Lenox — Release the doves, and make way for a lot of good news, because Tanglewood is returning to a full season of performances and reopening Ozawa Hall and the Linde Center for performances with audiences. Over 120 events are scheduled for the 2022 Tanglewood season, beginning June 17 and ending September 3. That’s 11 weeks of musical performance and instruction. Perhaps most exciting of all, the James Burton-led Tanglewood Festival Chorus, sorely missed at Tanglewood since 2019, returns for performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra of Brahms’ “A German Requiem,” Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances from “Prince Igor,” and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas conducting.
You can see a complete Tanglewood 2022 program listing here, but below are a few highlights of the season:
On opening night, July 8, Andris Nelsons conducts the BSO in Leonard Bernstein’s “Opening Prayer” and Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety,” with soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, on a program with Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” Every BSO performance of Stravinsky’s seminal piece is more electrifying than the last, and this one will top them all.
Trumpet virtuoso HÃ¥kan Hardenberger returns to Tanglewood July 10 to perform the American premiere of Helen Grime’s Trumpet Concerto, a BSO co-commission, on a program with Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise” and Symphony No. 3.
On July 15, Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops will present a live-to-picture performance of John Williams’ score for “The Empire Strikes Back.” The orchestra plays in perfect sync with the film as it unspools. Miraculous.
On July 16, Andris Nelsons leads the BSO and Tanglewood Festival Chorus in a concert performance of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” sung in Italian with English supertitles. This popular opera was last performed at Tanglewood in 2009, and it promises to be one of the summer’s most talked about events.
Piano duo Lucas and Arthur Jussen make a much-anticipated return to the BSO stage July 17 when they give the American premiere of Fazil Say’s “Phoenix (Anka Kusu),” for piano four-hands and orchestra, a BSO co-commission. This is on a program with Brahms’ momentous “German Requiem.” The Tanglewood Festival Chorus, with soloists Ying Fang and Shenyang, join the BSO and Andris Nelsons on this landmark of choral music.
On July 24, the BSO performs William Grant Still’s “In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy,” on a program with Jessie Montgomery’s “Five Freedom Songs,” featuring soloist Julia Bullock, and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2, with Seong-Jin Cho as soloist.
If you are still grieving over the worldwide cancellation of Beethoven’s 250th birth anniversary parties in 2020, you will be pleased to know that Tanglewood fixture Paul Lewis will perform all five Beethoven Piano Concertos this summer over the course of three programs. Lewis was the first pianist to play a complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle in a single BBC Proms season.
On August 19, Keith Lockhart leads the Boston Pops Orchestra and a stellar cast of Broadway veterans in a tribute program, “Remembering Stephen Sondheim.” Keith and the orchestra have always loved playing this material, and nobody does it better.
Ken-David Masur and the BSO will celebrate John Williams’ 90th birthday on August 20 with the beloved “Star Wars” composer in attendance. Guest artists include Martin Grubinger, Yo-Yo Ma, Jessica Zhou, Branford Marsalis, Eric Revis, and James Taylor. The program will include concert music composed especially for the BSO and Boston Pops, along with your favorite film themes. Expect a lovefest.
The 2022 Festival of Contemporary Music (FCM) will be held August 4-8, curated this year by one of the world’s foremost champions of new music, the Tanglewood Music Center’s outgoing director Ellen Highstein. New music will appear on programs not only at the FCM but throughout the summer. There will be eight world and American premieres and 28 works by living composers, as well as 21 artists in their Tanglewood or BSO debuts.
The 2021 Tanglewood season ended on a somewhat glum note, as the traditional closing piece, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, could not be performed under pandemic restrictions. This summer, Michael Tilson Thomas will lead the BSO, a quartet of soloists, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in what is likely to be the most exhilarating performance of Beethoven’s masterpiece ever given.
Tanglewood’s Popular Artist series begins Friday, June 17, with Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band, followed June 18 by Bonnie Raitt with special guest Lucinda Williams. The Mavericks appear June 26 with Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets. Earth, Wind & Fire have a show August 9, and Brandi Carlile performs August 30. Judy Collins and guest Richard Thompson return to Tanglewood on September 3 to close out the series.
For season details and ticket info — public sale is March 10 — visit the Tanglewood website or call 888-266-1200.
The BSO has been on top of all recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and will announce details about health and safety measures closer to the start of the season.
