The Tanglewood 2020 Online Festival is a groundbreaking digital series of audio and video streams featuring newly created content recorded at Tanglewood's Linde Center alongside previously recorded material from Tanglewood being released for the first time. The Boston Symphony Orchestra's first-ever Tanglewood digital festival-designed to capture the beauty and spirit of the Tanglewood grounds-will feature artists and programs of the originally announced 2020 Tanglewood season, among other content.
In addition to the Tanglewood 2020 Online Festival free-of-charge offerings, other online programs ranging in price from $5 to $12 for a single stream, to $15 to $90 for multiple stream packages, are available for purchase via www.tanglewood.org.
The Tanglewood 2020 Online Festival is being offered in response to continuing concerns over the spread of COVID-19 and official crowd restriction policies that have necessitated the cancellation of the festival's live performance series.Thursday, July 23, 8 p.m. - Free to those who register
The first-ever Tanglewood Virtual Gala will celebrate the centennial of legendary American violinist Isaac Stern, one of the most prominent artists and cultural figures of the 20th century. Hosted by Ara Guzelimian, Emanuel Ax, Leon Fleisher, Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, Jian Wang, John Williams, and Pinchas Zukerman will provide their personal remembrances of Isaac Stern, and three of today's most distinguished violinists-Vadim Gluzman (playing Bartók), Midori (playing Bach), and Nancy Zhou (also playing Bach)-offer both their performances and their own reminiscences. Rounding out the program will be archival footage of Isaac Stern himself. Click here for program information.
Wednesday, July 22, at 8 p.m. - Hosted by Karen Allen, $8 for single video stream, $42 for series
Brooklyn Rider has reinvigorated the venerable string quartet ensemble through its vibrant approach to both traditional and new repertoire presented with joy, energy, and the precision of virtuosos. Three of the works on this program were included on Brooklyn Rider's March 2020 recording "Healing Modes." The third movement, "Holy Song of Thanksgiving for a Convalescent," from Beethoven's Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, alternates hymn-like sections with passages marked "feeling new strength." Both Matana Roberts's borderlands and Caroline Shaw's Schisma were commissioned by Brooklyn Rider for the quartet's project on healing. Closing the concert is Philip Glass's Third Quartet, based on music he wrote for the biopic of the writer Yukio Mishima. Note that there will be a post-concert Q&A with the artists on July 22 only, available exclusively to patrons purchasing this individual event or the Recitals from the World Stage series. A private link will be emailed to these ticket buyers shortly before the concert begins.
Friday, July 24, 8 p.m. - Hosted by Lauren Ambrose, $5 for single video stream, $28 for series
In addition to working together in their usual large-ensemble setting, the BSO's individual musicians frequently perform as soloists or together in chamber music, a pursuit requiring a different, more intimate mode of musical collaboration. The violin-whose presence by sheer force of numbers dominates the orchestral stage-is the focus of this chamber music program by BSO musicians. Victor Romanul plays several solo selections, including one of the single most challenging pieces in the repertoire, the Chaconne from Bach's D minor partita. Tatiana Dimitriades performs two works for violin and piano: Mendelssohn's early Sonata in F and important American composer William Grant Still's beautiful lullaby "Mother and Child" from his 1943 Suite for violin and piano. Both Still's work and Florence Price's String Quartet (performed by Catherine French, Xin Ding, Daniel Getz, and Mickey Katz) were influenced by their composers' African American heritage. Completing this wide-ranging program is Antonín Dvořák's Terzetto for two violins and viola, which is infused with elements of Czech folk music.
Saturday, July 25, 8 p.m. - Hosted by Nicole Cabell, $12 for single video stream, $80 for series
Italian-born Austrian violinist Augustin Hadelich and American pianist Orion Weiss, who began touring together as a duo in 2019, perform Debussy's Violin Sonata in G minor, Brahms's Violin Sonata No. 2 in A, Op. 100, and John Adams's Road Movies.
Tuesday, July 21, 1 p.m. - Decoding the Manuscripts: Expressive Markings in Beethoven, $5 for single video stream, $20 for series
For this regular Tuesday-afternoon series, preeminent musicians and Beethoven scholars of our time lead video presentations and discussions in celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth. This week's presenter is Nicholas Kitchen, first violin of the Borromeo String Quartet, who will be joined by his colleagues to explore the difference between the expressive marks found in published scores of Beethoven's works and those in the composer's own hand, the latter suggesting a more nuanced topography of expression. This presentation examines excerpts from the manuscripts of the String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132 ("Heiliger Dankgesang") and the Grosse Fugue, Op. 133, as the Borromeo String Quartet performs these works. The talk and performance will be followed by a live Q&A session with Tanglewood Learning Institute Director Sue Elliott. Video available July 21, 2020, at 1 p.m. through August 30, 2020.
Wednesday, July 22, 1 p.m. - TMC Cello Class led by Astrid Schween, $5 for video stream, $32 for series
Internationally recognized soloist, chamber artist, and teacher Astrid Schween is cellist of the Juilliard String Quartet and a TMC faculty member. As a longtime member of the Lark Quartet, Astrid performed at major venues around the world and received many honors including the Naumburg Chamber Music Award. During her tenure, the quartet produced critically acclaimed recordings for the Arabesque, Decca/Argo, New World, CRI, and Point labels, and commissioned numerous works. TMC Associate Director Michael Nock is host. Video available July 22, 2020, at 1 p.m. through July 29, 2020.
Thursday, July 23, 1 p.m. - Nicole Cabell, soprano, and Nicholas Phan, tenor, $5 for single video stream, $32 for series
Thursday-afternoon ShopTalks feature candid, informal discussions on life, music, and the future of the field with conductors, composers, soloists, and unsung heroes. For this week, host and Tanglewood Learning Institute Director Sue Elliott interviews two distinguished vocal artists-soprano Nicole Cabell (who is also hosting this summer's Great Performers in Recital from Tanglewood series) and tenor Nicholas Phan-about their careers, struggles, and successes, and their visions for the artform. Video available July 23, 2020, at 1 p.m. through July 30, 2020.
RETROSPECTIVE CONTENT AT WWW.TANGLEWOOD.ORG
Monday, July 20, 8 p.m. - Hosted by Stefan Asbury with Paul Lewis FREE audio stream
This series of archival broadcasts from the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra continues with an audio stream that opens with a July 2016 performance from the TMCO under Andris Nelsons with pianist Paul Lewis, a great friend of the BSO who would have been the 2020 Koussevitzky Artist at Tanglewood. From August 2016, frequent BSO guest conductor Stéphane Denève leads the TMCO in Ravel's familiar La Valse.
Sunday, July 26, 10 a.m. - Hosted by Norman Fischer with special guest Alan Smith FREE audio stream
Piano Fellows at the TMC wear many hats. They work with their colleagues in the string program on such core works as Beethoven's noble Archduke Trio, or in the too-often-overlooked territory of American Romanticism, as in Amy Beach's Piano Quartet. They work together, making eye contact across their pianos, aligning gestures and timing in duos like Stravinsky's Sonata for Two Pianos. They work with living composers as well, such as 2018 Composition Fellow Sarah Gibson's work I prefer living in color, which calls for some piano strings to be muted with Blu-Tack adhesive. And there are opportunities for solo playing in masterclasses and recitals-heard in "O Boizinho de chumbo"-"The Little Lead Ox" from Heitor Villa-Lobos's three-volume collection of character pieces, A prole do bebe (The Baby's Family)-a surprisingly graceful ballet on four hooves.
Sunday, July 26, 2:30 p.m. - Hosted by Jamie Bernstein FREE video stream
The effortlessly musical, multitalented André Previn-known as a jazz and classical pianist, film, stage, and concert composer, and a conductor of the world's greatest orchestras-had a long, congenial relationship with the BSO and Tanglewood. This 2007 concert touches on music closest to his heart: the Viennese classicists Mozart and Haydn, and the colorful, early 20th-century music of Ravel. Maestro Previn is joined by German cellist Daniel Müller-Schott as soloist in Haydn's jovial and lyrical Cello Concerto and by American mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung for Ravel's lush three-song cycle Shéhérazade. Bookending the program are Mozart's Symphony No. 29, one of his most important early symphonies, and Ravel's brilliant orchestration of his charming piano suite Mother Goose.
In addition to the weekly Monday-evening Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra performances (8 p.m.) and Sunday-morning Chamber Music concerts (10 a.m.), available for free through the Tanglewood 2020 Online Festival, the Tanglewood Music Center will offer private online classes to its 2020 class of Fellows made up of 140 talented young musicians from across the country and the around the world who had been invited to spend the summer advancing their skills under the tutelage of BSO musicians, TMC faculty, and many of the renowned artists performing at Tanglewood each summer (the class of 2020 has been invited back in summer 2021). This summer's online offerings for the TMC class of 2020 will include special masterclasses and seminars, as well as a chance to socialize with their classmates and participate in discussions on the challenges young musicians face today. During the week of July 20 there will be online classes in conducting, harp, percussion, voice, strings, woodwind, brass, and composition, as well as a piano masterclass with Garrick Ohlsson, a special event entitled "Unpacking Notation: Finding Resonance in Contemporary Scores" with soprano Tony Arnold, and a music management session with BSO Director of Education & Community Engagement Leslie Wu Foley.
Videos