BSO 2016/17 Season - Concert Previews

Download the Program Notes. Violinist/conductor Pinchas Zukerman returns to the BSO podium in both roles in two short, beautiful Tchaikovsky works for violin and orchestra, and to lead the composer's famous Serenade for Strings. Edward Elgar's warmhearted Chanson de nuit is one of two brief pieces originally for solo violin and piano (the other being Chanson de matin), later rescored for orchestra. Franz Schubert wrote his charming, four-movement Symphony No. 5 when he was just nineteen. Its balance of materials and control of the orchestra show the influence of Mozart and Beethoven.

Listen to the Concert Preview! Violinist/conductor Pinchas Zukerman returns to the BSO podium in both roles in two short, beautiful Tchaikovsky works for violin and orchestra, and to lead the composer's famous Serenade for Strings. Edward Elgar's warmhearted Chanson de nuit is one of two brief pieces originally for solo violin and piano (the other being Chanson de matin), later rescored for orchestra. Franz Schubert wrote his charming, four-movement Symphony No. 5 when he was just nineteen. Its balance of materials and control of the orchestra show the influence of Mozart and Beethoven.

Download the Program Notes. The BSO's wind and string families perform conductor-less in this program of three works by the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. The five-movement Serenade for Strings, is one of the composer's most familiar and popular pieces. In much the same vein of elegant entertainment is the Wind Serenade. The lesser-known but gorgeous Nocturne began life as the slow movement of a string quartet; its six-minute span is one of nearly unbroken melody.

Listen to the Concert Preview! The BSO's wind and string families perform conductor-less in this program of three works by the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. The five-movement Serenade for Strings, is one of the composer's most familiar and popular pieces. In much the same vein of elegant entertainment is the Wind Serenade. The lesser-known but gorgeous Nocturne began life as the slow movement of a string quartet; its six-minute span is one of nearly unbroken melody.

Download the Program Notes. Richard Strauss's Elektra, first performed in 1909, remains one of the most powerful and influential operas in the repertory. The first collaboration between Strauss and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Elektra is an intense, modernist adaptation of the ancient Greek revenge drama, in which Electra and her brother Orestes plot to avenge their father Agamemnon's death. Building upon the mastery of the orchestra and musical form Strauss had achieved in his orchestral tone poems, Elektra, along with its predecessor Salome, broke new ground in opera as a musical investigation of human emotion and psychology.

Listen to the Concert Preview! Richard Strauss's Elektra, first performed in 1909, remains one of the most powerful and influential operas in the repertory. The first collaboration between Strauss and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Elektra is an intense, modernist adaptation of the ancient Greek revenge drama, in which Electra and her brother Orestes plot to avenge their father Agamemnon's death. Building upon the mastery of the orchestra and musical form Strauss had achieved in his orchestral tone poems, Elektra, along with its predecessor Salome, broke new ground in opera as a musical investigation of human emotion and psychology.

Listen to the Concert Preview! The Grawemeyer Award-winning American composer Sebastian Currier's Divisions was co-commissioned by the BSO with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and the National Orchestra of Belgium to commemorate the centennial of World War I. The title's meaning refers to both the military connotation of "divisions" as well as to its 16th-century usage as a set of instrumental variations. Two strongly contrasting 19th-century works balance the program.

Download the Program Notes. The Grawemeyer Award-winning American composer Sebastian Currier's Divisions was co-commissioned by the BSO with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and the National Orchestra of Belgium to commemorate the centennial of World War I. The title's meaning refers to both the military connotation of "divisions" as well as to its 16th-century usage as a set of instrumental variations. Two strongly contrasting 19th-century works balance the program.

Listen to the Concert Preview! For the first concerts of the BSO's 2015-2016 season-an all-Russian program-Andris Nelsons and the orchestra continue their survey of Stalin-era works by Dmitri Shostakovich. Composed at the end of World War II, the atypically short, five-movement Ninth Symphony was criticized as being insufficiently serious for the time.

Listen to the Concert Preview! Andris Nelsons leads two very different Russian works written within a year of one another. He and the BSO are joined by Moscow-born mezzo-soprano Nadezhda Serdyuk for Sergei Prokofiev's cantata Alexander Nevsky. The dramatic cantata evokes the life of a great 13th-century Russian hero. Completed the following year in the United States, Sergei Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances is a symphony-like three-movement work, featuring brilliantly imaginative instrumentation.

Download the Program Notes. Andris Nelsons leads two very different Russian works written within a year of one another. He and the BSO are joined by Moscow-born mezzo-soprano Nadezhda Serdyuk for Sergei Prokofiev's cantata Alexander Nevsky. The dramatic cantata evokes the life of a great 13th-century Russian hero. Completed the following year in the United States, Sergei Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances is a symphony-like three-movement work, featuring brilliantly imaginative instrumentation.

Andris Nelsons talks about the 2015-16 BSO Season at Symphony Hall. 'Join and help us expand our wonderful BSO Family' - Andris Nelsons

The Boston Symphony Orchestra and Deutsche Grammophon have announced a new partnership that will feature a series of live recordings under the direction of BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons.

Listen to the Concert Preview! For the final concerts of the season, Bernard Haitink is joined by the eminent Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires-in her first BSO appearances since 1999-for Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23, from the series of great Vienna concertos the composer wrote at the height of his career there. The A major concerto, K.488, is one of the most chamber-musical and intimate of these works. Opening the program is Robert Schumann's dramatic Manfred Overture, composed in 1848 as part of incidental music for Byron's drama of the same name. Grappling with the shadow of Beethoven's symphonies, Brahms famously delayed completing and releasing his Symphony No. 1 to the world until after his fortieth birthday. It bears several deliberate touches of homage to Beethoven but is fully Brahmsian in its spirit and effect.

Download the Program Notes. For the final concerts of the season, Bernard Haitink is joined by the eminent Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires-in her first BSO appearances since 1999-for Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23, from the series of great Vienna concertos the composer wrote at the height of his career there. The A major concerto, K.488, is one of the most chamber-musical and intimate of these works. Opening the program is Robert Schumann's dramatic Manfred Overture, composed in 1848 as part of incidental music for Byron's drama of the same name. Grappling with the shadow of Beethoven's symphonies, Brahms famously delayed completing and releasing his Symphony No. 1 to the world until after his fortieth birthday. It bears several deliberate touches of homage to Beethoven but is fully Brahmsian in its spirit and effect.