THE CLASSICAL BEAT

By

STEPHEN DANKNER

TANGLEWOOD, SEVENARS OFFER THRILLING MUSIC AND PERFORMERS

With the second week of August, Tanglewood continues its high energy 2024 classical programming with four powerhouse concerts in the Shed. These include performances by the Boston Symphony; the outstanding visiting guest artists the National Children's Symphony of Venezuela, led by the superlative, world-renowned maestro Gustavo Dudamel; the thrillingly Romantic and virtuosic Third Piano Concerto of Rachmaninoff, composed in 1909, and on the same program the transcendent "Le Sacre du printemps," composed by Igor Stravinsky in 1912-‘13 and premiered in Paris. Gratefully, there will be more from the Russian master: the phenomenal virtuoso violinist Leila Josefowicz will perform Stravinsky's energetic, neoclassical Violin Concerto, composed in 1931 and premiered in the U.S. by Serge Koussevitsky and the Boston Symphony in January, 1932.

Read below for all the details covering these outstanding programs and performing artists - the four Shed highlights, as well as the complete offerings in each magnificent Tanglewood venue during the six-day period from Wednesday, August 7 through Monday, August 12.

• Thursday, August 8, 8:00 p.m. in the Shed: Gustavo Dudamel conducts the National Children's Symphony of Venezuela in their Tanglewood debut. The major work on their program will be the Fifth Symphony of Dmitry Shostakovich. Composed in 1937, it is a masterwork of 20^th century symphonism.

• Friday, August 9, 8:00 p.m. in the Shed: Maestro Alan Gilbert will lead the BSO with pianist Kirill Gerstein performing Rachmaninoff's rhapsodic Piano Concerto No. 3; the concert will conclude with Stravinsky's electrifying "The Rite of Spring."

• Saturday, August 10, 8:00 p.m. in the Shed: The stellar violinist Leila Josefowicz will have her much-anticipated Tanglewood debut with the BSO in the Shed with a performance of Stravinsky's Violin Concerto, under the baton of conductor Dalia Stasevska. The program also includes the innovative, three-movement Fifth Symphony of Jean Sibelius, composed in the years 1914-'15.

• Sunday, August 11, 2:30 p.m. in the Shed: Soprano Elena Villalón and conductor James Gaffigan will perform two Mozart arias from the operas "Idomeneo" and "The Marriage of Figaro." The concert concludes with Gustav Mahler's miraculously evocative Symphony No. 4, composed in 1892, which includes the song, sung by Ms. Villalón, "Das himmlische Leben" ("The Heavenly Life"), set to a text from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn." 

Tanglewood programs and related events throughout the week

Wednesday, August 7

1:30 p.m., Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning

TLI Open Workshops: Kirill Gerstein, piano

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Thursday, August 8

1 p.m., Tent Club

TLI Talks and Walks

Anthony Fogg, moderator, with pianist Kirill Gerstein