Boston Symphony Orchestra Sets 2023-24 Season Featuring a World Premiere & More

The 2023-24 Boston Symphony Orchestra season, October 5-May 4, has been programmed to offer the BSO's most devoted audiences and newcomers alike an exciting and wide-ranging spectrum of musical styles and periods-awe-inspiring works with an extraordinary potential to move us through their emotional power, beauty, and brilliance. For his tenth season with the BSO, Music Director Andris Nelsons will lead the orchestra in 11 programs. In total, 14 works by living composers-including a world premiere piece by Pulitzer Prize winner Tania León and the American premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina's Prologue for Orchestra-will be presented as part of the orchestra's 143rd season, alongside Nelsons-led concert performances of the complete cycle of Beethoven piano concertos with pianist Paul Lewis and signature repertoire works by Berlioz, Haydn, Mozart, Prokofiev, Ravel, Stravinsky, and Wagner, among others.

In another major moment of the season, Mr. Nelsons will lead concert performances of Dmitri Shostakovich's landmark 1934 opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, concluding the orchestra's Shostakovich performance and Grammy Award-winning recording cycle, and reaffirming Mr. Nelsons' commitment to an opera presentation each season at Symphony Hall. In addition, the 2023-24 season introduces exciting new performers-among them, jazz vocalist and bassist esperanza spaulding, 2022 Cliburn Competition-winning South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim, and talented young American violinist and 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence Winner Randall Goosby-and welcomes back guests who have deeply inspired audiences with their extraordinary musicianship time and time again at Symphony Hall, including cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Alisa Weilerstein, violinists Hilary Hahn and Leonidas Kavakos, and pianists Yefim Bronfman, Seong-Jin Cho, Kirill Gerstein, and Yuja Wang. More details are available at bso.org.

Andris Nelsons will open the season on October 5, with longtime BSO collaborator Rudolf Buchbinder performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, K.488, on a program with Beethoven's Consecration of the House Overture, Arturs Maskats' Tango, and Richard Strauss' Suite from Der Rosenkavalier. (The next evening's opening gala celebration substitutes Carlos Simon's electrifying Four Black American Dances and Ellington's New World A-Coming with the Aaron Diehl Trio for the Maskats and Strauss.) Adding an enhanced dramatic layer to the season will be the presentations of significant large-scale works that anchor particular repertoire focuses, including György Ligeti's Piano Concerto with former BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès and Gerstein for the 100th birthday of the influential Hungarian composer; a dramatic retelling of Grieg's Peer Gynt for the Music of the Midnight Sun series, featuring classic and new works by Nordic composers; and Scriabin's colorful tone poem Prometheus, Poem of Fire (with lighting research and design by Anna Gawboy and Justin Townsend) along with Messiaen's vital masterwork Turangalîla-symphonie for the series Music for the Senses.

Former BSO Music Director Serge Koussevitzky (1924-1949) conducted the premiere of Scriabin's Prometheus in 1911, and Messiaen's Turangalîla was commissioned by Koussevitzky and premiered by the BSO under the baton of Leonard Bernstein in 1949. In 2024, in observance of the 150th birth anniversary of Koussevitzky (1874-1951) and the 100 years since his appointment as the BSO's trailblazing music director, the BSO performs music he either premiered or commissioned-including Prokofiev's Fourth Symphony along with the Scriabin and Messiaen works-all under the baton of Mr. Nelsons. Furthermore, four new works performed during the 2023-24 season will receive the designation "Koussevitzky 150 commission." They include a still untitled piece by Cuban-American composer Tania León (to be performed on January 11-13, 26); Elena Langer's The Dong with a Luminous Nose, for cello, chorus, and orchestra (March 14-16); Roberto Sierra's Symphony No. 6 (March 28 - 30); and Sofia Gubaidulina's Prologue for Orchestra (April 25-27). The Koussevitzky 150 celebration will continue through the Tanglewood 2024 season and into the BSO's 2024-25 season with the programming of additional music influenced by the legendary Russian-born conductor, composer, and double-bassist.

Beyond Symphony Hall, Nelsons and the BSO perform their annual series at Carnegie Hall on January 29 and 30. Pre-season Symphony Hall activity spotlights the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, under the direction of Keith Lockhart, which will present two special programs at Symphony Hall: on September 22 and 23, A John Williams Tribute, featuring film score music ranging from The Towering Inferno (1974) to Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), and on September 23 and 24, Star Wars: The Story in Music, which includes music from all nine Star Wars films.

STATEMENT FROM ANDRIS NELSONS, THE BSO'S RAY AND MARIA STATA MUSIC DIRECTOR

"It is always such a special occasion to announce a new Boston Symphony Orchestra season filled with so many new musical gifts for our devoted Symphony Hall community. We especially look forward to celebrating legendary conductor Serge Koussevitzky with special events marking his 150th birthday year, the centennial of his first year leading the BSO, and his indelible legacy of commissioning many influential and beloved works of the 20th century.

"Among the works being performed in honor of Koussevitzky, Alexander Scriabin's Prometheus, presented with color projections as the composer intended, and Olivier Messiaen's massive Turangalîla-symphonie, with pianist Yuja Wang and marking the 75th anniversary of its BSO premiere, make up our Music for the Senses mini-festival.

"Additional season highlights include Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, bringing the orchestra's Grammy award-winning recording cycle to a close with one of the composer's most radical and politically consequential works that is universally considered a masterpiece of the 20th century. Two treasured BSO guests-Yo-Yo Ma, performing both Shostakovich cello concertos, and Paul Lewis, in all five Beethoven piano concertos-share new aspects of their extraordinary artistry with our appreciative audiences.

"Composers Iman Habibi, Elena Langer, and James Lee III, as well as Sofia Gubaidulina, Tania León, and Roberto Sierra, add their unique voices to programming that furthers the BSO's important commitment to new works. A focus on dynamic artists new to the BSO brings Esperanza Spalding to Symphony Hall for a memorial tribute to jazz great Wayne Shorter.

"As a figure of inspiration to me and so many musicians of our time, Koussevitzky is an enduring presence in the rich history that continues to inspire the BSO. As we look forward to celebrating him, we reflect on the BSO's ability to touch so many lives with the power of music. This is always our mission and hope as we create and immerse ourselves in every new season."

Boston Symphony Chamber Players 2023-24 Season

The Boston Symphony Chamber Players open their 2023-24 season on Sunday, November 19 at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall with a program dedicated to the music of composer György Ligeti, who would have turned 100 this year. The ensemble performs the composer's early work for winds, Bagatelles, as well as guest pianists Thomas Adès and Kirill Gerstein playing the Hungarian composer's Monument - Self Portrait - Movement (1976). The program will also include the American premiere of Adès' song cycle Növények, featuring mezzo-soprano Katalin Károlyi, and Mozart's String Quintet No. 3 in C, K.515.

On Sunday, February 11, 2024, the Chamber Players will present a new work by Adam Schoenberg, a BSO co-commission "modeled after Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring." The program also includes Allison Loggins-Hull's Homeland for solo flute and Brahms' String Sextet No. 2 in G, Op. 36. Coinciding with the BSO's Music of the Midnight Sun festival, the BSCP's Nordic-themed program on March 10 features Nielsen's Wind Quintet, Op. 43, Anna Thorvaldsdottir's Spectra, for violin, viola, and cello, and Hans Abrahamsen's arrangements of four pieces from Schubert's Moments Musicaux, for winds and strings. Pianist Garrick Ohlsson joins the Chamber Players on Sunday, March 31, 2024, for a program to include Messiaen's sublime Quartet for the End of Time, for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. More programming details for this season-closer will be announced at a later date.

HOW TO PURCHASE TICKETS AND DISCOUNTED PROGRAMS

2023-24 Season BSO Tickets

• Tickets to the 2023-24 BSO season-subscription renewals beginning on April 13 and public sale on August 1-may be purchased through bso.org, by calling 888-266-1200, or by visiting the Symphony Hall Box Office

Other ticket programs

BSO continues new three-concert Sunday-afternoon series, October 15, February 18, and April 14, with a start time of 2 p.m.

For Casual Fridays, continuing for the eighth season, patrons are encouraged to wear casual attire and enjoy shorter programs, informal conversations with BSO members, and special Conductor-Cam seating; dates are November 10, January 26, March 1 & 22

BSO's highly successful $25 tickets for people under 40 returns in 2023-24

$30 College Card available throughout the season

$10 Rush Tickets program, offering significantly discounted tickets to concertgoers on the day of concert since the orchestra's inception, continues for select performances throughout the year

Open rehearsals, for both the public and high schools, continue through the 2023-24 season. The dates for the High School Open Rehearsals are Thursday, October 12 and Thursday, March 7 at 10:30 a.m. Open Rehearsals for the general public are Thursday, November 2, Thursday, January 11, Thursday, February 29, and Thursday, April 18 at 10:30 a.m.

Brief Information About the BSO

Led by Music Director Andris Nelsons since 2014, the Boston Symphony Orchestra gave its inaugural concert in 1881 and opened Symphony Hall-widely acclaimed as one of the greatest concert halls in the world-in 1900. Today, the BSO reaches millions of listeners through not only its concert performances in Boston and at Tanglewood-the orchestra's summer home in Lenox and Stockbridge, MA-but also via streaming on BSO NOW, educational and community programs, radio, television, recordings, and tours. Click here for further information about the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Hall. Click here for an Andris Nelsons bio.

Titles for BSO Artistic and Executive Leadership

Andris Nelsons, Ray and Maria Stata BSO Music Director; Thomas Wilkins, Artistic Advisor for Education and Community Engagement / Germeshausen Youth and Family Concerts Conductor; James Burton, Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky BSO Choral Director and Conductor of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus; Keith Lockhart, Julian and Eunice Cohen Boston Pops Conductor.