BSO 2016/17 Season - Concert Previews

Brian Bell speaks to composer Roberto Sierra about his composition "Fandangos".

Watch the fourth Video in this new podcast series! Daniel Bauch joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in fall 2009, having held the position of assistant principal timpanist and percussionist with the Detroit Symphony for three years. He began playing percussion at age seven and during high school studied with the BSO's Timothy Genis and Will Hudgins. Mr. Bauch earned a bachelor's degree from the Juilliard School in 2002 under the tutelage of Daniel Druckman.

Listen to the concert preview for this series! 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.

Download the Program Notes. 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.

Listen to the concert preview for this series! Spanish conductor Juanjo Mena, chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, leads the American premiere of influential Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's Circle Map, for orchestra and electronics, a BSO co-commission. Violinist Gil Shaham, a frequent guest with the orchestra, joins the BSO for Benjamin Britten's rarely performed Violin Concerto, and the program concludes with Dvořák's darkly majestic Symphony No. 7, which bespeaks both his love for his native Bohemia and the influence of his mentor, Johannes Brahms.

Listen to the concert preview for this series! Charles Dutoit takes the podium for a second week to lead the BSO, an international cast of vocal soloists, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in a compelling operatic double bill pairing Stravinsky's The Nightingale and Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Magic Spells). Stravinsky's 1914 opera The Nightingale-begun before, but completed after, his famous trio of ballets for Sergei Diaghilev-is based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a Chinese emperor and two nightingales-one real, the other mechanical. Completed in 1925, Ravel's one-act opera L'Enfant et les sortilèges-the story of a child movingly taught the meaning of love and affection-is infused with whimsy and magic.

Download the Program Notes. Charles Dutoit takes the podium for a second week to lead the BSO, an international cast of vocal soloists, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in a compelling operatic double bill pairing Stravinsky's The Nightingale and Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Magic Spells). Stravinsky's 1914 opera The Nightingale-begun before, but completed after, his famous trio of ballets for Sergei Diaghilev-is based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a Chinese emperor and two nightingales-one real, the other mechanical. Completed in 1925, Ravel's one-act opera L'Enfant et les sortilèges-the story of a child movingly taught the meaning of love and affection-is infused with whimsy and magic.

Charles Dutoit speaks about Stravinsky and Ravel with Brian Bell. Charles Dutoit takes the podium for a second week to lead the BSO, an international cast of vocal soloists, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in a compelling operatic double bill pairing Stravinsky's The Nightingale and Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Magic Spells). Stravinsky's 1914 opera The Nightingale-begun before, but completed after, his famous trio of ballets for Sergei Diaghilev-is based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a Chinese emperor and two nightingales-one real, the other mechanical. Completed in 1925, Ravel's one-act opera L'Enfant et les sortilèges-the story of a child movingly taught the meaning of love and affection-is infused with whimsy and magic.

Brian Bell takes you on a tour of Ravel's L’Enfant et les sortilèges. This week at Symphony Hall, October 25-27.

Watch the third Video in this new podcast series! Lawrence Wolfe joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra bass section in 1970, becoming the orchestra's youngest member at that time; he was named assistant principal bass of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal bass of the Boston Pops Orchestra during the 1981-82 season. A graduate of New England Conservatory, Mr. Wolfe studied double bass with William Curtis, Leslie Martin, and Gary Karr. As a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, he was awarded the Albert Spaulding Prize for the most promising and outstanding instrumentalist.

Listen to the concert preview for this series! Acclaimed conductor Charles Dutoit leads the BSO in a program overflowing with virtuosity. Soloist Nikolai Lugansky makes his BSO debut in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, a massive and daunting work that tests every aspect of a pianist's skill. Not to be outdone, the orchestra's first-chair wind players step to the front of the stage to demonstrate the orchestra's own resident virtuosity in Frank Martin's mid-20th-century Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments, Timpani, Percussion, and String Orchestra.

Frank Martin's Concerto for Seven Winds and Timpani is rarely played, so that the Principal players may only have the opportunity to perform the work only once in their careers. Brian Bell talked to two soloists, BSO Principal Oboe John Ferrillo, and BSO Principal Tympani Timothy Genis who also participated in the most recent performance (2001), which featured tympanist Vic Firth in his final season. Musical examples come from a BSO performance from September 1977.

Download the Program Notes for this series! Making his Boston Symphony debut, Vladimir Jurowski, principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, is joined by German violinist Arabella Steinbacher for Mendelssohn's sparkling Violin Concerto. The program concludes with Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4, a dark but powerfully majestic work the composer finished in 1936. He withdrew the work prior to its premiere due to fears of official condemnation, writing instead the universally acclaimed, heroic Fifth the following year. The Fourth waited another quarter-century for its first performance.

Download the Program Notes for this series! Acclaimed conductor Charles Dutoit leads the BSO in a program overflowing with virtuosity. Soloist Nikolai Lugansky makes his BSO debut in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, a massive and daunting work that tests every aspect of a pianist's skill. Not to be outdone, the orchestra's first-chair wind players step to the front of the stage to demonstrate the orchestra's own resident virtuosity in Frank Martin's mid-20th-century Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments, Timpani, Percussion, and String Orchestra.

Download the program notes for this series! This concert under the direction of acclaimed BSO assistant conductor Marcelo Lehninger offers two audience favorites: Tchaikovsky's emotionally charged fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet, and Dvořák's bucolic Symphony No. 8. In between, the Hawthorne String Quartet, made up of four BSO members, is featured in Ervín Schulhoff's multi-faceted Concerto for String Quartet and Wind Orchestra (1930). Schulhoff, a gifted Czech composer whose bracing neoclassical style was influenced by jazz, died of tuberculosis in a concentration camp in 1942.