The Classical Beat: Tanglewood, Sevenars Attain Their Peak This Week

George Gershwin composing "Porgy and Bess."

During this week of the Tanglewood Festival, the spotlight will focus on a wide range of extraordinary soloists and conductors. As a sample, we can look forward with eager expectation to the following:

• Maestro Andris Nelsons conducting the BSO in programs with stellar soloists violinist Leonidas Kavakos, and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.  
• Esteemed Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki leading concerts with the BSO and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and participating in a TLI In Conversation event. 
• TLI In Conversation with American composer Carlos Simon.
• A unique Shed recital with Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma performing an all-Beethoven program

Looking a bit further ahead, these last two months of magnificent music making are but a prelude to the late summer/early fall array of area classical offerings on the horizon. Two notable examples are South Mountain Concerts in Pittsfield in September and into October, and the Berkshire Opera Festival, which will be presenting Puccini’s grand opera, "La Bohéme." I’ll highlight both these outstanding organizations’ offerings in my Classical Beat column next week. For now, here are the particulars for the next several days at Tanglewood and at the Sevenars Music Festival.

Tanglewood Shed Concerts

• Friday, August 18, 8 p.m.: Maestro Andris Nelsons and the BSO are joined by pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet for two of his signature pieces—Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5, ("Egyptian") and Gershwin’s beloved Piano Concerto in F (both of which Thibaudet will reprise with the BSO on its upcoming European tour)—on a program that opens with Carlos Simon’s BSO commissioned "Four Black American Dances."
• Saturday, August 19, 8 p.m.: For the final BSO concert of the season, Maestro Nelsons leads an all-Russian program: Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with soloist Leonidas Kavakos, and Prokofiev’s popular Symphony No. 5.  
• Sunday, August 20, 2:30 p.m.: Maestra Susanna Mälkki leads the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in the traditional annual performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, featuring the vocal soloists soprano Amanda Majeski, mezzo soprano J’Nai Bridges, tenor Stephen Costello, and bass Jongmin Park, along with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus—which without intermission is preceded by "Five Spirituals" excerpted from British composer Michael Tippett’s "A Child of Our Time," conducted by James Burton. 

Ozawa Hall concerts

• Friday, August 18, 6 p.m.: Members of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, James Burton, conductor, perform a Prelude Concert, joined by J’Nai Bridges and Stephen Costello (mezzo-soprano and tenor soloist in the August 20 performance of Beethoven’s "Ninth"). On the program are Roxanna Panufnik’s "Love Endureth," Thompson’s "The Peaceable Kingdom," and "Five Spirituals," excerpted from Tippett’s  cantata "A Child of Our Time."
• Saturday, August 19, 5 p.m.: In this TLI Spotlight Series event, versatile artist Carrie Mae Weems and cellist Yo-Yo Ma join forces to share their perspectives on the role of artists and their civic responsibilities.
• Sunday, August 20, 10 a.m.: Tanglewood Music Center Chamber Music presents Beethoven’s Septet in E-flat, Op. 20; Olli Mustonen’s "Nonetto II": and Beethoven’s masterwork String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131.  
• Sunday, August 20, 8 p.m.: TLI Presents the Gerald Clayton Trio, headed by the acclaimed pianist/composer, performing at Tanglewood for the first time.  
• Tuesday, August 22, 8 p.m.: Tony Award winner Kelli O’Hara, joined by pianist Dan Lipton, displays her musical versatility in an evening of Broadway classics and personal stories.  

TLC and TLI Activities in Studio E of the Linde Center 

• Wednesday, August 16, 1:30 p.m.: TLI Open Violin Workshop with American violinist Tai Murray and TMC Fellows (a joint presentation of TLI and TMC) 
• Thursday, August 17, 1 p.m.: A TLI In Conversation with composer and Georgia native Carlos Simon, whose BSO-commissioned work, "Four Black American Dances," will be performed on the August 18 BSO program and on the BSO’s upcoming European tour.
• Saturday, August 19, 6 p.m.: A Prelude Concert by TMC musicians, featuring chamber works by Thomas Adès ("Les Baricades mistérieuse"), Prokofiev (Quintet in G minor, Op. 39), and Brahms (String Quintet in G Major, Op. 111). 

For tickets for all Tanglewood/BSO concerts (lawn and Shed seating) and for special events call (617) 266-1200. TDD/TTY: (617) 638-9289. Online: tanglewood.org

Sevenars Music Festival

• Sunday, August 20, 4:00 p.m.:  Sevenars Music Festival's 7th concert presents a solo piano recital by Sevenars Director, the esteemed pianist Rorianne Schrade, offered in celebratory tribute to the great Russian composer/pianist/conductor Sergei Rachmaninoff, in homage of his landmark 150th birthday year.

Composer/pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff

As a Steinway Artist and winner of over a score of prizes (from Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Washington International Competition, the Kosciuszko National Chopin Competition, the Liederkranz Foundation, the National Arts Club, Artists International, N.Y. Chopin Foundation Council, The Marcia Polayes Competition, and many others), Rorianne Schrade has been likened to "a whirlwind unleashed" (Gannett Westchester Newspapers).

The program will consist of works by Rachmaninoff: Sonata No. 2 and selections from his songs, "Etudes-Tableaux." "Moments-Musicaux," and also of transcriptions by the composer of music by Bach, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Mussorgsky, and Fritz Kreisler. The program will conclude with the rarely-heard virtuoso transcription by Vladimir Leyetchkiss of the "Waltz" movement from Rachmaninoff's two-piano "Suite," Op. 17. 

Upcoming: There is an additional concert on Sept 9th this year (Saturday at 2:00) in tribute to Bob Sparkman, who has played a jazz program at Sevenars for about 20 years.

For Sevenars tickets, and general contact information, call: (413) 238-5854 (please leave a message for return call). On the Web: www.sevenars.org. Email: Sevenars@aol.com. Admission is by donation at the door (suggested $20). Refreshments are included. Sevenars Concerts is located at the Academy in South Worthington, MA., located at 15 Ireland Street, just off Route 112.

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