENBERGER IN ROLF MARTINSSON’S BRIDGE, TRUMPET CONCERTO NO. 1; JOSHUA BELL JOINS NELSONS JULY 20 FOR LALO’S SYMPHONIE ESPAGNOLE; THOMAS HAMPSON KICKS OF WEEKEND JULY 18 WITH PERFORMANCE OF COPLAND’S OLD AMERICAN SONGS, WITH CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI; NEW YORK-BASED ORCHESTRA THE KNIGHTS PERFORM IN OZAWA HALL JULY 23; DAVID ROBERTSON LEADS THE NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA OF THE USA, JULY 24

Mr. Hampson takes the stage again on Friday, July 18, this time alongside the BSO and guest conductor Christoph von Dohnányi in selections from American composer Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs. Mr. Dohnányi also leads the orchestra in Strauss’s rollicking and virtuosic tone poem Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, which even the composer hailed as one of his finest works.

Music Director Designate Andris Nelsons returns to lead the orchestra in a pair of concerts for the second week running Saturday, July 19, and Sunday, July 20. The Saturday performance features two great works of the Romantic period—Brahms’s Symphony No. 3 and Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio italien—and is rounded out by contemporary Swedish composer Rolf Martinsson’s Bridge, Trumpet Concerto No. 1, with soloist Håkan Hardenberger. On Sunday, Mr. Nelsons is joined by virtuoso American violinist Joshua Bell for Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole for violin and orchestra, on a program that also includes Beethoven’s immortal Symphony No. 5 and Pulitzer Prize-winning New York-based composer Christopher Rouse’s Rapture, a 2000 work that Rouse says is meant to convey “a sense of spiritual bliss, religious or otherwise.”

On Wednesday, July 23, New York-based orchestra The Knights, a unique and flexible ensemble featuring musicians and composers from diverse musical backgrounds that expands and contracts to accommodate the variety of music it performs, performs in Ozawa Hall. The program features Maria Schneider’s Winter Morning Walks, for soprano, jazz musicians, and strings, and transcriptions for trumpet and ensemble of songs by Joni Mitchell, Kurt Weill, Michel Legrand, and Astor Piazzolla. Soloists include soprano Dawn Upshaw, trumpetist Håkan Hardenberger, pianist Frank Kimbrough, clarinetist Scott Robinson, and bassist Jay Anderson.

America’s brightest young players ages 16¬–19 visit Tanglewood on Thursday, July 24, as the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America comes to Ozawa Hall. The program, led by St. Louis Symphony Music Director David Robertson and featuring American violinist Gil Shaham, includes Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, Britten’s Violin Concerto, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, and a new work by Samuel Adams commissioned and written for the orchestra.

WEEK 4 (JULY 25–JULY 31)
PAUL LEWIS JOINS BSO AND CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI FOR MOZART’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 12, JULY 25; MAESTRO DOHNÁNYI LEADS MAHLER’S SYMPHONY NO. 2, JULY 26; RAFAEL FRÜHBECK DE BURGOS LEADS PROGRAM OF VERDI AND RACHMANINOFF WITH SOLOIST GABRIELA MONTERO IN HER BSO DEBUT; THE BOSTON LYRIC OPERA ORCHESTRA PERFORMS A CHAMBER VERSION OF BEESON’S LIZZIE BORDEN, JULY 31
Longtime BSO and Tanglewood guest Christoph von Dohnányi returns to the podium for two more BSO performances Friday, July 25, and Saturday, July 26. The July 25 concert features English piano soloist Paul Lewis, who elicited raves for his Symphony Hall performances with the orchestra in October 2013, in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K.414, as well as Beethoven’s Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus and Mendelssohn’s dashing Symphony No. 4, Italian. On July 26, Maestro Dohnányi leads the BSO, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, soprano Camilla Tilling, and mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly in Mahler’s sprawling and transcendent Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, both one of the great works and the great spectacles of the symphonic repertoire.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra welcomes familiar guest conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos to the Shed on Sunday, July 27, for varied program of Rachmaninoff and Verdi. On the first half of the concert, Venezuelan-American pianist Gabriela Montero takes center stage for her BSO debut, performing Rachmaninoff’s sweeping Piano Concerto No. 2, full of passionate emotion and memorable melodies. The operatic second half of the program is devoted to the music of Verdi, including the Overture and Va, pensiero (Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves) from Nabucco and the Finale of Act II from Aida.

The opera theme continues on Thursday, July 31, as the Chamber Ensemble from the Boston Lyric Opera Orchestra comes to Ozawa Hall for an evening of American opera. Led by conductor David Angus and featuring sopranos Chelsea Basler and Caroline Worra, mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson, tenor Omar Najmi, and baritones David McFerrin and Daniel Mobbs, the ensemble performs Jack Beeson’s 1965 opera Lizzie Borden about the infamous 1892 Fall River, Massachusetts, double axe murder. The work will be performed without intermission and sung in English with supertitles in a new chamber version created for the Boston Lyric Opera.

WEEK 5 (AUGUST 1–7)
JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET JOINS ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR MARCELO LEHNINGER AND BSO FOR SHOSTAKOVICH’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1, AUGUST 1; JOHN WILLIAMS LEADS ANNUAL TANGLEWOOD FILM NIGHT, AUGUST 2; AUGUSTIN HADELICH PERFORMS MOZART’S VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 4, AUGUST 3; TANGLEWOOD ON PARADE TAKES PLACE ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 5; PAAVO JÄRVI AND HIS DEUTSCHE KAMMERPHILHARMONIE BREMEN PERFORM ALL-BRAHMS PROGRAM, AUGUST 6; LEONIDAS KAVAKOS, YO-YO MA, AND EMANUEL AX PERFORM RECITAL OF BRAHMS WORKS, AUGUST 7

For The Serge and Olga Koussevitzky Memorial Concert on Friday, August 1, the Boston Symphony Orchestra is led by Associate Conductor Marcelo Lehninger and joined by renowned French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Opening the program is Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for strings and concluding it is Schumann’s Symphony No. 4. In between is Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1 for piano and trumpet—featuring Mr. Thibaudet and BSO principal trumpet Thomas Rolfs—an intricate and inspired work that belongs among the composer’s best.

A beloved summer tradition continues on August 2 with John Williams’ Film Night, one of the most eagerly-anticipated evenings of the Tanglewood Season. Special guests will join John Williams and the Boston Pops for this program of exciting music lit by the bright lights of Hollywood.

Maestro Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos returns to the podium on Sunday, August 3, for a BSO concert devoted entirely to the Classical period and the Austro-German tradition. Young rising German violinist Augustin Hadelich joins the orchestra for Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 in D, K.218, at the heart of the program. The Mozart is bookended by the music of his principal predecessor and successor, respectively: Haydn’s Symphony No. 6, Le Matin, to begin the program, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2, to close it. All three works capture their composers at the beginning of their careers and showcase their early genius.

One of the festival’s most beloved traditions, the ever-popular Tanglewood on Parade (Tuesday, August 5), gives audiences a chance to hear all of the festival’s orchestras perform in a single concert. Leonard Slatkin and Stéphane Denève are joined by Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart, and Laureate Conductor John Williams for a program that will include the traditional TOP finale, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. This festive concert features performances by the BSO, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and the Boston Pops, followed by fireworks over the Stockbridge Bowl.

On Wednesday, August 6, Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi and his Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen take the Ozawa Hall stage for an all-Brahms program that also features German pianist Lars Vogt. Kicking off the concert is the raucous and lighthearted Academic Festival Overture, followed by the more serious-minded Piano Concerto No. 1. Concluding the program is the Symphony No. 2, the composer’s most expansive and relaxed symphony, but also featuring a wealth of rhythmic innovation.

Brahms is once again in the spotlight on Thursday, August 7, as a trio of stars comes to Ozawa Hall for an evening of chamber music devoted to the Romantic master’s work. Violinist Leonidas Kavakos, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and pianist Emanuel Ax team up for the Piano Trio No. 1 in B, Op. 8, in the concert’s finale, and perform in duos for the Violin Sonata No. 1 in G, Op. 78, and the Cello Sonata No. 2 in F, Op. 99.

WEEK 6 (AUGUST 8–14)
BSO CELEBRATES LEONARD SLATKIN’S 70TH BIRTHDAY, AUGUST 8, WITH WORLD PREMIERE OF BOLCOM’S CIRCUS OVERTURE; STÉPHANE DENÈVE LEADS PROGRAM OF DEBUSSY, SZYMANOWSKI, AND TCHAIKOVSKY, AUGUST 9; DAVID ZINMAN LEADS ALL-TCHAIKOVSKY PROGRAM FEATURING YO-YO MA, AUGUST 10; JEREMY DENK PERFORMS BACH GOLDBERG VARIATIONS AND IVES’S SONATA NO. 2, AUGUST 13; PHILHARMONIA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA BRINGS HANDEL’S TESEO TO OZAWA HALL, AUGUST 14

The BSO celebrates American conductor Leonard Slatkin’s 70th birthday on Friday, August 8, as he leads the orchestra in a program featuring the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer William Bolcom’s Circus Overture, a BSO commission written for the occasion. Gil Shaham joins Mr. Slatkin and the Orchestra for Barber’s Violin Concerto, and the concert concludes with Elgar’s kaleidoscopic Enigma Variations, a musical depiction of the composer’s friends and acquaintances that stands as one of the repertoire’s greatest examples of tone painting.

On Saturday, August 9, French maestro Stéphane Denève takes the podium for a BSO performance pairing music by Tchaikovsky with two works from the 20th century. To begin the program, Mr. Denève leads the orchestra in Debussy’s revolutionary Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun, after which he and the orchestra are joined by Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos for Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 2. The drama and adrenaline of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 bring the concert to a close.

Yo-Yo Ma once again takes the stage at Tanglewood on Sunday, August 10, this time in an all-Tchaikovsky program with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by American maestro David Zinman. Mr. Ma is featured in two works: the Andante cantabile and the Variations on a Rococo Theme, both for cello and orchestra. The program also includes the Polonaise from Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece Eugene Onegin, and the perennial favorite Symphony No. 6, Pathétique.

New York-based American pianist Jeremy Denk arrives in the Berkshires to give an Ozawa Hall recital Wednesday, August 13, featuring two great monuments of the keyboard literature: Ives’s Sonata No. 2, Concord, of which Mr. Denk has made something of a specialty, and Bach’s Goldberg Variations

The drama and dazzle of Baroque opera take over Ozawa Hall on Thursday, August 14, as the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, led by early music specialist Nicholas McGegan, gives a complete concert performance of Handel’s rarely performed 1713 opera seria Teseo, based on the legend of Theseus and Medea. The cast includes sopranos Amanda Forsythe, Amy Freston, Dominique Labelle, and Céline Ricci; countertenors Robin Blaze and Drew Minter; and baritone Jeffrey Fields.

WEEK 7 (AUGUST 15–21)
EMANUEL AX JOINS THE BSO AUGUST 15 FOR BEETHOVEN’S EMPEROR CONCERTO; BRAMWELL TOVEY LEADS THE BSO, TANGLEWOOD FESTIVAL CHORUS, AND A CAST OF SINGERS IN BERNSTEIN’S CANDIDE, AUGUST 16; NIKOLAI LUGANSKY JOINS CHARLES DUTOIT FOR RACHMANINOFF’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 3 ON A PROGRAM FEATURING STRAVINSKY’S FIREBIRD, AUGUST 17; ELLIS AND DELFEAYO MARSALIS PERFORM WORKS FROM THE LAST SOUTHERN GENTLEMEN, AUGUST 17

Stéphane Denève returns to the Shed podium on Friday, August 15, to lead the BSO in music by Beethoven and Prokofiev. Pianist Emanuel Ax joins the orchestra for the first half of the program as soloist in Beethoven’s ever-popular Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, written in Vienna in 1809 while the city was under siege by Napoleonic forces. After intermission, the BSO welcomes the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and mezzo-soprano Elena Manistina for Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky cantata, music originally written for Sergei Eisenstein’s film of the same name.

Operetta and satire come to the Shed on Saturday, August 16, with a complete concert presentation of Bernstein’s witty Candide, based on Voltaire’s novel. The BSO and Tanglewood Festival Chorus are conducted by Bramwell Tovey, and the cast of distinguished vocalists includes soprano Anna Christy, mezzo-sopranos Kathryn Leemhuis and Frederica von Stade, tenors Nicolas Phan and Beau Gibson, and baritones Paul LaRosa and Richard Suart, as well as vocal soloists from the Tanglewood Music Center.

On Sunday, August 17, eminent Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit takes the helm of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra for The Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert. The talented young TMC Fellows perform an all-Russian program featuring Stravinsky’s Scherzo fantastique and the complete ballet score for The Firebird, as well as Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, withRussian pianist Nikolai Lugansky.

Later the same day, father Ellis Marsalis, Jr., and son Delfeayo Marsalis perform works from their first collaborative album, The Last Southern Gentlemen. Built on the intimacy of American ballads and the trombone’s expressive mimicry of the human voice, The Last Southern Gentlemen is a firm acknowledgement of the existence and importance of those sweet, gentle sounds.

WEEK 8 (AUGUST 22–30)
KEITH LOCKHART AND THE BOSTON POPS BRING THE WIZARD OF OZ TO LIFE WITH LIVE MUSIC PLAYED ALONG WITH THE MOVIE, AUGUST 22; CHARLES DUTOIT LEADS THE BSO IN BERLIOZ, RACHMANINOFF, AND RESPIGHI, AUGUST 23, AND THE SEASON-ENDING PERFORMANCE OF BEETHOVEN’S SYMPHONY NO. 9, AUGUST 24; MARIA SCHNEIDER ORCHESTRA TAKES TO OZAWA HALL, AUGUST 24; WAIT WAIT…DON’T TELL ME! RETURNS TO TANGLEWOOD ON AUGUST 28; JOSH GROBAN JOINS MAESTRO LOCKHART AND THE POPS TO CLOSE OUT THE SUMMER, AUGUST 30

The Boston Pops and Keith Lockhart bring the magic of Dorothy, the Wicked Witch of the West, and the rest of the Wizard of Oz gang to the Shed on Friday, August 22, in a performance of Oz with Orchestra. The Wizard of Oz was a technical marvel for the MGM studio in the late 1930s. MGM has stunningly re-mastered this timeless classic, and in this version, produced by John Goberman, the brilliantly restored images are accompanied by a full symphony orchestra playing entirely new transcriptions of Harold Arlen’s brilliant lost scores.

Charles Dutoit returns to the podium on Saturday, August 23, and Sunday, August 24, to lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s final two concerts of the 2014 Tanglewood season. An Italian-themed program on August 23 begins with Berlioz’s colorful Roman Carnival Overture and continues with Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, featuring pianist Kirill Gerstein as soloist. Completing the program is Respighi’s rousing trio of Rome-centric tone poems: Roman Festivals, Fountains of Rome, and Pines of Rome. Earlier in the day, Tanglewood’s annual Family Concert will take place at 2:30 p.m. in Ozawa Hall. Then, on August 24, the BSO’s Tanglewood season comes to a close with its traditional performance of Beethoven’s transcendent Symphony No. 9. The final concert this year includes a second opportunity for the Tanglewood Festival Chorus to shine in the form of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, which also features pianist Yefim Bronfman. Vocal soloists include sopranos Nicole Cabell and Meredith Hansen, mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford, tenors Noah Stewart and Alex Richardson, and bass-baritone John Relyea.

In the evening following the BSO’s farewell performance, the Maria Schneider Orchestra—a big-band group led by composer-pianist Maria Schneider that blends the freedom of jazz and the structure of classical music—brings its unique flavor of music-making to Ozawa Hall.

On Thursday, August 28, Tanglewood visitors have the opportunity to enjoy a live presentation of the witty and fast-paced radio program Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! in the Shed. The Peabody Award-winning series offers a fast-paced, irreverent look at the week’s news, hosted by Peter Sagal along with judge and score-keeper Carl Kassell. This 8 p.m. performance will be recorded for broadcast to its weekly audience of 3.2 million weekly listeners on more than 600 NPR stations nationwide.

The Tanglewood 2014 season comes to a close on Saturday, August 30, with a Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra performance for which conductor Keith Lockhart and members of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus will be joined by Josh Groban. One of today's popular music superstars, Mr. Groban has become a Tanglewood favorite and provides a spectacular close to a summer of spectacular concerts.

TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER HIGHLIGHTS
The Tanglewood Music Center (TMC), the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer academy for advanced musical study, is considered one of the world’s foremost graduate-level educational programs for young professional musicians. TMC Fellows work closely with members of the BSO and renowned guest artists, performing some 40 concerts each season, including chamber music concerts and large-scale orchestral programs.

The Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra (TMCO) will perform five full concerts during the 2014 season, concluding the annual Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert in the Shed on Sunday, August 17, with conductor Charles Dutoit heading up a program featuring Nikolai Lugansky in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, as well as Stravinsky’s Scherzo fantastique and the complete ballet score for The Firebird. Other guest conductors to lead the TMCO this season, along with conducting Fellows of the Music Center, include Stefan Asbury in a program featuring Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, July 6; Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos in a program including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 and Sibelius’s Luonnotar, July 28; Stéphane Denève in an all-Berlioz program, including the overture to Béatrice et Bénédict, Les Nuits d’été, and Symphonie fantastique, August 11: and an orchestra program that closes the Festival of Contemporary Music on July 21 (see below). The TMCO will also perform during Tanglewood on Parade on August 5.

In addition, on Saturday, July 12, the TMCO will participate in a Gala evening welcoming Andris Nelsons to Tanglewood for the first time since his appointment as BSO Music Director Designate. The TMCO will join Maestro Nelsons on stage for excerpts from Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier during the first half of the program, followed by BSO performances of Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances and Ravel’s Bolero.

2014 FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC, JULY 17-21
The 2014 Festival of Contemporary Music, under the direction of composers John Harbison and Michael Gandolfi, will highlight works by American composers, as part of Tanglewood’s season-long focus on American music. One of the highlights of FCM this year is the world premiere of Welsh-born American composer Bernard Rands’ Folk Songs (a TMC Commission). The piece takes its inspiration from the seminal Folk Songs of Rands’ mentor Luciano Berio. The program also includes At Once on a Deserted Street by Martin Boykan, Voices, a world premiere and TMC commission by the young German composer and 2012 TMC Fellow Benjamin Scheuer, and Michael Gandolfi’s As Above.

Another highlight of the Festival is the Theatre evening on Sunday, July 20, at 8 p.m., featuring concert performances of Andrew Waggoner’s This Powerful Rhyme—a piece written between 2003 and 2006 featuring Shakespearean sonnets and exploring countless aspects of intimate human relationships—and Kate Soper’s Helen Enfettered, based on text from Chapter E of Christian Bök’s Eunoia, which describes the character and ordeal of Helen of Troy.

The Festival opens on Thursday, July 17, with chamber works by American composers James Matheson (Anatomy of Melancholy), Anna Weesner (Mother Tongues), Jacob Druckman (Bo), Fred Lerdahl (Wake), and John Harbison (Parody Fantasia), as well as Korean-born composer Seung-Ah Oh (Canonical Contours for percussion quartet). On Friday, July 18, TMC Fellows will perform works from the Composition Fellows’ intensive “piece-a-day” project, whereby the composers develop short works for specific small ensembles quickly and practically. Saturday, July 19, at 2:30 p.m., features an all-American program with works by George Perle, Keeril Makan (Two), Hannah Lash (Friction, Pressure, Impact), David Dzubay, Eric Nathan (Toying), and Anthony Cheung (Roundabout).

The closing concert of the Festival of Contemporary Music takes place on Monday, July 21, and features the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in Roger Sessions’ Concerto for Orchestra, a Pulitzer Prize-winning piece commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for its centennial thirty years ago. Also on the program are Steve Mackey’s Beautiful Passing, a violin concerto, featuring violinist Sarah Silver, a member of the 2014 Tanglewood New Fromm Players; English composer Charlotte Bray’s At the Speed of Stillness; and John Adams’s Slonimsky’s Earbox.

TANGLEWOOD WINE AND FOOD CLASSIC, AUGUST 7-10
The Tanglewood Wine and Food Classic takes place in 2014 on Thursday, August 7 through Sunday, August 10. The four day event, featuring seminars, dinners, and a grand tasting, kicks off on Thursday evening with a wine dinner. The grand tasting will take place on Saturday, August 9, in the Hawthorne tent, and the weekend closes with an auction dinner on Sunday, August 10. Complete information about the Tanglewood Wine and Food Classic will be available in early 2014.