BSO 2018/19 Season - Concert Previews

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès returns to lead music of his own-a suite from his acclaimed 1995 chamber opera Powder Her Face-and joins with violinist Augustin Hadelich for György Ligeti's 1993 Violin Concerto, a wonderfully varied work that touches on virtually all of Ligeti's late musical concerns in material ranging from poignant, folk-like melody to delighted virtuosity. These performances will include a cadenza written by Thomas Adès for the finale. Opening the program is Beethoven's most boisterous and jolly symphony, No. 8. Closing the program is music from Stravinsky's 1928 ballet The Fairy's Kiss, an homage to Tchaikovsky drawing liberally on the latter's music.

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès returns to lead music of his own-a suite from his acclaimed 1995 chamber opera Powder Her Face-and joins with violinist Augustin Hadelich for György Ligeti's 1993 Violin Concerto, a wonderfully varied work that touches on virtually all of Ligeti's late musical concerns in material ranging from poignant, folk-like melody to delighted virtuosity. These performances will include a cadenza written by Thomas Adès for the finale. Opening the program is Beethoven's most boisterous and jolly symphony, No. 8. Closing the program is music from Stravinsky's 1928 ballet The Fairy's Kiss, an homage to Tchaikovsky drawing liberally on the latter's music.

The outstanding American mezzo Susan Graham joins Andris Nelsons, the BSO, and the women of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for Mahler's Third Symphony, which, along with his Symphony No. 2, exemplifies the composer's ambitious expansion of the symphonic genre. This is the second of Mahler's trio of "Wunderhorn" symphonies (Nos. 2-4) employing text from the folk-poetry collection "Des Knaben Wunderhorn". The six-movement symphony is divided into two parts. Part I is a massive, 30-plus-minute opening movement representing a Bacchic procession celebrating the arrival of summer. Part II (movements 2 through 6) is a series of character pieces representing the responses of, in turn, wild flowers, animals of the forest, mankind itself, angels, and the spirit of love.

The outstanding American mezzo Susan Graham joins Andris Nelsons, the BSO, and the women of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for Mahler's Third Symphony, which, along with his Symphony No. 2, exemplifies the composer's ambitious expansion of the symphonic genre. This is the second of Mahler's trio of "Wunderhorn" symphonies (Nos. 2-4) employing text from the folk-poetry collection "Des Knaben Wunderhorn". The six-movement symphony is divided into two parts. Part I is a massive, 30-plus-minute opening movement representing a Bacchic procession celebrating the arrival of summer. Part II (movements 2 through 6) is a series of character pieces representing the responses of, in turn, wild flowers, animals of the forest, mankind itself, angels, and the spirit of love. Produced by Anthony Princiotti.

The outstanding American mezzo Susan Graham joins Andris Nelsons, the BSO, and the women of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for Mahler's Third Symphony, which, along with his Symphony No. 2, exemplifies the composer's ambitious expansion of the symphonic genre. This is the second of Mahler's trio of "Wunderhorn" symphonies (Nos. 2-4) employing text from the folk-poetry collection "Des Knaben Wunderhorn". The six-movement symphony is divided into two parts. Part I is a massive, 30-plus-minute opening movement representing a Bacchic procession celebrating the arrival of summer. Part II (movements 2 through 6) is a series of character pieces representing the responses of, in turn, wild flowers, animals of the forest, mankind itself, angels, and the spirit of love.

The outstanding American mezzo Susan Graham joins Andris Nelsons, the BSO, and the women of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for Mahler's Third Symphony, which, along with his Symphony No. 2, exemplifies the composer's ambitious expansion of the symphonic genre. This is the second of Mahler's trio of "Wunderhorn" symphonies (Nos. 2-4) employing text from the folk-poetry collection "Des Knaben Wunderhorn". The six-movement symphony is divided into two parts. Part I is a massive, 30-plus-minute opening movement representing a Bacchic procession celebrating the arrival of summer. Part II (movements 2 through 6) is a series of character pieces representing the responses of, in turn, wild flowers, animals of the forest, mankind itself, angels, and the spirit of love.

In his second week of concerts, François-Xavier Roth works with outstanding French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard in Bartók's percussive, glittering Piano Concerto No. 1, in which the composer's love for Central European folk music merges imaginatively with early 20th-century modernism. Music by two close Bartók contemporaries fills out the program. Anton Webern's lush twelve-minute, single-movement Passacaglia from 1908 predates the crystalline miniatures for which he is best-known. Composed the following year is Stravinsky's The Firebird, the breathtakingly magical score for the Ballets Russes that catapulted the 27-year-old composer to fame and which, more than a century later, remains one of his most beloved pieces.

In his second week of concerts, François-Xavier Roth works with outstanding French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard in Bartók's percussive, glittering Piano Concerto No. 1, in which the composer's love for Central European folk music merges imaginatively with early 20th-century modernism. Music by two close Bartók contemporaries fills out the program. Anton Webern's lush twelve-minute, single-movement Passacaglia from 1908 predates the crystalline miniatures for which he is best-known. Composed the following year is Stravinsky's The Firebird, the breathtakingly magical score for the Ballets Russes that catapulted the 27-year-old composer to fame and which, more than a century later, remains one of his most beloved pieces. Produced by Anthony Princiotti.

In his second week of concerts, François-Xavier Roth works with outstanding French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard in Bartók's percussive, glittering Piano Concerto No. 1, in which the composer's love for Central European folk music merges imaginatively with early 20th-century modernism. Music by two close Bartók contemporaries fills out the program. Anton Webern's lush twelve-minute, single-movement Passacaglia from 1908 predates the crystalline miniatures for which he is best-known. Composed the following year is Stravinsky's The Firebird, the breathtakingly magical score for the Ballets Russes that catapulted the 27-year-old composer to fame and which, more than a century later, remains one of his most beloved pieces.

In his second week of concerts, François-Xavier Roth works with outstanding French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard in Bartók's percussive, glittering Piano Concerto No. 1, in which the composer's love for Central European folk music merges imaginatively with early 20th-century modernism. Music by two close Bartók contemporaries fills out the program. Anton Webern's lush twelve-minute, single-movement Passacaglia from 1908 predates the crystalline miniatures for which he is best-known. Composed the following year is Stravinsky's The Firebird, the breathtakingly magical score for the Ballets Russes that catapulted the 27-year-old composer to fame and which, more than a century later, remains one of his most beloved pieces.

Two cornerstones of the repertoire anchor this program. The young English pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is soloist in one of Mozart's most familiar concertos, No. 21 in C, an elegant, good-natured work written and premiered in Vienna in spring 1785. Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is the concerto's polar opposite in mood,a stormy struggle against destiny with a well-earned victory at the close. Opening the program is a rarity: the overture to the 1811 opera The Amazons by the highly successful and prolific opera composer Étienne Méhul, a contemporary of Mozart and Beethoven. Produced by Anthony Princiotti.

Two cornerstones of the repertoire anchor this program. The young English pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is soloist in one of Mozart's most familiar concertos, No. 21 in C, an elegant, good-natured work written and premiered in Vienna in spring 1785. Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is the concerto's polar opposite in mood,a stormy struggle against destiny with a well-earned victory at the close. Opening the program is a rarity: the overture to the 1811 opera The Amazons by the highly successful and prolific opera composer Étienne Méhul, a contemporary of Mozart and Beethoven.

Two cornerstones of the repertoire anchor this program. The young English pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is soloist in one of Mozart's most familiar concertos, No. 21 in C, an elegant, good-natured work written and premiered in Vienna in spring 1785. Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is the concerto's polar opposite in mood,a stormy struggle against destiny with a well-earned victory at the close. Opening the program is a rarity: the overture to the 1811 opera The Amazons by the highly successful and prolific opera composer Étienne Méhul, a contemporary of Mozart and Beethoven.

Two cornerstones of the repertoire anchor this program. The young English pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is soloist in one of Mozart's most familiar concertos, No. 21 in C, an elegant, good-natured work written and premiered in Vienna in spring 1785. Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is the concerto's polar opposite in mood,a stormy struggle against destiny with a well-earned victory at the close. Opening the program is a rarity: the overture to the 1811 opera The Amazons by the highly successful and prolific opera composer Étienne Méhul, a contemporary of Mozart and Beethoven.

In the first collaboration between two of classical music's most prominent artists, BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons and Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos come together November 30-December 2 for Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2, a melodious later work with audible influences from Russian and Spanish folk music. Maestro Nelsons also continues his exploration of the music of Richard Strauss, closing the program with the vivid tone poem An Alpine Symphony. The program begins with Derek Bermel's 2006 Elixir, which the American composer describes as "a spectral love potion" and which calls on the distinctive and haunting theremin, one of the earliest electronic instruments. This is one of several works by younger American composers being presented during the BSO's 2017-18 season.