Tanglewood announces six-week Boston Symphony Orchestra program

LENOX — Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2021 season at Tanglewood opens on Saturday, July 10, an announcement from the venue said.

The season opens with an all-Beethoven program, led by Andris Nelsons. Also on the program is Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5;” Emanuel Ax will perform Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 5: Emperor.” All public events this season, including those for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center, and Tanglewood Learning Institute, as well as the 2021 Popular Artist Series, will take place in the Koussevitzky Music Shed

Tanglewood will present the reduced, six-week program that will encompass approximately 50-percent of the festival’s usual offerings, but will also reflect on the variety and depth of the programming typically associated with the festival. BSO shows will take place on Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons; Boston Pops concerts and notable guest chamber music artists and ensembles will perform on Friday evenings.

Boston Symphony Orchestra Highlights for First Two Weeks of 2021 Tanglewood Season

• Saturday, July 10, 8 p.m.: Andris Nelsons opens the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2021 Tanglewood season with an all-Beethoven program, with special guest Emanuel Ax performing “Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor,” on a program with the overture to “The Creatures of Prometheus” and “Symphony No. 5;” this concert will be available, July 18 to Aug. 17, on the BSO NOW streaming portal at bso.org/now.
• Sunday, July 11, 2:30 p.m.: The Boston Symphony Orchestra performs Carlos Simon’s “Fate Now Conquers,” followed by Sibelius’ “Violin Concerto” with soloist Baiba Skride and Dvořák’s “Symphony No. 6.”
• Saturday, July 17, 2:30 p.m.: Tanglewood Family Concert program—featuring members of the BSO, with Byron Stripling in the role of conductor and trumpet soloist—is entitled “American Melodies,” with a special focus on the early songs that defined America—from folk to spirituals, to gospel and jazz.
• Saturday, July 17, 8 p.m.: Daniil Trifonov joins the orchestra for Brahms’ “Piano Concerto No. 1;” the program opens with Prokofiev’s “Symphony No. 1, Classical;” this concert will be available, July 25 to Aug. 24, on the BSO NOW streaming portal at bso.org/now.
• Sunday, July 18, 2:30 p.m.:  Lucas and Arthur Jussen are the soloists for Mozart’s “Concerto in E-flat for Two Pianos,” K.365 on a program with the Mendelssohn-Hensel “Overture in C” and Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No. 5, Reformation.”

Friday-evening Programming for the First Two Weeks of the 2021 Tanglewood Season

• Friday, July 9, 8 p.m.: The Knights, with artistic directors Eric and Colin Jacobsen, perform Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin,” Vijay Iyer’s “Crisis Modes,” Mary Lou Williams’ “Selection from Zodiac Suite,” for piano and orchestra, and Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” the latter two works featuring pianist Aaron Diehl.
• Friday, July 16, 8 p.m.: Apollo’s Fire—in a program entitled “Bach, Vivaldi & Friends”—performs works by Telemann (“Concerto Polonois”), Porpora (an arrangement of an aria from “Polifemo”), Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 4,” and three Vivaldi concertos, with Artistic Director Jeannette Sorrell.

Tanglewood Music Center and Tanglewood Learning Institute Programming for the First Two Weeks of the 2021 Tanglewood Season

Monday, July 12, at 8 p.m.:  Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra (TMCO), led by Andris Nelsons and TMC Conducting Fellows, performs music by Copland, Hannah Kendall and Beethoven; this concert will be available July 20 through Aug. 18, on the BSO NOW streaming portal at bso.org/now.

Thursday, July 15, 8 p.m.: Andris Nelsons leads a conducting master class with the Tanglewood Music Center Conducting Fellows as part of the Tanglewood Learning Institute (TLI) OpenStudio series.

Monday, July 19, at 8 p.m.: TMCO, led by Andris Nelsons and TMC Conducting Fellows, performs music by Beethoven, Rimsky-Korsakov, Haydn, and Stravinsky; this concert will be available July 27 through Aug. 25, on the BSO NOW streaming portal at bso.org/now.

For more information, visit https://www.bso.org/Performance/Listing?brands=6427.