Tanglewood, Sevenars Offer Thrilling Music and Performances
THE CLASSICAL BEAT
By
STEPHEN DANKNER
TANGLEWOOD, SEVENARS OFFER THRILLING MUSIC AND PERFORMERS
With the second week of August, Tanglewood continues its high energy 2024 classical programming with four powerhouse concerts in the Shed. These include performances by the Boston Symphony; the outstanding visiting guest artists the National Children's Symphony of Venezuela, led by the superlative, world-renowned maestro Gustavo Dudamel; the thrillingly Romantic and virtuosic Third Piano Concerto of Rachmaninoff, composed in 1909, and on the same program the transcendent "Le Sacre du printemps," composed by Igor Stravinsky in 1912-‘13 and premiered in Paris. Gratefully, there will be more from the Russian master: the phenomenal virtuoso violinist Leila Josefowicz will perform Stravinsky's energetic, neoclassical Violin Concerto, composed in 1931 and premiered in the U.S. by Serge Koussevitsky and the Boston Symphony in January, 1932.
Read below for all the details covering these outstanding programs and performing artists - the four Shed highlights, as well as the complete offerings in each magnificent Tanglewood venue during the six-day period from Wednesday, August 7 through Monday, August 12.
• Thursday, August 8, 8:00 p.m. in the Shed: Gustavo Dudamel conducts the National Children's Symphony of Venezuela in their Tanglewood debut. The major work on their program will be the Fifth Symphony of Dmitry Shostakovich. Composed in 1937, it is a masterwork of 20th century symphonism.
• Friday, August 9, 8:00 p.m. in the Shed: Maestro Alan Gilbert will lead the BSO with pianist Kirill Gerstein performing Rachmaninoff's rhapsodic Piano Concerto No. 3; the concert will conclude with Stravinsky's electrifying "The Rite of Spring."
• Saturday, August 10, 8:00 p.m. in the Shed: The stellar violinist Leila Josefowicz will have her much-anticipated Tanglewood debut with the BSO in the Shed with a performance of Stravinsky's Violin Concerto, under the baton of conductor Dalia Stasevska. The program also includes the innovative, three-movement Fifth Symphony of Jean Sibelius, composed in the years 1914-'15.
• Sunday, August 11, 2:30 p.m. in the Shed: Soprano Elena Villalón and conductor James Gaffigan will perform two Mozart arias from the operas "Idomeneo" and "The Marriage of Figaro." The concert concludes with Gustav Mahler's miraculously evocative Symphony No. 4, composed in 1892, which includes the song, sung by Ms. Villalón, "Das himmlische Leben" ("The Heavenly Life"), set to a text from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn."
Tanglewood programs and related events throughout the week
Wednesday, August 7
1:30 p.m., Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning
TLI Open Workshops: Kirill Gerstein, piano
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Thursday, August 8
1 p.m., Tent Club
TLI Talks and Walks
Anthony Fogg, moderator, with pianist Kirill Gerstein
1:30 p.m., Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning
TLI Open Workshops: Jeremy Denk, piano
8pm, Shed
National Children's Symphony of Venezuela
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
John ADAMS Short Ride in a Fast Machine
ESTÉVEZ Mediodía en el Llano
GINASTERA Dances from Estancia
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 5
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Friday, August 9
2:30 p.m., Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning
TLI Presents: "Decolonizing American Music in Eight Difficult Steps" with George Lewis
4 p.m., Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning
TLI Presents: "This Is America," Part 1, with Johnny Gandelsman, violin
Violinist and producer Johnny Gandelsman developed This is America in 2020, out of a time of rupture and disconnection. Thinking about ways that one person could make a small difference, he brought together commissioning partners across eleven states and territories to commission 22 new works. He invited the composers, all US-based, to reflect on the time we're all living in. Since that initial burst of creativity, "This is America" has been performed throughout North America and grown to encompass 28 compositions for solo violin.
6 p.m., Seiji Ozawa Hall
Prelude Concert
Tatiana Dimitriades & Catherine French, violins
Edward Gazouleas & Steven Laraia, violas
Christine Lee, cello
Fanny MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL String Quartet in E-flat
Felix MENDELSSOHN String Quartet in A, Op. 18
8 p.m., Shed
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Alan Gilbert, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3
STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring
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Saturday, August 10
10:30 a.m., Shed
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Open Rehearsal, Sunday program
1:30 p.m., Seiji Ozawa Hall
Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Chorus
2 p.m., Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning
TLI Presents: Palaver Strings§ with Nicholas Phan, tenor and Farayi Malek, jazz and contemporary
vocalist, perform "A Change Is Gonna Come" Featuring Grammy award-winning tenor Nicholas Phan and jazz & contemporary vocalist Farayi Malek this program explores our country's rich legacy of protest songs. Repertoire includes traditional songs of protest and music inspired by social movements and historical events, including Akenya Seymour's "Fear the Lamb," and a new commission by Errollyn Wallen. Spanning genres, eras, and movements, A Change Is Gonna Come provokes conversation, confronts our past and present, and celebrates the act of protest as one of our most precious rights.
5 p.m., Seiji Ozawa Hall
TLI Spotlight Series: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Mr.
Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for
African & African American Research at Harvard University. Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Professor Gates has published numerous books and produced and hosted an array of documentary films. Finding Your Roots, his groundbreaking genealogy and genetics series, is in its tenth season on PBS, and his most recent history series, Gospel, premiered on PBS in February 2024. His latest book is "The Black Box: Writing the Race" (Penguin Random House, 2024). Harvey Young, is the Moderator
6 p.m., Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning
TMC Fellows
Prelude Concert
DEBUSSY Sonata for flute, viola, and harp
Jessie MONTGOMERY Concerto Grosso (BSO co-
commission, East Coast premiere)
RAVEL Piano Trio
8 p.m., Shed
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska, conductor+
Leila Josefowicz, violin§
SIBELIUS (arr. STRAVINSKY) Canzonetta
STRAVINSKY Violin Concerto
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5
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Sunday, August 11
10 a.m., Seiji Ozawa Hall
TMC Chamber Music
George LEWIS Le témoignage des lumières
Lingbo MA In a Maze, In a Daze
IVES Piano Trio
Nicky SOHN Time's Dialogue
BRAHMS Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25
2:30 p.m., Shed
Boston Symphony Orchestra, James Gaffigan, conductor
Elena Villalón, soprano
Anna CLYNE Sound and Fury
MOZART "Padre, germani, addio!" from Idomeneo
MOZART "Deh vieni, non tardar" from The Marriage
of Figaro
MAHLER Symphony No. 4
5 p.m., Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning
TLI Presents: "This Is America," Part 2, with Johnny
Gandelsman, violin
7 p.m., Seiji Ozawa Hall
TLI Presents: Jeremy Denk, piano, performs
The Battle of Manassas by ‘Blind Tom' WIGGINS
and Ives's Concord Sonata ‡
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Monday, August 12
8 p.m., Seiji Ozawa Hall
Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra
TMC Conducting and Vocal Fellows
Program of opera excerpts
ALL-MOZART PROGRAM with selections from
The Marriage of Figaro
Don Giovanni
Die Zauberflöte
For tickets to all Tanglewood events, call (888) 266-1200, or go online at tanglewood.org.
CHAMBER MUSIC AT SEVENARS
• Sunday, August 11 at 4:00 p.m.: Sevenars is thrilled to welcome oboist Joel Bard, pianist Sayuri Miyamoto and violinist/violist Jun-Ching Lin in a breathtaking program of solos, duos, and trios. Award-winning pianist Sayuri Miyamoto with her husband, the brilliant oboist/conductor Joel Bard often perform as a duo. They will perform a program consisting of both familiar and less well-known solo, duo, and trio repertoire by Mozart, Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, Ottorino Respighi, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Charles Martin Loeffler, and Leopold Wallner.
Founded in 1968, Sevenars Concerts, Inc., is celebrating its 56th season of six summer concerts, held at the Academy, a building designated "an acoustic gem in an idyllic setting," located in the historic village of South Worthington,15 Ireland Street, off MA Route 112.
Concerts are presented on consecutive Sundays at 4:00 p.m. until August 18. Phone: (413) 238-5854 (please leave a message for a return call). Online: www.sevenars.org. Email: Sevenars@aol.com. Admission is by donation at the door (suggested $20). Refreshments will be available.
