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 — 2024/12/28

 This evening we have a replay of a couple of debut performances: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2023-09-25/the-bso-debuts-of-ferrandez-and-hindoyan

Saturday, December 28, 2024
8:00pm

Venezuelan conductor Domingo Hindoyan makes his BSO debut leading the American premiere of the BSO co-commissioned Symphony No. 6 by Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra. Also making his BSO debut is Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández in Edward Elgar’s regal and impassioned Cello Concerto, often interpreted as a profound reaction to the First World War. One of the repertoire’s greatest symphonies, Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s darkly majestic Seventh, exudes his love for his native Bohemia as well as the influence of his mentor, Johannes Brahms.

Domingo Hindoyan, conductor
Pablo Ferrández, cello

Roberto SIERRA Symphony No. 6 (American premiere; BSO co-commission)
Edward ELGAR Cello Concerto
Antonín DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 7

The broadcast was originally broadcast on March 30, 2024, and is no longer available on demand.

Kendall Todd spoke with Domingo Hindoyan about his personal relationship with Roberto Sierra's music, what makes Dvořák's Seventh Symphony so special, and sharing a BSO debut with Pablo Ferrández. Follow along with the audio player above and the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:

Kendall Todd I'm Kendall Todd here at Symphony Hall with Domingo Hindoyan, who is here at Symphony Hall with the Boston Symphony for the first time.

Go to the BSO performance detail page for links to the program notes. Here's their synopsis:

Domingo Hindoyan, conductor
Pablo Ferrández, cello

Roberto SIERRA Sinfonía No. 6 (American premiere; co-commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons, Music Director, as part of the Koussevitzky150 initiative, with generous support from the New Works Fund established by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, and Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser.) 
ELGAR Cello Concerto
Intermission
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 7

Thursday evening’s concert is supported by Nancy and Richard Lubin.
Thursday evening's performance by Pablo Ferrández is supported by Mary Cornille, in loving memory of Jack Cogan.
Saturday evening’s concert is in memory of Stephen R. Weber, supported by Dr. Dorothy A. Weber.
Saturday evening's performance by Pablo Ferrández is supported by Jim Aisner, in memory of his wife, Virginia Simpson Aisner.

Venezuelan conductor Domingo Hindoyan makes his BSO debut leading the American premiere of Roberto Sierra’s Symphony No. 6, a BSO co-commission. Also making his BSO debut is Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández in Edward Elgar’s regal and impassioned Cello Concerto, often interpreted as a profound reaction to the First World War. One of the repertoire’s greatest symphonies, Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s darkly majestic Symphony No. 7 exudes his love for his native Bohemia as well as the influence of his mentor, Johannes Brahms.

When I wrote about it back at the time it was originally broadcast, I noted a favorable review in the Intelligencer and an encouraging program note about the Sierra piece. So it's worth listening to IMO.

BSO — 2024/03/30

 Two debuts this week and the American premiere of a new symphony. Let WCRB give us the basics of this evening's concert:

Saturday, March 30, 2024
8:00pm

Encore broadcast on Monday, April 8

Venezuelan conductor Domingo Hindoyan makes his BSO debut leading the American premiere of the BSO co-commissioned Symphony No. 6 by Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra. Also making his BSO debut is Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández in Edward Elgar’s regal and impassioned Cello Concerto, often interpreted as a profound reaction to the First World War. One of the repertoire’s greatest symphonies, Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s darkly majestic Seventh, exudes his love for his native Bohemia as well as the influence of his mentor, Johannes Brahms.

Domingo Hindoyan, conductor
Pablo Ferrández, cello

Roberto SIERRA Symphony No. 6 (American premiere; BSO co-commission)
Edward ELGAR Cello Concerto
Antonín DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 7

Kendall Todd spoke with Domingo Hindoyan about his personal relationship with Roberto Sierra's music, what makes Dvořák's Seventh Symphony so special, and sharing a BSO debut with Pablo Ferrández. Follow along with the audio player above and the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:

Kendall Todd I'm Kendall Todd here at Symphony Hall with Domingo Hindoyan

For more information, includiong a link to the program notes, we turn to the BSO's own performance detail page:

 

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Hall, Boston, MA

         Domingo Hindoyan, conductor

         Pablo Ferrández, cello

Roberto SIERRA Sinfonía No. 6 (American premiere; co-commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons, Music Director, as part of the Koussevitzky150 initiative, with generous support from the New Works Fund established by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, and Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser.) 
ELGAR Cello Concerto
Intermission
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 7

Thursday evening’s concert is supported by Nancy and Richard Lubin.
Thursday evening's performance by Pablo Ferrández is supported by Mary Cornille, in loving memory of Jack Cogan.
Saturday evening’s concert is in memory of Stephen R. Weber, supported by Dr. Dorothy A. Weber.
Saturday evening's performance by Pablo Ferrández is supported by Jim Aisner, in memory of his wife, Virginia Simpson Aisner.

Venezuelan conductor Domingo Hindoyan makes his BSO debut leading the American premiere of Roberto Sierra’s Symphony No. 6, a BSO co-commission. Also making his BSO debut is Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández in Edward Elgar’s regal and impassioned Cello Concerto, often interpreted as a profound reaction to the First World War. One of the repertoire’s greatest symphonies, Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s darkly majestic Symphony No. 7 exudes his love for his native Bohemia as well as the influence of his mentor, Johannes Brahms.

From the program notes, it sounds as if the Sierrs symphony should be interesting and not too tough to take. The rest of the program is standard repertory, well liked by most listeners.

I find no review in the Globe, but there is a highly favorable one in the Intelligencer.

This should be a good evening at Symphony Hall and on WCRB. Enjoy.

Tanglewood — 2022/08/06-07

 A couple of concerts from Tanglewood round out the weekend.

Saturday, August 6, 2022. WCRB says:

Saturday, August 6, 2022
8:00 PM

Saturday at 8pm, in a much-anticipated annual tradition, violinist Joshua Bell returns to Tanglewood as the soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, and JoAnn Falletta conducts the Boston Symphony in timeless works by Respighi celebrating Roman scenery and nature.

JoAnn Falletta, conductor
Joshua Bell, violin

Roberto SIERRA Fandangos 
Peter TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
Ottorino RESPIGHI Fountains of Rome 
RESPIGHI Pines of Rome 

Joshua Bell. Need I say more? Respighi is not in the first rank of composers, but his music is good.

For a bit more information, we can go to the BSO's performance detail page, where we read:

In her BSO debut, Grammy Award-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta is joined by violinist Joshua Bell, a Tanglewood mainstay since 1989, performing Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s beloved Violin Concerto. In the symphonic poems Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome, Ottorino Respighi sought to capture the beauty of his country’s culture and landscape with colorful orchestral cityscapes evoking some of Rome’s most prominent features at different times of day. Opening the concert is the Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra’s Fandangos, an engaging, exploratory riff on one of the most characteristic Spanish dance forms. Sierra blends a classical approach with elements of Afro-Caribbean, South American, Central American, and Spanish musical traditions.

With the link to the program notes, you can read about "Fandangos." I'd be pleasantly surprised if it's really good, but it's only 11 minutes long, and then we get to the good stuff. You can also read up on the Respighi pieces.

Sunday, August 7, 2022. Sunday at 7:00 p.m., as we learn from WCRB, we get the following:

Sunday, August 7, 2022
7:00 PM (delayed broadcast of 2:30 PM concert)

Thomas Adès conducts his own “Shanty – Over the Sea,” Holst’s spectacular “The Planets,” and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, with violinist Leonidas Kavakos and violist Antoine Tamestit, Sunday at 7pm.

Thomas Adès, conductor
Leonidas Kavakos, violin
Antoine Tamestit, viola
Lorelei Ensemble

Thomas ADÈS Shanty – Over the Sea
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola, K.364
Gustav HOLST The Planets 

Of course, the Mozart is excellent, and the Holst is a "warhorse." As for the Adès piece, see the program notes from the orchestra's performance detail page. Their synopsis is as follows:

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès is joined by Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos and French violist Antoine Tamestit in Wolfgang Mozart’s abundantly tuneful Sinfonia concertante. English composer Gustav Holst’s The Planets covers a vast range of musical territory, from the fleet energy of Mercury through the pounding aggression of Mars to the ethereal mysticism of Neptune, which here features the versatile women’s vocal group Lorelei Ensemble for the wordless choral part. Opening the concert is Adès’ own Shanty – Over the Sea. In this atmospheric string orchestra piece, many lines interweave to “create a widening seascape.”

Check out the link to the program notes you find there.

All in all, it should be worth listening to, even though "Shanty," which I don't know, isn't to everybody's taste.

BSO — 2019/03/23

This week the BSO gives a concert of music by Black and Puerto Rican composers. Here's the description from their performance detail page:

Thomas Wilkins, the BSO's Germeshausen Youth and Family Concerts Conductor, makes his subscription series debut with this concert, which features music of three African-American composers along with the Puerto Rico-born Robert Sierra. Sierra wrote his Concerto for Saxophones and Orchestra for eminent jazz saxophonist James Carter, including opportunities for improvisation within his dynamic and soulful score. Also in the jazz spectrum is Duke Ellington's lush, impressionistic tone poem A Tone Parallel to Harlem. Florence Price graduated from Boston's New England Conservatory in 1906 as a pianist and organist; she also studied composition there. She wrote her Third Symphony in 1940 on a commission from the WPA; Thomas Wilkins has arranged sections of the four-movement work into a tone poem he calls "Symphonic Reflections." The brash, optimistic concert-opener An American Port of Call was written in 1985 for the Virginia Symphony Orchestra by Adolphus Hailstork, inspired by his bustling home city of Norfolk, VA, where he is a professor at Old Dominion University.

(Some emphasis added.)

This is the only performance of the program, so there are no reviews, but the Boston Globe has an informative interview with the conductor.

None of this is music I'm familiar with, and I'd like to hear it. I'll be listening to WCRB on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and again on Monday, April 1, for he rebroadcast, also at 8:00. The March 25 rebroadcast is last Saturday's all-Strauss concert. Don't forget to check out the website for information about other programming.

BSO/Classical New England — 2018/05/26

This week's "encore broadcast" and stream on WCRB is the concert of October 7, 2017. It's a new piece, Moler, by Arlene Sierra, followed by the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and the Second Symphony of Rachmaninoff. Gil Shaham is the soloist in the concerto, and Music Director Andris Nelsons is on the podium. I posted about it back then, and that post has the links to published reviews and the BSO performance detail page (with its own links to background information) that you've come to expect.

As always, the show begins at 8:00 p.m. Boston Time (EDST). Enjoy!

BSO — 2017/10/07

This evening, October 7, at 8:00 p.m., WCRB will broadcast and stream the Boston Symphony Orchestra concert live. Music Director Andris Nelsons will be on the podium. The concert opens with Moler, by Arlene Sierra, a fairly short piece receiving its first Boston performances this week. Then Gil Shaham will be the solo violinist in the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. The concert will conclude with Symphony № 2 by Rachmaninoff. The orchestra's performance detail page has links to audio previews of the Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff pieces (regrettably not the Sierra) and the written program notes for all three. I recommend reading at least the notes for "Moler" to get some idea of what to expect. On the other hand, there's something to be said for just letting it have no expectations to live up to. Then on a second hearing, you can have the assistance of the notes to help sort it out.

The program notes also link a podcast and performer bios and tell us

One of several American composers figuring in this season's programs, Florida-born Arlene Sierra, a former Tanglewood Fellow, wrote Moler (2012) on commission for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. The eightminute work is a harmonically colorful and rhythmically energetic evocation of the Spanish meaning of the title, "to grind." Also on the program are Tchaikovsky's beloved Violin Concerto featuring acclaimed American violinist Gil Shaham, and Rachmaninoff's lush Symphony No. 2, composed between the Second and Third piano concertos. With its lyrical excursions reminiscent of the arching, lovely melodies in his piano concertos and songs, it has long been the most popular of the composer's three symphonies.

The Boston Musical Intelligencer raves about Gil Shaham's performance of the Tchaikovsky. The reviewer's description of his exuberance matches what I saw at Tanglewood last summer, when he was violinist in the Brahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello. The other two works on the program get a brief paragraph each, with no real complaints. The Globe review finds fault with some details of Shaham's performance of the Tchaikovsky, but is generally quite favorable.

This concert was not part of my subscriptions, so I can't add my own impressions to those of the reviewers, but based on the reviews, I'm looking forward to hearing it until my brother calls from Tokyo. So I recommend giving it a hearing, especially for the violin concerto; and if the curtain raiser isn't to your liking, hang in there for what's to come.

BSO — April Hiatus — Repeats

The BSO isn't performing in Symphony Hall this week, so there will be no live broadcast/webstream this Saturday. (I think they're on tour in New York.) Classical New England will fill the time slot with a rebroadcast/stream of a concert from last November, as described on their Boston Symphony page.

In an encore broadcast recorded in November 2012, conductor Giancarlo Guerrero leads the BSO in Roberto Sierra's Fandangos, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, with soloist Daniil Trifonov, and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5.

Then on Sunday, they'll give the regular rebroadcast/stream of last week's Mahler 3rd Symphony.

BSO — 2012/11/08-10

The BSO program details page for tonight's concert offers the following summary, along with the usual links to background info:

At the heart of the BSO's November 8-10 program-led by Costa Rican conductor Giancarlo Guerrero, and featuring Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov in his BSO debut-are two powerhouse Russian works: Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, a fan-favorite and repertoire staple, and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5, described as a "hymn to free and happy Man," which the composer wrote in 1944 amidst the chaos of World War II. Puerto Rican-born composer Roberto Sierra's colorful Fandangos for orchestra (2000) opens the program.

I missed the Thursday performance to stay home and cook dinner for my brother, who was visiting. The Globe reviewer thought it was good. As always, go here to listen on Classical New England and here for scheduling info and features.