Tanglewood 2013 Tickets Go On Sale This Sunday; Audra McDonald, Yo-Yo Ma and More Set for the Season

Tickets for the 2013 Tanglewood season, June 21-September 1, will go on sale to the public this Sunday, January 27, at 10:00 a.m.; tickets, priced from $9 to $117, can be purchased online at www.tanglewood.org, by phone at 888-266-1200, or by visiting the Symphony Hall box office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston.

The 2013 Tanglewood season offers music lovers a spectacular variety of musical guests and programs that spotlight Tanglewood's rich tradition of presenting summertime concerts at their best since 1937. Widely known as one of the world's most beloved music festivals and the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood is situated in the beautiful Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts.

This Sunday, January 27, is the first opportunity for the public to purchase tickets for the recently announced popular artist concerts at Tanglewood including a Melissa Etheridge performance (June 21); the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration featuring guitarist and vocalist Warren Haynes with the Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart (June 22); a Jackson Browne concert, featuring special guest Sara Watkins (July 4); and an Ozawa Hall performance featuring jazz bassist/vocalist/composer Esperanza Spalding in her Tanglewood debut (August 4).

The 2013 Tanglewood season also honors the festival's tradition of presenting the BSO and many of the top artists of the classical music world in weekend concerts throughout July and August and offers a series of Boston Pops concerts presenting star entertainers and performers in a variety of genres, a recital and chamber music series in the beautiful setting of Ozawa Hall; programs by the talented young Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center, the BSO's acclaimed summer music academy, and special programs designed for families and young people of all ages. The 2013 Tanglewood season will also feature several special events, including artist debuts, four opera presentations, several U.S. premieres, and concerts celebrating major anniversaries of Verdi, Wagner, and Britten.

Among the special events of the 2013 Tanglewood season will be the presentation of the acclaimed, newly re-mastered 1961 film West Side Story, featuring the Boston Symphony Orchestra performing Leonard Bernstein's iconic score, while the film is shown on large screens in high definition with the original vocals and dialogue (7/13). Yo-Yo Ma, in one of two appearances this season, is joined by American string virtuosos Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile, and Stuart Duncan to perform a program inspired by their recent genre-defying recording, The Goat Rodeo Sessions (8/15). The BSO's season at Tanglewood opens on July 5 with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos leading an all-Tchaikovsky program featuring violin virtuoso Joshua Bell in his 25th consecutive year performing at Tanglewood, and closes on August 25 with the welcome return of BSO Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink for the season finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The 200th anniversaries of the birth of Wagner and Verdi will be marked with two special BSO programs: Bryn Terfel, along with Katarina Dalayman and Amber Wagner, will be featured in Act III of Wagner's Die Walküre under the direction of the acclaimed Wagner conductor Lothar Koenigs (7/20), and Andris Nelsons will lead the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and an acclaimed cast of soloists in the Verdi Requiem (7/27).

Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops will be joined by country music legend Vince Gill on July 7 and American Songbook stylist Michael Feinstein on August 16. For the ever-popular Film Night, this year on August 25, John Williams and the Boston Pops will be joined by guest conductor David Newman and renowned vocalist Audra McDonald for what has become one of the signature events of the Tanglewood season. A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keiller returns to Tanglewood for their fourteenth consecutive live broadcast from the festival on June 29.

The 2013 Tanglewood season will present a spectacular lineup of the world's most celebrated piano virtuosos, including legendary figures Leon Fleisher (7/12) and Menahem Pressler (8/20); these programs will take place in celebration of Mr. Fleisher's 85th birthday and Mr. Pressler's 90th birthday. Other featured soloists will include such established masters as) Emanuel Ax (8/18), Yefim Bronfman (8/10), Christoph Eschenbach (7/26), Paul Lewis (7/24), Garrick Ohlsson (7/28), Jean-Yves Thibaudet (7/19), Peter Serkin (8/23), and Christian Zacharias (8/11). Two stars of the younger generation, Lang Lang (8/3) and Daniil Trifonov (8/22), will also be featured.

Emmanuel Music will present a concert performance of John Harbison's opera The Great Gatsby (7/11), in celebration of the composer's 75th birthday. The Tanglewood Music Center, with Mark Morris directing, will present a double opera bill of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Britten's Curlew River(7/31, 8/1), in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Britten's birth. In addition, Tanglewood is honored to present the U.S. premiere of George Benjamin's highly acclaimed opera, Written on Skin (8/12), in concert performance, to take place during the Festival of Contemporary Music (8/8-12).

HOW TO PURCHASE TICKETS, HOW TO ORDER A BROCHURE, AND FREE AND DISCOUNTED LAWN TICKETS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
This Sunday, January 27, tickets are available through Tanglewood's website, www.tanglewood.org, through SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200, and at the Symphony Hall Box Office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston MA. Regular season ticket prices range from $9-$117. Tickets for Saturday Morning Rehearsals range from $10-$30. All ticket prices include a $1 Tanglewood grounds maintenance fee.