Tanglewood, Home of Boston Symphony Orchestra, Announces 2023 Summer Lineup

Tanglewood, a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills in Western Massachusetts, has announced the lineup for their 2023 summer series, celebrating 85 years as an operating venue.

Tanglewood
Tanglewood exterior, photo by Aram Boghosian.

Tanglewood has been the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937, as well as the Tanglewood Music Center, and the Boston Pops. The venue welcomes more than 350,000 visitors to performances, recitals, and seminars across 500 acres. This summer, the venue is hosting a variety of events, including the Boston Pops and Film Night, Tanglewood on Parade, popular artists like Train, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and the Steve Miller Band, along with Boston Symphony Orchestra guest conductors and performances, and more. Tanglewood welcomes all to its iconic grounds surrounded by the beautiful Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts.

The Popular Artists Series at Tanglewood was founded in 1968 when the venue decided to expand its musical offerings with the creation of “Contemporary Trends” concerts. The purpose of the series was to present performances by popular groups representing important trends in contemporary music outside the sphere of Western “classical” music. The first few years included performances by The Association, Ravi Shankar, Chicago, and more. Over the years, the Koussevitzky Music Shed has welcomed artists such as The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, and more. “Tanglewood has long been renowned as a classical music venue; but since the 1960s, the Popular Artists Series has added to the breadth of musical offerings and the diversity of audiences visiting the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home base in the Berkshires,” says Anthony Fogg, William I. Bernell Vice President, Artistic Planning. All concerts will take place in the Koussevitzky Music Shed this summer.

Thursday, June 22 at 8 p.m.- Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!

NPR’s oddly informative news quiz program returns to Tanglewood, now in its 25th year. The Peabody Award-winning series offers a fast-paced, irreverent look at the week’s news, hosted by Peter Sagal and Official Judge and Scorekeeper Bill Kurtis.

Friday, June 23 at 7 p.m.- Steve Miller Band with Very Special Guest Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers

The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1966, led by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals releasing a string of mid-to-late-1970s hit singles that are staples of classic rock, including “Fly Like An Eagle,” “The Joker,” and more. Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers support.

Saturday, July 2 at 7:30 p.m.- Robert Plant and Alison Krauss with Special Guest JD McPherson

Robert Plant is best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980. He collaborated with bluegrass-country singer and fiddler Alison Krauss on Raising Sand in 2007 and promptly won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Their album Raise The Roof (2021) is available everywhere you can stream music. The support is JD McPherson known for his retro sound rooted in the rock and roll, rockabilly, and rhythm and blues music of the 1950s.

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, photo by David McClister.

Monday and Tuesday, July 3 and 4 at 8 p.m.- James Taylor

James Taylor is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 100 million records worldwide. He is a six-time Grammy award winner and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. James Taylor and his All-Star Band will celebrate the start of the Tanglewood season with two intimate and memorable performances, both sold out.

Thursday, August 24 at 7 p.m.- Train with Very Special Guest Parmalee

Since their formation in 1994, multi-GRAMMY Award-winning, diamond-selling band Train has had 14 songs on Billboard’s Hot 100, 12 albums on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and has sold more than ten million albums and 30 million tracks worldwide. Support is Parmalee, an American country music band consisting of brothers Matt Thomas and Scott Thomas, along with their cousin Barry Knox and best friend Josh McSwain.

Thursday, August 31 at 7 p.m.- Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne has written and performed some of the most literate and moving songs in popular music. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 2007. Throughout his career, he has released fourteen studio albums, four collections of live performances, two “best of” compilations, two DVDs, and several single recordings. Browne’s newest studio album Downhill From Everywhere was released in July 2021 and received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Americana Album. Tickets for this show go on sale on June 1 here.

Jackson Browne.

Boston Symphony Orchestra

The Boston Symphony Orchestra, led by Andris Nelsons since 2014, will be doing its annual residency at Tanglewood this summer, at various places within the venue, including the Shed, Ozawa Hall, and the Linde Center. BSO gave its inaugural concert in 1881, and now reaches millions of listeners through performances in Boston and at Tanglewood, and also via streaming on BSO NOW, educational and community programs, radio, television, recordings, and tours.

Boston Symphony Orchestra in the Shed, including guest conductors

Friday, July 7 at 8 p.m.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s opening concert of the season begins with Wynton Marsalis’s Herald, Holler, and Hallelujah, followed by Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with soloist Daniil Trifonov, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, led by Andris Nelsons.

Sunday, July 9 at 2:30 p.m.

A world premiere of Iman Habibi’s Zhiân and Jessie Montgomery’s Freedom Songs, featuring vocalist Julia Bullock, make up the first half of this program. Hilary Hahn joins the BSO and Andris Nelsons for Brahms’s Violin Concerto to finish the night off.

Andris Nelsons, photo by Marco Borggreve.

Saturday, July 15 at 8 p.m.

A Nelsons-led BSO concert performance of Mozart’s opera Così fan tutte, with Nicole Cabell and Kate Lindsey in the lead female roles, with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, James Burton conductor. Will be sung in Italian with English supertitles.

Sunday, July 16 at 2:30 p.m.

The BSO and Andris Nelsons, joined by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and children’s choir, perform Orff’s Carmina burana. The program opens with Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3.

Guest Conductors

Friday, July 21 at 8 p.m.

In her BSO debut, Xian Zhang leads the BSO and performers of Nimbus Dance in Copland’s Appalachian Spring with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, From the New World.

Tanglewood
Xian Zhang, photo by Benjamin Ealovega.

Saturday, July 22 at 10:30 a.m.

Thomas Wilkins leads members of the BSO in a Family Program entitled May I Have Your Attention Please.

Saturday, July 22 at 8 p.m.

David Afkham conducts an all-Mozart program featuring pianist Martin Helmchen.

Sunday, July 23 at 2:30 p.m.

Thomas Wilkins returns the next day to lead a Boston Symphony Orchestra concert, with mandolin soloist Jeff Midkiff in his own concerto entitled From the Blue Ridge, along with the music of Coleridge-Taylor and Ellington.

Friday, July 28 at 8 p.m.

Giancarlo Guerrero leads the BSO and Lorelei Ensemble in Julia Wolfe’s Her Story (BSO co-commission). Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 finishes off the night.

Thomas Wilkins, photo courtesy of Omaha Symphony Orchestra.

Saturday, July 29 at 8 p.m.

Dima Slobodeniouk leads the BSO in a program that opens with Messiaen’s Les Offrandes oubliées and includes Agata Zubel’s In the Shade of an Unshed Tear and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2.

Sunday, July 30, 2:30 p.m.

BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Rakitina leads the BSO and Joshua Bell in Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1, with Ellen Reid’s When the World as You’ve Known It Doesn’t Exist (featuring vocalists Eliza Bagg, Martha Cluver, and Sonja DuToit Tengblad) and a suite from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.

Friday, August 4 at 8 p.m.

Emanuel Ax performs Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 with Dima Slobodeniouk and the BSO. The program opens with John Adams’ Shaker Loops.

Sunday, August 6 at 2:30 p.m.

Kazuki Yamada, in his BSO debut, is joined by Lucas and Arthur Jussen for Mendelssohn’s Concerto in E for two pianos and orchestra. The program also includes Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.

Friday, August 11 at 8 p.m.- Guest

Anne-Sophie Mutter joins the BSO and Nelsons for John Williams’ Violin Concerto No. 2, on a program with works by Strauss and Ravel.

Saturday, August 12 at 8 p.m.

Susanna Mälkki leads the BSO and Seong-Jin Cho in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat on a program with Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.

Tanglewood
Susanna Mälkki, photo by Marica Rosengard.

Sunday, August 13 at 2:30 p.m.

Julia Adolphe’s Makeshift Castle opens the program, followed by Yo-Yo Ma performing Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1. The program closes with Stravinsky’s Petrushka (1947 version).

Friday, August 18 at 8 p.m.

Andris Nelsons leads the BSO in Carlos Simon’s Four Black American Dances and Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5, Egyptian, and Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, both with Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist.

Saturday, August 19 at 8 p.m.

Leonidas Kavakos performs Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto on a program with Prokofiev‘s Symphony No. 5.

Special Event

Friday, August 25 at 8 p.m.

Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma perform an all-Beethoven program in the Shed, with the Archduke Trio and a transcription by Shai Wosner of the Fourth Symphony.

Leonidas Kavakos, photo by Marco Borggreve.

Ozawa Hall: Chamber Music, Recitals, Operas, Dance, Jazz, and More

Wednesday June 28 at 8 p.m.

In its final appearance at Tanglewood, the Emerson String Quartet, joined by Emanuel Ax, performs a new work by Sarah Kirkland Snider and works by Purcell, Shostakovich, and Dvořák.

Thursday, June 29 at 8 p.m.

The Knights, with conductor Eric Jacobsen, perform a new work for voice and orchestra by Chris Thile, who will also be featured as vocal soloist, and Jessie Montgomery’s Source Code for strings, with works of Bartók and Enesco.

Thursday, July 13 at 8 p.m.

Vocalist Julia Bullock in recital.

Thursday, July 20 at 8 p.m.

Philharmonia Baroque, led by Richard Egarr, performs Handel’s Acis and Galatea with singers Nicholas Mulroy, Hera Hyesang Park, Dashon Burton, and Isaiah Bell.

Wednesday, July 26 at 8 p.m.

The Boston Symphony Chamber Players perform works of Yehudi Wyner, Sofia Gubaidulina, Shulamit Ran, and Schumann.

Wednesday, August 2 at 8 p.m.

The Danish String Quartet performs the works of Schubert and Bent Sørensen.

Tanglewood
Danish String Quartet, photo credit by Caroline Bittencourt.

Sunday, August 6 at 8 p.m.

The Aaron Diehl Trio, consisting of pianist Aaron Diehl, drummer Aaron Kimmel, and bassist David Wong, presents a jazz program that includes Sir Roland Hanna’s 24 Preludes.

Wednesday, August 9 at 8 p.m.

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein presents FRAGMENTS 2, an immersive, multi-sensory audience experience combining music by contemporary composers with unaccompanied Bach.

Wednesday, August 16 at 8 p.m.

Pianist Bruce Liu presents a recital of works by Barber, Chopin, Kapustin, and Rameau.

Sunday, August 20 at 8 p.m.

TLI Presents the Gerald Clayton Trio.

Tuesday, August 22 at 8 p.m.

Vocalist Kelli O’Hara, joined by pianist Dan Lipton, performs Broadway favorites.

Kelli O’Hara.

Boston Pops and Film Night

The Boston Pops Orchestra, led by Keith Lockhart, performs the best music of the past and present with a broad spectrum of styles, from jazz to pop, indie rock to big band, film music to the great American songbook, and more. They appeal to the widest possible audience due to their variety and are perfect for people who may not even like orchestras. This summer, all shows will be performed at the Shed.

Saturday, July 8 at 8 p.m.

The Boston Pops, Keith Lockhart, and a cast of acclaimed Broadway singers perform a new symphonic arrangement of Ragtime: The Symphonic Concert, prepared by the original creators Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens, and Stephen Flaherty

Friday, July 14 at 8 p.m.

The Boston Pops and Keith Lockhart present an All-Gershwin program with artist Michael Feinstein and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet joining forces for a celebration of the music of this iconic American composer.

Tanglewood
Keith Lockhart, photo by Hilary Scott.

Saturday, August 5 at 8 p.m.

John Williams’ Film Night, with conductors John Williams and David Newman, features classic film clips and favorite film score themes from the silver screen.

Saturday, August 26 at 8 p.m.

Keith Lockhart leads Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone™ in Concert, with John Williams’ score performed by the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra while the film is presented on high-definition screens.

Sunday, August 27 at 2:30 p.m

Star Wars: The Story in Music features Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops performing the most memorable music from the sprawling saga of all nine Star Wars movies composed by John Williams.

Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra Concerts

The Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) offers an intensive schedule of study and performance for emerging professional instrumentalists, singers, conductors, librarians, and composers. Applications are now open to be a part of the TMC, for more information, visit here. Chamber music and recital programs presented by the young Fellows of the TMC are free of charge and take place throughout the summer

Conductor & TMCO Alum Karina Canellakis Leads Orchestra. Photo by Hilary Scott.

Sunday, July 23 at 8 p.m. Ozawa Hall

Xian Zhang conducts Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 6 on a program with works by Strauss and Gabriela Lena Frank led by TMC Conducting Fellows.

Monday, August 7 at 8 p.m. Ozawa Hall

Dima Slobodeniouk conducts Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 on a program with works by Rachmaninoff and Ravel led by TMC Conducting Fellows.

Monday, August 14 at 8 p.m. Ozawa Hall

Dame Jane Glover, in her Tanglewood debut, conducts Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 on a program with Britten and Dvořák led by TMC Conducting Fellows.

Sunday, August 20 at 2:30 p.m. Shed

Susanna Mälkki returns to the podium for the final orchestra program of the summer, leading the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and soloists Amanda Majeski, J’Nai Bridges, Stephen Costello, and Ryan Speedo Green in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and spirituals from Tippett’s A Child of Our Time.

Tanglewood
Tanglewood Lawn with an audience, photo by Hilary Scott.

Festival of Contemporary Music Performances

The Festival of Contemporary Music (FCM) is one of the world’s premier showcases for works from the current musical landscape and landmark pieces from the new music vanguard of the 20th century. Recitals and many concerts are free of charge. FCM opens with “In Conversation: Curators of the Festival of Contemporary Music and Michael Gandolfi” on Thursday, July 27, at 1 p.m. in the Linde Center.

Thursday, July 27 at 8 p.m. Ozawa Hall

The music of FCM Co-curator Gabriela Lena Frank (Milagros, Sonata Serrana No. 1, and Las Sombras de los Apus) is included in FCM’s first musical program, which also includes Bartók’s Contrasts.

Friday, July 28 at 2:30 p.m. Ozawa Hall

Works by FCM Co-curator Anna Thorvaldsdottir (Spectra, Reminiscence I, II, III, IV, V, VI, and VII, Hrim, Aequilibria, and ) highlight this program. Kurtág’s 12 Microludes and Six Moments Musicaux also are performed.

Saturday, July 29 at 4 p.m. Linde Center

TLI Presents: A Curated Concert by Reena Esmail (FCM Co-curator), featuring Indian classical vocalist Saili Oak, in an all-Esmail program.

Saturday, July 29 at 6 p.m. Ozawa Hall

Prelude Concert with the Tanglewood Music Center

Ozawa Hall & Lawn, photo by Stu Rosner.

Sunday, July 30 at 10 a.m. Ozawa Hall

Interspersed with music by FCM Co-curator Tebogo Monnakgotla (It is the Lark that Sings, Five Pieces for String Trio, Le dormeur du val, Toys [or The Wonderful World of Clara], and Companion) are works by Malin Bång (Arching), Andile Khumalo (Schaufe[r]nster II), and Bent Sørensen (The Lady of Shalott).

Sunday, July 30 at 8 p.m. Linde Center

Experience a silent film screening of a score written by TMC Composition Fellows and performed live by TMC Fellows

Monday, July 31 at 8 p.m. Ozawa Hall

Works by all four curators are featured in the closing concert, with Stefan Asbury and TMC Conducting Fellows leading the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in Esmail’s RE / Member, Thorvaldsdottir’s METACOSMOS, Monnakgotla’s Un Clin d’oeil, and Frank’s Walkabout: Concerto for Orchestra.

For more information about the Tanglewood 2023 season and to purchase tickets, visit here.

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