The Boston Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Andris Nelsons have announced the appointment of the orchestra’s new principal flute player, Associate Principal Basson player, and a new member of the percussion section starting in the 2024-25 season. The company noted that Lorna McGhee will lead the flute section and will occupy the Walter Piston chair, endowed in perpetuity, succeeding Elizabeth {…}
The Boston Symphony Orchestra will present a free “Concert for the City” on May 5, 2024. The showcase will feature the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops Orchestra alongside the Tanglewood Festival Chorus with Andris Nelsons, Keith Lockhart, Thomas Wilkins, and James Burton conducting. The program includes works by Simon, Copland, Gabriela Ortiz, Coleridge-Taylor, Ellington, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Bernstein. “We are so excited to {…}
The Boston Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2024-25 season. Here is a look at the vocal performance. Andris Nelsons conducts the opening night concert with Lang Lang and Gina Alice Redlinger as well as Susan Graham and Keila Wakao. The program includes music by Carlos Simon, Ravel, Canteloube, Saint-Saens, and Ravel. Performance Date: Sept. 19, 2024 Andris Nelsons conducts Mahler’s {…}
(Photo credit: Hilary Scott) Last weekend, Symphony Hall was, on a generous account, less than two-thirds full. If you asked anyone why they were there, nine out of ten people would have said: “to listen to Bártok’s Castle.” The few others would be admirers of Alisa Weilerstein, who played the concert’s first half: Haydn’s c-major cello concerto. Chiaroscuro programing. Bartók’s {…}
The Boston Symphony Orchestra has announced Anna Handler as assistant conductor for a two-year term. Handler will begin her term in September 2024 and will join Samy Rachid, appointed in 2023, as one of the BSO’s two assistant conductors. Handler will assume her position following the departure of assistant conductor Earl Lee, whose appointment will conclude at the end of {…}
Photo: Winslow Townson The first time my partner watched Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,” he couldn’t believe that the composer ever thought a Stalinist regime would be pleased with the opera. The “in-your-face” power of the work made him—a (handsome) man whose political convictions ponder between socialism and cowboyism—find endearing that ‘Shosta’ could not see his censoring coming. Even today, {…}
The Boston Symphony Orchestra has made three major announcements to its organizations. Andris Nelsons, who is currently in his tenth season as the Ray and Maria Stata Music Director will move to an evergreen, rolling contract, extending his tenure as Music Director and has been named Head of Conducting at Tanglewood. In a statement, Nelsons said, “It seems like just yesterday {…}
In November, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2023–24 season will be marked by the Ligeti 100 festival from Nov. 12 to 19, celebrating the 100th anniversary of György Ligeti’s birth. Ligeti, a pivotal 20th-century composer, faced significant challenges, from wartime hardships to Soviet-era censorship. He gained widespread recognition, particularly for his music featured in the film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” On {…}
The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s musicians and Board of Trustees have ratified a new three-year labor agreement to take effect on August 28 According to a press release the new contract restores traditional annual wage growth going forward and includes a “catch-up” increase for the musicians following a three-year pandemic pause in their wages under the existing contract approved in 2020. The {…}
The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has announced that Chad Smith has been appointed as its new President and Chief Executive Officer, effective in the fall of 2023. Smith is currently the Chief Executive of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where for the last four years he has worked alongside Gustavo Dudamel to implement and advance a number of orchestral programs, as {…}
(Credit: Tatyana Vlasova) The Boston Symphony Orchestra has unveiled its 2023-24 season. For the purposes of this article, our focus will be solely on vocal performances. Kristine Opolais headlines concert performances of “Lady Macbeth of Mstensk.” Andris Nelsons conducts a cast also starring Pavel Cernoch, Sergei Skorokhodov, and Günther Groissböck. Performance Dates: Jan 25 & 27, 2024 (Jan. 23 rehearsal {…}