BSO 2016/17 Season - Concert Previews

Listen to the concert preview for this series! Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden, music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, makes his BSO debut with the beloved American pianist Emanuel Ax in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2. This work shows Beethoven putting his own personal stamp on the style he learned from the music of Haydn and Mozart. Van Zweden also conducts Rachmaninoff's gorgeous, highly individual, 20th-century-romantic Symphony No. 2.

Download the program notes! Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden, music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, makes his BSO debut with the beloved American pianist Emanuel Ax in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2. This work shows Beethoven putting his own personal stamp on the style he learned from the music of Haydn and Mozart. Van Zweden also conducts Rachmaninoff's gorgeous, highly individual, 20th-century-romantic Symphony No. 2.

Listen to the concert preview for this series! Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit leads this colorful Francophile program that begins with Strauss's charming quasi-ersatz 17th-century music to accompany a new version of Molière's play "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme". Joining Dutoit and the orchestra is French cellist Gautier Capuçon in his BSO debut, performing Henri Dutilleux's "Tout un monde lointain..". The great French composer Dutilleux (b.1916), completed this shimmering concerto-like work in 1970 for the great Mstislav Rostropovich. Closing the program is Debussy's symphony-like "La Mer", three musical pictures of the sea.

Download the program notes! Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit leads this colorful Francophile program that begins with Strauss's charming quasi-ersatz 17th-century music to accompany a new version of Molière's play "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme". Joining Dutoit and the orchestra is French cellist Gautier Capuçon in his BSO debut, performing Henri Dutilleux's "Tout un monde lointain..". The great French composer Dutilleux (b.1916), completed this shimmering concerto-like work in 1970 for the great Mstislav Rostropovich. Closing the program is Debussy's symphony-like "La Mer", three musical pictures of the sea.

Download the program notes for this series! Conductor Bramwell Tovey will lead the orchestra January 26-31 in Mendelssohn's Lobgesang (Hymn of Praise), for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, with sopranos Carolyn Sampson and Camilla Tilling, tenor John Tessier, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Menelssohn wrote this big work in 1840 for a three-day festival in Leipzig celebrating the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg's movable-type printing method. This will be only the second time the BSO has performed the complete work at Symphony Hall; the fist was under Seiji Ozawa in 1988.

Listen to the concert preview for this series! Conductor Bramwell Tovey will lead the orchestra January 26-31 in Mendelssohn's Lobgesang (Hymn of Praise), for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, with sopranos Carolyn Sampson and Camilla Tilling, tenor John Tessier, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Menelssohn wrote this big work in 1840 for a three-day festival in Leipzig celebrating the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg's movable-type printing method. This will be only the second time the BSO has performed the complete work at Symphony Hall; the fist was under Seiji Ozawa in 1988.

Listen to the concert preview for this series! The Boston Symphony Orchestra itself will be showcased on the first half of the BSO program of January 19-24, originally to have been conducted by Riccardo Chailly, when it performs-without a conductor-music for brass, for winds, and for strings: Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man and the "Procession du Vendredi-saint" ("Good Friday Procession") from French composer Henri Tomasi's Fanfares liturgiques for brass and percussion; Richard Strauss's Serenade in E-flat, Op. 7, for winds; and Tchaikovsky's Serenade in C for Strings, Op. 48.

Download the program notes for this series! The Boston Symphony Orchestra itself will be showcased on the first half of the BSO program of January 19-24, originally to have been conducted by Riccardo Chailly, when it performs-without a conductor-music for brass, for winds, and for strings: Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man and the "Procession du Vendredi-saint" ("Good Friday Procession") from French composer Henri Tomasi's Fanfares liturgiques for brass and percussion; Richard Strauss's Serenade in E-flat, Op. 7, for winds; and Tchaikovsky's Serenade in C for Strings, Op. 48.

Listen to the concert preview for this series! American conductor David Zinman returns to Symphony Hall to lead the world premiere of John Harbison's Symphony No. 6, commissioned as the culmination of the BSO's two-season survey of the composer's symphonies, with mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy as soloist. In addition, Zinman is joined by acclaimed Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes for Beethoven's youthful Piano Concerto No. 1. Carl Maria von Weber's overture to his 1823 "grand-heroic-romantic" opera "Euryanthe" is by turns splendidly swashbuckling and sweetly melodic. The exciting Richard Strauss tone poem "Till Eulenspiegel", about a mischievous rogue, is another great orchestral showpiece.

Listen to the concert preview for this series! Conductor Andris Nelsons regrets to announce that he will not be able to travel to Boston for his scheduled concerts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on January 4-7, as he and his wife prepare for the imminent arrival of their first-born child. BSO Assistant Conductor Marcelo Lehninger will step in to conduct this program, with Haydn's Symphony No. 88 replacing the previously scheduled Symphony No. 90. The rest of the program remains unchanged.

View the program notes for this series. Conductor Andris Nelsons regrets to announce that he will not be able to travel to Boston for his scheduled concerts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on January 4-7, as he and his wife prepare for the imminent arrival of their first-born child. BSO Assistant Conductor Marcelo Lehninger will step in to conduct this program, with Haydn's Symphony No. 88 replacing the previously scheduled Symphony No. 90. The rest of the program remains unchanged.

View the program notes for this series. Making his BSO debut, Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek is chief conductor of the BBC Symphony and chief conductor designate of the Czech Philharmonic. The program opens with John Harbison's BSO-commissioned Symphony No. 5 (premiered in 2008) for baritone, mezzo-soprano, and orchestra, a dramatic, lyrical work setting poems inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The program's second half features American pianist Jonathan Biss in Beethoven's equally dramatic and lyrical Fourth Piano Concerto. To finish, Beethoven's powerful "Leonore" Overture No. 3 offers another musical take on the transportive power of love.

Listen to the concert preview. Making his BSO debut, Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek is chief conductor of the BBC Symphony and chief conductor designate of the Czech Philharmonic. The program opens with John Harbison's BSO-commissioned Symphony No. 5 (premiered in 2008) for baritone, mezzo-soprano, and orchestra, a dramatic, lyrical work setting poems inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The program's second half features American pianist Jonathan Biss in Beethoven's equally dramatic and lyrical Fourth Piano Concerto. To finish, Beethoven's powerful "Leonore" Overture No. 3 offers another musical take on the transportive power of love.

Listen to the concert preview. French conductor Ludovic Morlot leads two colorful programs this season. His first features BSO principal flutist Elizabeth Rowe reprising her 2010 American premiere performances of Elliott Carter's Flute Concerto, a work co-commissioned by the BSO. Another esteemed soloist, the American pianist Richard Goode, plays Mozart's late Piano Concerto No. 25. Berlioz's rollicking Roman Carnival Overture is based on music from the composer's opera Benvenuto Cellini. Bartók's Miraculous Mandarin Suite, a truncated version of the full ballet score, is an astonishing feat of musical storytelling and brilliant orchestration.

Download the program notes. French conductor Ludovic Morlot leads two colorful programs this season. His first features BSO principal flutist Elizabeth Rowe reprising her 2010 American premiere performances of Elliott Carter's Flute Concerto, a work co-commissioned by the BSO. Another esteemed soloist, the American pianist Richard Goode, plays Mozart's late Piano Concerto No. 25. Berlioz's rollicking Roman Carnival Overture is based on music from the composer's opera Benvenuto Cellini. Bartók's Miraculous Mandarin Suite, a truncated version of the full ballet score, is an astonishing feat of musical storytelling and brilliant orchestration.