BSO 2016/17 Season - Concert Previews

Download the Program Notes. The BSO celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great German composer Robert Schumann with three concerts encompassing all four of the composer's symphonies. In the first of these programs, Kurt Masur leads the First and Fourth symphonies as part of an all-Schumann program also featuring the Piano Concerto, with the esteemed Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire as soloist.

Listen to the Concert Preview! German conductor/pianist Christian Zacharias, a distinguished performer of the Classical repertoire, conducts the BSO for the first time in this Haydn/Mozart program. As was the practice in Mozart's time, Zacharias performs the solo parts of these two Vienna-era piano concertos while leading the orchestra from the keyboard. He also conducts the orchestra from the podium in two late Haydn symphonies. No. 80 in D minor (1784) represents a transitional style between the earlier, simpler symphonies and the later ones, represented here by No. 95 in A major.

Download the Program Notes. German conductor/pianist Christian Zacharias, a distinguished performer of the Classical repertoire, conducts the BSO for the first time in this Haydn/Mozart program. As was the practice in Mozart's time, Zacharias performs the solo parts of these two Vienna-era piano concertos while leading the orchestra from the keyboard. He also conducts the orchestra from the podium in two late Haydn symphonies. No. 80 in D minor (1784) represents a transitional style between the earlier, simpler symphonies and the later ones, represented here by No. 95 in A major.

On Wednesday November 3rd, 2010, Brian Bell spoke with the esteemed conductor Rafeal Fruhbeck de Burgos on the program being performed by the Boston Symphony that week, Manuel de Falla's Atlantida and the Brahms Symphony No. 2.

The BSO announces a new and innovative partnership with the Boston Public Schools created to support the expansion of music education in the city's schools-with a pilot program serving 775 students at the Thomas A. Edison School in the 2010-11 academic year.

Download the Program Notes. Spanish conductor Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos returns to lead music from the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla. Sung in Catalan, Atlantida ("Atlantis"), an epic of the lost continent and its rediscovery by Columbus, was Falla's magnum opus, begun in 1927 and left incomplete at his death in 1946. The Spanish composer Ernesto Halffter completed a version that was premiered in 1976. Maestro Fruhbeck has devised a 35-minute vocal-orchestral suite almost solely from Falla's original music from the Prologue and Parts I and III, with focus on the significant episodes for chorus. The second half of the program is the great Symphony No. 2 of Johannes Brahms.

Listen to the Concert Preview! Spanish conductor Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos returns to lead music from the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla. Sung in Catalan, Atlantida ("Atlantis"), an epic of the lost continent and its rediscovery by Columbus, was Falla's magnum opus, begun in 1927 and left incomplete at his death in 1946. The Spanish composer Ernesto Halffter completed a version that was premiered in 1976. Maestro Fruhbeck has devised a 35-minute vocal-orchestral suite almost solely from Falla's original music from the Prologue and Parts I and III, with focus on the significant episodes for chorus. The second half of the program is the great Symphony No. 2 of Johannes Brahms.

Listen to the Concert Preview! American conductor David Robertson returns to the BSO podium and is joined by the remarkable English pianist Nicolas Hodges in his BSO debut. Hodges has previously performed at Tanglewood in recital and with the TMC Orchestra; here he is soloist with the BSO in Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2. Robertson also leads a work dedicated to the conductor himself-the American composer John Adams's Doctor Atomic Symphony, which is drawn from the composer's 2005 opera about the building of the first atom bomb. Brahms's dramatic "Tragic" Overture begins the program, and Bartók's "Miraculous Mandarin" ballet suite closes it.

Listen to the audio interview with guest conductor David Robertson! American conductor David Robertson returns to the BSO podium October 28 - November 2.

Download the Program Notes. American conductor David Robertson returns to the BSO podium and is joined by the remarkable English pianist Nicolas Hodges in his BSO debut. Hodges has previously performed at Tanglewood in recital and with the TMC Orchestra; here he is soloist with the BSO in Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2. Robertson also leads a work dedicated to the conductor himself-the American composer John Adams's Doctor Atomic Symphony, which is drawn from the composer's 2005 opera about the building of the first atom bomb. Brahms's dramatic "Tragic" Overture begins the program, and Bartók's "Miraculous Mandarin" ballet suite closes it.

Watch the video interview with Marcelo Lehninger. The young Brazilian conductor Marcelo Lehninger, appointed one of the BSO's two new assistant conductors for the 2010-11 season, makes his debut with the orchestra in these concerts. He is joined by celebrated violinist Pinchas Zukerman for Beethoven's majestic and lyrical Violin Concerto. Samuel Barber's characterful School for Scandal Overture-inspired by the 18th-century Sheridan comedy-was his first publicly performed orchestral work and a great success for the twenty-one-year-old composer.

Listen to the Concert Preview! The young Brazilian conductor Marcelo Lehninger, appointed one of the BSO's two new assistant conductors for the 2010-11 season, makes his debut with the orchestra in these concerts. He is joined by celebrated violinist Pinchas Zukerman for Beethoven's majestic and lyrical Violin Concerto. Samuel Barber's characterful School for Scandal Overture-inspired by the 18th-century Sheridan comedy-was his first publicly performed orchestral work and a great success for the twenty-one-year-old composer.

The Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 has been an audience favorite for well over a century. But there were critics who didn't completely approve of the work when it first appeared-but the harshest critic was none other than Tchaikovsky himself. For more on the Fifth Symphony and its composer, here's Brian Bell.

Download the Program Notes. The young Brazilian conductor Marcelo Lehninger, appointed one of the BSO's two new assistant conductors for the 2010-11 season, makes his debut with the orchestra in these concerts. He is joined by celebrated violinist Pinchas Zukerman for Beethoven's majestic and lyrical Violin Concerto. Samuel Barber's characterful School for Scandal Overture-inspired by the 18th-century Sheridan comedy-was his first publicly performed orchestral work and a great success for the twenty-one-year-old composer.

Download the Program Notes. Performances of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5 continue James Levine and the BSO's Mahler anniversary season. Mahler composed the instrumental Fifth in the summers of 1901 and 1902, and is famous for its beautiful Adagietto movement. Levine and the orchestra also begin a cycle of symphonies, continuing this season and next, by the eminent American composer John Harbison. Two of Harbison's five symphonies were commissioned by the BSO, and his Sixth, another BSO commission, will be premiered next season. The Third, from 1991, is a vigorous five-movement work with Italianate sensibilities, including a musical allusion to a Genoese carillon.