Boston Symphony unveils 2004 Tanglewood season

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The return of Seiji Ozawa will be among highlights of the 2004 Tanglewood season
The Boston Symphony Orchestra's 2004 summer season at Tanglewood will feature celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the opening of Seiji Ozawa Hall - featuring Seiji Ozawa in his first Tanglewood appearance since stepping down as BSO music director in 2002 - and John Williams' 25th year in the BSO family. Other highlights include two celebrated new works performed by the BSO at Symphony Hall in recent seasons - Tan Dun's The Map, with Yo-Yo Ma as soloist, and Wynton Marsalis' All Rise, featuring Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. The BSO will also present all-Mozart, Brahms, Ravel, and Dvorák programs in the Koussevitzky Music Shed; Shed performances of Beethoven's Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth symphonies; and appearances by some of the world's greatest conductors, including Christoph von Dohnányi, Charles Dutoit, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and Kurt Masur. The Boston Symphony season at Tanglewood opens July 9, with Masur leading the orchestra, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, and vocal soloists in Marsalis' All Rise, a work given its world premiere by Masur and the New York Philharmonic and performed by the BSO in Symphony Hall to great critical and popular acclaim last fall. Concerts begin at Tanglewood on July 1 and 2, when the Mark Morris Dance Group returns to Tanglewood to collaborate with the Tanglewood Music Center for the second consecutive summer. Other Independence Day Weekend offerings at Tanglewood include a live broadcast of Minnesota Public Radio's A Prairie Home Companion on July 3 and a visit from Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist Diana Krall on July 4. Season overview The Boston Symphony Orchestra will give 21 concerts in the Koussevitzky Music Shed this summer featuring a lineup of world-renowned soloists, including pianists Leon Fleisher (July 10), Emanuel Ax (July 11), Peter Serkin (July 25), Richard Goode (July 30), Yefim Bronfman (August 6), Christian Zacharias (August 8), André Watts (August 15), and Martha Argerich (August 27); violinists Midori (July 16), Christian Tetzlaff (August 21), and Itzhak Perlman (August 28); cellists Claudio Bohórquez (July 23) and Yo-Yo Ma (August 7); and vocalists Bryn Terfel (July 17), Renée Fleming (July 24), Dawn Upshaw (August 1), and Deborah Voigt (August 13). Prominent soloist debuts this summer include pianists Lars Vogt (August 20) and Alexander Gurning (August 27), violinist Renaud Capuçon (July 31), and cellist Truls Mørk (August 21). The 2004 Boston Symphony season at Tanglewood also features a roster of esteemed guest conductors from around the world. In addition to his Opening Night appearance at Tanglewood, former New York Philharmonic Music Director Kurt Masur leads a second program with the orchestra and violinist Midori on July 16. Other conductors leading two Boston Symphony programs this summer include Christoph von Dohnányi (August 6 with pianist Yefim Bronfman and July 31 with violinist Renaud Capuçon), Charles Dutoit (August 27 with pianists Martha Argerich and Alexander Gurning and August 28 with violinist Itzhak Perlman), Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (an all-Ravel program with pianist Leon Fleisher on July 10 and a program featuring baritone Bryn Terfel and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus on July 17), and Emmanuel Krivine (August 20 with pianist Lars Vogt and August 21 with violinist Christian Tetzlaff and cellist Truls Mørk). The 2004 Tanglewood guest conductor lineup also includes Hans Graf in an all-Dvorák program with cellist Claudio Bohórquez (July 23); Edo de Waart, with pianist Richard Goode and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus (July 30); John Williams (August 1) in a special program of his own music, as well as music by one of his most important influences, Aaron Copland, featuring soprano Dawn Upshaw and BSO principal horn James Sommerville (August 1); Tan Dun, leading the BSO and cellist Yo-Yo Ma in his own The Map, Concerto for Cello, Video, and Orchestra, a BSO commission given its world premiere with the same forces last season in Symphony Hall (August 7); Christof Perick in an all-Mozart program with pianist Christian Zacharias (August 8); and Robert Spano with pianist André Watts (August 15). Boston Symphony Orchestra conducting debuts this summer include Houston Grand Opera Music Director Patrick Summers (July 24 with soprano Renée Fleming), Hallé Orchestra Music Director Mark Elder (July 25 with pianist Peter Serkin), and BBC Philharmonic Principal Conductor Gianandrea Noseda (August 13 with soprano Deborah Voigt). Ingo Metzmacher - general music director of the City of Hamburg and a welcome guest at Symphony Hall in recent seasons - makes his Tanglewood debut on July 11 in a program featuring Emanuel Ax. The 2004 Boston Symphony season at Tanglewood closes on August 29 with a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9; conductor and soloists will be announced at a later date. The Boston Pops will make three Tanglewood appearances this summer, each with a different conductor. On July 14, Broadway and film composer Marvin Hamlisch makes his first Tanglewood appearance with the Boston Pops. Boston Pops Laureate Conductor John Williams leads a new installment of the popular "Film Night at Tanglewood" on August 14, including tributes to composers Bernard Hermann and Henry Mancini and actress Audrey Hepburn. On August 23, Tony Award-winning vocalist Kristin Chenoweth - star of the new Broadway hit Wicked - joins Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart and the orchestra for the final Boston Pops concert of the summer. July 2004 marks the 10th anniversary of the inaugural performances at Seiji Ozawa Hall. This season Tanglewood celebrates that occasion with a gala August 1 Tanglewood Music Center concert led by Seiji Ozawa - in his first Tanglewood appearance since stepping down as BSO music director two years ago - and John Williams. In addition, the 2004 Seiji Ozawa Hall lineup features a wide range of repertoire and artists, including such familiar Tanglewood faces as the Juilliard String Quartet (July 8), baritone Bryn Terfel (July 13), the Emerson String Quartet (July 21), and Martha Argerich (August 25), as well as several new talents previously unheard at Tanglewood. This summer will also offer recitals from three of the world's best pianists - Pierre-Laurent Aimard (July 15), Richard Goode (July 27), and Jean-Yves Thibaudet (August 11); appearances by the early music ensembles Boston Baroque (July 6), the Hilliard Ensemble (July 28), and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (August 4 and 5); and a rare performance of the complete Brahms sonatas in a single concert, featuring violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Lars Vogt (August 19). Ozawa Hall will host Tanglewood's other anniversary celebration this summer - John Williams' 25th anniversary with the BSO family - on August 8 and 9 with performances of Williams' seldom-heard 1964 arrangement of Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady for jazz orchestra and singers, as part of a special jazz evening. Also this summer, the Tanglewood Music Center welcomes back the creative team behind many of the successful TMC opera productions in recent years - director David Knuess and designers John Michael Deegan and Sarah G. Conly - on July 29 and 31 in the Theatre for performances of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Other TMC highlights this summer include an encore collaboration with the Mark Morris Dance Group on July 1 and 2 and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra's annual Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert, with conductor James DePreist and pianist Garrick Ohlsson, on August 22. The Tanglewood season closes September 3-5 with the annual Tanglewood Jazz Festival.
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Lanesborough Fifth-Graders Win Snowplow Name Contest

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — One of the snowplows for Highway District 1 has a new name: "The Blizzard Boss."
 
The name comes from teacher Gina Wagner's fifth-grade class at Lanesborough Elementary School. 
 
The state Department of Transportation announced the winners of the fourth annual "Name A Snowplow" contest on Monday. 
 
The department received entries from public elementary and middle school classrooms across the commonwealth to name the 12 MassDOT snowplows that will be in service during the 2025/2026 winter season. 
 
The purpose of the contest is to celebrate the snow and ice season and to recognize the hard work and dedication shown by public works employees and contractors during winter operations. 
 
"Thank you to all of the students who participated. Your creativity allows us to highlight to all, the importance of the work performed by our workforce," said  interim MassDOT Secretary Phil Eng.  
 
"Our workforce takes pride as they clear snow and ice, keeping our roads safe during adverse weather events for all that need to travel. ?To our contest winners and participants, know that you have added some fun to the serious take of operating plows. ?I'm proud of the skill and dedication from our crews and thank the public of the shared responsibility to slow down, give plows space and put safety first every time there is a winter weather event."
 
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