Boston Symphony Orchestra Announces Tanglewood Music Center's 2006 Season

12:00AM / Wednesday, April 12, 2006Print Story | Email Story

James Levine, TMC Orchestra And Vocal Fellows Join Internationally Renowned Soloists In Performance Of Strauss Opera "Elektra" TMC Plans Collaboration With Shakespeare & Co. The Tanglewood Music Center - The Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer music academy - once again brings young musicians to the Berkshires for a summer of performing with and learning from many of the most accomplished artists in the world. Highlights of the Tanglewood Music Center's 66th season include BSO Music Director James Levine leading TMC Orchestra (TMCO) and Vocal Fellows and an internationally renowned cast of singers in Strauss' opera Elektra, as well as the TMC Vocal Fellows performing in a "Bernstein on Broadway" tribute concert with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops. Tanglewood on Parade includes the TMC Orchestra - as well as the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops orchestras - in a rousing program that concludes with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and fireworks. James Levine also will work closely with TMC vocalists, conductors, and instrumentalists in preparing a triple bill of 20th-century opera for performance on July 27 and 28 as the opening concert in this season's Festival of Contemporary Music. Mr. Levine conducts the American stage premiere of Elliott Carter's sparkling What Next? (1999), and TMC Conducting Fellows lead performances of Stravinsky's one-act comic opera Mavra and Hindemith's palindromic operatic sketch Hin und zurÃ¼ck ("There and back"), both dating from the 1920s. All three of these fully staged productions will be sung in English. Opening Exercises for this summer's TMC season will be at 2:30 p.m. on July 3 in Ozawa Hall. Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director James Levine returns this summer after his acclaimed 2005 inaugural season at Tanglewood. He is the chairman of the TMC's opera and conducting programs. In addition to working with TMC Fellows for the 20th-century opera triple-bill, this summer Mr. Levine will lead the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in a concert performance of Strauss' opera Elektra on July 15 in the Koussevitzky Music Shed. The concert - the Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert - features the TMC Orchestra and Vocal Fellows, as well as the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and a host of internationally renowned singers including soprano Lisa Gasteen (Elektra), soprano Christine Brewer (Chrysothemis), mezzo-soprano Felicity Palmer (Klytemnestra), bass-baritone Alan Held (Orest), tenor Siegfried Jerusalem (Aegist), soprano Claudia Waite (Overseer), soprano Jennifer Check (maid), soprano Marjorie Elinor Dix (maid), soprano Sandra Lopez (maid), mezzo-soprano Mary Phillips (maid), and alto Ellen Rabiner (maid). The performance will include supertitles. TMC Composition Program Activities This year marks the Tanglewood Music Center's fourth collaboration with Shakespeare & Co. On August 9, TMC composers and performers will be joined by Tina Packer and actors from Shakespeare & Co. for a showcase of new works, which bring together music written by the Fellows and words from Shakespeare and modern playwrights. This project will be overseen jointly by composer Michael Gandolfi and stage director and actress Tina Packer. Founded by Tina Packer in 1978, Shakespeare & Co. is one of the nation's largest Shakespeare festivals. The Lenox-based company aims to merge the historical strengths of British and American actors - the spoken word and physical prowess, respectively - in a reinvigorated vision of Elizabethan theater. TMC composition faculty member Steve Mackey will work with the Composition Fellows on creating new works for a variety of unusual solo instruments. Betsy Jolas will work with Composition Fellows on composing for voice and ensemble, both of which have had an important presence in her own works. Composers Michael Gandolfi, John Harbision, Bernard Rands, Augusta Read Thomas and Mark-Anthony Turnage also will offer composition classes, as will several guest composers during the Festival of Contemporary Music. String Quartet Seminar Each year the Tanglewood Music Center holds an intensive workshop in quartet playing, which explores this repertoire from Haydn through the 20th century. The eight-day seminar takes place at the beginning of the season, culminating in a String Quartet Marathon Concert - three two-hour performances - on June 24 in Ozawa Hall. Participating Fellows will concentrate exclusively on the string quartet during this period. Distinguished artists participating in the 2006 TMC String Quartet Seminar include the Juilliard String Quartet (Joel Smirnoff and Ronald Copes, violins, Samuel Rhodes, viola, and Joel Krosnick, cello); members of the Concord String Quartet including Mark Sokol and Andrew Jennings, violins, and Norman Fischer, cello; and Donald Weilerstein, former first violin of the Cleveland Quartet. Festival of Contemporary Music The 2006 Festival of Contemporary Music (FCM) will be held July 27-31. Stefan Asbury, the TMC's Coordinator of the Conducting Program and internationally known conductor of contemporary music, will serve as the Festival's Director; Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer John Harbison, chairman of the TMC's Composition Program, will be the Festival advisor. Major works by Elliott Carter and Mark-Anthony Turnage will open and close the Festival, respectively. The four other Festival programs will include chamber music and solo works, including a commissioned short concerto for violin and ensemble by TMC alumnus Ron Ford, a featured composer at this year's Festival. The distinguished Boston composer Donald Martino, also commissioned by the TMC to write a work for the TMC, passed away last winter before completing his new work; the 40 seconds he wrote - along with others of the composer's works - will be performed as a tribute to the longtime Harvard faculty member. The 2006 Festival of Contemporary Music opens on Thursday, July 27, with James Levine leading TMC Vocal Fellows and Orchestra in the American stage premiere of Carter's What Next? The program includes Hindemith's Hin und zurÃ¼ck and Stravinsky's Mavra, led by TMC Conducting Fellows. These fully staged productions will feature the direction and set design of Doug Fitch, lighting design by Clifton Taylor, and costume design by Catherine Zuber. The Boston Symphony's program on Friday, July 28, under BSO assistant conductor Ludovic Morlot, will include the BSO's contribution to the 2006 Festival of Contemporary Music, George Perle's Transcendental Modulations. Chamber programs on July 29 and July 30 will include solo works and pieces for large and small ensemble by composers including Johannes Staud - a second featured composer at this year's Festival - as well as Andrew Norman, David Felder, Stephen Andrew Taylor, Mark Gustavson, Eric Chasalow, Stephen Jaffe, and Edmund Campion, many of whom are being featured at Tanglewood for the first time. In addition to the works played in memoriam for Donald Martino (including the composer's own works and Milton Babbitt's Don, written in tribute to him), the TMC is honoring Jacob Druckman, long-time TMC composition faculty member and distinguished composer, in the tenth anniversary year after his death with a performance of his Second String Quartet by the New Fromm Players. This group will also perform Betsy Jolas' Second Quartet; Ms. Jolas, who celebrated her 40th birthday at Tanglewood with a performance of this work in 1966, will be in residence celebrating her 80th birthday with its reprise. Other major works being performed include Hans Abrahamsen's Piano Concerto, and Poul Ruders' Psalmodies, a work for large ensemble with guest guitar soloist David Starobin. Stefan Asbury and a TMC chamber orchestra close this year's Festival of Contemporary Music on July 31 with the annual Fromm Concert. The event features Mark-Anthony Turnage's Blood on the Floor with guest artists Peter Erskine, percussion; Martin Robertson, saxophone; and John Parricelli, guitar. The Festival of Contemporary Music is made possible through the generous support of Dr. Raymond and Hannah H. Schneider, with addition support through the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Argosy Foundation, the Fromm Foundation, and the Helen F. Whitaker Fund. Orchestral And Conducting Programs Stefan Asbury will once again serve as TMC Conducting Program Coordinator. Other conducting faculty members include Herbert Blomstedt and Boston Symphony Orchestra Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink, who will share the podium with the young conductors in several TMC Orchestra concerts. Conducting Fellows will have opportunities to lead the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and conduct ensemble performances during the season. The TMC Orchestra (TMCO) programs will include the July 15 performance of Strauss' Elektra, under the baton of James Levine, in the Koussevitsky Music Shed. The TMCO will open its season on July 3 with Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor emeritus Bernard Haitink leading a performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10, in a program that will also include Mozart's Symphony No. 35, Haffner and Strauss' Death and Transfiguration. Stefan Asbury leads the TMC Orchestra on August 6 in a concert that includes the works of Dvo?Ã¡k, FaurÃ©, Babbitt, Sibelius, and Ravel. The performance also features soprano Dawn Upshaw. Finally, Herbert Blomstedt and TMC Conducting Fellows will lead the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra on August 14 in Beethoven's Symphony No. 4, Lidholm's Kontakion, and Hindemith's Mathis der Maler. BSO Involvement More than half of the members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra will again participate in Tanglewood Music Center teaching, coaching, and curriculum preparation this season. Each section of the BSO (winds, brass, percussion, and strings) works with their young counterpart musicians in the TMC. BSO musicians will supervise, lead, or participate in sectional rehearsals, repertoire and master classes, orchestral and chamber music activities, and in regular exchanges between the two orchestras. BSO musicians are also heavily involved in the auditioning process. TMC Faculty In addition to many members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center resident and guest faculty for the 2006 Tanglewood season consists of some of the finest musicians in the world, including cellists Norman Fischer, Joel Krosnick, and Yo-Yo Ma; hornist Barry Tuckwell; pianists Emanuel Ax, Boris Berman, Claude Frank, Garrick Ohlsson, and Alan Smith; violinists Ronald Copes, Pamela Frank, Andrew Jennings, Joel Smirnoff, and Mark Sokol; violist Samuel Rhodes; and vocalists Lucy Shelton and Dawn Upshaw. TMC musicians may also work with conductors Stefan Asbury, Herbert Blomstedt, and Bernard Haitink; and composers Michael Gandolfi, Betsy Jolas, Steve Mackey, Bernard Rands, and Augusta Read Thomas. Tanglewood Music Center Fellowship Program The Tanglewood Music Center Fellowship program is for experienced musicians who have completed the majority of their formal training. The sole criterion for admission is musical excellence. The program is open to instrumentalists, including pianists; singers and vocal pianists; composers, and conductors. Instrumental Fellows participate in an intense program involving work in orchestral studies, a program chaired by BSO principal bass Edwin Barker, as well as in a chamber music program coordinated by TMC resident faculty member Norman Fischer. Master and repertoire classes are held throughout the summer under the guidance of Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians and other eminent artists. Singers and vocal pianists participate in the Vocal and Opera Programs, including coachings, classes, and performances under the guidance of a distinguished faculty. The Vocal Program includes chairman Phyllis Curtin's master classes, master classes given by visiting artists, classes in repertoire and language, and an intensive study of song, chamber music, and contemporary music The Opera Program Chairman is James Levine; this year, Linda Hall and Harold Watkins, both of the Metropolitan Opera, have joined the Opera Program faculty. The composition class, under Program Chairman John Harbison, includes six composers, who work with Tanglewood's resident and visiting composers and have their music performed at TMC concerts. The conducting class includes four Fellows in a program coordinated by Stefan Asbury. Conducting Fellows have opportunities to perform with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and conduct ensemble performances during the season. Fellows work with distinguished guest artist coaches and attend Boston Symphony and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra rehearsals. History Of The Tanglewood Music Center Since its start as the Berkshire Music Center in 1940, the Tanglewood Music Center has been closely tied to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, its players, and its music directors. Serge Koussevitzky, who headed the BSO from 1924 to 1949, founded the school with the hope of creating a premier music academy where young instrumentalists, vocalists, conductors, and composers could sharpen their skills under the tutelage of the Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians and other world-class artists, with the resources of a great symphony at their disposal. To this end, he also enlisted some of the day's most important composer-teachers as faculty members, a tradition distinguished by the presence of such longtime TMC faculty as Aaron Copland and Paul Hindemith. Koussevitzky helped develop that dream until 1950, a year after his retirement as BSO music director. Charles Munch, his successor in that position, took over the Tanglewood Music Center from 1951 through 1962, working with Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland to shape the school's programs. In 1963, new BSO Music Director Erich Leinsdorf took over the school's reins, returning to Koussevitzky's hands-on leadership approach while restoring a renewed emphasis on contemporary music. In 1970, three years before his appointment as BSO Music Director, Seiji Ozawa became head of the BSO's programs at Tanglewood, while Gunther Schuller was appointed to lead the TMC and Leonard Bernstein became general advisor. Leon Fleisher served as Artistic Director of the Tanglewood Music Center from 1985 to 1997. In November 1997, Ellen Highstein became director of the Tanglewood Music Center, a position she holds today. According to recent estimates, 20 percent of the members of American symphony orchestras - and 30 percent of all first-chair players - studied at the Tanglewood Music Center. In addition to Mr. Ozawa, prominent alumni of the Tanglewood Music Center include Claudio Abbado, the late Luciano Berio, the late Leonard Bernstein, David Del Tredici, Christoph von DohnÃ¡nyi, the late Jacob Druckman, Lukas Foss, John Harbison, Oliver Knussen, Lorin Maazel, Wynton Marsalis, Zubin Mehta, Sherrill Milnes, Leontyne Price, Ned Rorem, Sanford Sylvan, Cheryl Studer, Michael Tilson Thomas, Dawn Upshaw, Shirley Verrett, and David Zinman. Tanglewood History Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home located in the Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts, had its beginnings in 1936 when the BSO gave its first outdoor concerts in the area, a three-concert series held under a tent for a total crowd of 15,000. In 1937, the BSO returned to the Berkshires for an all-Beethoven program, again held under a tent - but this time at Tanglewood, the 210-acre estate donated by the Tappan family, initiating a new era in the history of the American summer music festival. In 1938, the 5,100-seat Shed was inaugurated, giving the BSO a permanent open-air structure in which to perform at Tanglewood. The Boston Symphony Orchestra has performed in the Koussevitzky Music Shed every summer since, except for the war years of 1942-45, and Tanglewood has become almost a place of pilgrimage to millions of concertgoers. The 1986 acquisition of the Highwood estate next to Tanglewood increased the festival's public grounds by 40 percent and allowed for the construction of Seiji Ozawa Hall. This hall opened in 1994 with the Leonard Bernstein Campus, which became the center for most TMC activities. Seiji Ozawa Hall serves not only as a performance home for the Tanglewood Music Center, but as a thoroughly modern venue for the BSO's varied recital and chamber music offerings. Today, Tanglewood annually draws more than 350,000 visitors for orchestral and chamber music concerts, instrumental and vocal recitals, student performances, and the annual Festival of Contemporary Music, as well as performances by popular artists and the annual Labor Day weekend Jazz Festival. The season offers not only a vast quantity of music but also a vast range of musical forms and styles, all of it presented with a regard for artistic excellence that makes the festival unique. All programs and artists are subject to change. For further information, call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is on the Internet at www.bso.org.

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Pittsfield Middle Schools to Restructure Next Fall

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:05AM / Friday, December 12, 2025

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city's middle schools will restructure next fall to give all students equitable access to education and take fifth grade out of the early elementary level.

Over nearly two hours on Wednesday, the School Committee and district officials mulled the decision to move forward with an upper elementary and junior high school model in September 2026. Committee members were ready to move the project forward, while Mayor Peter Marchetti wanted to extend the decision to February or March.

"I don't support waiting until March to make another decision about this, because then we're just kicking the can down the road, and everyone's in a pool of uncertainty for whether this is going to happen or not," member William Garrity said.

"I'm in the firm belief we should just go ahead and do this, or, if the committee so chooses, to postpone one year."

Grades 5 and 6 will go to Herberg Middle School, and Grades 7 and 8 will attend Reid Middle School.

School Committee member Diana Belair said if the decision is pushed to the spring, the district will lose buy-in from families.

"It's already driving me nuts to think about it, and I don't even have a fourth grader," she added. "I think that's not a good move."

The change also comes with altered bell times to accommodate a three-tiered bus transportation plan. A draft proposal has high schoolers reporting five minutes earlier at 7:20 a.m., middle schoolers reporting 35 minutes later at 8:10 a.m., and elementary schoolers reporting 20 minutes later at 9:05 a.m.

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