BSO NOW Stream Launches Tomorrow At Noon

In January, the three episodes in the Boston Symphony Orchestra's second BSO NOW streaming concert series explore different facets of the concept "New Beginnings." Premiering this Thursday at noon, at www.bso.org/now, the first episode's BSO performances, led by conductor Stefan Asbury (right), focus on the idea of rejuvenation in the natural world.

The program includes Vaughan Williams' serenely pastoral The Lark Ascending with American violin soloist Elena Urioste, Smetana's depiction of the river Moldau from its source to its end, Debussy's colorful, musical Spring, and Thomas Adès' Dawn, an addition to the great tradition of musical sunrises.

The January 14 stream also features a chamber music performance spotlighting BSO musicians and magazine-like segments. Elena Langer's chamber music work Five Reflections on Water was commissioned for and originally premiered by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, who perform it here with guest conductor Jorge Soto. This episode also includes a rhapsodic feature exploring musical depictions of rivers as a complement to Smetana's The Moldau, as well as introductory remarks by BSO violinist Jennie Shames and a conversation between conductor Stefan Asbury and soloist Elena Urioste. Click here for further details about the Boston Symphony Orchestra's initial BSO NOW streams on January 21 and 28, February 11, 18, and 25.

On November 19, the Boston Symphony Orchestra launched BSO NOW, an expanded online presence with newly recorded hour-long video streams by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Andris Nelsons and guest conductors; the Boston Pops, under the direction of Keith Lockhart; and BSO musicians in chamber music, as well as BSO Youth and Family Concerts, under the direction of Thomas Wilkins, and special projects featuring the orchestra's educational and community partnerships. Most BSO NOW video streams will also feature a magazine-type segment, with behind-the-scenes storytelling with conductors, composers, and musicians, plus much more. All BSO NOW newly recorded programs will be released on select Thursdays at noon through April 29, at www.bso.org/now, with each program remaining available for 30 days after its initial posting. The BSO, Pops, and youth-focused video performances will be recorded from the stage of Symphony Hall-widely considered one of the top three acoustic concert halls in the world-which will also be featured for all its beautiful detail and historic significance.

Over the next few months, BSO NOW will also stream some selected performances from the BSO Archives, including concerts led by Seiji Ozawa, William Steinberg, and Colin Davis, with further details to be announced at a later date.

Additional BSO NOW programming details, March-April, will be announced at a later date in order for the BSO to respond effectively to any changes in restrictions that might be implemented around official COVID-19 protocols. Previously released BSO NOW streams, no longer available, include Ken-David Masur leading the BSO in Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 and Ives' The Unanswered Question; Thomas Wilkins conducting the BSO in works by Jessie Montgomery, Ellington, and Still; Marcelo Lehninger leading the orchestra in works by Copland, Barber, and Joan Tower; and Keith Lockhart leading a Holiday Pops concert stream.

BSO NOW-the BSO's expanded digital content series to be recorded at Symphony Hall and made available through bso.org/now beginning on November 19-is part of the BSO's continuing series of online offerings created in response to the live performance hiatus imposed by regulations around the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing health crisis. In response to this hiatus from live performances, the BSO launched its expanded digital offerings on March 26 with BSO at Home and BSO HomeSchool, followed by Boston Pops at Home (all available at www.bso.org), the Tanglewood 2020 Online Festival (www.tanglewood.org), and Encore BSO Recitals (www.bso.org), available through November 19. The success of these programs, which have generated millions of interactions-both directly with the actual online content and indirectly through posts on the orchestra's social media channels about that content-has been an inspiration for the orchestra to continue to explore new ways of reaching its music community and beyond with new, innovative, and compelling programming during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of March 13, 2020, and continuing on through April 2021 and possibly beyond, the orchestra has been forced to cancel the remainder of its 2019-20 BSO Youth Concert Series and 2019-20 BSO season and the entire 2020 Boston Pops, 2020 Tanglewood, 2020 Holiday Pops, and 2020-21 BSO seasons. The series of announcements detailing the full slate of cancellations by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, beginning on March 13, can be found here.

Working with 9 Foundations, Inc., the BSO's reopening strategy for its BSO NOW online recording schedule at Symphony Hall will include a robust testing schedule, two layers of daily screening, social distancing, universal masking, engineering controls, and enhanced cleaning and disinfection protocols. (Click here for additional details.) In addition, BSO musicians will sit on a 35.5 foot stage extension-more than doubling the size of the stage-especially built to accommodate official social distancing requirements between orchestra members.

With the health and safety of everyone involved the highest priority, the BSO will continually monitor updates from the Centers for Disease Control, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the City of Boston, as well as its own team of experts, to determine when it can gradually start inviting audiences bad to Symphony Hall and its other venues. The timing of this process will not be known for at least several months. All official Boston Symphony Orchestra updates will be announced on www.bso.org.

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