Lenox — The most exciting Tanglewood event of the summer is going to be Andris Nelsons conducting the Boston Symphony in Mozart’s beloved comic opera, “Così fan tutte,” with soloists Nicole Cabell and Kate Lindsey in the lead female roles, backed by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus conducted by James Burton. There is simply no way music at Tanglewood can get any better than this.
Unless you prefer bluegrass or Led Zeppelin over Mozart, in which case an appearance by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss performing their hit single “Can’t Let Go” will likely be the most satisfying Tanglewood moment for you.
But maybe film music is what really excites you. Five-time Oscar and 25-time Grammy award-winning composer John Williams will be on hand again this summer sharing the podium with Hollywood film legend David Newman to lead the enormously popular John Williams’ Film Night. But there’s much more film music on the schedule than that.
Not to be outdone by Film Night, Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart will lead an August 26 performance by the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra of Williams’ score to “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” while the film unspools in high-definition to screens in and on the Shed. Maestro Lockhart also leads a Sunday afternoon program featuring selections from all nine Star Wars movies. These are in addition to Pops’ performances of “Ragtime: The Symphonic Concert” and an all-Gershwin program featuring American Songbook specialist and Gershwin archivist, singer Michael Feinstein joined by pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
Then there’s the Boston Symphony Orchestra and their beloved director Andris Nelsons. Administrative staff and guest performers are indispensable, but it’s the members of the orchestra who continue to provide the mojo that has made Tanglewood thrive after 85 years of mostly uninterrupted operation. In addition to Mozart’s “Così fan tutte” on July 15, Nelsons conducts the BSO and Tanglewood Music Center orchestras in Orff’s Carmina burana, Mahler 4, Prokofiev 5, and works of Iman Habibi, Wynton Marsalis, Jessie Montgomery, Carlos Simon, and John Williams.
The orchestra welcomes instrumental soloists Hilary Hahn, Leonidas Kavakos, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and the miraculously skilled Daniil Trifonov, all Tanglewood fixtures. (What? No Joshua Bell? Yes, Joshua Bell makes his 36th Tanglewood appearance this summer, not with Nelsons at the podium but with Anna Rakitina conducting Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in her last appearance as the orchestra’s assistant conductor.)
But lest you think only superstar soloists are invited to play at Tanglewood, please note that 48 artists will appear this summer in their Tanglewood or BSO debuts.
But maybe you prefer chamber music over the grandiosity of one of the world’s great orchestras. If so, then you might want to skip Carmina Burana on July 16 and instead catch the Emerson String Quartet’s very last performance at Tanglewood on June 28. (The group disbands at the end of the year.) Or any number of chamber music concerts in Ozawa Hall. And throughout the summer, you can hear fellows of the TMC perform chamber music and recital programs with no cost for admission.
Finally, there are those who are interested mainly in newfangled contemporary music of the type that could substitute for smelling salts. Gotcha covered. This year’s Festival of Contemporary Music, running July 27-31, will be curated by Indian classical vocalist Reena Esmail;Â Gabriela Lena Frank; Tebogo Monnakgotla; Anna Thorvaldsdottir; and the head of TMC’s composition program, Michael Gandolfi. FCM curators program some pretty crazy stuff (including Cage’s pure silence), and yet the most thrilling and memorable music you will ever experience at Tanglewood is likely to come from the Festival of Contemporary Music. (There are too many examples to name, but here’s one: Bright Sheng’s “Deep Red,” which FCM programmed in the summer of 2015.)
If you’re curious about really edgy contemporary classical music but not feeling especially brave, go to the last FCM performance. It features the whole TMC orchestra and is usually the most fun. The Festival of Contemporary Music recitals and many FCM concerts are free of charge.
There’s an initial slate of popular artists on the Tanglewood schedule already, but in most years, additional popular artists are booked after the Tanglewood schedule is published. So watch for that.
We’ve already told you about the concert with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on July 2 and James Taylor’s shows on July 3 and 4 (the tickets to which are already on sale at tanglewood.org). We also have Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! on June 22, Steve Miller Band with Bruce Hornsby on June 23, and Train with opener Parmalee on August 24. (We’ll have more to tell you about those acts as the dates approach.)
There’s a lot going on this summer at the Tanglewood Learning Institute. Watch this space for news about those events.
You can buy tickets to all Tanglewood events starting Thursday, March 9, 10 a.m., at Tanglewood.org, by calling 888-266-1200, or by visiting the Symphony Hall Box Office in Boston. For a complete performance listing, click here.
The Tanglewood Box Office will open March 9 through March 11, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the convenience of Berkshire County residents.
