The Lawn at Tanglewood. John Ferrillo photography
Good luck getting Trifonov tickets.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra officially opens its much-anticipated Tanglewood season on Saturday, July 10, returning to live performances for the first time since March 2020. Frequent BSO collaborator and familiar Tanglewood face Emanuel Ax will join music director Andris Nelsons for an all-Beethoven program (with “Emperor” concerto and the Fifth) in the Shed.
Nothing else about the summer season will be familiar.
Everything happens in the Shed, and on the reconfigured lawn. Absolutely no singing anywhere—no choruses, no vocal students. Only half as many Tanglewood Music Center students will live on campus. Safety and health precautions will be followed. Concerts will be shorter. Tickets will be hard to come by—not only Trifonov, who plays the first Brahms concerto with Nelsons July 17.
But for a season that will be limited to six long weekends, the BSO has found enough new music, enough diversity in programming, enough Pops and family-friendly music, and enough of the standard repertory as will fit safely into one summer.
The BSO performs on Saturdays and Sundays, and the Pops shares Fridays with various starry chamber programs. Mondays feature the brilliant TMC students.
Health and safety protocols abound. The Shed will be at limited capacity, and the lawn will have coverings and designated areas. Programs will last 80 minutes max. Ozawa Hall and the other venues will be closed to the public. Tickets and entry will be contactless. Food is all à la carte.
But the bucolic grounds in Lenox will be open for live music again. “It was important to do,” says BSO CEO and managing director Mark Volpe, who retires in June. “I didn’t want to leave this gig without having the orchestra back at Tanglewood.”
TMC musicians—sixty-six out of the usual 150, from the 2020 class that missed their chance last summer—get a private room and bath for health reasons, but are required to uphold safety protocols (no Pittsfield or Great Barrington bars). The Boston University Tanglewood Institute students—virtual again this summer—will not be there. All Berkshire venues have a Covid Code of Courtesy, which includes mask wearing, distancing and frequent hand sanitizing—even for those already vaccinated. Contact information will be gathered, for possible tracing. There are no plans to require proof of vaccination.
Artistically, the balance of repertory and performers looks impressive. Continuing its commitment to diversifying choices, the BSO features a host of contemporary composers, mixed in with plenty of Pops staples and standard choices. Works by Carlos Simon, Hannah Kendall, Iman Habibi, Vijay Iyer, Missy Mazzoli and Jessie Montgomery will be performed on the main stage. Assistant conductor Anna Rakitina and TMC alum Karina Canellakis make their Tanglewood debuts.
Thomas Adès directs the jam-packed, three-concert Festival of Contemporary Music. These programs appear to stretch the 80-minute limit, but nobody will care. There are many highlights to this year’s FCM—music by Shepherd, Saariaho, Kurtag, Weir, Norman. A centerpiece will be a performance by Anthony Marwood of Ligeti’s violin concerto July 26.
Yo-Yo, Anne-Sophie, Josh, Manny, Fima, Wynton—many first-name stars will be there as well. John Williams has a strong presence—Keith Lockhart leads an all-Williams program July 23, Mutter premieres his second violin concerto July 24, and Williams co-conducts a program of his film music Aug. 13. Herbert Blomstedt—TMC ’53—conducts two programs.
Select weekly performances will get live-streamed on the BSO NOW portal—expect that to be a regular feature of all BSO performances in the future. The popular artists series has not yet been announced. Tanglewood Learning Institute initiatives will be virtual this summer.
Tickets go on sale at 10:00 a.m. May 17. It helps to be a donor, but face it—there will be competition. Free lawn tickets are available for those under 18, and for children accompanying ticket-holders. Daytime TMC concerts are free, and discounts are available to Berkshire County residents.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s official opening night at Tanglewood is July 10. The Knights, with conductor Eric Jacobsen and piano soloist Aaron Diehl, perform July 9 as a season warm-up. Visit tanglewood.org or call 888-266-1200.
Keith Powers covers music and the arts for Gannett New England, Leonore Overture and Opera News. Follow @PowersKeith; email to keithmichaelpowers@gmail.com.