Boston Symphony Orchestra announces 2007 Season for the Tanglewood Music Center

11:09AM / Thursday, April 19, 2007Print Story | Email Story

The Boston Symphony Orchestraâ€™s renowned summer music academy - opens its 2007 summer session on June 28 and 29 collaborating with the Mark Morris Dance Group in performances of Purcellâ€™s Dido and Aeneas, and closes the session on August 19 with a performance of Beethovenâ€™s Ninth Symphony under the direction of Rafael FrÃ¼hbeck de Burgos. Highlights of the Tanglewood Music Centerâ€™s 67th season include BSO Music Director James Levine leading the TMC Orchestra (TMCO) and Vocal Fellows and a cast of internationally renowned singers in a concert performance of Verdiâ€™s opera Don Carlo (July 28), Maestro Levine conducting TMC vocalists and instrumentalists in staged performances of Mozartâ€™s CosÃ¬ fan tutte (August 11-14), and TMC Vocal Fellows performing in a concert performance of Rodgers and Hammersteinâ€™s Carousel (July 10) with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops. Other highlights include a discussion of theater and popular music of 1930s with composers John Williams and Milton Babbitt. TMC fellows will also be featured in Tanglewood on Parade, an all-day musical celebration culminating in an evening concert featuring the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, under the direction of James Levine, John Williams, Keith Lockhart, and Rafael FrÃ¼hbeck de Burgos. Opening Exercises for this summerâ€™s TMC season will be at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, July 9, in Ozawa Hall. Maestro Levine will perform Bolcomâ€™s brief Graceful Ghost (Rag) for solo piano during Opening Exercises, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra will perform music of Holst, Ravel, and BartÃ³k at an 8:30 p.m. concert that day. James Levine and The Tanglewood Music Center Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director James Levine returns to Tanglewood this summer, serving once again as the chairman of the TMCâ€™s opera and conducting programs. Maestro Levine will lead the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in a concert performance of Verdiâ€™s Don Carlo on Saturday, July 28, in the Koussevitzky Music Shed. The concert - the Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert - features the TMC Orchestra and Vocal Fellows, several in significant roles, as well as the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and a host of internationally renowned singers including soprano Patricia Racette (Elisabeth of Valois), mezzo-soprano Luciana Dâ€™Intino (Princess Eboli), tenor Johan Botha (Don Carlo, Infante of Spain), baritone Å½eljko Luc(ic'(Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa), bass James Morris (Philip II, King of Spain), bass Paata Burchuladze (The Grand Inquisitor), baritone David Won (The Count of Lerma), bass Jordan Bisch (A Monk) and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor. The concert performance of the operaâ€™s four-act version will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. Levineâ€™s involvement with the TMC will also include his activities as chairman of the Opera Program, this year including a series of fully-staged performances of Mozartâ€™s CosÃ¬ fan tutte with the TMC Vocal and Instrumental Fellows. Performances will take place on August 11 at 2 p.m., and August 12-14 at 7:30 p.m. The Monday, August 13, performance will be conducted by one of the TMC conducting Fellows. All performances will take place in the Theatre. Stage director for this production will be Ira Siff, and the set and costume design team will be Michael Deegan and Sarah Conly. James Levine will additionally work with TMC singers and pianists in a series of vocal master classes, and with the Fellowship conductors on preparing a program of works for large ensembles to be presented on Sunday, August 12, at 10 a.m. in Seiji Ozawa Hall, as part of the TMCâ€™s regular Sunday morning concert series. Maestro Levine and Ira Siff will collaborate on coaching an evening of opera scenes with TMC Fellows that will close the TMCâ€™s â€™07 season on the night of Sunday, August 19, at 7:30 p.m., also in the Theatre. Mark Morris Dance Group Residency Back after a one-year absence, the Mark Morris Dance Group will again be in residence with the TMC, culminating in performances of Morrisâ€™ choreography of Purcellâ€™s opera Dido and Aeneas at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, June 28, and Saturday, June 29, in Ozawa Hall. TMC Instrumental and Vocal Fellows will perform with the MMDG dancers for this production, which will be conducted by Stefan Asbury. During the residency, TMC Fellows will work closely with Mark Morris and will be coached in dance by the MMDG dancers, while the dancers will work on musical projects coached by the TMC Fellows. Orchestral and Conducting Programs Stefan Asbury once again serves as TMC Conducting Program Coordinator, with James Levine as the programâ€™s chairman. Others who will conduct the TMC Orchestra and work with the Fellowship conductors include Mark Elder, Music Director of the HallÃ© Orchestra, and frequent BSO guest conductor Rafael FrÃ¼hbeck de Burgos, chief conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI in Torino. Conducting Fellows will have opportunities to lead the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and conduct ensemble performances during the season. Conductor AndrÃ© Previn, will also coach the TMC Fellows for the July 9 opening TMCO concert. The TMC Orchestra programs will include the July 28 performance of Verdiâ€™s Don Carlo, under the baton of Maestro Levine, in the Shed. The TMCO will open its season on July 9, in a program led by Stefan Asbury and conducting Fellows that will include BartÃ³kâ€™s Miraculous Mandarin Suite, Ravelâ€™s Le Tombeau de Couperin, and Holstâ€™s The Planets. The second TMCO program, conducted by Mark Elder and conducting Fellows on July 16, will include Haydnâ€™s Symphony No. 92, Oxford, Stravinskyâ€™s Danses concertantes, and the Shostakovich Symphony No. 1. This year, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra performs Beethovenâ€™s Symphony No. 9 - a beloved Tanglewood tradition - on Sunday, August 19, at 2:30 p.m. in the Koussevitzky Music Shed, under the baton of Rafael FrÃ¼hbeck de Burgos. The TMCO will be joined by soprano Melanie Diener, mezzo-soprano Mary Phillips, tenor Marcus Haddock, bass Raymond Aceto, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor. TMC Composition Program This year marks the Tanglewood Music Centerâ€™s fifth collaboration with Shakespeare & Co., one of a number of regular TMC inter-arts partnerships. As part of Tanglewood on Parade on August 15, TMC composers and performers will be joined by Shakespeare & Co. founder and director Tina Packer and actors for a fully staged and costumed one-hour version of Macbeth, featuring new music by six TMC Fellows. This project will be overseen jointly by TMC Composition Program Coordinator Michael Gandolfi and Ms. Packer, who will play the role of Lady Macbeth. The six TMC composition Fellows will work as a team, lending a variety of aesthetic styles and musical perspectives to this interdisciplinary project. TMC Composition Fellows will, over the course of the summer, work with resident faculty including John Harbison (chairman of the Composition Program), Michael Gandolfi, William Bolcom, Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, and Colin Matthews. Guests who will also work with the Fellowship composers will include many of the composers participating in the Festival of Contemporary Music - including Joan Tower, Charles Wuorinen, Frederic Rzewski, and others - and Tanglewood artist-in-residence John Williams. String Quartet Seminar Each year the Tanglewood Music Center holds an intensive workshop in string quartet playing, which explores this repertoire from Haydn through the 20th century. The eleven-day seminar takes place at the beginning of the season, culminating in a String Quartet Marathon - three two-hour performances - on July 2 in Seiji Ozawa Hall. Participating Fellows will concentrate exclusively on the string quartet during this period. Distinguished artist coaches participating in the 2007 TMC String Quartet Seminar include cellists Norman Fischer, Bonnie Hampton, and David Geber; violinists Andrew Jennings, Mark Sokol, and Don Weilerstein; and violist Roger Tapping. 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 2007 Tanglewood season consists of some of the finest musicians in the world, including cellists Norman Fischer, David Geber, and Yo-Yo Ma; pianists Emanuel Ax, Claude Frank, Ursula Oppens, and Alan Smith; violinists Pamela Frank, Andrew Jennings, Joseph Silverstein, Mark Sokol, and Donald Weilerstein; violist Roger Tapping, and vocalist Lucy Shelton. TMC musicians may also work with conductors James Levine, Stefan Asbury, Mark Elder, and Rafael FrÃ¼hbeck de Burgos, and composers John Harbison, Michael Gandolfi, Milton Babbitt, William Bolcom, Elliott Carter, and Colin Matthews. 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 a program that balances work in orchestral and instrumental studies, a program chaired by BSO principal bass Edwin Barker, with work in chamber music, a 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 pianists participate in the Vocal and Opera Programs, including coachings, classes, and performances under the guidance of a distinguished faculty. The Vocal Studies Program includes Chairwoman Phyllis Curtinâ€™s master classes, master classes given by resident and 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. Composition Fellows work with Tanglewoodâ€™s resident faculty and visiting composers and have their music performed at TMC concerts. Conducting Fellows participate in a program coordinated by Stefan Asbury, with opportunities to perform with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, to work with James Levine on opera projects, and to conduct ensemble performances during the season. Fellows also attend Boston Symphony and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra rehearsals. Admission to the Tanglewood Music Center is highly competitive, with more than 1,500 musicians competing for only 150 positions. Those accepted into the program receive Fellowships that cover TMC tuition, as well as room and board expenses. 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 dayâ€™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 schoolâ€™s programs. In 1963, new BSO Music Director Erich Leinsdorf took over the schoolâ€™s reins, returning to Koussevitzkyâ€™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 BSOâ€™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 Orchestraâ€™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 festivalâ€™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 BSOâ€™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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Lanesborough Town Meeting to Vote Budget, Bylaws & Vehicle Purchases

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
04:21PM / Monday, June 08, 2026

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Tuesday's annual town meeting includes a $14 million operating budget, new short-term rentals, accessory dwelling units and sign bylaws, and free cash article appropriations.

Voters will gather at Lanesborough Elementary School on June 9 at 6 p.m. to decide on 20 warrant articles.

The fiscal 2027 budget is up a little over 10 percent. Some of the main increases are the Mount Greylock Regional School District and McCann Technical School: the McCann assessment is up more than 30 percent based on factors including enrollment and the school renovation project, and Mount Greylock's is up 11 percent.

Article 11 is for the town to vote to approve from free cash the sum of $16,298.48 for the McCann Technical School roof and window replacement project so as not to impact the budget. Article 3 is appropriate $7,586,284 for Mount Greylock Regional School assessment.

Another notable increase was in life and health insurance, showing an increase of about 26 percent.

Ambulance Director Jen Weber is planning 24-hour coverage, which means more staff and a hike in her budget. One of the articles asks the town to appropriate $234,100 to operate the Ambulance Enterprise Fund for salaries and expenses.

Many town departments are looking for new vehicles. The Fire Department is looking to replace its outdated 1996 fire engine. There are two articles related to the truck at a total of $813,366. Article 12 would transfer $225,000 from free cash into the Fire Truck Stabilization Fund; Article 13 would transfer $605,000 from the fund and authorize the borrowing of $208,366.08.

The total includes a $100,000 contingency cost to cover any additional costs if a 2026 model-year chassis cannot be secured before new emissions standards go into effect in 2027.

The board at its last meeting moved the $225,000 transfer to come before the borrowing article, changing the stabilization number. If the $225,000 is not voted on, then they will amend the next article's number on the floor, subtracting the $225,000. This shows the borrowing number significantly lower.

Article 17 asks for the transfer of $80,000 from free cash to replace a police cruiser.

Police Chief Rob Derksen's aim is to replace one vehicle every other year, meaning the oldest vehicle gets replaced about every 10 years.

He stressed that if delayed this year, the town may have to double up in a future year to get back on schedule, and that paying later usually costs more. The article will ask for $80,000 from free cash, the vehicles used to be funded by the BHRD.

Lastly, the Highway Department is looking to replace a 2014 International dump truck that will be a total of $330,000 and will take two to three years to receive.

Money will be used from last year's approval of $250,000 from free cash for the replacement of a 2012 highway front-end loader that was underspent $49,261. Town meeting is being asked to approve a transfer of $53,274.85 from free cash and the use of $227,464 from funds from the Sale of Town Real Estate to fund the balance.

Other free cash proposals include $1,200 to purchase software to support tracking and ongoing maintenance schedules of town-owned vehicles; $42,000 for the replacement of the Highway Department's storage shed roof, $200,000 to reduce the tax levy.

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