Single Tickets For The Boston Symphony Orchestra's 2023–24 Season On Sale Now

Fall programs at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, led by Music Director Andris Nelsons in his tenth season, feature distinguished soloists, important new works, and a weeklong celebration of Hungarian composer György Ligeti's centennial through chamber and orchestral concerts. 

For the season opener of the 143rd season on October 5th, Mr. Nelsons leads the BSO, recently returned from a nine-city European tour, in a program featuring legendary pianist Rudolf Buchbinder as soloist in Mozart's lyrical Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, plus works by Nelsons' Latvian compatriot Arturs Maskats, Strauss, and Beethoven. 

Individual tickets are now on sale for the Boston Symphony Orchestra's subscription season, October 5–May 4, which opens with Music Director Andris Nelsons, now in his tenth year leading the orchestra, alongside pianist Rudolf Buchbinder, a longtime BSO collaborator. Over the coming weeks, Nelsons is joined by several other world-renowned guest artists. Beloved cellist and BSO favorite Yo-Yo Ma plays Shostakovich's intensely expressive Cello Concertos No. 1 and 2 on October 12–15, a fitting culmination of the BSO's multi-season survey of Shostakovich's symphonies and concertos. The following week, Nelsons leads a complete cycle of the Beethoven piano concertos featuring English pianist Paul Lewis, an epic musical and stylistic journey encompassing all five of Beethoven's piano concertos over the course of three concerts.  

  

Throughout these opening weeks, Nelsons will also lead performances of several powerful works by contemporary composers exploring themes of cultural heritage, resistance to oppression, and political freedom. The Opening Night Gala features Carlos Simon's Four Black American Dances, an electrifying work celebrating the range of dances that emerged in the Black American community during American slavery, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow. In the following weeks, Nelsons leads the BSO in Iman Habibi's Zhiân, inspired by recent protests in the composer's birth country of Iran, and James Lee III's Freedom's Genuine Dawn, for narrator and orchestra, which features texts by Frederick Douglass expounding upon the limitations of American freedom; versatile artist Thomas Warfield makes his BSO debut as narrator in Freedom's Genuine Dawn. These works, each commissioned or co-commissioned by the BSO, and paired in concert with canonical favorites, bring resonant historical and contemporary events to the forefront of the symphony experience. 

  

Beginning in November, a series of guest conductors and acclaimed soloists will join the BSO; pairings include German conductor Joana Mallwitz with pianist Anna Vinnitskaya (both BSO debuts), Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu with violinist Leonidas Kavakos, and BSO Assistant Conductor Earl Lee with saxophonist Steven Banks (a BSO debut). From November 16 to 18, former BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès will conduct Ligeti's Piano Concerto with soloist Kirill Gerstein, a thrilling culmination to Ligeti 100: A Celebration, a week of programming celebrating the avant-garde Hungarian composer's centennial. Additional Ligeti programs include free community concerts performed by the Lorelei Ensemble (November 12, St. Cecilia Church), students from New England Conservatory led by newly appointed BSO Assistant Conductor Samy Rachid (November 13, Symphony Hall), and pianist Stephen Drury (November 15, Goethe-Institut Boston). See below for the complete schedule of Ligeti 100 concerts. 

  

Fall performances by the BSO are preceded by two special Boston Pops programs in September. On September 22 and 23, Keith Lockhart will conduct A Celebration of John Williams, an exciting program that combines live music composed by the Boston Pops Conductor Laureate with film excerpts and exclusive interview footage. The program will feature two talented young Japanese artists—violinist Moné Hattori (September 22 only) and pianist Hayato Sumino (September 23 only)—who will join the Pops on their tour of Japan several weeks later. Lockhart also leads Star Wars: The Story in Music on September 23 and 24, featuring extraordinary music from all nine Star Wars movies, with returning Pops guest Jeremiah Kissel as narrator. 

Fall Programs Under the Direction of Andris Nelsons

• October 5–7: Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder joins Music Director Andris Nelsons for a thrilling opening night featuring Beethoven's Consecration of the House Overture, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, Tango by Arturs Maskats, and a Suite from Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier. For the Opening Night at Symphony Gala on October 7, along with Beethoven's overture the BSO performs works celebrating Black American musical traditions: Ellington's tone poem New World A-Coming, featuring pianist Aaron Diehl and his trio, and Tonk, for piano four-hands performed by Rudolf Buchbinder and Aaron Diehl, as well as Carlos Simon's Four Black American Dances, a BSO commission. 

• October 12–15: Beginning on the morning of October 12 with an open rehearsal for high school students, Nelsons will conduct four concerts with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who will play both of Shostakovich's powerfully emotional cello concertos. The program will also feature Haydn's Symphony No. 22, Philosopher, and Iman Habibi's Zhiân, a BSO commission premiered at Tanglewood this summer. 

• October 19–21: Over the course of three concerts, Nelsons and English pianist Paul Lewis take on all five of Beethoven's piano concertos. These performances are paired with two modern poetic journeys: Hannah Kendall's The Spark Catchers, inspired by imagery from Lemn Sissay's poem by the same name, and James Lee III's Freedom's Genuine Dawn, a setting of text by Frederick Douglass. 

 

Fall Programs Under the Direction of
BSO Titled and Guest Conductors 

• October 24–28: Thomas Wilkins, Germeshausen Youth and Family Concerts Conductor and BSO Artistic Advisor, Education and Community Engagement, conducts a series of Youth and Family Concerts under the theme “May I Have Your Attention, Please?” (a musical look at getting, giving, and paying attention). 

• November 2–4: German conductor Joana Mallwitz and Russian pianist Anna Vinnitskaya, both making BSO debuts, perform Tchaikovsky's beloved Piano Concerto No. 1, along with the folk-inspired Dances of Galánta by Kodály and Schubert's towering Symphony No. 9 in C, The Great.  

• November 9–11: Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu leads frequent BSO guest Leonidas Kavakos in Alban Berg's haunting Violin Concerto, paired with Peter Lieberson's Drala (Nov. 9 & 11 only), a BSO commission that premiered in 1986 that draws from Tibetan Buddhist concepts, and Robert Schumann's majestic Symphony No. 4.  

• November 16–18: English composer and former BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès conducts the BSO in his own “single-movement symphony” Tevot, along with music from Stravinsky's ballet Orpheus and Liszt's symphonic poem Les Préludes. Russian-American pianist Kirill Gerstein joins to perform the virtuosic Piano Concerto by György Ligeti, one of many BSO events honoring the Hungarian composer's centennial during this week. 

• November 24–25: BSO Assistant Conductor Earl Lee leads Tomasi's sultry Saxophone Concerto, with leading saxophonist Steven Banks making his BSO debut, paired with Franck's fantastical symphonic poem Le Chasseur maudit (“The Cursed Hunter”) and Tchaikovsky's famously melodious Symphony No. 4. 

Ligeti 100 Programs Celebrating György Ligeti's Centennial 

The BSO celebrates the centennial of avant-garde Hungarian composer György Ligeti with a series of concerts at Symphony Hall and beyond showcasing the breadth of his work for soloists, chamber music, and orchestra. All events are free unless otherwise noted. 

• November 12: BSO presents the Lorelei Ensemble, directed by Beth Willer, in concert with organist Heinrich Christensen to perform music by Ligeti at St. Cecilia Church. The concert pairs Ligeti's powerful work for treble voices and organ with music by medieval composers Okeghem and Dufay. (2 pm, St. Cecilia Church, 18 Belvedere St., Boston) 

• November 13: Samy Rachid, BSO Assistant Conductor, leads an all-Ligeti program featuring the composer's String Quartet No. 1 and Chamber Concerto for winds, piano, harpsichord, and strings with students from New England Conservatory.  The Calithumpian Consort, directed by Stephen Drury, with vocalists Nina Guo, Thea Lobo, and Corey Gaudreau, perform Ligeti's abstract and absurdist Aventures and Nouvelles Aventures. (7:30 pm, Symphony Hall) 

• November 15: Pianist and TMC Faculty Member Stephen Drury performs a program featuring selections from Book 1 of Ligeti's virtuosic Etudes, one of the composer's crowning achievements from his later years, along with Ligeti's Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano with students from New England Conservatory. (7:30 pm, Goethe-Institut, 170 Beacon St, Boston). 

• November 16-18: Former BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès conducts the BSO in Ligeti's five-movement Piano Concerto with Russian-American pianist Kirill Gerstein, along with works by Lizst and Stravinsky, and Adès's own Tevot. (Various times, Symphony Hall, paid event) 

• November 19: The Boston Symphony Chamber Players are joined by Hungarian mezzo-soprano Katalin Károlyi and pianists Thomas Adès and Kirill Gerstein for a varied program of music by Ligeti, Adès and Mozart. (3 pm, Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory, paid event) 

 

Special Ticket Opportunities Include: 

• $25 Under 40 seats for select performances (available September 2023) 

• High School ($15) and College ($30) Cards, allowing free attendance to most BSO concerts throughout the season 

• Card to Culture program, offering $10 adult tickets and $5 children's tickets for EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare Card holders 

• Medical Cards ($30), allowing free attendance to most BSO concerts throughout the season 

• $10 Rush tickets to select subscription concerts 

• 30% discount to members of the Massachusetts Teachers Association 

 

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, Massachusetts—but also through educational and community programs, radio, television, recordings, and tours. Click here for further information about the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Hall.