Tanglewood — 2025/07/11-13

 WCRB gives us three concerts from the BSO at Tanglewood.

July 11, 2025

Here's WCRB's description and the beginning of an interview which you can read at their page:

Friday, July 11, 2025
8:00 PM

In collaboration with Bill Barclay’s Concert Theatre Works, Nelsons leads the BSO, vocal soloists, and actors in Romeo and Juliet: A Theatrical Concert for Orchestra and Actors, based on Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Concert Theatre Works
Bill Barclay, director
Kelley Curran (Juliet)
James Udom (Romeo)
Nigel Gore (Capulet)
Robert Walsh (Friar and Nurse)
Caleb Mayo (Mercutio)
Carman Lacivita (Tybalt)

PROKOFIEV selections from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm curious about Romeo and Juliet, because if I'm correct, this is the first treatment you've done of this play, and yet it's the most recognizable of Shakespeare's plays to

nHere's how the BEO's performance dettail page puts it:

Tanglewood

Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA 

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Concert Theatre Works
 Bill Barclay, director
Kelley Curran (Juliet)
James Udom (Romeo)
Nigel Gore (Capulet)
Robert Walsh (Friar and Nurse)
Caleb Mayo (Mercutio)
Carman Lacivita (Tybalt)

PROKOFIEV Romeo and Juliet

A Theatrical Concert for Orchestra with Actors, featuring music from Prokofiev’s ballet and text by Shakespeare (in a special adaptation commissioned by the Royal Albert Hall).

Please note that this program will be presented without intermission.

It should be interesting to hear how the script gets out tigether with the ballet music.

July 12, 2025

Saturday brings French composition, as WCRB notes:

Saturday, July 12, 2025
8:00 PM

Pianist Seong-Jin Cho is the soloist in both of Ravel’s concertos for his instrument, and Music Director Andris Nelsons conducts Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and La Mer.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Seong-Jin Cho, piano

Claude DEBUSSY Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun
Maurice RAVEL Piano Concerto in G
RAVEL Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
DEBUSSY La Mer

For more information on Tanglewood concerts, visit the BSO box office.

To hear a preview of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G with Seong-Jin Cho, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

The orchestra's performance detail page informs us:

Tanglewood

Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA 

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Seong-Jin Cho, piano

DEBUSSY Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun
RAVEL Piano Concerto in G
RAVEL Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
DEBUSSY La Mer

As usual, the performer bios and program notes for each piece are linked at the BSO page. They don't say so, but I assume there will be an intermission between the Ravel concertos.

July 13, 2025

By tape delay, we'll hear the Sunday concert, which WCRB describes:

Sunday, July 13, 2025
7:00 PM

Conductor Thomas Adés leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a program featuring Sibelius’s only concerto, performed by Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto, a work by Gabriella Smith that portrays the sizzling sand and pounding surf of Point Reyes, California, and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5.

Thomas Adés, conductor
Pekka Kuusisto, violin

Gabriella SMITH Tumblebird Contrails
Jean SIBELIUS Violin Concerto
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5

For more information on Tanglewood concerts, visit the BSO box office.

There's a bit more information — along with the usual links — at the BSO performance detail page:

Tanglewood

Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA 

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Adès, conductor
Pekka Kuusisto, violin

Gabriella SMITH Tumblebird Contrails
SIBELIUS Violin Concerto
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5

This afternoon's concert is generously supported by Drs. Anna L. and Peter B. Davol.

This concert has been funded in part by the American Scandinavian Foundation and also the Finlandia Foundation National.

Regrettably, guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen has had to withdraw from this performance for personal reasons. We are grateful that our longtime artistic partner Thomas Adès is able to conduct on short notice. The repertoire will remain unchanged.

The program note may give some idea of what "Tumblebird Contrails" is about. The remainder of the weekend should be comfortable.

Enjoy.