Bernadette Peters, Brian Stokes Mitchell, et al. to Take Part in 2012 Tanglewood Festival

Tanglewood, one of the world's most beloved music festivals and the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra located in the beautiful Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts, celebrates its 75th anniversary season, June 22-September 2, with a spectacular lineup of musical guests and programs that spotlight Tanglewood's rich tradition of presenting summertime concerts at their best since 1937.

In addition to replicating some of the greatest musical moments of the last 75 years and presenting eight new works in their world premiere performances, Tanglewood's 75th Anniversary celebration will reach out to a worldwide audience by way of international radio broadcasts and first-ever recording and educational programs presented through tanglewood.org, including an extraordinary offer of 75 Free Digital Streams featuring many of the most memorable musical events from the BSO's rich archive of recorded Tanglewood performances since 1937. These digital streams will be available free of charge for 24 hours on the day of the release, after which they will be available as a download for purchase.

Tickets to the 2012 Tanglewood season, priced from $9 to $117 for regular season concerts, go on public sale Sunday, January 29, through tanglewood.org or by calling SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200. Tanglewood continues to offer free lawn tickets to young people age 17 and under and a 50% discount on lawn tickets to college and graduate students.

TWO STAR-STUDDED GALAS, JULY 14 AND AUGUST 18, FRAME TANGLEWOOD'S 75TH CELEBRATION

Stars from the classical music world and beyond will join in the Tanglewood 75th celebration by taking part in two special gala concerts on July 14 and August 18. The July 14 gala will feature the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center orchestras, with performances by Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Peter Serkin, longtime Tanglewood friend James Taylor, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and other special guests, led by conductors John Williams, Keith Lockhart, and Andris Nelsons. This program will be made available to a worldwide audience through a series of international broadcasts, details of which will be announced at a later date.

Boston Pops Laureate Conductor John Williams, arguably the most well-known composer of his generation with many of the most memorable film scores of the 20th and 21st centuries to his credit, will be feted on the occasion of his 80th birthday year with a Boston Pops concert featuring classical music luminaries Yo-Yo Ma, Gabriela Montero, Jessye Norman, and Leonard Slatkin, along with performances by several Boston Symphony soloists who will be featured in Mr. Williams's concert works.

BSO'S ALL-BEETHOVEN OPENER ON JULY 6 AND ALL-WAGNER CONCERT ON JULY 21 REPLICATE PROGRAMS FROM BSO'S FIRST TANGLEWOOD SEASON IN 1937

The Boston Symphony's opening night concert of the 2012 Tanglewood season will set the tone for the 75th anniversary season with a program, under the direction of Christoph von Dohnányi-himself a Conducting Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in 1952-that replicates the very first BSO concert that took place on the Tanglewood grounds on August 5, 1937: an all-Beethoven program, opening with the Leonore Overture No. 3, followed by Symphony No. 6, Pastoral, and Symphony No. 5. This program will be made available to a worldwide audience through a series of international broadcasts, details of which will be announced at a later date.

A Boston Symphony all-Wagner program on July 21, featuring some of the best-known orchestral excerpts from Tristan und Isolde, Siegfried, Die Walküre, Parsifal, and Tannhäuser, under the direction of Wagner specialist Asher Fisch, will harken back to one of the most storied concerts from the orchestra's first Tanglewood season in 1937, when a torrential downpour caused the August 12, 1937 all-Wagner concert to be interrupted three times, necessitating a shortening of the program due to leaks in the tent where the orchestra performed its first season. This seemingly disastrous event triggered a happy outcome when funds raised immediately on the spot and soon thereafter were pledged toward building a permanent performance structure for the BSO-the historic Tanglewood Music Shed, which opened in the summer of 1938, and was rechristened the Koussevitzky Music Shed on the occasion of its 50th anniversary in 1988.

These programs are just two examples of what will be a season-long focus on many of the great musical moments of Tanglewood's first 75 years. Further details about this programming are available in the week-by-week section of this press release.

TANGLEWOOD'S 75TH REACHES OUT TO A WORLDWIDE AUDIENCE WITH INTERNATIONAL RADIO BROADCASTS AND 75 FREE DOWNLOADS THROUGH BSO.ORG

With an audience of visitors from the northeastern U.S., as well as around the country and across the globe, the Boston Symphony Orchestra will bring Tanglewood's 75th-anniversary celebration to music fans worldwide through international radio broadcasts of the BSO's all-Beethoven opener on July 6 and the 75th Anniversary Gala on July 14; 75 Free Digital Streams offered throughout the summer at bso.org; and free streaming at bso.org of master classes and concerts by the Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center (TMC), the BSO's renowned summer music academy for the advanced training of young professional-caliber musicians.

75 Free Digital Streams throughout the summer at bso.org

In an extraordinary, first-time-ever offer, Tanglewood will mark its 75th anniversary by offering 75 Free Digital Streams, one each day of the summer, June 20-September 2. These free streams will feature memorable musical events and guest artist appearances from the 75-year history of the festival, including outstanding performances by the BSO, Boston Pops, and Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center, many of whom went on to have major careers and perform in the world's most prestigious concert halls and opera houses. These digital streams will be available free of charge for 24 hours on the day of the release, after which they will be available as a download for purchase.

The repertoire for the 75 Free Digital Streams will be chosen from a vast array of programs and artists and will feature some of the legendary performances in the history of the festival, including concerts with many of the greatest conductors, composers, and performing artists of the 20th and 21st centuries; world and American premieres that introduced important new works that have lived on through repeat performances the world over; extraordinary instrumental and vocal artists in recital and chamber music concerts; highlights of Boston Pops concerts under Arthur Fiedler, John Williams, and Keith Lockhart; and some of Tanglewood's most iconic performances by artists from the worlds of popular culture and Jazz.

BSO.ORG TO STREAM TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER MASTER CLASSES AND CONCERTS

A series of Tanglewood Music Center master classes aimed toward inspiring the next generation of aspiring musicians will be made available to a worldwide audience by way of a free digital stream at tanglewood.org.

These tanglewood.org streams will capture BSO concertmaster Malcolm Lowe working with the gifted young violinists of the TMC in a session devoted to the art and skill set of being a concertmaster and leader of a violin section; world-renowned mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe coaching some of today's finest young singers, many of whom are already engaged in or on the cusp of careers in the world's opera houses and concert halls; BSO principal trumpet Thomas Rolfs and BSO second trumpet Benjamin Wright teaching the skills and dynamics involved in building a trumpet section that works together toward a unified goal of performance standards; and a conductor master class, details of which will be announced at a later date.

The Tanglewood Music Center was founded in 1940 by Serge Koussevitzky as a training ground for the next generation of classical musicians, who, during their stay at Tanglewood, would have the benefit of training from BSO musicians, an impressive roster of faculty, and many of the prestigious artists who perform at Tanglewood each summer. It is considered to be one of the leading schools of its kind in the world.

BSO BRINGS ALL-BEETHOVEN OPENER AND ANNIVERSARY GALA TO WORLDWIDE AUDIENCE THROUGH SERIES OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTS AND LIVE STREAM AT TANGLEWOOD.ORG

The BSO's all-Beethoven concert, under the direction of Christoph von Dohnányi, replicating the first-ever BSO concert on the Tanglewood grounds in 1937, and the 75TH Anniversary Gala Concert with the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center orchestras, and performances by Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Peter Serkin, longtime Tanglewood friend James Taylor, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, led by conductors John Williams, Keith Lockhart, and Andris Nelsons, will be made available to a worldwide audience through an international series of radio broadcasts, details of which will be announced at a later date.

EIGHT TANGLEWOOD 75TH ANNIVERSARY COMMISSIONS TO RECEIVE THEIR WORLD PREMIERES IN 2012

Continuing the BSO's rich tradition of marking special anniversaries with the commissioning of new music, the Tanglewood 75TH Anniversary Season will showcase the world premieres of eight new works, many by composers who have a strong connection with Tanglewood and the BSO, including:

*Michael Gandolfi was a Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) fellow in 1986 and has been on the TMC faculty since 1997, most recently serving as Composition Program Coordinator. The BSO was involved in the commissioning of his Impressions from 'The Garden of Cosmic Speculation' and the Boston Symphony Chamber Players premiered his Plain Song, Fantastic Dances in 2005. He is currently composing a work for organ and orchestra-a BSO commission to be premiered in 2015.

* John Harbison has long been a BSO collaborator, with many of his works commissioned and/or premiered by the orchestra. The relationship is highlighted by the BSO's two-year cycle of his symphonies, which culminates in the world premiere of his Symphony No. 6 in January 2012. The composer also has close ties with the Tanglewood Music Center, holding several different titles over the years, including Director of the Festival of Contemporary Music Festival. Mr. Harbison most recently served as TMC Composition Program Chairman.

*André Previn first appeared as a BSO guest conductor in 1977 and the orchestra has premiered three of his works since. Previn's Owls (a BSO commission) was unveiled in 2008. The composer's Double Concerto for Violin and Double Bass was premiered by Anne-Sophie Mutter and Roman Patkoló in 2007, and his Violin Concerto "Written for Anne-Sophie Mutter" received its world premiere in 2002. The Boston Symphony Chamber Players premiered André Previn's Octet for Eleven in 2010.

*Gunther Schuller has led the BSO on numerous occasions, first appearing as a guest conductor in 1964. The orchestra premiered his symphony-like Where the Word Ends, a BSO 125th Anniversary Commission, in 2009 and his DEAI, a BSO commission, was premiered in Japan by the BSO in 1978. Mr. Schuller followed Aaron Copland as head of the TMC Composition Faculty in 1964, and from 1966-1984 he was Director of the Composition Department, during which time he also directed the Festival of Contemporary Music. In 1970 he also took on the title of Co-Director of the TMC.

The 75th anniversary premieres will also include a new work by Edgar Meyer, as well as composers new to the BSO and its audiences. These include new works by Tanglewood Music Center alums South Korean Ju Ri Seo, (TMC class of 2011); American Adam Roberts, (TMC class of 2011); and Israeli Matti Kovler (TMC class of 2008). Additional 75th anniversary commissions will be presented in subsequent Tanglewood seasons.

James Taylor AT TANGLEWOOD JULY 2, 3 AND 4

James Taylor and his extraordinary band of musicians will make their greatly anticipated Independence Day weekend appearances, with concerts on July 2, 3, and 4, with fireworks following the July 4 performance. Always a highlight of any Tanglewood summer, James Taylor has performed at the festival during 20 seasons since his first Tanglewood concert 38 years ago on July 30, 1974. Proceeds from this summer's July 4 concert will benefit Tanglewood.

75 TREES, A TANGLEWOOD 75 POSTER AND COMMEMORATIVE STAMP, AND A NEW DISCUSSION SERIES: CONCERNING MUSIC AND SOCIETY

A new discussion series, Concerning Music and Society, will feature a critics' forum as well as a discussion on music and one on technology and film music. Further details will be announced at a later date.

75 new trees will be planted throughout the Tanglewood grounds enhancing what is already considered one of the most beautiful festival grounds anywhere in the world. In addition, photographer [NAME] has been commissioned to create a souvenir poster in celebration of the special anniversary.

MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF TANGLEWOOD 75TH

Highlights include Anne-Sophie Mutter as soloist/conductor for an all-Mozart program (July 13) and Pinchas Zukerman as soloist/conductor for an all-Bach program (August 10). Yo-Yo Ma presents his Silk Road Ensemble (June 22 and 24) and is also soloist with the BSO (August 11). Returning guests also include Joshua Bell (July 7), Yefim Bronfman (August 4), Christoph von Dohnányi (July 6 & August 4, 7, & 12), Charles Dutoit (July 28 & 29), Nelson Freire (July 27), Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (August 19, 25, & 26), Lorin Maazel (August 3&5), Gil Shaham (August 19), and Jean-Yves Thibaudet (August 5). In Ozawa Hall, Gerhard Oppitz performs Brahms's complete solo piano music; the Mark Morris Dance Group returns for its annual collaboration with Tanglewood Music Center musicians (June 28 and 29); and Chris Botti and his band will be featured (August 5). Bernadette Peters makes a rare Tanglewood appearance with the Boston Pops in a Shed program led by Keith Lockhart (July 8).

Tanglewood, celebrating its 75th anniversary as the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2012, opens on Friday, June 22, with the return of Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road Ensemble, and closes September 2, with tickets going on sale to the general public on Sunday, January 29, 2012. For detailed information about the 2012 Tanglewood season, including how to purchase tickets, priced from $9 to $117 for regular season concerts (non benefactor tickets to the July 14 Gala Anniversary Concert are priced from $30 to $250), visit www.tanglewood.org . As of January 29, tickets are available through Tanglewood's website, www.tanglewood.org , and through SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200. Tanglewood continues to offer free lawn tickets to young people age 17 and under and a50% discount on lawn tickets to college and graduate students. Additional ticket information appears near the end of this press release. A complete season listing appears at the end of the release.

One of the most popular and acclaimed music festivals in the world, Tanglewood-the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937-is located in the beautiful Berkshire Hills between Lenox and Stockbridge, MA. With an average annual attendance of more than 300,000 visitors each season, and has a $60 million impact on the Berkshire economy each summer. Tanglewood presents orchestra concerts by the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and visiting ensembles, featuring many of the greatest classical musicians of our time; recital and chamber music concerts in the intimate setting of Ozawa Hall; programs highlighting the young musicians of the Tanglewood Music Center; performances by some of today's leading popular artists; and a season-ending Labor Day Weekend festival. Tanglewood is family-friendly, with free lawn tickets available for children and young people age 17 and under, a 50% discount on Friday-evening lawn tickets for college and graduate students, and a variety of special programs for children, including Kids Corner, Watch and Play, and the annual Family Concert, this year to take place Saturday, August 25. Tanglewood is also the home of the Tanglewood Music Center, the BSO's preeminent summer music academy for the advance training of young professional musicians, and Days in the Arts, a multi-cultural arts-immersion program that gives 400 fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-graders from communities across Massachusetts the opportunity to explore the arts throughout each week-long session of the summer. These are just two of the BSO's many educational and outreach activities, for which more information is available at www.bso.org-the largest and most visited orchestral website in the country, receiving about 7.5 million visitors annually and generating over $70 million in revenue since its launch in 1996. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is online at www.bso.org. Music lovers can follow the BSO on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bostonsymphony or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bostonsymphony .

PRE-SEASON OFFERINGS, JUNE 22-JULY 5

Globally acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma-a beloved Tanglewood fixture who has performed at the festival in all but one summer since 1983-opens the 2012 Tanglewood season with two performances featuring his Silk Road Ensemble in Ozawa Hall Friday, June 22, and Sunday, June 24. With musicians from around the globe, the Ensemble will perform a special program that reflects a diversity of styles and nationalities, combining Western and non-Western instruments from the old and new worlds in ways that transcend cultural boundaries.

On Saturday, June 23, the Koussevitzky Music Shed welcomes back Diana Krall, who last appeared at the festival in 2009. The double platinum-selling recording artist is known for her distinctive jazz stylings across a range of repertoire, especially tunes from the American songbook.

The Mark Morris Dance Group makes its annual appearance in two highly anticipated concerts Thursday, June 28, and Friday, June 29, collaborating as usual with Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center. The program includes three Morris works: Something Lies Beyond the Scene, set to William Walton's Façade: An Entertainment and featuring soprano and longtime TMC faculty member Phyllis Curtin in the role of narrator; Rock of Ages, set to the second movement of Schubert's Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat, D.897; and Festival Dance, set to JohAnn Hummel's Piano Trio No. 5 in E, Op. 83.

A Prairie Home Companion, with the inimitable Garrison Keillor and a colorful cast of friends from the shores of Lake Wobegon, has become a favorite Tanglewood tradition and once again broadcasts live from the Shed Saturday, June 30. James Taylor, another beloved and annual guest, appears in three concerts Monday, July 2-Wednesday, July 4, in a program called James Taylor at Tanglewood, reflecting the style and the songs that have made him an icon. Tanglewood's annual Independence Day fireworks display follow the July 4 concert.

The pre-season concludes Thursday, July 5, with the always outstanding Emerson String Quartet. In an Ozawa Hall program juxtaposing the classic and the new, the group performs Mozart's String Quartet No. 21 in D, K.575, internationally acclaimed British composer Thomas Adès's Four Quarters, and Beethoven's String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat, Op. 130, with the composer's original Große Fuge finale.

WEEK 1, JULY 6-12

In the winter of 1936, Mrs. Gorham Brooks and Miss Mary Aspinwall Tappan offered Tanglewood, the Tappan family estate, with its buildings and 210 acres of lawns and meadows, as a gift to Music Director Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The offer was gratefully accepted, and on August 5, 1937, what was then the Berkshire Symphonic Festival's largest crowd assembled under a tent for the first Tanglewood concert, an all-Beethoven program including the Leonore Overture No. 3 and the Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6. To open the 75th Tanglewood season, revered conductor and Tanglewood Music Center Fellow in 1952 Christoph von Dohnányi and the BSO reprise that program on Friday,
July 6.

The following night, Kansas City Symphony Music Director Michael Stern makes his BSO and Tanglewood debuts in a concert featuring popular violinist Joshua Bell-a Tanglewood guest every year since 1989-and bassist-composer Edgar Meyer, who last appeared at Tanglewood in 2000. The program will include the world premiere of Mr. Meyer's Double Concerto for violin, double bass, and orchestra-a nod to Tanglewood's founder and BSO Music Director 1925-1949, Serge Koussevitzky, himself a virtuoso bass player-as well as Barber's Overture to The School for Scandal and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4, a work performed on the second-ever Tanglewood concert, August 7, 1937. On Sunday, July 8, the Boston Pops Orchestra gives its first Tanglewood 2012 performance in a concert led by conductor Keith Lockhart and featuring Broadway superstar Bernadette Peters, who has dazzled audiences with performances on stage and screen and will present selections such as Let Me Entertain You, Fever, and Some Enchanted Evening.

On Wednesday, July 11, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist-composer André Previn-whose Tanglewood history dates back to 1977-give the US premiere of Mr. Previn's Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano, as well as perform his Tango Song, and Dance, and works by Mozart and Franck. Ozawa Hall then welcomes Sequentia, directed by Benjamin Bagby-one of the world's most respected and innovative ensembles for medieval music-who conjure a different time on Thursday, July 12, with The Rheingold Curse: A Germanic Saga of Greed and Vengeance, which draws its inspiration from the medieval Icelandic saga, the Edda.

WEEK 2, JULY 13-19

Eminent violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, who opened the BSO's 2011-12 season in the dual role of soloist and conductor in the five Mozart violin concertos, rejoins the orchestra on Friday, July 13, for the composer's Second, Third, and Fifth concertos.

In a star-studded event featuring some of Tanglewood's most distinguished and longtime guests Saturday, July 14, the BSO, Boston Pops, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and Tanglewood Festival Chorus join forces with conductors John Williams, Keith Lockhart, and Andris Nelsons, guest artists including violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianists Emanuel Ax and Peter Serkin, Tanglewood's longtime friend James Taylor, and vocal soloists for Tanglewood's spectacular 75th Anniversary Celebration. The festive program will include Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, music from Bernstein's On the Town, Copland's Fanfare for The Common Man, and much more.

Latvian conductor and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Music Director Andris Nelsons, who previously conducted the BSO at Carnegie Hall and makes his subscription series debut in January 2012, makes his Tanglewood debut Sunday, July 15. Mr. Nelsons and the orchestra are joined by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, on a program with Brahms's exhilarating Symphony No. 2.

This season, Tanglewood audiences will have a rare opportunity to hear Brahms's complete works for solo piano in four Ozawa Hall recitals by outstanding German pianist Gerhard Oppitz. Mr. Oppitz plays the first two installments of the series on Wednesday, July 18 (highlighted by the Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5, and the Four Piano Pieces, Op. 119) and Thursday, July 19 (including the Four Ballades, Op. 10, and the Variations on a Theme by Schumann, Op. 9).

WEEK 3, JULY 20-26

The BSO plays music by one of Tanglewood's most important alumni on Friday, July 20, when National Symphony Orchestra Music Director Christoph Eschenbach-whose Tanglewood history dates back to a 1969 appearance as piano soloist-and young violinist Dan Zhu join the orchestra for Leonard Bernstein's Serenade (after Plato's "Symposium") for violin and orchestra, a seldom-heard work representing some of the legendary conductor-composer's most intriguing music. This performance of Bernstein's Serenade recalls Midori's historic 1986 performance of the same work, when at age 14 she shocked and inspired audience, orchestra, and conductor as she continued playing with great poise after breaking not one, but two strings during her performance, each time having to trade violins with a member of the BSO's violin section and having to make immediate adjustments going from a three quarter size instrument to full-size instrument with each trade. As on that 1986 concert, concluding the program is Tchaikovsky's cherished Symphony No. 6, Pathétique.

The following night marks the season's second recreation of a seminal concert in Tanglewood's history. At the all-Wagner concert that opened the 1937 festival's second weekend, rain and thunder twice interrupted the Rienzi Overture and necessitated the omission altogether of the Forest Murmurs from Siegfried, music too delicate to be heard through the downpour. At the intermission, Miss Gertrude Robinson Smith, one of the festival's founders, made an appeal to raise funds for a permanent structure, and soon thereafter, plans were underway for a "music pavilion." On Saturday, July 21, conductor and Wagner specialist Asher Fisch makes his BSO and Tanglewood debuts conducting the BSO in the very same all-Wagner program-which also includes the Prelude and Love-death from Tristan und Isolde, the Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre, and the Prelude to Parsifal-this time sheltered by the iconic Koussevitzky Music Shed.

In another nod to history on Sunday, July 22, the BSO presents an all-Mozart program-a popular model in the early years of the festival-led by Kurt Masur (a Tanglewood guest more than 25 times) and featuring pianist Gerhard Oppitz in the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491. Also on the program are the Symphony No. 36, Linz, and one of Mozart's most enduringly popular works, Eine kleine Nachtmusik.

Mr. Oppitz completes his remarkable four-recital transversal of Brahms's complete works for solo piano in Ozawa Hall on Wednesday, July 25, and Thursday, July 26. The highlights of the July 25 performance include the Six Piano Pieces, Op. 118, and the Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 35, Books 1 and 2. The July 26 recital features the Sonata No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 2, the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24, and more.

WEEK 4, JULY 27-AUGUST 2

On Friday, July 27, BSO Assistant Conductor Marcelo Lehninger joins the orchestra along with his fellow Brazilian Nelson Freire, who performs as soloist in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K.466, and Momoprecoce for piano and orchestra by Villa-Lobos, whose music featured regularly during the early years of the festival. The concert will also include Mussorgsky's atmospherically evocative Pictures at an Exhibition, which was a specialty of Koussevitzky and has a long Tanglewood history. The following evening's performance also provides historical Tanglewood significance alongside spectacle as the Shed is illuminated by the otherworldly light of Berlioz's Le Damnation de Faust, a work that had its memorable Tanglewood premiere in 1954 with Charles Munch and was last performed at the festival in 2007. The July 28 performance is led by eminent Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit and features mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, tenor Paul Groves, baritone Sir Willard White, bass-baritone Christopher Feigum, the PALS Children's Chorus, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Mr. Dutoit returns to lead the BSO Sunday, July 29, in a program of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 with soloist Emanuel Ax, who has performed at Tanglewood more than 30 times and every season since 1985.

Thursday, August 2, brings the long-awaited Tanglewood debut of distinguished baritone Gerald Finley-best known for creating the role of J. Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams's 2005 opera Doctor Atomic-in an Ozawa hall recital featuring songs by Loewe, Schumann, and Britten.

WEEK 5, AUGUST 3-9

Baritone Gerald Finley moves from Ozawa Hall to the Shed Friday, August 3, to join revered maestro Lorin Maazel, a TMC fellow in 1951 and 52, and the BSO for Ravel's Don Quichotte à Dulcinée and arias from Così fan tutte, The Marriage of Figaro, and Don Giovanni by Mozart, a composer in whose music Mr. Finley is especially respected. The program also includes Ravel's colorful Alborada del gracioso and Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2-a BSO specialty and a work that was performed in the first Tanglewood season in 1937-as well as Mozart's Symphony No. 38, Prague. Mr. Maazel once again takes the podium Sunday, August 5, to lead the BSO in a program featuring the world premiere of a new BSO-commissioned work by Michael Gandolfi, who was a TMC Fellow in 1986 and has been a member of the TMC Faculty since 1997. The elegant and engaging French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet also participates in this program, as soloist in Saint-Saëns's Piano Concerto No. 5, Egyptian. The concert concludes in thrilling fashion with Berlioz's Symphonie fastastique, another work at the heart of the BSO repertoire and which the orchestra first performed in 1885.

On Saturday, August 4, the BSO welcomes two of the most popular Tanglewood guests of the past two decades: conductor Christoph von Dohnányi and dynamic pianist Yefim Bronfman. Mr. Bronfman takes center stage in Brahms's sweeping Piano Concerto No. 2, and the orchestra shows its muscle in Schumann's Symphony No. 4.

Three-time Billboard chart-topper and five-time Grammy Award nominated trumpeter Chris Botti-who last performed at Tanglewood in 2009 with the Boston Pops-brings his crack ensemble and trademark populist style of jazz to Ozawa Hall Sunday, August 5.

One of the festival's most beloved traditions, Tanglewood on Parade (Tuesday, August 7), is a chance to see all of the festival's orchestras perform in a single extended concert. Mr. Maazel, Mr. Dohnányi, Stéphane Denève in his Tanglewood debut, Keith Lockhart, and John Williams share the podium for a program that will include Beethoven's Overture to Egmont, Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, and recent film scores by Mr. Williams, as well as the traditional TOP finale, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. This lively evening features performances by the BSO, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and the Boston Pops, culminating in a dazzling fireworks display.

WEEK 6, AUGUST 10-16

On Friday, August 10, Pinchas Zukerman-who first performed at Tanglewood in 1969-acts as both conductor and solo violinist in an all-Bach program-a popular concert format throughout the history of the festival-that highlights some of the exceptional talent within the ranks of the BSO. In addition to Mr. Zukerman and guest harpsichordist John Gibbons, BSO principal flutist Elizabeth Rowe, principal oboist John Ferrillo, and concertmaster Malcolm Lowe take solo turns in an all-Bach program featuring the Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 3 and 5, the Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, BWV 1041, the Concerto in D minor for two violins and strings, BWV 1043, and the Concerto in C minor for violin, oboe, and strings, BWV 1060. Yo-Yo Ma returns to the Shed stage Saturday, August 11, as soloist in Elgar's cathartic Cello Concerto, with conductor Stéphane Denève, who also leads the orchestra in the world premiere of a BSO-commissioned new work by André Previn and Shostakovich's riveting Symphony No. 5. Christoph von Dohnányi takes the podium once again Sunday, August 12, for a program spanning almost 200 years of the Germanic music tradition. Widely acclaimed pianist Paul Lewis makes his BSO and Tanglewood debuts as soloist in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, K.488, bracketed by Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 and Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks.

The young and adventurous Ébène String Quartet, which has rocketed to stardom in recent years, brings its fresh approach to string quartet performance to Ozawa Hall on Thursday, August 16. As is typical in Ébène performances, the quartet juxtaposes the classic with the new, first delving into Mozart's Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K.421, and Tchaikovsky's Quartet No. 1 in D, Op. 11, then changing gears with jazz selections arranged by the ensemble members and filled with improvisation.

WEEK 7, AUGUST 17-23

English conductor Bramwell Tovey, who made a memorable Tanglewood debut in 2011 leading an acclaimed concert performance of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, returns to the Berkshires Friday, August 17, to conduct Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 and two favorites by American composers. Augustin Hadelich takes the lead in Barber's tuneful Violin Concerto, and the concert opens with Copland's iconic Suite from Appalachian Spring. On Saturday, August 18, Tanglewood celebrates a truly significant occasion as the Boston Pops and a host of renowned guests celebrate John Williams' 80th birthday. Among the artists who will make an appearance are Yo-Yo Ma, Jessye Norman, Anthony McGill, and Gabriela Montero.

For The Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert on Sunday, August 19, one of the BSO's and the festival's most familiar and respected conductors leads the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in two of the repertoire's most familiar and respected works when Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos once again takes the podium, leading Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra and collaborating with soloist Gil Shaham-whose Tanglewood history dates back almost two decades-in Beethoven's immortal Violin Concerto.

The collective virtuosity of the BSO's principal players is once again on display Wednesday, August 22, as the Boston Symphony Chamber Players -one of the world's most distinguished chamber ensembles sponsored by a major symphony orchestra-take the Ozawa Hall stage for a wide-ranging program including music of Lukas Foss, J.S. Bach, Hindemith, and Mozart. As a tribute to Serge Koussevitszky, BSO principal double bass player, Edwin Barker, performs Bruch's Kol nidrei in a transcription for bass and piano-just as Koussevitzky himself played in recital in the late 1930s.

WEEK 8, AUGUST 24-26

The final weekend of Tanglewood 2012 kicks off Friday, August 24 with the Boston Pops and Keith Lockhart performing music in celebration of George Gershwin and the Great American Songbook. This Gershwin and Friends program will feature Broadway favorites Maureen McGovern and Brian Stokes Mitchell, as well as pianist Ilya Yakushev, who will perform Rhapsody in Blue.

Tanglewood's annual Family Concert, featuring Classical Tangent, a group made up in part of BSO players who perform many different styles of folk music for classical audiences, will take place at 2:30 p.m. on August 25.

On Saturday, August 25, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos presides over a program of music from his native Spain. The concert begins with Maestro Frühbeck's own arrangement of Albéniz's Suite española, but the main event is a complete concert performance of Manuel De Falla's La vida breve (Life is Short), an opera about the doomed love of a gypsy woman for an upper-class man, complete with Flamenco dancing and a Spanish folk singer-a program which was very popularly received when it was first performed under Maestro Frühbeck in 2003. The two lead roles are sung by mezzo-soprano Nancy Fabiola Herrera and tenor Vicente Ombuena.

On Sunday, August 26, the Tanglewood season comes to a close with its traditional performance of Beethoven's transcendent Symphony No. 9. This year, however, the final concert also offers a significant new-music event as Maestro Frühbeck and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus open the program with the world premiere of a BSO-commissioned new work by John Harbison. The traditional season-ender then completes the program, as the orchestra and chorus-joined by soprano Leah Crocetto, mezzo-soprano Meredith Arwady, tenor Frank Lopardo, and bass-baritone John Relyea-bid Tanglewood 2012 goodbye.

Details of the Labor Day Weekend festivities will be announced at a later date.

For further information, call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is online at www.bso.org. All programs and artists are subject to change.

 

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos

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