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Tchaikovsky and Weill operas, Sondheim's Night Music, Mark Morris, top Tanglewood Music Center season
6.17.08
TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER’S 2008 SEASON
TMC FELLOWS TO BE FEATURED IN TCHAIKOVSKY’S EUGENE ONEGIN AND WEILL’S RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF MAHAGONNY, BOTH UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JAMES LEVINE
BOSTON POPS PERFORMANCE OF A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC LED BY KEITH LOCKHART
TWO MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP PERFORMANCES
2008 FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC CELEBRATING THE 100TH BIRTHDAY YEAR OF ELLIOTT CARTER
TANGLEWOOD ON PARADE, STRING QUARTET MARATHON, OPERA SCENES PROGRAM, AND TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER ORCHESTRA CONCERTS UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JAMES LEVINE, BERNARD HAITINK, RAFAEL FRÜHBECK DE BURGOS AND STEFAN ASBURY, ALSO AMONG SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
158 TMC FELLOWS FROM 27 STATES AND 18 COUNTRIES TO PARTICIPATE
The 2008 session of the Tanglewood Music Center, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s renowned summer music academy at its summer home in Lenox, MA, will take place June 19-August 19. Fellows from this summer’s Tanglewood Music Center program will participate in a concert performance of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, featuring soprano Renée Fleming, tenor Ramón Vargas, and baritone Peter Matlei (August 2), and fully staged performances of Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (August 9-11), both under the direction of BSO Music Director James Levine. Fellows from the Tanglewood Music Center will also be featured with the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Keith Lockhart in a concert performance of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music (July 8) and in two performances by the Mark Morris Dance Group (June 26 and 27).
The Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra will perform five concerts this season, conducted by James Levine, Bernard Haitink, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Oliver Knussen, Stefan Asbury, and this summer’s TMC Conducting Fellows. The TMC’s 2008 Festival of Contemporary Music (July 20-24), will focus for the first time in the festival’s 44-year history on the works of a single composer - Elliott Carter - in celebration of his 100TH birthday year. James Levine will serve as the Director of the 2008 Festival of Contemporary Music; he is also the chairman of the TMC’s opera and conducting programs.
Following a highly competitive series of auditions that took place November through February, 158 Fellows from 18 countries and 27 states were selected from some 1500 applicants to participate in this year’s Tanglewood Music Center program. In addition to high profile performances, the Tanglewood Music Center Fellows also participate in master classes and coaching sessions led by some of the preeminent artists of our time. More than half the members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra also teach at the TMC each summer.
LEVINE LEADS TMC ORCHESTRA AND SPECIAL GUESTS IN EUGENE ONEGIN
James Levine will lead the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and a cast of international opera singers in a concert performance of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin for the annual Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert on August 2. The opera, to be sung in Russian with English subtitles, will feature soprano Renée Fleming as Tatiana, tenor Ramón Vargas as Lensky, baritone Peter Mattei as Onegin, mezzo-sopranos Ekaterina Semenchuck and Wendy White as Olga and Larina, bass Vitalij Kowaljow as Prince Gremin, and TMC Vocal Fellows Alan Dunbar and Evan Boyer as Zaretsky and the Captain. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus, under the direction of John Oliver, will also participate.
LEVINE CONDUCTS WEILL’S RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF MAHAGONNY
On August 9-11, James Levine will lead the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and Vocal Fellows in a fully staged production of Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, which will be sung in English, directed and designed by Doug Fitch. TMC soloists for these performances include mezzo-soprano Christin-Marie Hill as Leokadja Begbick, baritone Jonathan Beyer as Trinity Moses, tenor Alex Richardson as Fatty the Bookeeper, Steven Ebel as Jim Mahoney, baritone Mischa Bouvier as Bill, tenors Adam Sattley and Zachary Wilder as Jacob Schmidt and Toby Higgins, mezzo-soprano Rebecca Jo Loeb as Jenny, bass Evan Boyer as Alaska Wolf Joe, and sopranos Ileana Montalbetti, Hana Park, and Charlene Santoni and mezzo-sopranos Abigail Fischer, Katherine Growdon, and Nicole Mitchell as the Maids of Mahagonny. The chorus will be the men of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor.
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC WITH KEITH LOCKHART AND THE BOSTON POPS
On July 8, Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart leads the Pops and the TMC Vocal Fellows in a concert performance of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music that will also feature Tony Award-winners Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson and soap opera star Ron Raines. Based on the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night , Sondheim’s study of the many facets of love is set to the elegant flow of a waltz, and includes the popular songs “You Must Meet My Wife” and “Send in the Clowns.” This production of A Little Night Music was performed on June
12-14 as part of the Boston Pops spring season at Symphony Hall. This is the fourth collaboration between the TMC and the Boston Pops.
MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP RESIDENCY
Continuing their highly popular residency at Tanglewood, the Mark Morris Dance Group will once again join the TMC. On June 26 and 27, members of MMDG will perform with TMC Vocal Fellows and pianists in a program that will include the world premiere of “Excursions,” a new work choreographed to Barber’s Excursions for piano, as well as ”Bedtime,“ to Schubert’s Wiegenlied, Ständchen, and Erlkönig, and the ”New Love Song Waltzer” and “Love Song Waltzes” on music of Brahms. TMC Fellows will also work closely with and be coached in dancing by Mr. Morris and his dancers, while the dancers will work on musical projects with TMC Fellows.
TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER ORCHESTRA
James Levine will conduct the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra for the first concert of the 2008 season on June 30 in Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8, on a program that will also feature Stefan Asbury conducting Messiaen’s Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, performed to mark the centennial of Olivier Messiaen’s birth, and Strauss’s Don Juan conducted by a TMC Conducting Fellow Christoph Altstaedt. On July 7 at 8 p.m. at Ozawa Hall, BSO Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink will lead the TMCO in Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony. Also on that program, TMC Conducting Fellows Erik Neilsen – Debussy, and Leo McFall – Mozart, will lead the orchestra in Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 and Debussy’s Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun. Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos will conduct the TMC Orchestra in its closing concert of the 2008 season on August 18, in performances of Albéniz’s Suite española, Falla’s Three-cornered Hat Suites Nos. 1 and 2, Strauss’s Till Eulenspeigel’s Merry Pranks, and Strauss’ Burleske, for piano and orchestra, with Emanuel Ax as soloist.
TANGLEWOOD ON PARADE
Tanglewood on Parade is an all-day musical celebration featuring TMC Fellows in chamber music throughout the afternoon, and culminating in an evening concert featuring the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, and the TMC Orchestra. The TMCO will perform Four Sea Interludes from Britten’s Peter Grimes under the direction of Sir Andrew Davis, and André Previn will lead the combined forces of the TMC and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. The evening will end with fireworks over the Stockbridge Bowl. This gala concert will also include performances with the BSO, led by James Levine, and the Boston Pops Orchestra, led by Keith Lockhart and John Williams.
STRING QUARTET SEMINAR
Each year the TMC holds an intensive workshop in string quartet playing, which explores this repertoire from Haydn through the 20th century. The week-long seminar takes place at the beginning of the season, culminating in a String Quartet Marathon - three two-hour performances - on June 23 in the Theatre. Distinguished artist coaches participating in the 2008 TMC String Quartet Seminar include the Juilliard String Quartet - violinists Joel Smirnoff and Ronald Copes, violist Samuel Rhodes, and cellist Joel Krosnik - violinists Andrew Jennings and Mark Sokol and cellist Norman Fischer of the Concord String Quartet, violist Roger Tapping formerly of the Takács Quartet, and violinist Lucia Lin and violist Steve Ansell of the Muir String Quartet and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
OPERA SCENES PROGRAM
On August 17, the TMC will present a program of Opera Scenes under the stage direction of Ira Siff and the musical direction of opera coach Lucy Arner. Working closely with Mr. Stiff, TMC Opera and Vocal Fellows will present an evening of scenes from some of the repertoire’s most beloved operas. This will be the second year that the TMC has presented this kind of event.
FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
One of the major activities in which the TMC fellows participate is the annual Festival of the Contemporary Music. This year’s Festival, to take place July 20-24, will celebrate the 100th birthday year of American composer Elliott Carter by dedicating the entire festival to Mr. Carter’s music, marking the first time in the FCM’s 44-year history that the programming is devoted to a single composer’s works. The five day Festival of Contemporary Music will present eleven concerts, featuring 46 Carter compositions – 15 works for orchestra or large ensemble – making it the most extensive of the many centennial celebrations scheduled to take place around the world in honor of Mr.
Carter who was born on December 11, 1908. The Director of the 2008 Festival of Contemporary Music is James Levine, who is the first BSO music director to take on the leadership role of the festival. Mr.
Levine, who will appear as a pianist and conductor several times throughout the festival, will lead the BSO in the closing concert, marking the first time that the BSO will perform a full program of Elliott Carter’s music and comprise the entire closing concert of the festival. Composer/Conductor Oliver Knussen holds the titles of Festival Advisor and Guest Conductor for this year’s Festival of Contemporary Music.
TMC FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS
The TMC Fellowship Program is for experienced musicians who have completed the majority of their formal training. The sole criterion for admission is musical excellence. The program is open to instrumentalists, singers and vocal pianists, composers, and conductors.
This year, the 158 TMC Fellows hail from 18 countries and 27 states.
Among the nations represented are Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, the Netherlands, Romania, South Africa, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. Admission to the TMC is highly competitive, with some 1,500 musicians competing for about 100 open positions. Those accepted into the program receive Fellowships that cover TMC tuition, room, and board.
Conducting Program
The TMC offers three young conductors each year the opportunity to work with internationally recognized maestros, podium time in front of an extraordinarily talented group of colleagues, and the chance to study the technique of many distinguished artists as they work with the BSO in both rehearsal and performance. Conducting Fellows lead the TMC Orchestra, work in the Opera Program, and conduct smaller ensembles of TMC musicians in both standard repertoire and new music. Fellows take part in conducting classes given by TMC resident and guest faculty, and in discussions with visiting artists and BSO guest conductors; they also observe rehearsals of the BSO and the TMCO throughout the season.
Opera and Vocal Studies Program
Fellows in the Opera and Vocal Studies program are generally designated as concentrating in either art song or opera; the TMC Fellows in both programs take part in master classes in art song and vocal chamber music, and make up the cast of three fully-staged performances of Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny with Maestro James Levine on August 9, 10, and with TMC Conducting Fellow Erik Neilsen on August 11, as well as semi-staged performances of Opera Scenes directed by Ira Siff on August 17. Vocal Fellows will also perform in one world premiere and several classic Elliott Carter works during the Festival of Contemporary Music.
Chamber Music Program
All Fellows at the Tanglewood Music Center study and perform chamber music throughout each season. TMC chamber music concerts take place every Sunday morning in Seiji Ozawa Hall, starting this year on June 29; that first concert will include works for woodwinds, brass, and percussion by Harbison and Mozart, among others. On Saturday evenings TMC Fellows perform chamber music Prelude Concerts at 6 p.m., before the BSO evening performances; additional instrumental and vocal chamber music concerts are scheduled throughout the season.
String Quartet Program
Each year the Tanglewood Music Center holds an intensive workshop in string quartet playing, which explores this repertoire from Haydn through the 20th century. (See details above for this season’s
faculty.)
Composition Program
The TMC Composition Program, chaired by John Harbison and coordinated by Michael Gandolfi, balances intensive on-site writing projects with classes, seminars, and discussions led by distinguished composers from a wide range of aesthetic perspectives. Composers work on projects that foster close collaborations with TMC performers. Each composer has several performances of his or her works during the summer.
Library Fellowship, Audio Engineer, Piano Technician, and Publications fellowships
Under the guidance of the BSO principal librarian Marshall Burlingame and the TMC Orchestra librarians, the Orchestra Library Fellow works with some of the world's most important conductors, preparing materials for the TMCO and for conducting and instrumental classes. They also attend seminars on music acquisition and preparation, and may occasionally be asked to help with music preparation for BSO performances at Tanglewood.
Virtually every concert at Tanglewood is recorded for the BSO Archives, and many events are broadcast live or taped for future broadcast. Under the guidance of Timothy Martyn, Technical Director/Chief Engineer, Tanglewood Audio Department, and Douglas McKinnie, Director of Live Sound Operations at Tanglewood, the Audio Engineering Fellows assist the department in a broad spectrum of activities, and have an opportunity to learn and refine audio skills while working in a truly world-class musical environment.
Working side by side with resident senior piano technician Stephen Carver, a small number of apprentices practice their craft by tending to over 70 Steinway pianos on the Tanglewood grounds, all of which are subject to frequent use by students, faculty, and guest artists. This program provides hands-on experience in both concert work and general maintenance. The Fellows have the chance to broaden their technical abilities, decision-making skills, and confidence, as well as gain an understanding of the role piano technicians play in the concert world.
The opportunities Tanglewood offers for interacting with world-class professionals and students provides insights into the instrument that are not easily gained elsewhere.
New this year is the TMC Publications Fellow. Working under the guidance and supervision of the BSO Publications Office and TMC staff, the Publications Fellow gains hands-on experience in the creation of printed concert programs and the writing and/or editing of program notes for TMC Orchestra concerts and select chamber music concerts. The Publications Fellow also works with the BSO Publications Office in proofreading, editing, and gathering materials for BSO program books.
TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER FACULTY
Chamber Music
Norman Fischer, Chamber
Music coordinator; cello
Stephen and Dorothy Weber Artist-
In-Residence
Claude Frank, piano
Pamela Frank, violin
Andrew Jennings, violin
Richard Burgin Master Teacher
Chair
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Ursula Oppens, piano
Alan Smith, Piano Program
coordinator
Marian Douglas Martin
Master Teacher Chair, endowed
by Marilyn Brachman
Hoffman
Fenwick Smith, flute
Joel Smirnoff, violin
Edward and Lois Bowles Master
Teacher Chair
Joseph Silverstein, violin
Beatrice Sterling Procter Master
Teacher Chair
String Quartet Seminar
Steve Ansell, viola
Lucia Lin, violin
Muir Quartet
Norman Fischer, cello
Andrew Jennings, violin
Mark Sokol, violin
*Concord String Quartet
Joel Smirnoff, violin
Ronald Copes, violin
Samuel Rhodes, viola
Joel Krosnick, cello
Juilliard String Quartet
Roger Tapping, viola
*Takács Quartet
*former ensemble affiliation
Opera and Vocal Studies
James Levine, Opera Program
chairman
Phyllis Curtin, Vocal Studies
Program chairman; soprano
Harry L. & Nancy Lurie Marks
Tanglewood Artist-In-Residence
Kayo Iwama, Vocal Program
coordinator; vocal coach
Renee Longy Master Teacher
Chair, gift of Jane and John
Goodwin
Lucy Arner, opera coach
Doug Fitch, stage director
Kenneth Griffiths, vocal coach
Linda Hall, opera coach
Wilmer and Douglas Thomas
Master Teacher Chair
Dennis Helmrich, vocal coach
Lucy Shelton, soprano
Berkshire Master Teacher Chair
Ira Siff, stage director
Surdna Foundation Master
Teacher Chair
Alan Smith, vocal coach
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Howard Watkins, opera coach
Wilmer and Douglas Thomas
Master Teacher Chair
Composition
John Harbison, chairman
Barbara LaMont Master
Teacher Chair
Michael Gandolfi, coordinator
Charles E. Culpeper Foundation
Master Teacher Chair
Shulamit Ran
Vic Firth Master Teacher Chair,
endowed by Mr. and Mrs. Henry
Wheeler
Augusta Read Thomas
Publications
Marc Mandel
Robert Kirzinjer
Conducting/Guest Conductors
James Levine, chairman
Stefan Asbury, coordinator
Sana H. and Hasib J. Sabbagh
Master Teacher Chair
Sir Andrew Davis
Rafael Frűbeck de Burgos
Bernard Haitink
Festival of Contemporary Music
James Levine, director
Oliver Knussen, advisor
Elliott Carter, featured composer
Stefan Asbury, conductor
John Oliver, conductor
Audio Engineering
Tim Martyn
Piano Technician
Steve Carver
Guest Faculty/Visiting Artists
Emanuel Ax, piano
Virgil Blackwell, bass clarinet
Roberto Diaz, viola
Richard Dyer, lecturer
Renèe Fleming, soprano
Ray Gniewek, violin
Eleanor Naylor Dana Visiting
Artist
Martin Katz, vocal coach
David Krauss, trumpet
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Mark Mandel, lecturer
Mark Morris, choreographer, &
members of the Mark Morris
Dance Group
Michael Parloff, flute
André Previn, conducting and
piano
Lloyd Schwartz, poet
BSO INVOLVEMENT
More than half the members of the BSO will again participate in TMC teaching, coaching, and curriculum preparation this season. Each section of the Orchestra works with their counterpart musicians in the TMC. BSO musicians will supervise, lead, or participate in sectional rehearsals, repertoire and master classes, orchestral and chamber music activities, and in regular exchanges between the two orchestras. BSO musicians are also heavily involved in the auditioning process.
HISTORY OF THE TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER
Since its start as the Berkshire Music Center in 1940, the Tanglewood Music Center has been closely tied to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, its players, and its music directors. Serge Koussevitzky, who headed the BSO from 1924 to 1949, founded the school with the aim of creating a premier music academy where young instrumentalists, vocalists, conductors, and composers could sharpen their skills under the tutelage of Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians and other world-class artists, with the resources of a great symphony at their disposal. To this end, he also enlisted some of the day’s most important composer-teachers as faculty members, a tradition distinguished by the presence of such longtime TMC faculty as Aaron Copland and Paul Hindemith. Koussevitzky helped develop that dream until 1950, a year after his retirement as BSO music director. Charles Munch, his successor in that position, took over the TMC from 1951 through 1962, working with Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland to shape the school’s programs. In 1963, new BSO Music Director Erich Leinsdorf took over the school’s reins, returning to Koussevitzky’
s hands-on leadership approach while restoring a renewed emphasis on contemporary music. In 1970, three years before his appointment as BSO Music Director, Seiji Ozawa became head of the BSO’s programs at Tanglewood, while Gunther Schuller was appointed to lead the TMC and Leonard Bernstein became general advisor. Leon Fleisher served as Artistic Director of the TMC from 1985 to 1997. In November 1997, Ellen Highstein became director of the TMC, a position she holds today.
According to recent estimates, 20 percent of the members of American symphony orchestras – and 30 percent of all first-chair players – studied at the TMC. Since becoming BSO Music Director in 2004, James Levine has been significantly involved in the TMC’s summer activities, not only leading a concert opera performance and staged opera production with TMC fellows, but also working with them in classes devoted to orchestra repertoire, Lieder, and opera.
In addition to Mr. Ozawa, prominent alumni of the TMC include Claudio Abbado, the late Luciano Berio, the late Leonard Bernstein, William Bolcom, Phyllis Curtin, David Del Tredici, Christoph von Dohnányi, the late Jacob Druckman, Lukas Foss, Michael Gandolfi, John Harbison, Oliver Knussen, Lorin Maazel, Wynton Marsalis, Zubin Mehta, Sherrill Milnes, Osvaldo Golijov, Leontyne Price, Ned Rorem, Bright Sheng, Sanford Sylvan, Cheryl Studer, Michael Tilson Thomas, Augusta Read Thomas, Dawn Upshaw, Shirley Verrett, and David Zinman.
TANGLEWOOD HISTORY
Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home located in the Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts, had its beginnings in 1936 when the BSO gave its first outdoor concerts in the area, a three-concert series held under a tent for a total crowd of 15,000. In 1937, the BSO returned to the Berkshires for an all-Beethoven program, again held under a tent – but this time at Tanglewood, the 210-acre estate donated by the Tappan family, initiating a new era in the history of the American summer music festival. In 1938, the 5,100-seat Shed was inaugurated, giving the BSO a permanent open-air structure in which to perform at Tanglewood. The Boston Symphony Orchestra has performed in the Koussevitzky Music Shed every summer since, except for the war years of 1942-45, and Tanglewood has become almost a place of pilgrimage to millions of concertgoers. The 1986 acquisition of the Highwood estate next to Tanglewood increased the festival’s public grounds by 40 percent and allowed for the construction of Seiji Ozawa Hall. This hall opened in 1994 along with the Leonard Bernstein Campus, which became the center for most TMC activities. Seiji Ozawa Hall serves not only as a performance home for the TMC, but as a thoroughly modern venue for the BSO’s varied recital and chamber music offerings. Today, Tanglewood annually draws more than 350,000 visitors for orchestral and chamber music concerts, instrumental and vocal recitals, student performances, and the annual Festival of Contemporary Music, as well as performances by popular artists and the annual Labor Day weekend Jazz Festival.
All programs and artists are subject to change. For further information, call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is on the Internet at www.bso.org.
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