BSO 2016/17 Season - Concert Previews

Listen to the concert preview for this series! Esa-Pekka Salonen makes a long-awaited return to the BSO podium with a sparkling program, including a recent work of his own, the highly admired Violin Concerto. The critically acclaimed and popular Canadian-born virtuoso Leila Josefowicz, for whom Salonen wrote the piece, is soloist in these performances.

Download the Program Notes for this series! Esa-Pekka Salonen makes a long-awaited return to the BSO podium with a sparkling program, including a recent work of his own, the highly admired Violin Concerto. The critically acclaimed and popular Canadian-born virtuoso Leila Josefowicz, for whom Salonen wrote the piece, is soloist in these performances.

Listen to the concert preview for this series! A German Requiem, Brahms's largest work, originated with music he wrote following Robert Schumann's attempted suicide in 1854 and evidently was also connected with the death of Brahms's own mother. The result is an utterly personal, scarcely ceremonial Requiem for soprano and baritone soloists, chorus, and orchestra, episodically setting texts from the Bible. Christoph von Dohnányi and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus are joined in these concerts by English-Austrian soprano Anna Prohaska in her BSO debut and the young German bass-baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann.

Download the Program Notes! A German Requiem, Brahms's largest work, originated with music he wrote following Robert Schumann's attempted suicide in 1854 and evidently was also connected with the death of Brahms's own mother. The result is an utterly personal, scarcely ceremonial Requiem for soprano and baritone soloists, chorus, and orchestra, episodically setting texts from the Bible. Christoph von Dohnányi and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus are joined in these concerts by English-Austrian soprano Anna Prohaska in her BSO debut and the young German bass-baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann.

Download the program notes for this series! The phenomenal German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann returns for the too rarely heard Dvořák's Violin Concerto, a powerful and beautiful Czech-flavored piece here conducted by the young Slovakian conductor Juraj Valcuha in his BSO debut. Opening the concert is the Hungarian Zoltán Kodály's Dances of Galánta, a 1933 orchestral masterpiece steeped in Central European folk music. Mendelssohn's always fresh Symphony No. 3, Scottish, was one of the fruits of the young genius's long trip to the British Isles in his early twenties.

Listen to the concert preview for this series! Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos, who has appeared with the BSO as soloist, conducts the orchestra for the first time in two works and is soloist and conductor for Bach's Violin Concerto in D minor. The Polish composer Witold Lutosławski's sonorous, moving "Musique funèbre" was composed for the tenth anniversary of Bartók's death and was a watershed work for its composer. Beethoven's high-spirited, gregarious Symphony No. 4 closes the program.

Download the program notes for this series! Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos, who has appeared with the BSO as soloist, conducts the orchestra for the first time in two works and is soloist and conductor for Bach's Violin Concerto in D minor. The Polish composer Witold Lutosławski's sonorous, moving "Musique funèbre" was composed for the tenth anniversary of Bartók's death and was a watershed work for its composer. Beethoven's high-spirited, gregarious Symphony No. 4 closes the program.

Listen to the concert preview for this series! The phenomenal German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann returns for the too rarely heard Dvořák's Violin Concerto, a powerful and beautiful Czech-flavored piece here conducted by the young Slovakian conductor Juraj Valcuha in his BSO debut. Opening the concert is the Hungarian Zoltán Kodály's Dances of Galánta, a 1933 orchestral masterpiece steeped in Central European folk music. Mendelssohn's always fresh Symphony No. 3, Scottish, was one of the fruits of the young genius's long trip to the British Isles in his early twenties.

Watch the BSO Video for this series! French pianist Cédric Tiberghien makes his BSO debut with Ravel's scintillating Piano Concerto in G. German conductor Christoph Eschenbach leads these concerts, which begin and end with Berlioz. Opening the program is the fantastical overture to the composer's picaresque Italian Renaissance opera 'Benvenuto Cellini'. Closing the program is Berlioz's most famous work, the 'Symphonie fantastique', which traces the evolution of an artist's feverish romantic obsession with a woman who does not respond in kind.

Listen to the concert preview for this series! French pianist Cédric Tiberghien makes his BSO debut with Ravel's scintillating Piano Concerto in G. German conductor Christoph Eschenbach leads these concerts, which begin and end with Berlioz. Opening the program is the fantastical overture to the composer's picaresque Italian Renaissance opera 'Benvenuto Cellini'. Closing the program is Berlioz's most famous work, the 'Symphonie fantastique', which traces the evolution of an artist's feverish romantic obsession with a woman who does not respond in kind.

Download the program notes! French pianist Cédric Tiberghien makes his BSO debut with Ravel's scintillating Piano Concerto in G. German conductor Christoph Eschenbach leads these concerts, which begin and end with Berlioz. Opening the program is the fantastical overture to the composer's picaresque Italian Renaissance opera 'Benvenuto Cellini'. Closing the program is Berlioz's most famous work, the 'Symphonie fantastique', which traces the evolution of an artist's feverish romantic obsession with a woman who does not respond in kind.

Download the program notes! Beethoven's Missa Solemnis is one of the most significant works by one of the greatest of all composers. This monolithic late work stands with the Ninth Symphony, the late string quartets, and the late piano sonatas as the culmination of Beethoven's transformation of music. Beethoven intended the Missa Solemnis celebration of the election of his patron Archduke Rudolph as Archbishop of Olmütz in 1820, but didn't complete it until 1822.

Listen to the concert preview for this series! Beethoven's Missa Solemnis is one of the most significant works by one of the greatest of all composers. This monolithic late work stands with the Ninth Symphony, the late string quartets, and the late piano sonatas as the culmination of Beethoven's transformation of music. Beethoven intended the Missa Solemnis celebration of the election of his patron Archduke Rudolph as Archbishop of Olmütz in 1820, but didn't complete it until 1822.

Listen to the concert preview for this series! French conductor Stéphane Denève, who made his BSO debut in April 2011, shares this program with BSO assistant conductor Marcelo Lehninger. Stéphane Denève will conduct the February 16-18 performances, while Marcelo Lehninger will conduct the February 21st performance. They will be joined by a BSO audience favorite, the American pianist Peter Serkin, who performs Stravinsky's angular, Baroque- and jazz-influenced Concerto for Piano and Winds.

Download the program notes! French conductor Stéphane Denève, who made his BSO debut in April 2011, shares this program with BSO assistant conductor Marcelo Lehninger. Stéphane Denève will conduct the February 16-18 performances, while Marcelo Lehninger will conduct the February 21st performance. They will be joined by a BSO audience favorite, the American pianist Peter Serkin, who performs Stravinsky's angular, Baroque- and jazz-influenced Concerto for Piano and Winds.