Lenox — It is the announcement all Berkshire music lovers have been waiting for since the Linde Center opened five years ago: In fulfillment of a goal set in 2019, the Tanglewood Learning Institute (TLI) will bring year-round programming to the Linda Center starting this month, with musical events running through May. Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians will play five TLI Chamber Concerts and two family-friendly holiday concerts. Additionally, a variety of guest performers and ensembles will perform in “TLI Presents” programs, beginning with the Arcis Saxophone Quartet on November 9. Other guest artists include jazz musician Nicole Zuraitis, the Akropolis Reed Quintet, Cuban jazz pianist Alfredo Rodriguez, pianist and composer Isaiah J. Thompson, and flutist Claire Chase.
The four-building Linde Center for Music and Learning, located on Tanglewood’s campus in the Berkshires, opened in the summer of 2019 and serves as TLI’s home.
The first of five hour-long TLI Chamber Concerts starts on October 20 with Schubert’s popular Octet in F. Additional concerts will feature music for combinations of strings and piano by Copland, Mozart, and Shostakovich (November 24); Korngold and Beethoven (February 2); Dohnányi, Oleg Ponomarev, and Tchaikovsky (March 23); and Mozart and Weiner (April 13).
The two special family-friendly holiday concerts on December 14 and 15 will feature BSO brass players Thomas Rolfs and Michael Martin, trumpets; Michael Winter, horn; Toby Oft, trombone; and Mike Roylance, tuba.
And if all the above were not enough, the BSO will announce in the coming months additional program details for the spring season, including lectures, family-friendly programs, classes, and a mini-festival featuring artists and guests with local connections.
From the outset, the BSO intended for events at the Linde Center to bring attention to local service organizations and help raise awareness about areas of need in the community, including food insecurity, housing insecurity, children’s services, combatting social injustice, and access to affordable healthcare. It was what Berkshire Edge columnists Carolyn and Eli Newberger hoped would be a “new vision for music, learning, and community.”
The center hosted several events in September 2024, including a sold-out Lenox Jazz stroll concert featuring Ted Rosenthal’s All-Star Sextet, selections from Britten’s opera Billy Budd in collaboration with the Berkshire County Historical Society and Berkshire Opera Festival, and a tribute concert to African American composer Julia Perry performed by Castle of Our Skins.
Past TLI collaborators have included the Norman Rockwell Museum, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, BRIDGE, Greenagers, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI), and the TerezÃn Music Foundation.
Will all of the BSO’s goals for the Linde Center come to pass? This statement from BSO President and CEO Chad Smith is reassuring indeed:
The ability to offer a variety of musical and humanities programs throughout the calendar year was foundational to the mission of the Linde Center when it opened five years ago. Now, with the disruptions of the pandemic finally behind us, we are pleased to announce a rich menu of events from fall through spring, with more programs to come as they are finalized. We are committed to deepening our engagement with local residents and community partners by opening the Linde Center’s doors year-round to present programs that enrich and enliven arts and culture in the Berkshires area.
Tickets to TLI events may be purchased online or by calling the BSO box office at (888) 266-1200.
