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Berkshires Feature
Berkshires FeatureTanglewood Music Festival Tips -- Summer 2009
INDEX OF TIPS The good news for families visiting Tanglewood this summer is that listening to concerts on the lawn had become a lot more affordable since the age for youngsters in the family admitted free of charge is now 17! College and graduate students can buy Friday evening lawn tickets at a 50% discount. Details about the entire summer season, pricing and even informative web-tv and podcasts are available at Tanglewood's beautifully re-designed website: http://www.bso.org/bso/mods/content_calendar.jsp?id=bcat5240086 This page is updated annually, with additions made throughout the summer, including write-ups of some events. Here are some tips to help visitors to the Tanglewood Music Festival to experience the very best and still have money to spare to take in the area's other sights and sounds. The Index: FREE Berkshire Night. . . Family Specials. . . Festival of Contemporary Music . . . . . . Friday Nights are Inside-Outside Nights . . . Free Guided Tours . . . Saturday Morning Rehearsals . . . Sunday Morning Chamber Music . . . String Quartet Marathons . . . Student Orchestra Concerts (TMC). . . Student Orchestra Concerts (BUTI) . . . Tanglewood On Parade . . Check CurtainUp's Berkshire News Page for breaking news of special events and tips for other Berkshire area attractions. Check CurtainUp's Main Page for links to reports and reviews. Check Berkshire Archives for past stories. . . . feedback to esommer@curtainup.com |
July 24, 2009 Tanglewood’s annual Berkshire Night. 1,000 year-round residents of the Berkshires can enjoy a Friday-evening Boston Symphony Orchestra concert at the orchestra’s summer home for free. Maestro James Levine will lead the BSO in a program of Berlioz’s Le Corsaire Overture and Harold in Italy, featuring BSO principal violist Steven Ansell, and two works by Mussorgsky: the Prelude to Khovanshchina and Pictures at an Exhibition. The concert begins at 8:30 p.m. in the Koussevitzky Music Shed. Massachusetts Berkshire residents with valid identification may obtain two free tickets per person at the Tanglewood Box Office from Monday, July 20, through Thursday, July 23. Box Office hours for Berkshire Night tickets are Monday, July 20, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday, July 21, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Wednesday, July 22, and Thursday, July 23, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets are subject to availability. Before the Berkshire Night concert, guides will offer free tours of the Tanglewood grounds from 6 to 7 p.m., and children may take part in an instrument petting zoo from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Visitors Center. For more information on Berkshire Night, call the Tanglewood Volunteer Office at 413-637-5393. Berkshire residents attending the concert may also attend the 6 p.m. prelude concert in Ozawa Hall, featuring members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and “This Week at Tanglewood” in the Shed at 7:15 p.m., the pre-concert panel discussion hosted by former Live at Lincoln Center host Martin Bookspan and featuring baritone Thomas Hampson, who will be performing Barber’s Songs with Orchestra and Thomson’s Five Songs from William Blake with the BSO on July 26. All programs and artists are subject to change. For complete programs, ticket information, and downloadable press photos, please visit Tanglewood’s online press kit at www.tanglewood.org.
Friday Nights Inside-Outside Events. Here's what you do. Buy a lawn ticket (or, if the weather looks threatening, the least expensive inside seats -- the green benches along the rear of the shed will protect you from the elements for just a couple of bucks more than a lawn ticket.). Then pack a picnic and get there by 5:30 or 6 o'clock for the open seating preview concerts held in the pristine Ozawa Hall (go here for details)). These preludfeature players from the Boston Symphony, the John Oliver Chorus and, sometimes, one of the weekend's soloists in the Shed. Seeing and hearing these musicians in this more intimate space is a rate treat, as well as a super bargain.You'll have an hour in between the Prelude and the 8:30 concert to enjoy your picnic and wander around the lawn to admire some of the elaborate spreads brought by gourmet picnickers. Note: That this year Saturday concerts are also preceded by prelude concerts in Ozawa Hall
Special Note for Students: Students aged 12 and up with valid ID can purchase tickets to the evening concert at 50% off the box office price.
Saturday Morning Rehearsals. If you can't make the Friday prelude-plus-concert, go over to the Tanglewood Shed at 10:30 on a Saturday morning. Earlier is even better since there's often a lecture before the rehearsals. The musicians will be wearing t-shirts and loafers, the conductor interrupts the playing periodically, and people tend to wander in and out at will. If you like your concerts in a very informal atmosphere, these open rehearsals may be just your musical brew. Best of all, there are no reserved seats and admission is the same as for a lawn ticket. Special note for families with young children: Lawn tickets are FREE for children under 12!.
Sunday Morning Chamber Music. For those who prefer tennis, golf, swimming or going to tag sales on Saturday mornings, the student chamber music concerts at Ozawa Hall (go here for details) offer an intimate alternative. Besides the regularly scheduled Sunday morning recitals, there are numerous others each week. Check the Tanglewood programs.
Student Orchestra Concerts(TMC) These Monday night concerts are less expensive than the Tanglewood Shed concerts, and feature the talented students of the Tanglewood Music Center or the younger BUTI Young Artists are no longer quite the well-kept secret they used to be. In fact, the evening TMC concerts have metamorphosed into the worst kept secret, with tickets snapped up so that those with advance reservations should keep their fingers crossed for good weather so that they can sit on the lawn. On a nice night, this is quite wonderful, especially since the Ozawa Hall lawn, unlike that surrounding the big Shed, is sloped so that you can have a good view of the musicians. The popularity of these concerts is well-deserved with the student musicians playing magnificently, even early in the season when they've had little time to play together.
This year includes two TMC concerts. The first is June 29th and features conductor Herbert Blomstedt and TMC Conducting Fellows and the music of Sibelius: The Swan of Tuonela conducted by Ryan McAdams, Tapiola conducted by Gergely Madaras,and the Symphony No. 2 by Maestro Blomstead. Update June 30th: I attended the concert and as always, I was bowled over at how these young musicians managed to play this challenging program as if they'd been sharing the stage for many months instead having just arrived at Tanglewood. Other TMC concerts will be on July 20th (the TMC orchestra playing music for Chamber orchestras). Both at 8pm. And if the first concert is any indication, not to be missed.
Family Specials This year, Tanglewood is offering a concert just for families. It will take place in Ozawa Hall on August 22, at 2:30pm, guests TBA. Tickets are $10, and children under 18 are free.
The String Quartet Marathon. 3 2-hour concerts by TMC musicians at Seiji Ozawa Hall- at 10am, 1pm and 4p m This year's marathan will beon June 22nd. Tickets are $11 at the box office.
Student Orchestra Concerts (BUTI)—updated The BUTI concerts by the high school aged student musicians are among this reporter's own favorites. Full orchestra performances are on three Saturday afternoons at 2:30 p.m. and feature an outstanding conductor. There's something about sitting in Ozawa Hall with the afternoon sun streaming in and this young musicians making music that is indescribably enchanting. Unlike the evening concerts featuring the TMC orchestra which have become a bit too much of a hustle and bustle, must-see event, these concerts, at least for now, retain their sense of "summer time and the living is easy".. Some of these concerts are repeated during the wall-to-wall music events that make up the daytime festivities at Tanglewood on Parade. The dates for Summer 2008 are July 11 (Federico Cortese, conductor) and 25 (Federico Cortese, conductor) , and August 8th (Paul Haas, conduct)s. Tickets are $11 available one hour prior to concert start time at the Ozawa Hall box office only.
Tanglewood Music Center's Annual Festival of Contemporary Music which has its followers and detractors but even those who find new music difficult ought to investigate at least one of the programs offered during this event. The 2009 season's 5 days of new music begins August 8th at 2:30 pm in Ozawa Hall. It continues August 9th at 10pm Aug. 11 at 2:30pm and Aug 12 at 8pm.Tickets are $11.
Tanglewood on Parade. For one of the summer's best buys for the whole family, there's the annual wall-to-wall (or should we say tree-to-tree, hall-to-hall musical treat known as Tanglewood on Parade. It features all the musicians, hot air balloons, and in my experience, almoslt always good weather. The festivities begin at 2:30 in the afternoon and end with a two-orchestra concert and fireworks to climax the "1812 Overture." Picnics at this event are often something to behold, with some of the revelers dressed up in costumes. Summer 2009 Tanglewood on Parade date is Tuesday 29th. And yes, it all ends with fireworks.
Free Guided Walks .
The Tanglewood Association of the Boston Symphony Association of Volunteers offers free walking tours of the Tanglewood campus from July 7 to August 23. The tours last one hour and include visits to the Koussevitzky Music Shed, Ozawa Hall, other music facilities, the Visitors Center history rooms, and more. Experienced volunteer guides explain the historical background of Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Reservations are not required.
Tours begin at the Visitors Center at Tappan Manor House. In the event of inclement weather, tours will meet informally under cover. Private group tours for a minimum of 20 people also may be arranged at least two weeks in advance for a fee by calling the Volunteer Office. Tour schedules are Tuesday at 1:30pm, Wednesday at 10:30 am; and for BSO concert ticket holders only, Sunday 12:30pm There will also be public tours during Tanglewood on Parade (July 28) from 3pm - 7:00pm. grounds.
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