The Classical Beat: Thrilling Music and New At Tanglewood, Sevenars

With the arrival of August, we are at the mid-point of the classical music festival season. A Tanglewood highlight this week is the annual, overarching 5-day Festival of Contemporary Music – this week featuring new Indian, Swedish and Icelandic composers' works and much more. During the Festival – from Thursday, July 27- Monday, July 31, audiences will partake of a rich sampling of what's happening on the current international contemporary music scene. This is always a high point of a Tanglewood summer, and represents a "finger on the pulse" of where modern music is now and may be heading.

Traditional repertoire will also be included with the programming of works by Berlioz, Ravel and Prokofiev. The week's soloist highlight will be violin superstar Joshua Bell performing the Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 on Sunday, afternoon, July 30.

Devotees of solo piano music should consider attending the brilliant pianist Liana Paniyeva's solo recital, which will feature works of Franck, Ravel, Brahms and both Schumanns – Robert and Clara - on Sunday, also on July 30, at the Sevenars Academy in South Worthington, MA. Read below for the details of this Sevenars concert.

A Special Tanglewood Community Event in Pittsfield On July 29

The fifth annual "Tanglewood in the City," a free event on Pittsfield Common on July 29 features a concert video presentation of the season-opening BSO concert: watch a recorded performance of Music Director Andris Nelsons leading Wynton Marsalis' "Herald, Holler, and Hallelujah," Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 with soloist Daniil Trifonov, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4. Pre-concert activities begin with local performers, food trucks, and vendors beginning at 5:00; concert screening begins at 7:30; the rain date is July 30. The event is a partnership of Mill Town Foundation, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the City of Pittsfield. 

Tanglewood Music Center: Festival of Contemporary Music 

The Tanglewood Music Center's 2023 Festival of Contemporary Music (July 27, through July 31) offers concerts dedicated to works from the current musical landscape as well as landmark 20th-century pieces, conversations with music-makers (including FCM co-curators Reena Esmail, Tebogo Monnakgotla, and Anna Thorvaldsdottir,) and performance opportunities for the Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center. 

Tanglewood: Concerts in the Shed

•   Friday, July 28, 8 p.m.: Giancarlo Guerrero leads the BSO in a program pairing Julia Wolfe's "Her Story," a BSO co-commission—featuring the Lorelei Ensemble (Beth Willer, artistic director) and stagecraft provided by Anne Kauffman, Jeff Sugg, Andrew Cotton, Márion Talán de la Rosa, Asher Lloyd Ehrenberg, and Kenny Savelson—with Mahler's Symphony No. 1. performed at Symphony Hall last spring, "Her Story" vividly depicts the ongoing struggle for equal rights, representation, and access to democracy for women in America. 

•   Saturday, July 29, 8 p.m.: Dima Slobodeniouk leads the BSO in Messiaen's "Les Offrandes oubliées." Berlioz's song cycle "Les Nuits d'été," with mezzo-soprano soloist Isabel Leonard, "In the Shade of an Unshed Tear" by Polish composer/singer Agata Zubel, and Ravel's orchestral showpiece "Daphnis et Chloé," Suite No. 2. 

•  Sunday, July 30, 2:30 p.m.: Anna Rakitina's farewell appearance as BSO Assistant Conductor features an encore performance of Ellen Reid's "When the World as You've Known It Doesn't Exist" (with vocalists Eliza Bagg, Martha Cluver in her Tanglewood debut, and Sonja DuToit Tengblad), as well as the suite from Sergei Prokofiev's ballet "Romeo and Juliet" and Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 1 with Joshua Bell as soloist.  

Tanglewood: Concerts in Ozawa Hall

•   Wednesday, July 26, 8 p.m.: The acclaimed Boston Symphony Chamber Players (made up of BSO principal players) perform music of Yehudi Wyner ("Into the evening air"), Sofia Gubaidulina (Sonata for double bass and piano, with guest pianist Randall Hodgkinson), Shulamit Ran ("Lyre of Orpheus"), and Schumann (Piano Quintet in E-flat, Op. 44, with guest pianist Andreas Haefliger). 

•  Thursday, July 27, 8 p.m.: As part of the Festival of Contemporary Music, musicians from the Tanglewood Music Center perform three works by California-born Gabriela Lena Frank ("Sonata Serrana No. 1," "Las Sombras de los Apus," and "Milagros,") and Bartók's "Contrasts."  

•   Friday, July 28, 2:30 p.m.: Continuing the Festival of Contemporary Music, TMC musicians perform a program of works by Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir ("Reminiscence," "Spectra," "Hrim," "Aequilibria," and "Ró") and György Kurtág ("12 Microludes" and "Six Moments Musicaux").  

•   Friday, July 28, 6 p.m.: Prelude concert featuring music by Boccherini and Aigerim Seilova performed by members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. 

•   Saturday, July 29, 6 p.m.: A Prelude Concert by TMC musicians (part of the Festival of Contemporary Music) featuring works by Sally Beamish ("Caprington Doubles,") Kaija Saariaho ("New Gates,") and Errollyn Wallen ("NNENNA."), plus the world premiere of "small tenderness," a commissioned work by Ania Vu (an 2022 alumna of the TMC).  

•   Sunday, July 30, 10 a.m.: The Festival of Contemporary Music continues with TMC musicians performing multiple works by Swedish composer Tebogo Monnakgotla—"It is the Lark that Sings," Five Pieces for String Trio, "Le Dormeur du val," "Toys" (or "The Wonderful World of Clara,") and "Companion"—and Malin Bång's "Arching," Andile Khumalo's "Schaufe[r]nster II," and Bent Sørensen's "The Lady of Shalott."  

•   Monday, July 31, 8 p.m.: To close the 2023 Festival of Contemporary Music, Stefan Asbury and TMC Conducting Fellows lead the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in works by the four FCM co-curators—Reena Esmail's "RE/Member," Anna Thorvaldsdottir's "METACOSMOS," Tebogo Monnakgotla's "Un Clin d'oeil," and Gabriela Lena Frank's "Walkabout: Concerto for Orchestra." 

Tanglewood Music Center and Tanglewood Learning Institute: Studio E of the Linde Center

•   Wednesday, July 26, 1:30 p.m.: TLI Open Harp Workshop with BSO principal Jessica Zhou and TMC Fellows (joint presentation of TLI and TMC) 

•   Thursday, July 27, 1 p.m.: A TLI In Conversation with curators of the Festival of Contemporary Music and Michael Gandolfi, who heads the composition program at the TMC, interviews composers Reena Esmail, Tebogo Monnakgotla, and Anna Thorvaldsdottir about how they curated this year's festival (free admission; a joint presentation of TLI and TMC). 

•   Saturday, July 29, 4 p.m.: The program for this TLI Presents: A Curated Concert by Reena Esmail, consists of multiple works by the Indian-American composer and features Indian classical vocalist Saili Oak, in her Tanglewood debut, and TMC Fellows (joint presentation of TLI and TMC).  

•   Sunday, July 30, 8 p.m.: Silent Film Music by TMC Composition Fellows showcases original music by up-and-coming composers alongside a screening of a silent film (joint presentation of TLI and TMC). 

For tickets for all Tanglewood/BSO concerts (lawn and Shed seating) and for special events call (617) 266-1200. TDD/TTY: (617) 638-9289. Online: tanglewood.org.

Sevenars Concerts

• Sunday, July 30, 4:00 p.m.: The outstanding young Ukrainian-born pianist Liana Paniyeva returns to Sevenars after a recital that left critic Michael Moran rhapsodizing: "With technical mastery to spare, a deep feeling for the grand Romantic tradition of piano playing, and a modest, all-business stage manner that focuses on the music rather than personal display, Liana Paniyeva has all the makings of a major solo career." Since then, Ms. Paniyeva has had a busy year of concertizing and will bring to Sevenars a stunning program of music by Clara (Scherzo, Op. 14, No. 2 in C minor) and Robert ("Faschingsschwank aus Wien") Schumann; Ravel (Sonatiné); Brahms (three pieces from Klavierstücke, Op. 76) and Franck (Prélude, Chorale, and Fugue).

The Sevenars Academy is located at 15 Ireland Street, just off Rt. 112 in South Worthington, MA. Admission is by donation (suggested $20) and refreshments are included.

Sevenars contact/ticket information: Phone: (413) 238-5854. Online: www.sevenars.org.

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