Lenox — You probably didn’t expect the Indiana Jones star and longtime Berkshires resident Karen Allen to be the one welcoming everyone back to Tanglewood this month.
But indeed, Tanglewood begins its 85th season with NPR’s news quiz program “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!” on Thursday, June 22, and Karen Allen is the show’s special guest.
Fifteen days later, on July 7, the Boston Symphony Orchestra gives its first concert of the season with the impossibly virtuosic Daniil Trifonov performing Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto and Andris Nelsons leading the BSO in Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.
If you want to cut to the chase and see an overview of the entire 2023 Tanglewood season, click here, and if you want a complete listing of all the summer’s individual performances, click here.
In addition to Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto on BSO’s opening night, Andris Nelsons will lead the orchestra in Wynton Marsalis’ “Herald, Holler, and Hallelujah” and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.
The following evening, July 8, Keith Lockhart leads the Boston Pops Orchestra in “Ragtime: The Symphonic Concert,” prepared by original creators Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens, and Stephen Flaherty especially for the Pops. The performance will feature some of Keith Lockhart’s favorite Broadway singers (and he knows the best in the business). The musicians of the Boston Pops—starting with Lockhart himself—handle this kind of material so well, and with such evident enthusiasm, that you’d swear it’s all they ever play.
On Sunday afternoon, July 9, Nelsons and the BSO will give the world premiere of “Zhiân,” a BSO commission by Iranian-Canadian composer Iman Habibi. They will also premier “Freedom Sings,” a BSO co-commission by Jessie Montgomery, with vocalist Julia Bullock in her Tanglewood debut. And just a minor little footnote: Sunday’s program includes Hilary Hahn performing the Brahms’ Violin Concerto.
Meanwhile, Ozawa Hall offers a full slate of acts between June 22 and July 9: the Emerson String Quartet with pianist Emanuel Ax; The Knights (Eric Jacobsen, conductor) with guest vocalist and composer Chris Thile; the annual String Quartet Marathon; and several performances from fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center.
Tanglewood Learning Institute has a lot going on during this time period in Studio E of the Linde Center: a TMC String Quartet Class with the Pacifica Quartet; TMC vocal recitals; a performance from the Pacifica Quartet; a piano workshop with Marc-André Hamelin and TMC Fellows; a conversation with Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart; talks from Angela M. Farr Schiller, Ph.D., and Nicholas Phan, tenor, on Themes from Ragtime; and a performance from composer-performer-media artist Pamela Z.
The Tanglewood box office is open for the summer during the following hours:
- Monday – Friday: Noon to 6 p.m. or during intermission on concert nights
- Saturdays, June 10 – July 1 and August 26 – September 2: Noon to 6 p.m. or during intermission on concert days
- Saturdays, July 8 – August 19: 9 a.m. through intermission
- Sundays: 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. or during intermission
The Ozawa Hall box office will be open on concert nights from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. starting on Wednesday, June 28.
Tanglewood’s special ticket opportunities are no trifling matter, especially if you are a student or full-time Berkshire County resident. The discounts are significant. Click here for more details. Also, the BSO participates in the Card to Culture program.
