Andris Nelsons Leads Works By R. Strauss, Mozart, Still, And Sibelius, Octpber 7-16

In the first weeks of their 2021-22 season, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Andris Nelsons continue their exploration of major works by Richard Strauss, alongside music of Mozart, Sibelius, and Still, and welcome acclaimed guest artists Lucas and Arthur Jussen and Lisa Batiashvili back to the Symphony Hall stage.

The orchestra remains strongly committed to the health and safety of audience members, musicians, and staff. Mask-wearing and proof of either vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test are required for entry to the hall. Details outlining updated pandemic protocols at Symphony Hall are available here or at bso.org/safety.

Program Details-BSO Concerts October 7, 9, and 12 at 8 p.m.; October 8 at 1:30 p.m.

Lucas and Arthur Jussen, the piano duo that made a highly praised debut with the BSO under Andris Nelsons to open the 2019-20 season, return to Symphony Hall for Mozart's two-piano concerto, K.365, which the composer likely wrote for himself and his sister Nännerl-a famed piano duo in their own time-to perform. Also on the Andris Nelsons-led program are two works by Strauss: the Love Scene from his risqué early opera Feuersnot (music not performed by the BSO for more than a century) and the tone poem Death and Transfiguration, which, as Strauss explains in a letter, depicts "the dying hours of a man who has striven towards the highest idealist aims, maybe indeed those of an artist." All performances of the season will include an intermission, with the exception of the Casual Friday 4-concert series, which will not include intermissions.

Program Details-BSO Concerts October 14 and 16 at 8 p.m.; October 15, at 1:30 p.m.

The program for the following week features Andris Nelsons leading the Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten ("Woman Without a Shadow"), a single-movement orchestral piece drawn from the 1919 opera that has not been performed by the BSO in decades. The other two works on the program have a connection: American composer William Grant Still's Threnody (In Memory of Jan Sibelius) and Sibelius' masterful and demanding Violin Concerto with Lisa Batiashvili (the youngest-ever competitor in the Sibelius competition, when she was 16) as soloist. Still and Sibelius admired each other's music and Still accepted a commission for an orchestral memorial to the older composer. Since Strauss led the premiere of the final version of the Sibelius concerto, the circle of connections on this program is complete.

The Still and Strauss works are repeated on October 19 at 8 p.m., with Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra-perhaps the BSO's most famous commissioned work and a masterpiece of 20th-century music-closing the program.

For the orchestra's 141st season, Andris Nelsons, in his eighth season as BSO Music Director, will lead 13 of the season's 24 programs at Symphony Hall. To read a statement from Music Director Andris Nelsons, click here.

Tickets for the 2021-22 BSO season, starting at $25, are available for purchase through bso.org or by calling 888-266-1200. Click here for additional ticketing information, including details on the BSO's discounted ticket programs-the High School and College Cards, $25 tickets for patrons under 40, Rush Tickets, EBT Card to Culture, and Group Sales-as well as access information for patrons with disabilities.

BSO NOW Concert Streaming and Radio Broadcasts/Streams in 2021-22 Season
The upcoming BSO season will continue to offer BSO NOW online concert streams (bso.org/now), resuming later in October with a mix of livestreams and on-demand viewing, as well as archival programming. Introduced to enthusiastic reception in November 2020 in response to the live performance hiatus due to the pandemic, online viewers will see the BSO led by Andris Nelsons and guest conductors and the Boston Pops led by Keith Lockhart, as well as Thomas Wilkins leading both a BSO concert and BSO Youth and Family program. Details about the streaming schedule are coming soon.

In addition, CRB Classical 99.5, a GBH station, presents live BSO radio broadcasts and online audio streams (accessed at bso.org/broadcast and classicalwcrb.org) of Saturday-evening concerts from Symphony Hall, at 8 p.m., October 2-April 30.

To post a comment, you must register and login.