BSO 2016/17 Season - Concert Previews

Brian Bell speaks with Susan Graham about Ravel's Sheherazade, which she'll sing with the BSO on January 30th, 31st and February 1st, 2014.

Download the Program Notes for this series. BSO Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink leads two consecutive weeks of concerts this season, beginning with an all-Ravel program featuring the dazzling mezzo-soprano Susan Graham as soloist in the atmospheric orchestral song cycle Shéhérazade. The composer's Spanish-tinged, pictorial Alborada del gracioso opens the program, and the work Ravel considered his best, the complete "symphonie choréographique" Daphnis and Chloé, concludes it. Ravel wrote this cornerstone of musical impressionism for the famous Ballets Russes, which gave the premiere in Paris in 1912.

Gregg Henegar joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as contrabassoon in 1992, having previously held the same position with the Houston Symphony. An active teacher, Mr. Henegar is a faculty member at New England Conservatory, Boston University and the Tanglewood Music Center. He is the author of Modern Exercises for the Contrabassoon.

Listen to the Audio Concert Preview for this series. German conductor-pianist Christoph Eschenbach returns as both soloist and conductor for Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12, a work of chamber-musical understatement and surpassing elegance that Mozart wrote for his own Vienna performances in late 1782. On the other end of the symphonic scale is Bruckner's magisterial Symphony No. 9, a work left incomplete (in just three movements) at the composer's death in 1896. This cathedral-like symphony shows the continuing influence of Wagner in its harmonic language and scope, with the particular Austrian lyricism and gift for counterpoint for which Bruckner was known.

Download the Program Notes for this series. German conductor-pianist Christoph Eschenbach returns as both soloist and conductor for Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12, a work of chamber-musical understatement and surpassing elegance that Mozart wrote for his own Vienna performances in late 1782. On the other end of the symphonic scale is Bruckner's magisterial Symphony No. 9, a work left incomplete (in just three movements) at the composer's death in 1896. This cathedral-like symphony shows the continuing influence of Wagner in its harmonic language and scope, with the particular Austrian lyricism and gift for counterpoint for which Bruckner was known.

Brian Bell speaks with BSO Assistant Conductor Andris Poga about his BSO Symphony Hall debut program, January 23, 24, 25, 2014.

Listen to the Audio Concert Preview for this series. The peerless German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter joins the BSO and Austrian conductor Manfred Honeck, music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, for two works by Dvořák: the composer's Violin Concerto, originally conceived for Brahms's friend, the great Joseph Joachim, but never performed by him; and the Romance for violin and orchestra, which began life as the slow movement of the composer's F minor string quartet. Honeck also leads Beethoven's groundbreaking Eroica Symphony, inspired by Napoleon's rise to power.

Download the Program Notes for this series. Atlanta Symphony Orchestra music director Robert Spano, whose ties to the BSO go back two decades, returns to lead a work given its United States premiere by the BSO under his direction in 2001-Osvaldo Golijov's "La Pasión según San Marcos" ("The Passion According to St. Mark"). The Jewish, Latin American-raised Golijov was one of four composers from different religious and musical traditions asked to compose a Passion setting to mark the 250th anniversary of Bach's death and the end of the second millennium. Golijov's vibrant, immediate, pan-Latin American approach draws on multiple musical and Christian traditions in presenting this universal narrative. The BSO is joined by a cast of stylistically diverse performers central to the original creation of this remarkable piece.

Listen to the Audio Concert Preview for this series. This special all-Mozart program brings intimate, smaller ensemble works to Symphony Hall. Pianist Richard Goode, renowned for his interpretation of Mozart's piano music, joins BSO players for a work considered one of the composer's greatest chamber music masterpieces, the Piano Quartet in E-flat. Also on the program are two popular serenades, multi-movement works designed for entertainment during parties. The Serenata notturna for strings was composed during Mozart's time in Salzburg, when he wrote such works for the court of the Archbishop Colloredo. The Gran partita for winds and double bass-considered the greatest of all wind serenades-was a later piece.

Brian Bell speaks with BSO Principal Oboe John Ferrillo about the Serenade in B flat, to conclude the All-Mozart programs on January 14th, and March 8th, 2014.

Suzanne Nelsen began her studies in Edmonton and instantly fell in love with the bassoon. She earned a bachelor's degree from McGill University and pursued further study at the Hague Conservatory in Holland, earning a UM degree. Early training included summers at the Banff Festival, National Youth Orchestra of Canada and Boris Brott Festival. In 1995, during post-graduate study at McGill, she won a position with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.

Listen to the Audio Concert Preview for this series. Atlanta Symphony Orchestra music director Robert Spano, whose ties to the BSO go back two decades, returns to lead a work given its United States premiere by the BSO under his direction in 2001-Osvaldo Golijov's "La Pasión según San Marcos" ("The Passion According to St. Mark"). The Jewish, Latin American-raised Golijov was one of four composers from different religious and musical traditions asked to compose a Passion setting to mark the 250th anniversary of Bach's death and the end of the second millennium. Golijov's vibrant, immediate, pan-Latin American approach draws on multiple musical and Christian traditions in presenting this universal narrative. The BSO is joined by a cast of stylistically diverse performers central to the original creation of this remarkable piece.

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra music director Robert Spano, whose ties to the BSO go back two decades, returns to lead a work given its United States premiere by the BSO under his direction in 2001-Osvaldo Golijov's La Pasión según San Marcos("The Passion According to St. Mark").

Richard Svoboda has been the principal bassoonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players since 1989; as the BSO's principal bassoon he occupies the Edward A. Taft Chair, endowed in perpetuity. Mr. Svoboda is currently on the faculties of the New England Conservatory of Music, the Tanglewood Music Center, and the Sarasota Music Festival, and has given master classes throughout the world. Prior to his BSO appointment, he performed for ten seasons as principal bassoonist of the Jacksonville Symphony.

Conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos discusses the Beethoven 6th and the de Falla "Three Cornered Hat" Suites with Brian Bell, to be performed by the BSO on November 21st, 22nd, and 23rd, 2013.