BSO — 2025/10/25

 Tonight's program doesn't feature any really familiar pieces (to me at least), but the interview with the condustor makes me want to hear the Copland symphony which concludes the concert. Here's WCRB's description: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-09-10/yuja-wang-prokofiev-and-the-boston-symphony

Saturday, October 25, 2025
8:00 PM

Yuja Wang is the soloist in Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto—a work by turns acerbic and melodic—and Domingo Hindoyan returns to Symphony Hall to lead the BSO in Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes from On The Town and Copland’s Third Symphony.

Domingo Hindoyan, conductor
Yuja Wang, piano

Leonard BERNSTEIN Three Dance Episodes from On The Town
Sergei PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 2
Aaron COPLAND Symphony No. 3

Learn more about the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 2025-2026 season on their site.

Conductor Domingo Hindoyan talks with CRB's Brian McCreath about the genesis of this program, his interpretation of Bernstein's and Copland's work, and his positions at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Opera. To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Domingo Hindoyan, who's here with the Boston Symphony

The BSO's performance detail page give us a bit more as well as links to program notes and performer bios: https://www.bso.org/events/oct-23-25-bern-prokofiev-cop?performance=2025-10-25-20%3A00

Boston Symphony Orchestra Domingo Hindoyan, conductor Yuja Wang, Piano BERNSTEIN Three Dance Episodes from On The Town  PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 2       intermissionCOPLAND Symphony No. 3  

Scintillating pianist Yuja Wang joins returning conductor Domingo Hindoyan and the BSO in Sergei Prokofiev’s technically challenging Piano Concerto No. 2, a piece that combines the composer’s sardonic humor with his gift for soaring melody. Two American works from the 1940s bracket the concerto. Leonard Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes from his 1944 musical On the Town features music referencing such hits as “New York, New York” and the wistful “Lonely Town.” Aaron Copland’s Third Symphony, premiered by the BSO in 1946, includes the uplifting “Fanfare for the Common Man"

I don't find a review in the Globe, but there is a detailed and favorable one https://www.classical-scene.com/2025/10/24/bso-scintillate/ in the Intelligencer.

So it should be a good show.

BSO — 2025/10/18

Something new and something old. Herre's what WCRB says: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-09-10/john-adamss-violin-concerto-with-bso-artist-in-residence-augustin-hadelich 

Saturday, October 18, 2025
8:00 PM

In the first of a season of collaborations with the Boston Symphony, Augustin Hadelich is the soloist in one of the most dynamic and fascinating concertos of our time. Afterwards, Andris Nelsons conducts Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, a meditation on fate and a richly melodic cornerstone of the symphonic repertoire.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin

John ADAMS Violin Concerto
Pyotr TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5

In a conversation with CRB's Brian McCreath, Augustin Hadelich describes the challenges of music by John Adams, as well as the rewards of the composer's Violin Concerto, and he looks ahead to the other concerto he'll perform with the BSO this season, Thomas Adès's Concentric Paths. To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

I found the interview interesting to read, giving the performer's reaction to the music he'll be playing.

 Now for the BSO's performance detail page: https://www.bso.org/events/oct-16-18-adams-tchaikovsky?performance=2025-10-18-20%3A00

Andris Nelsons, conductor Augustin Hadelich, violin John ADAMS Violin Concerto       intermission TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5  

The BSO’s 2025-26 artist in residence Augustin Hadelich brings his passion and flair to John Adams’ Violin Concerto. Composed in 1993, the piece is a rhythmically vital and harmonically rich concerto that won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 is a meditation on fate; though Tchaikovsky himself wavered in his assessment of the work, its passionate themes, rich orchestral colors, and triumphant finale have cemented it as a cornerstone of the symphonic repertoire.

By clicking on the name of a performer, you can get their bio, and clicking on the name of a piece gets a link to the program note. (Why do they have to make it so complicated?) Or you can go the the full webpage and click away. The note on the Adams might be especially useful as preparation.

I can't find a review in the Globe, but here's an interesting one in the Intelligencer. https://www.classical-scene.com/2025/10/18/horizontally-symphony/ The reviewer liked the show.

It will be interesting to find out what the Adams concerto acrually turns out to be.

BSO — 2025/10/11 pt. 2

 The Globe review https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/11/arts/bso-beethoven-missa-sympahany-hall-anniversary/?event=event12 is tepid. (It may be behind a paywall.) Unfortunately, there is no review in the Intelligencer at this time.

The BSO website doesn't give the terxt, bit it should be easy enough to find with an internet search.

I was there on Thursday. My take: it's worth listening to.

BSO — 2025/10/11

 Tune in at 8L00 Boston Time for a very worthwhile concert.

Saturday, October 11, 2025
8:00 PM

Universally acknowledged as one of the world’s great concert halls, Symphony Hall’s 125-year anniversary concert features Beethoven’s monumental Missa Solemnis, the very music that was performed when the hall opened in 1900.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Eleanor Lyons, soprano
Wiebke Lehmkuhl, mezzo-soprano
Klaus Florian Vogt, tenor
Franz-Josef Selig, bass
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
James Burton, conductor

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Missa Solemnis

Learn more about the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 2025-2026 season on their site.

See Andris Nelsons and BSO President and CEO Chad Smith on Boston Public Radio, September 23, 2025.

In part three of an interview with CRB's Brian McCreath, BSO Concertmaster Nathan Cole describes the unique challenges of the violin solo in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, and he also talks about the process of integrating new members of the Boston Symphony who joined the orchestra at the beginning of the season. To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath Missa Solemnis by

That page has the full ttranscript of the interview as well as a link to the audio of it.

For its part, the GSO has this to say on its performance detail page: https://www.bso.org/events/oct-9-11-beethoven-missa-solemnis?performance=2025-10-11-20%3A00 Meanwhile, I can'y get back to tell you more. Click where it says Missa Solemnist at the end of the list of artistic personnel for program notes.

Beethoven Missa Solemnis | Boston, Symphony Hall, & the BSO in 1900

Sat, Oct 11, 8:00pm

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Boston Symphony Orchestra Andris Nelsons, conductor Eleanor Lyons, Soprano Wiebke Lehmkuhl, mezzo-soprano Klaus Florian Vogt, Tenor Franz-Josef Selig, Bass Tanglewood Festival Chorus Anthony Blake Clark, guest conductorBEETHOVEN Missa Solemnis  

Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis stands tall among the greatest sacred choral works, a monumental setting of the Mass text and the first piece performed in the then-new Symphony Hall in 1900. From soaring solo lines to striking contrasts — like the prayerful Agnus Dei interrupted by martial fanfares — Beethoven’s vision combines dramatic orchestration, virtuosic choral writing, and profound emotional depth.depth.

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