BSO — 2025/11/15

 Tomight's BSO concert hives us a couple of new pieces (one a world premiere this week) before intermission, and a "warhorse" of the repertory after. WCRB says: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-09-10/slobodeniouk-conducts-brahms-sierra-and-a-world-premiere

Saturday, November 15, 2025
8:00 PM

Dima Slobodeniouk conducts the Boston Symphony in the highly anticipated world premiere of Tania León’s Time to Time. Afterwards, James Carter is the soloist in Roberto Sierra’s Concerto for Saxophones and Orchestra, and the BSO performs Brahms’s lyrically pastoral Second Symphony.

This performance is part of the E Pluribus Unum: From Many, One celebration, honoring the diverse voices that shape our nation’s musical heritage. Inspired by the spirit of America’s motto, E Pluribus Unum: From Many One is a multi-year celebration that embraces the plurality and singularity of American music. The 2025–26 season’s repertoire includes about three dozen works by composers who have woven the rich tapestry of American music, from Copland, Barber, and Bernstein to modern trailblazers like John Williams, John Adams, Tania León, and Carlos Simon.

Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor
James Carter, saxophones

Tania LEÓN Time to Time (world premiere; BSO co-commission)
Roberto SIERRA Concerto for Saxophones and Orchestra
Johannes BRAHMS Symphony No. 2

In a preview of this program, Dima Slobodeniouk describes the signature sound of music by Tania León, the excitement of Sierra's Concerto for Saxophones and Orchestra, and what it means to perform Brahms with the BSO. Listen in the player above, and read the transcript below.

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

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Dima Slobodeniouk, back with the Boston Symphony after some exciting stuff over the summer, but here you are now at Symphony Hall. So Dima, thanks for your time today, I appreciate it.

Dima Slobodeniouk Hi Brian, great to be back

The BSO's performance detail page https://www.bso.org/events/nov-13-15-leon-sierra?performance=2025-11-15-20:00 has links to performers bios and program notes (which may give some idea of what to expect, especially before the intermission). There is also the following overview:

Frequent guest conductor Dima Slobodeniouk leads this celebration of Caribbean composers, beginning with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Cuban American Tania León’s BSO-commissioned Time to Time, whose title reveals the composer’s characteristic preoccupation with duration and rhythm. Puerto Rico-born Roberto Sierra wrote his effervescent, jazz- and Latin-tinged concerto especially for James Carter’s lyricism and technical prowess on both soprano and tenor sax. Johannes Brahms’ Second Symphony is considered among his warmest, most pastoral works.

There is a favorable review https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/15/arts/bso-tania-leon-brahms/?event=event12 in the Globe. The review in the Intelligencer is also favorable https://www.classical-scene.com/2025/11/15/leon-ierra-brahms-backseated/ and very descriptive.

I'm interested to actually hear the new pieces.

BSO/Classical New England — 2025/05/31-25

 As we await the start of the BSO's Tanglewod Season this year, WCRB continues with encore broadcasts from last summer's season. Here's their synopsis of the concert they're revisiting this evening:

Saturday, May 31, 2025
8:00 PM

Jean-Yves Thibaudet is the soloist in Khachaturian’s vibrant, colorful Piano Concerto, part of a program that also includes Tania León's Pulitzer prize-winning Stride and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, the “Pathétique.”

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Tania LEÓN STRIDE
Aram KHACHATURIAN Piano Concerto
Pyotr TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6, Pathétique

This concert was originally broadcast on July 27, 2024, and is no longer available on demand.

For further information, including links to the program notes for each piece you can visit the performance detail page:

Tanglewood

Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA 

Boston Symphony Orchestra 
Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Tania LEÓN Stride 
KHACHATURIAN Piano Concerto
-Intermission-
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6, Pathétique

In tribute to Serge Koussevitzky’s legacy, Andris Nelsons and the BSO dedicate this concert series to the trailblazer. In the spirit of Koussevitzky’s passion for promoting contemporary music and composers, this concert features Tania León's STRIDE, a Pulitzer prize-winning work of resilience and surprise. 

Jean-Yves Thibaudet also joins for Khachaturian’s vibrant, colorful Piano Concerto, and the concert ends with Tchaikovsky’s moving, yearning Pathétique Symphony.

The Tchaikovsky is a staple of the orchestral repertoire. I don't have a clear memory of the other works, but I think the concert should be worth hearing.

BSO — 2024/01/13

 The BSO is back live with a concert I don't especially care about. WCRB gives us the essentials: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2023-09-25/leons-stride-and-ravel-with-seong-jin-cho-and-the-bso

Saturday, January 13, 2024
8:00pm

Encore broadcast on Monday, January 22

Recent Pulitzer Prize winner and 2022 Kennedy Center honoree Tania León brings Strideto Symphony Hall, a piece inspired by Susan B. Anthony and the steps women continue to take towards equality. Award-winning pianist Seong-Jin Cho returns to perform Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, composed for pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost an arm in World War I. The concert closes with one of the most influential pieces in history: Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Seong-Jin Cho, piano

Tania LEÓN Stride 
Maurice RAVEL Piano Concerto for the left hand
Igor STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring

Watch Tania León describe the creative process behind Stride.

From NPR: Tania León Wins Music Pulitzer ForStride, Celebrating Women's Resilience.

To hear Seong-Jin Cho preview Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Seong-Jin Cho

I'll listen to the first piece out of curiosity. As far as I'm concerned, the Concerto for the Left Hand is innocuous but nothing special, so I'll leave the radio on; but I don't like Rite of Spring, so I may well turn the radio off after intermission.

The BSO's performance detail page tells us:

Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Seong-Jin Cho, piano

Tania LEÓN Stride
RAVEL Piano Concerto for the left hand
Intermission
STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring

This week’s performances of Tania León Stride are supported in part by income from the Morton Margolis fund in the BSO’s endowment.
Thursday evening's performance by Seong-Jin Cho is supported by the Nathan R. Miller Family Guest Artist Fund.

Tania León’s Pulitzer Prize-winning piece Stride draws on her Cuban heritage and her long association with dance to create music rich with rhythmic vitality and scintillating instrumental colors. Superstar Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho plays Maurice Ravel’s dramatic Piano Concerto for the left hand, originally composed for pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his arm during World War I. Closing the concert is and one of the most influential pieces in history: Igor Stravinsky’s ballet score The Rite of Spring, a work of primal power.

Program notes are there for each of the pieces.

So far, there is no review in the Intelligencer, but the Globe is very favorable, especially for the Ravel concerto.

Enjoy, if you listen.