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April 23, 2013

BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES 2013-14 SEASON

MAJOR EVENTS OF BSO’S 133RD SEASON INCLUDE BRITTEN’S WAR REQUIEM TO CELEBRATE THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE COMPOSER’S BIRTH, AND
ALL FIVE BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTOS FEATURING THE ARTISTRY OF
YEFIM BRONFMAN; FOUR WORLD AND AMERICAN PREMIERES;
AN INTERNATIONAL TOUR TO CHINA AND JAPAN; AND
AN EXTRAORDINARY ARRAY OF MASTERWORKS PERFORMED BY SOME OF TODAY’S MOST BRILLIANT SOLOISTS AND CONDUCTORS, SHOWCASING THE BSO’S SINGULAR SOUND IN WORLD-FAMOUS SYMPHONY HALL

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS IN 2013-14 INCLUDE
STRAUSS’S SALOME UNDER THE DIRECTION OF ANDRIS NELSONS;
OSVALDO GOLIJOV’S ST. MARK PASSION CONDUCTED BY ROBERT SPANO;
WORLD AND AMERICAN PREMIERES OF COMMISSIONED WORKS BY JUSTIN DELLO JOIO, MARC NEIKRUG, BERNARD RANDS, AND MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE;
THE RETURN OF CONDUCTOR/COMPOSER/PIANIST THOMAS ADÈS TO LEAD THE BSO AND  PERFORM AS A PIANIST WITH THE BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS, REFLECTING THE ONGOING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MR. ADÈS AND THE BSO; AND PRESENTATIONS OF THE FILM CLASSIC WEST SIDE STORY IN A NEWLY REMASTERED, HIGH DEFINITION PRINT, WITH THE BSO PLAYING LEONARD BERNSTEIN’S CLASSIC SCORE

MAJOR BSO INITIATIVES ALSO INCLUDE TWO “INSIGHTS” SERIES SURROUNDING THE PERFORMANCES OF BRITTEN’S WAR REQUIEM AND THE FIVE BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTOS, OFFERING FREE PUBLIC EVENTS IN COLLABORATION WITH HARVARD UNIVERSITY, THE JOHN F. KENNEDY LIBRARY, MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, AND NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY, ALL DESIGNED TO INSPIRE FASCINATION WITH THE WORLDS SURROUNDING THESE ICONIC COMPOSERS AND THEIR WORKS

BSO TO TOUR TO CHINA AND JAPAN, MAY 1-11, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF LORIN MAAZEL, WITH STOPS IN BEIJING, SHANGHAI, AND TOKYO

BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS CELEBRATE 50TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON WITH WORLD PREMIERES OF WORKS BY KATI AGÓCS, HANNAH LASH, GUNTHER SCHULLER, AND YEHUDI WYNER

THE BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WITH MEMBERS OF THE BSO TO PRESENT TWO PERFORMANCES OF MOZART’S THE MAGIC FLUTE IN SPECIAL ONE-HOUR VERSION FOR
YOUNG AUDIENCES

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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA’S 2013-14 SUBSCRIPTION SEASON OPENS SEPTEMBER 21
WITH CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI LEADING AN ALL-BRAHMS PROGRAM FEATURING AUGUSTIN HADELICH AND ALBAN GERHARDT IN THE DOUBLE CONCERTO FOR
VIOLIN AND CELLO; SEASON CLOSES APRIL 25 WITH LORIN MAAZEL LEADING A
PROGRAM OF MUSIC BY GLINKA, RACHMANINOFF, AND BERLIOZ

2013-14 SEASON FEATURES BSO IN MAJOR, VARIED REPERTOIRE INCLUDING MAHLER’S SYMPHONIES 2 AND 5 AND DAS LIED VON DER ERDE; STRAUSS’S EIN HELDENLEBEN;
ELGAR’S ENIGMA VARIATIONS; BERLIOZ’S SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE; RAVEL’S COMPLETE DAPHNIS AND CHLOÉ; AND STRAVINSKY’S SYMPHONY OF PSALMS, AS WELL AS WORKS BY BRAHMS, BRUCKNER, DVOŘÁK, IVES, MOZART, PENDERECKI, PROKOFIEV, RACHMANINOFF, SHOSTAKOVICH, STUCKY, TCHAIKOVSKY, AND VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

WORLD RENOWNED ARTISTS APPEARING WITH THE BSO INCLUDE INSTRUMENTALISTS
PAUL LEWIS (MOZART’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 25), YO-YO MA (SHOSTAKOVICH’S
CELLO CONCERTO NO. 1), ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER (MUSIC OF DVOŘÁK),
MURRAY PERAHIA (SCHUMANN’S PIANO CONCERTO), AND PETER SERKIN (BRAHMS’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2); SINGERS JOHN MARK AINSLEY, GUN-BRIT BARKMIN, MATTHIAS GOERNE, AND SUSAN GRAHAM; AND CONDUCTORS ANDREW DAVIS, STÉPHANE DENÈVE,
CHARLES DUTOIT, CHRISTOPH ESCHENBACH, RAFAEL FRÜHBECK DE BURGOS,
DANIELE GATTI, BERNARD HAITINK, AND MANFRED HONECK, AS WELL AS ANDRIS POGA AND DAVID NEWMAN IN THEIR SYMPHONY HALL PROGRAM DEBUTS WITH THE BSO

SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR THE BSO’S 2013-2014 SEASON ARE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE BY CALLING 888-266-7575 OR VISITING www.bso.org; SINGLE TICKETS GO ON SALE AUGUST 5

FOUR THURSDAY-MORNING OPEN REHEARSALS RESTORED TO BSO SCHEDULE; BSO OFFERS DISCOUNTED TICKET OPTIONS TO COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, AS WELL AS YOUNG PROFESSIONALS; DISCOUNTED RUSH TICKETS AVAILABLE TO PATRONS OF ALL AGES; BSO.ORG OFFERS PATRONS OPTIONS FOR PRINT-AT-HOME AND ETICKETING

To view an online press kit with complete programs, concert listing, ticket information, photos, and artist bios, : www.bso.org/presskit

THE 2013-14 SEASON IS SPONSORED BY BANK OF AMERICA AND EMC CORPORATION
 
THE 2014 BSO ASIA TOUR IS SPONSORED BY EMC CORPORATION

for a clip from a 1974 BSO recording of Ravel’s Alborada del Gracioso, conducted by Seiji Ozawa (to be performed by Bernard Haitink and the BSO on January 30-February 1, 2014).

The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2013-14 season, September 21-April 26, offers its audiences a chance to experience three thrilling dramatic masterpieces—Britten’s War Requiem, under the direction of Charles Dutoit; Strauss’s Salome, with conductor Andris Nelsons; and Golijov’s St. Mark Passion, led by Robert Spano—as well as a complete cycle of the five Beethoven Piano Concertos with master interpreter Yefim Bronfman and conductor Christoph von Dohnányi, plus the world and American premieres of commissioned works by Marc Neikrug, Justin Dello Joio, Bernard Rands, and Mark Anthony Turnage, all as part of a season featuring beloved large-scale masterworks and the most accomplished performers of our time. The BSO’s 2013-14 season will also encompass such innovative offerings as two “Insights” series allowing audiences a glimpse into the worlds behind the creation of the Beethoven piano concertos and Britten’s War Requiem; and presentations of the classic film West Side Story with the BSO performing Leonard Bernstein’s iconic score under the direction of David Newman.

Alongside these special events will be BSO performances of numerous great works that have inspired generations of music lovers worldwide, among them Mahler’s Symphonies 2 and 5 and Das Lied von der Erde, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Ravel’s complete Daphnis and Chloé, and Elgar’s Enigma Variations,as well as major orchestral works by Brahms, Bruckner, Dvořák, Mozart, Penderecki, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Stucky, Tchaikovsky, and Vaughan Williams. In addition, the BSO’s 2013-14 season will introduce 15 new guest artists to Symphony Hall audiences, with eight of them making their BSO debuts, and seven making their Symphony Hall subscription debuts (a list of artist debuts appears at the end of this press release).

for the BSO 2013-14 Season Listing

BSO TOURS CHINA AND JAPAN UNDER THE DIRECTION OF LORIN MAAZEL, MAY 1-11
Following the end of the BSO’s 2013-14 season in Symphony Hall on April 26, the orchestra will undertake a tour to China and Japan, May 1-11, under the direction of Lorin Maazel, returning to China for the first time since its historic first visit there with Seiji Ozawa in 1979.  Concerts in Beijing, Shanghai, and Tokyo will feature the BSO with pianist Behzod Abduraimov and violinist Janine Jansen. Further details will be announced at a later date.

BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS CELEBRATE 50TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
To celebrate the Boston Symphony Chamber Players’ 50th Anniversary Season, the ensemble will present four world premieres of works by Kati Agócs, Hannah Lash, Gunther Schuller, and Yehudi Wyner, as well as the Boston premiere of a new commissioned work for flute and string quartet by Sebastian Currier. For this 50th Anniversary Season, pianists Gilbert Kalish and Randall Hodgkinson will make special guest appearances, as will Thomas Adès, who will be featured in a program including two of his own works. Longtime Chamber Players collaborator Gilbert Kalish will rejoin the ensemble to duplicate a program from the ensemble’s very first season. One of the world’s most distinguished chamber music ensembles sponsored by a major symphony orchestra, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players feature first-desk string and wind players from the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

BSO AND BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PRESENT THE MAGIC FLUTE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES
On March 30, the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra along with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra will present two performances of Mozart’s The Magic Flute in a special one-hour version, devised for children by Federico Cortese and Bill Barclay and sung in English. These performances represent the first major collaboration between the BSO and BYSO since they joined forces last fall to create a new partnership for classical music in Boston. Click here for further information.  

THE BSO’S 2013-14 SEASON OPENS WITH AN ALL-BRAHMS PROGRAM ON SEPTEMBER 21
The BSO’s 2013-14 subscription season opens on September 21 with acclaimed conductor Christoph von Dohnányi leading an all-Brahms program with violinist Augustin Hadelich (subscription season debut) and cellist Alban Gerhardt performing the Double Concerto on a program with Brahms’s Symphony No. 2. The BSO’s season closes with Lorin Maazel leading three programs, April 17-26, featuring music by Mozart, Mahler, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Glinka, and Berlioz. 

BSO’S 2013-14 SEASON FEATURES MANY OF THE MOST ACCOMPLISHED INSTRUMENTALISTS, VOCALISTS, AND CONDUCTORS OF OUR TIME
Along with an extraordinary lineup of vocal and orchestral repertoire, the BSO’s 2013-14 season will also shine a spotlight on some of the most brilliant performing artists of our time, including acclaimed pianist Yefim Bronfman, who will perform all five Beethoven piano concertos in a series of three all-Beethoven programs under the direction of Christoph von Dohnányi, March 13-22.  

Pianists
The BSO’s 2013-14 season will also feature pianists Jonathan Biss, performing the world premiere of Bernard Rand’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra under the direction of Robert Spano (4/3-8); and Garrick Ohlsson, performing the world premiere of Justin Dello Joio’s Piano Concerto under the direction of BSO Assistant Conductor Andris Poga (1/23-25). Christian Eschenbach, as pianist-conductor, performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 (1/16-18). Richard Goode (1/14) and Menahem Pressler (3/8) join members of the BSO for all-Mozart programs including two serenades and both piano quartets; Paul Lewis makes his BSO subscription season debut performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 (10/17-19); Murray Perahia makes a welcome return to the BSO stage for Schumann’s Piano Concerto (2/6-8); audience favorite Peter Serkin performs Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (11/26-30), and 26-year-old Chinese pianist Yuja Wang performs Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (3/27-29).  Behzod Abduraimov will make his BSO debut performing Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (4/22,23,25&26); he will perform this popular concert work again when he joins the BSO and Lorin Maazel for tour performances in China in May 2014.  

Instrumentalists
BSO principal bassoonist Richard Svoboda will perform the world premiere of Marc Neikrug’s Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra under the direction of Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (11/21-23).  Yo-Yo Ma joins the orchestra for performances of Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 (10/3-8), and cellists GautierCapuçon, Daniel Müller-Schott (subscription season debut), and Arto Noras (BSO debut) join the orchestra for performances of Penderecki’s Concerto Grosso No. 1 for three cellos and orchestra, under the direction of Charles Dutoit (10/31-11/3). These performances of Penderecki’s Concerto Grosso No. 1 celebratethe composer’s 80th birthday year, and are dedicated to Mr. Dutoit, who has been an enthusiastic proponent of Mr. Penderecki’s music throughout his conducting career, and to whom the piece is dedicated. 

Anne-Sophie Mutter performs Dvořák’s Violin Concerto and Romance for violin and orchestra (2/20-22). Violinist Guy Braunstein, in his BSO debut, will join cellist Alisa Weilerstein and Yefim Bronfman for Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for violin, cello, and piano (3/20-22) in an all-Beethoven program with Mr. Bronfman also as soloist in the Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, as part of a three-concert series featuring the acclaimed pianist in all five Beethoven piano concertos (3/13-22).

Vocalists
Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem (11/7-9), under the direction of Charles Dutoit, will feature vocalists Tatiana Pavlovskaya (BSO debut), John Mark Ainsley, and Matthias Goerne (subscription season debut).  Richard Strauss’ Salome (3/6), under the direction of Andris Nelsons, will feature singers Gun-Brit Barkmin in the title role, Jane Henschel (Herodias), Gerhard Siegel (Herod), and Evgeny Nikitin (Jochanaan); this performance of Strauss’s Salome celebrates the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, will feature soprano Camilla Tilling and mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly under the direction of Christoph von Dohnányi (9/26-10/1). Mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn and tenor Michael Schade join the orchestra for Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde under the direction of Daniel Harding (10/24-26). Susan Graham performs Shéhérazade as part of an all-Ravel program to include the complete Daphnis et Chloé, under the direction of BSO Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink (1/30-2/1). The Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor, joins the orchestra for Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, the all-Ravel program, and Britten’s War Requiem, which will also feature The American Boy Choir, Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, music director.  The Tanglewood Festival Chorus will also be featured in Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Beethoven’s Elegiac Song, for chorus and strings, under the direction of Daniele Gatti (4/10-12). 

Osvaldo Golijov’s La Pasión Según San Marcos, which was given its United States premiere by the BSO in 2001, makes a welcome return to the Symphony Hall stage (1/9-14). Conductor Robert Spano (who also led the U.S. premiere) is joined by the Orquesta La Pasíon, Mikael Ringquist and Gonzalo Grau, leaders; soprano Jessica Rivera, Latin-American alto Biella da Costa, Afro-Cuban singer and dancer Reynaldo Gonzalez-Fernandez, and Deraldo Ferreira, Capoeira dancer and berimbau, as well as members of the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela. 

Conductors
In addition to the conductors already mentioned, the BSO’s prestigious conductor lineup includes Andrew Davis (music of Vaughan Williams, Prokofiev, Rimsky-Korsakov, 3/27-29), Stéphane Denève (music of Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Strauss, 10/3-8), and Christoph Eschenbach (music of Mozart and Bruckner, 1/16-18). Leonidas Kavakos will be featured in the dual roles of violinist and conductor for a program of music by Mozart, Prokofiev, and Schumann (11/14-17); Manfred Honeck will lead music of Dvorak (2/20-22), and Daniel Harding (music of Turnage and Mahler, 10/24-26) will make his BSO conducting debut. BSO Assistant Conductor Andris Poga (music of Wagner, Dello Joio, and Shostakovich, 1/23-25) and David Newman (West Side Story, 2/14 and 15) will make their subscription season program debuts.

BSO Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink will lead the BSO in two programs in Symphony Hall, January 30-February 8, and at Carnegie Hall, February 11 and 12.  Susan Graham joins the BSO and Maestro Haitink for an all-Ravel program including Alborada del gracioso, Shéhérazade for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, and the complete Daphnis and Chloe (1/30-2/1 at Symphony Hall; 1/12 at Carnegie Hall).  Murray Perahia will be the featured soloist in a program to include Steven Stucky’s Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary, after Purcell, Schumann’s Piano Concerto, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 4 (2/6-8 at Symphony Hall; 2/11 at Carnegie Hall). 

“INSIGHTS” SERIES OF FREE PUBLIC EVENTS TO TAKE PLACE ALONGSIDE PERFORMANCES OF BRITTEN’S WAR REQUIEM AND ALL FIVE BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTOS WITH YEFIM BRONFMAN AS SOLOIST
Activities around Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, 11/8-10
As part of its performance series of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, 11/8-10, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of composer’s birth, the BSO, in collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, and New England Conservatory, will present a series of concerts and discussions on the larger theme of music and pacifism. The War Requiem, a non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass, written to consecrate the new Coventry Cathedral built after the original structure was destroyed in a WWII bombing raid, interweaves elements of the Latin Mass for the Dead with nine poems about war by the English poet Wilfred Owen.
 
The Kennedy Library will host a program of chamber music on Sunday, November 3. On Thursday, November 7, from 6-7 p.m., vocal and collaborative piano students from New England Conservatory will present a Prelude Concert devoted to Benjamin Britten’s song repertoire and other composers’ settings of World War I poets.

Activities around all-Beethoven concerts with Yefim Bronfman performing all five concertos
“Beethoven and the Piano,” a multi-faceted initiative designed to explore the composer’s remarkable pianistic legacy as composer, performer, and improviser, will take place in conjunction with the BSO’s presentation of all five Beethoven piano concertos featuring Yefim Bronfman as part of a three-program concert series also including the composer’s Triple Concerto (with Bronfman, violinist Guy Braunstein, and cellist Alisa Weilerstein) and three Leonore overtures, March 13-22. These concerts, under the direction of Christoph von Dohnányi, are designed to trace the evolution of Beethoven as composer for the piano over fifteen years, from an early period influenced by Mozart and Haydn to the middle period during which he began focusing more intensively on composition as a source of his income.

For this special initiative, the BSO will partner with the New England Conservatory (NEC), the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), and Harvard University to program several free, public events including a comprehensive offering of lectures, demonstrations, curated film screenings, and ancillary performances over a span of two weeks, March 9-22, 2014.  As part of the Museum of Fine Arts Thursday-night “Sound Bites” concert series, students from NEC’s Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation program will perform original compositions incorporating improvisation that reflect Beethoven’s enduring influence; this will take place Thursday, March 13, at 6 p.m. as a prelude to the BSO’s opening concerto program.  Over the course of two successive Sundays, March 9 and 16, at the Museum of Fine Arts, award-winning music critic and lecturer Richard Dyer, in collaboration with BSO Artistic Administrator Anthony Fogg, will present a film series focusing on famous performances of Beethoven solo piano works by virtuosos such as Myra Hess, Wilhelm Backhaus, and Emil Gilels, among others.  On Monday, March 17, at 7 p.m., at Harvard University, Lewis Lockwood, widely considered one of the foremost Beethoven scholars living today, will present a lecture on how Beethoven composed, drawing on examples from many of Beethoven’s surviving sketchbooks.   

In addition, the BSO will enhance the concerto performances with in-depth video podcasts featuring background on Beethoven, the repertoire, and the performers.

BSO YOUTH AND FAMILY CONCERTS PROGRAMS IN 2013-14
In addition to the previously mentioned performances of Mozart’s The Magic Flute on March 30, the BSO will also present a week of Youth and Family concerts under the direction of Thomas Wilkins, the Germeshausen Youth and Family concerts Conductor, February 26-March 1. The program for these concerts is entitled “There’s Nothing Better Than a Good Story,” and will take a musical look at the components of storytelling through programmatic works by Tchaikovsky, Copland, Stravinsky, Ravel, Leroy Anderson, and John Williams. Arbella Insurance Foundation is the sponsor of the BSO Youth and Family Concerts.

BS0 2013-14 SEASON TICKET INFORMATION IN BRIEF
The 133rd season of the Boston Symphony Orchestra takes place September 21, 2013–April 26, 2014. Subscriptions for the BSO’s 2013-2014 season are currently available by calling 888-266-7575 or visiting www.bso.org. Single tickets go on sale August 5, at 10 a.m.

The BSO’s <40=$20 program allows patrons under the age of 40 to purchase tickets for $20.  The BSO College Card and High School Card are the best way for students and aspiring young musicians to experience the BSO on a regular basis. A limited number of Rush Tickets for Boston Symphony Orchestra subscription concerts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Friday afternoons are set aside to be sold on the day of a performance. The Boston Symphony Orchestra offers groups advanced ticket reservations and flexible payment options for BSO concerts at Symphony Hall. Further ticket information is available at the end of this release.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s extensive website, BSO.org, is the largest and most-visited orchestral website in the country, receiving approximately 7 million visitors annually and generating over $80 million in revenue since its launch in 1996. The site’s Media Center consolidates its numerous new media initiatives in one location, including audio concert preview podcasts; Emmy Award-winning interviews with guest artists and BSO musicians; “It’s Your BSO” member interviews; concert program notes; WGBH radio broadcast streams of select BSO, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood performances; and all self-produced albums by the BSO, Boston Pops, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and Tanglewood Music Center Fellows. BSO.org is now accessible in a smart phone-/mobile device-friendly format, where patrons can access performance schedules, purchase tickets and pre-performance food and beverages, access the BSO’s new media content, and make donations to the BSO – all in the palm of their hand. BSO.org also launched eTicketing and Print-at-Home tickets, making it easier for patrons attending a concert to access their tickets at home or on their smartphones. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is on Facebook at Facebook.com/BostonSymphony and on Twitter at Twitter.com/BostonSymphony. Video content from the BSO is also available at YouTube.com/BostonSymphony.

To view an online press kit with complete programs, concert listing, ticket information, photos, and artist bios, : www.bso.org/presskit.

WEEK-BY-WEEK PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS OF THE BSO’S 2013-14 SEASON

SEASON OPENS SEPTEMBER 21 WITH ALL-BRAHMS PROGRAM CONDUCTED BY CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI AND FEATURING VIOLINIST AUGUSTIN HADELICH AND CELLIST ALBAN GERHARDT
The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2013–2014 subscription season begins on September 21 with an all-Brahms program conducted by legendary German conductor Christoph von Dohnányi, who has led dozens of acclaimed BSO performances both in Symphony Hall and at Tanglewood. Opening the program is Brahms’s Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, featuring two German soloists: rapidly rising young violinist Augustin Hadelich (making his subscription series debut) and dynamic cellist Alban Gerhardt. Joining the concerto on the program is the Symphony No. 2, a work of unflagging inspiration that ends with one of the most exhilarating and emphatic conclusions in the entire symphonic canon. This program is also repeated September 24.

CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI LEADS MAHLER’S SYMPHONY NO. 2 SEPTEMBER 26-OCTOBER 1
Maestro Christoph von Dohnányi returns to the podium September 26-October 1 to conduct the BSO, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Swedish soprano Camilla Tilling, and British mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly in Mahler’s transcendent Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, one of the most profound works in the symphonic canon as well as one of its great spectacles. At approximately 85 minutes in length and calling for an oversized orchestra in addition to the numerous vocal forces, this monumental work addresses equally weighty subjects: life, suffering, death, and the uncertainty of what comes after.

YO-YO MA JOINS BSO FOR SHOSTAKOVICH’S CELLO CONCERTO NO. 1 IN CONCERTS CONDUCTED BY STÉPHANE DENÈVE
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma joins French conductor Stéphane Denève and the orchestra October 3-October 8 as soloist in Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, one of the composer’s masterpieces, composed for the  great Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Prokofiev’s Suite from the satirical opera The Love of Three Oranges, which opens these concerts, demonstrates that composer’s unparalleled musical wit. Concluding the program is Strauss’s captivating and episodic tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), a sometimes-tongue-in-cheek summing-up of the composer’s early tone poems and a tour-de-force of orchestral writing.

COMPOSER-CONDUCTOR THOMAS ADÈS LEADS BSO IN HIS OWN POLARIS OCTOBER 10-12
Englishman Thomas Adès, one of the world’s foremost contemporary composers and also an acclaimed conductor and pianist, returns to the BSO podium for the third time in four seasons, October 10-12, for a program featuring his own orchestral work Polaris, which explores the imagery of the cosmos—specifically the North Star—and its importance to nautical navigation. (The October 11 performance will be accompanied by an original video by Tal Rosner created for the work’s 2011 world premiere.) Opening the program is Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture (Fingal’s Cave), which bears the name of a grotto in the Hebrides Islands off the west coast of Scotland, where Mendelssohn traveled extensively in his 20s. Closing the first half of the program is Ives’s intriguing Orchestral Set No. 2, inspired by the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania. The concert concludes with a BSO specialty, César Franck’s famous Symphony in D minor.

MAESTRO ANDRIS NELSONS AND PIANIST PAUL LEWIS JOIN BSO FOR PROGRAM OF WAGNER, MOZART, AND BRAHMS OCTOBER 17-19
Latvian conductor and music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Andris Nelsons—who has made several acclaimed appearances with the BSO in recent seasons—returns to the orchestra October 17-19 for concerts that also feature widely praised English pianist Paul Lewis in his subscription series debut as soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 in C, K.503. One of the longest and weightiest of Mozart’s concertos, K.503 has a monumental yet dignified character. Wagner’s beautiful Siegfried Idyll, composed for his wife Cosima upon the birth of their son, opens the program, and Brahms’s marvelously energetic and compact Symphony No. 3 concludes.

BSO AND CONDUCTOR DANIEL HARDING GIVE AMERICAN PREMIERE OF TURNAGE’S SPERANZA OCTOBER 24-26
In three concerts October 24-26, former Tanglewood Music Center Fellow Daniel Harding makes his BSO debut and leads the American premiere of fellow Englishman and TMC alumni Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Speranza (“Hope”), a BSO co-commission. The new work, the composer explains, was intended to be “a big, dark, despairing work … in memory of poets and writers who’d committed suicide. … But I soon realized this all seemed a bit gloomy and not exactly a fun evening in the concert hall … so I started brightening things up and it soon became more upbeat, extrovert and optimistic, [and] eventually the work turned completely round and became a positive piece about hope.” Sharing the program and featuring mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn and tenor Michael Schade is Mahler’s great song cycle–symphony Das Lied von der Erde (“The Song of the Earth”), a thematically wide ranging work setting German translations of Chinese poetry.

CHARLES DUTOIT LEADS WORKS BY PENDERECKI, RAVEL, AND ELGAR OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 3
Eminent Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit, an increasingly familiar presence on the BSO podium, joins the orchestra October 31-November 3 for a program that includes a rarity by eminent Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki: the Concerto Grosso No. 1 (2000) for three cellos and orchestra, originally premiered by and dedicated to Maestro Dutoit. For these performances, which mark the composer’s 80th birthday, the BSO is joined by cellists Gautier Capuçon, Daniel Müller-Schott (subscription series debut), and Arto Noras (BSO debut). Mr. Dutoit also leads the orchestra in Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin—simultaneously a paean to François Couperin and the French Baroque keyboard suite, and to friends who died in World War I—and Elgar’s sweeping Enigma Variations, which depict in music some of the composer’s friends and acquaintances.

DUTOIT, BSO, TANGLEWOOD FESTIVAL CHORUS, THE AMERICAN BOYCHOIR, AND VOCAL SOLOISTS PRESENT BRITTEN’S WAR REQUIEM NOVEMBER 7-9
In a major performance initiative and as the centerpiece of an “Insights” series marking the 100th anniversary of great English composer Benjamin Britten’s birth, the BSO joins forces with maestro Charles Dutoit, soprano Tatiana Pavlovskaya (BSO debut), tenor John Mark Ainsley, baritone Matthias Goerne (subscription series debut), the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and The American Boychoir for three performances (November 7-9) of the War Requiem. Written for the 1962 consecration of Coventry Cathedral, newly rebuilt after the original structure was destroyed in a WWII bombing raid, the work interweaves elements of the Latin Mass for the Dead with nine poems about war by the English poet Wilfred Owen, himself killed at the close of World War I. The BSO gave the American premiere of the War Requiem at Tanglewood under Erich Leinsdorf in 1963.
 
LEONIDAS KAVAKOS JOINS BSO AS CONDUCTOR AND VIOLIN SOLOIST NOVEMBER 14-19
World-renowned Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos, increasingly acclaimed as a conductor, joins the BSO in both roles November 14-19. To begin the program, Mr. Kavakos leads the orchestra with his bow in Mozart’s elegant Violin Concerto No. 4 in D, K.218. Maestro Kavakos then takes the podium for the remainder of the program, conducting the BSO in Prokofiev’s delightful, Haydn-and-Mozart-inspired Symphony No. 1, Classical, and Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in C, at least partially inspired by Schubert’s “Great” symphony in the same key, which Schumann helped rescue from dusty oblivion.

RAFAEL FRÜHBECK DE BURGOS LEADS WORLD PREMIERE OF MARC NEIKRUG’S CONCERTO FOR BASSOON AND ORCHESTRA NOVEMBER 21-23
Frequent BSO guest conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos begins a two-week stay with the orchestra in a November 21-23 program featuring the world premiere of American composer Marc Neikrug’s Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra, a BSO co-commission. Best known for his 1980 music theater work Through Roses, Neikrug is also an active pianist and conductor who has written works for many of the country’s major orchestras. Stepping to the front of the stage as soloist for the new work is BSO principal bassoonist Richard Svoboda. Opening the program is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, Pastoral, and closing it are Manuel de Falla’s sparkling and evocative Suites Nos. 1 and 2 from The Three-cornered Hat, a ballet set in Andalusia that the composer wrote in 1919 for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.

PIANIST PETER SERKIN JOINS BSO FOR BRAHMS’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2 NOVEMBER 26-30
In the second of two weeks of programs conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos November 26-30, the orchestra is joined by frequent guest soloist Peter Serkin for Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2. In four movements rather than the customary three and lasting nearly 50 minutes, this is a monumental and ambitious work redefined the expressive limits of the piano concerto. Maestro Frühbeck de Burgos then concludes his stay the same way he began it, with a Beethoven symphony—this time the Seventh, which even the composer himself recognized as one of his greatest achievements. 

CONDUCTOR ROBERT SPANO AND A BATTALION OF INSTRUMENTALISTS AND VOCALISTS BRING OSVALDO GOLIJOV’S LA PASIÓN SEGÚN SAN MARCOS TO LIFE JANUARY 9-11
La Pasión según San Marcos, the most profound and most spectacular of Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov’s works, returns to Symphony Hall January 9-11 for the first time since its US premiere there in 2001. This colossal and multifaceted work tells the story of the Passion through a Latin American lens and integrates multiple genres and cultural traditions, including dance, folk music, batá drumming, and capoeira martial arts. The BSO welcomes conductor Robert Spano, soprano Jessica Rivera, vocalist Biella da Costa, Afro-Cuban singer and dancer Reynaldo González-Fernandez, Deraldo Ferreira performing Capoeira dance and on Berimbau, members of the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela, and leaders Mikael Ringquist and Gonzalo Grau with the Orquesta La Pasión (an ensemble created expressly for the performance of this work).  

MEMBERS OF THE BSO PRESENT ALL-MOZART PROGRAMS FEATURING PIANISTS RICHARD GOOD (JANUARY 14) AND MENAHEM PRESSLER (MARCH 8)
American pianist Richard Goode, one of the world’s leading Mozart performers, joins members of the BSO at Symphony Hall for one performance January 14 of a program exclusively devoted to that composer’s music. Included on the program, which will be performed without a conductor, are the Serenade No. 6 in D for strings, K.239, Serenata notturna, in the lighthearted and easygoing style of this genre, intended for entertainment at polite gatherings; the Piano Quartet in E-flat, K.493; and the Serenade No. 10 in B-flat, K.361, Gran partita, a work for thirteen winds and double bass recognized as one of the greatest works for wind ensemble. The BSO repeats the two Serenades on Saturday, March 8, this time with the revered German-born, American pianist Menahem Pressler featured in the G minor K.478 Piano Quartet, Mozart’s other work in this genre.

CHRISTOPH ESCHENBACH JOINS THE BSO AS CONDUCTOR AND PIANIST FOR PROGRAM OF MOZART AND BRUCKNER JANUARY 16-18
Esteemed German conductor and pianist Christoph Eschenbach—currently music director of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Kennedy Center—joins the BSO January 16-18 for music by two very different composers nonetheless directly linked by the Austro-German musical tradition. The program begins with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K.414, an elegant work of understated mastery. On the second half of the program, the young Mozart’s precocious flair is replaced by an altogether opposite kind of genius in Bruckner’s incomplete Symphony No. 9, the composer’s autumnal final work which inspires listeners through its sweeping vistas and mystical grandeur.

PIANIST GARRICK OHLSSON JOINS BSO FOR WORLD PREMIERE OF JUSTIN DELLO JOIO’S PIANO CONCERTO JANUARY 23-25
In a January 23-25 program led by BSO’s most recently appointed assistant conductor Andris Poga—who makes his official subscription series debut in these concerts—pianist Garrick Ohlsson is featured as soloist in the world premiere of New York-born composer Justin Dello Joio’s Piano Concerto, a BSO co-commission composed expressly for Mr. Ohlsson. He and Mr. Dello Joio were Juilliard classmates together, and the pianist has also performed and recorded the composer’s Piano Sonata. Mr. Poga also leads the orchestra in works from the beginning and end of their composer’s careers, respectively: Wagner’s Overture to Rienzi, the composer’s third opera but the earliest one that still receives (infrequent) performances, as well as Shostakovich’s Fifteenth (and final) Symphony, in which the composer hid many music quotations and allusions, including more than one paying homage to Wagner.

BERNARD HAITINK LEADS BSO, TANGLEWOOD FESTIVAL CHORUS, AND SUSAN GRAHAM IN ALL-RAVEL PROGRAM JANUARY 30-FEBRUARY 1
In the first of two weeks of programs led by Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink, the BSO is joined January 20-February 1 by dazzling mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in music for which the orchestra has strong affinity. Opening the program is the colorfully Spanish-flavored Alborada del gracioso, followed by Shéhérazade for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, exotic settings of three evocative poems by Tristan Klingsor. The culmination of the program is a complete performance of the ballet score Daphnis et Chloé, Ravel’s longest orchestral piece and considered by the composer to be one of his best works. Commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev, Daphnis et Chloé—which has been recorded by the BSO under Maestro Haitink’s direction—calls for a impressive array of instruments and was described by Ravel as a “choreographic symphony.”

MURRAY PERAHIA JOINS BSO AND BERNARD HAITINK FOR SCHUMANN’S PIANO CONCERTO FEBRUARY 6-8
Esteemed American pianist Murray Perahia—appearing with the BSO for the first time since 2000—brings his particular brand of sensitive and insightful pianism to bear on Schumann’s intensely lyrical Piano Concerto February 6-8, in the second of two weeks of concerts led by BSO Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink. The concerts begin with Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Steven Stucky’s Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary, after Purcell, which the composer describes as an examination of Purcell’s music, “which I love deeply, through the lens of three hundred intervening years.” Brahms’s emotionally and aesthetically probing Symphony No. 4, completed in 1885, brings the program to a close.

BSO PERFORMS WEST SIDE STORY LIVE TO ACCOMPANY FILM PRESENTATION FEBRUARY 14-16
In a thrilling new presentation of the iconic film version of West Side Story—winner of ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture—the BSO plays Leonard Bernstein’s electrifying score live, conducted by David Newman (subscription series debut) while the newly re-mastered film is shown on large screens in high definition with the original vocals and dialogue intact. A New York City retelling of Romeo and Juliet, this classic romantic tragedy, directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins and with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, is one of the greatest achievements in the history of movie musicals. It features Robbins’ breathtaking choreography and a screenplay by Ernest Lehman based on the masterful book by Arthur Laurents.

VIOLINIST ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER PERFORMS TWO WORKS FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA BY DVOŘÁK FEBRUARY 20-22
In a program entirely dedicated to music by Czech composers, German violin virtuoso Anne-Sophie Mutter joins the BSO and Austrian conductor Manfred Honeck—music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra—for two works by Dvořák: the Violin Concerto, inspired like so many of his works by his friend and artistic compatriot Brahms, and the Romance for violin and orchestra, an early work originally conceived as the slow movement for a string quartet. The program closes with Beethoven’s revolutionary Eroica Symphony.

ANDRIS NELSONS LEADS THE OPERATIC GRANDEUR AND GRIT OF STRAUSS’S SALOME COME TO SYMPHONY HALL MARCH 6
In a special BSO performance of opera in concert, Richard Strauss’s salacious and searing masterpiece Salome—which caused scandal at its 1905 premiere and still provokes heated discussion today with its stark, graphic portrayal of Herod’s court as well as its expressionistic and harmonically adventurous music—comes to symphony hall March 6 in a performance to mark the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Led by Latvian maestro Andris Nelsons, this concert performance is headlined by soprano Gun-Brit Barkman in the punishing title role. The distinguished cast of vocal soloists also features mezzo-soprano Jane Henschel as Herodias, tenor Gerhard Siegel as Herod, and bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin as Jochanaan.

YEFIM BRONFMAN, CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI, AND BSO PRESENT THREE-PROGRAM “BEETHOVEN AND THE PIANO” MINI-FESTIVAL MARCH 13-22
One of the highlights of the BSO’s 2013-14 season takes place March 13-22 in the form of the “Beethoven and the Piano,” a multi-faceted initiative exploring the composer’s remarkable legacy as a piano composer, performer, and improviser. T orchestra presents all five Beethoven piano concertos with Yefim Bronfman as soloist, along with the composer’s Triple Concerto and all three Leonore overtures under the direction of Christoph von Dohnányi These concerts trace the evolution of Beethoven as a pianist-composer over fifteen years, from the early period influenced by Mozart and Haydn to the middle, so-called “heroic” period, culminating in the Emperor Concerto in 1809.

The festival begins with two performances March 13-14 of a program featuring Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 and the Leonore Overture No. 1. Written for a performance of Fidelio that never took place, the Leonore Overture No. 1 was not given its first performance until 1828, the year after the composer’s death. Of the three overtures that share the name Leonore, this one is the most compact and concise. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, published before but written after the Piano Concerto No. 2, bears the marks of the highly original genius Beethoven would soon become but still feels like a natural progression from the Classical style of Mozart and Haydn. Concerto No. 2, a youthful work that received its premiere in 1795, was used by the composer as a vehicle to display his own virtuosity soon after he moved to Vienna.

Continuing the series March 15-18, Mr. Bronfman and the orchestra move forward sequentially and present the Leonore Overture No. 2—yet more substantial and dramatic than No. 1—and the Piano Concertos No. 3 and 4. Beethoven wrote his Third Piano Concerto in 1800, but he continued to make minor revisions until the day of its premiere in 1803. The work is a dramatic, tumultuous affair, directly inspired by Mozart’s own C minor concerto but demonstrating the taut, motive-driven style that is most distinclty Beethoven’s. The Piano Concerto No. 4 juxtaposes the dramatic and the lyrical; of the five, it is the most chimerical, containing moments of grandeur and pomp as well as passages of glorious weightlessness and ephemeral brushes of color.

For the final program of the festival March 20-22, Mr. Bronfman is joined by violinist Guy Braunstein (BSO debut) and cellist Alisa Weilerstein in Beethoven’s wonderfully gregarious Triple Concerto. The BSO and Mr. Dohnányi conclude their overture and concerto cycles with the Leonore Overture No. 3—a lengthy and profound orchestral work too overwhelming to be used for its originally intended purpose but that works wonderfully in the concert hall. Mr. Bronfman brings the series to a close with the Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, the last and most monumental of Beethoven’s concertos and the most symphonic in conception. Throughout, the Emperor Concerto displays the forceful and direct style characteristic of the middle-period period of Beethoven’s development, and in its demands on the soloist’s virtuosity, is leaps and bounds removed from Classical-era expectations.

THRILLING YOUNG PIANIST YUJA WANG JOINS BSO FOR PROKOFIEV’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2 MARCH 27-29
Dazzling 26-year-old Chinese pianist Yuja Wang, who has set the classical music world on fire in recent seasons during her rapid rise to superstar status, joins the BSO March 27-29 as soloist in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2, a relentlessly intense work that stands as one of the most difficult-to-play works in the genre, exploring an enormous range encompassing both some of the composer’s most aggressive music and his most lyrical. The program—conducted by English maestro Andrew Davis, music director of Lyric Opera of Chicago—also includes Vaughan Williams’s darkly passionate World War II-era Symphony No. 6 and Rimsky-Korsakov’s kaleidoscopic Capriccio espagnol.

ROBERT SPANO, JONATAHAN BISS, AND BSO GIVE WORLD PREMIERE OF BERNARD RANDS’S CONCERTO FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA APRIL 3-8
The BSO presents the world premiere of another work commissioned by the orchestra April 3-8 as Atlanta Symphony Orchestra music director Robert Spano conducts English-American composer Bernard Rands’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, composed for soloist Jonathan Biss. Rands, who became an American citizen in 1983, won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for his Canti del Sole. A former Harvard University faculty member, he has strong ties with the BSO, having served as a faculty composer at Tanglewood on numerous occasions. Opening the program are Debussy’s Nuages (Clouds) and Fêtes (Festivals) from the composer’s unique and innovative orchestral Nocturnes, and closing it is Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances. Composed on Long Island in 1940, the Symphonic Dances are a musical homage to his lost, beloved Russia—which he had left amidst the bloody Bolshevik Revolution in 1917—and, as his final work, a summation of his compositional career.

DANIELE GATTI LEADS MUSIC BY BACH, BEETHOVEN, AND STRAVINSKY APRIL 10-12
For concerts April 10-12, the BSO welcomes distinguished Italian maestro Daniele Gatti—music director of the Orchestra National de France—for a program that also features soloists from the orchestra and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Bach’s intricate and inspired Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F, BWV 1046, features solo violin, oboe, and two horns along with a small orchestra. Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky for the 50th anniversary of the BSO, is a beautifully austere work in part inspired by Bach’s contrapuntal mastery. Beethoven composed his rarely performed chorus-and-orchestra work Elegiac Song in memory of his landlord’s wife. These will be its first BSO performances. Closing the program is the composer’s much more familiar, and consistently, buoyantly cheerful, Symphony No. 4.

LORIN MAAZEL TAKES PODIUM FOR SYMPHONIES BY MOZART AND MAHLER APRIL 17-19
Celebrated conductor Lorin Maazel leads the final concerts of the BSO’s 2013-2014 season, beginning April 17-19 with a program featuring Mozart’s Symphony No. 38, Prague, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. Composed in honor of the city of Prague—which Mozart adored due to the enthusiastic reception his works received there, particularly The Marriage of Figaro—Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 aspires the more exalted status the symphony was beginning to enjoy in the late 1980s. An ultimate example of the genre’s transformative development over the following 100-plus years, Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 is an all-consuming work that the composer described as “chaos, which is constantly giving birth to new worlds and promptly destroying them again.” The touching Adagietto movement, for harp and strings alone, is one of the composer’s most stirring achievements.

MR. MAAZEL AND ORCHESTRA BRING 2013-14 TO A CLOSE WITH SPLIT PROGRAM APRIL 22-26
Lorin Maazel returns to the bring the BSO 2013-2014 season to a conclusion in four concerts April 22-26 featuring a split program centered on Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, with soloist Behzod Abduraimov in his BSO debut. Defined on one level by the composer’s signature combination of beautifully lyrical melodic writing with inventive, sometimes jazzy sense of rhythm and harmony, the work also demonstrates the composer’s deft control of formal architecture. The celebrated eighteenth variation, which flips Paganini’s famous tune, is arguably Rachmaninoff’s best-known passage. For the first two concerts (April 22 and 23), the Rhapsody is complemented by Mussorgsky’s thrilling showpiece Night on Bare Mountain and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, a musical exploration of fate. For the final two concerts of the season April 25 and 26, the Rachmaninoff work is bracketed by Glinka’s breathless Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila and Berlioz’s ultimate piece of program music, the Symphonie fantastique.

TICKET, SPONSORSHIP, AND OTHER PATRON INFORMATION

TICKET INFORMATION
Subscriptions for the BSO’s 2013-2014 season are available by calling the BSO Subscription Office at 888-266-7575 or online through the BSO’s website (www.bso.org).  Single tickets go on sale August 5, at 10 a.m. Tickets may be purchased by phone through SymphonyCharge (617-266-1200 or 888-266-1200), online through the BSO’s website (www.bso.org), or in person at the Symphony Hall Box Office (301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston). There is a $6.25 service fee for all tickets purchased online or by phone through SymphonyCharge. Tickets can be purchased through BSO.org on mobile devices, with new eTicketing and and Print-at-Home options, making it easier for patrons attending a concert to access their tickets at home or on the go.

A limited number of Rush Tickets for Boston Symphony Orchestra subscription concerts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Friday afternoons are set aside to be sold on the day of a performance. These tickets are sold at $9 each, one to a customer, at the Symphony Hall Box Office on Fridays beginning at 10 a.m. and Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning at 5 p.m.

The BSO’s <40=$20 program allows patrons under the age of 40 to purchase tickets for $20.  Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis on both the orchestra and balcony levels.  There is a limit of one pair per performance, but patrons may attend as many performances as desired, based on availability.  

The Boston Symphony Orchestra offers groups advanced ticket reservations and flexible payment options for BSO concerts at Symphony Hall.  Groups of 20 or more may take advantage of ticket discounts, backstage tours, clinics, and master classes.  Pre- and post-concert dining options and private function space are available. More information is available through the group sales office at groupsales@bso.org.

The BSO College Card and High School Card are the best way for students and aspiring young musicians to experience the BSO on a regular basis. For only $25 (College Card) or $10 (High School Card) students can attend most BSO concerts at no additional cost by registering the card online to receive text and email notifications of real-time ticket availability. The BSO College Card is sponsored by Arbella Insurance Foundation.

American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Diners Club, and Discover (in person or by mail) and cash (in person only) are all accepted at the Symphony Hall Box Office. Gift certificates are available in any amount and may be used toward the purchase of tickets (subject to availability) to any Boston Symphony Orchestra or Boston Pops performance at Symphony Hall or Tanglewood. Gift certificates may also be used at the Symphony Shop to purchase merchandise.

Patrons with disabilities can access Symphony Hall through the Massachusetts Avenue lobby or the Cohen Wing on Huntington Avenue. An access service center, accessible restrooms, and elevators are available inside the Cohen Wing entrance. For ticket information, call the Access Services Administrator at 617-638-9431 or TDD/TTY 617-638-9289.

ADULT EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES AT SYMPHONY HALL
                As part of the BSO’s ongoing initiative to make classical music programming and education widely available to listeners, the orchestra is offering adult educational initiatives for the 2013-2014 season.

UnderScore Fridays is a uniquely formatted concert series. At all Friday-evening concerts, subscribers will hear comments from the evening’s conductor, guest artists, BSO musicians, or other important guests speaking from the stage about the program.

BSO 101: Are You Listening?, the BSO’s free adult education series, returns in 2013-2014, again offering seven Wednesday-evening sessions with BSO Director of Program Publications Marc Mandel and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra designed to enhance your listening abilities and general appreciation of music by focusing on works from the BSO’s repertoire. No prior musical training, or attendance at any previous session, is required, since each session is self-contained. BSO: 101: An Insider’s View also returns in 2013-2014, offering four Tuesday-evening sessions with BSO administrative staff and musicians in discussions of such behind-the-scenes activities as program planning, auditions, and the rehearsal process, as well as player perspectives on performing with the BSO. All “BSO 101” sessions take place from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Symphony Hall. Full details of the 2013-2014 “BSO 101” schedule will be announced at a later date.

The popular Friday Preview Talks take place from 12:15-12:45 p.m. prior to all of the BSO’s Friday-afternoon subscription concerts. The Symphony Hall doors open at 11:30 a.m.; sandwiches and beverages are available for purchase. Given by BSO Director of Program Publications Marc Mandel, Assistant Director of Program Publications Robert Kirzinger, and occasional guest speakers, these informative half-hour talks incorporate recorded examples from the music to be performed.

BSO MEDIA OFFERINGS
The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s extensive website, BSO.org, is the largest and most-visited orchestral website in the country, receiving approximately 7 million visitors annually and generating over $80 million in revenue since its launch in 1996. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is on Facebook at Facebook.com/BostonSymphony and on Twitter at Twitter.com/BostonSymphony. Video content from the BSO is also available at YouTube.com/BostonSymphony.

In the fall of 2011, the BSO redesigned and updated its popular website at BSO.org. The site’s Media Center consolidates its numerous new media initiatives in one location. In addition to comprehensive access to all BSO, Boston Pops, Tanglewood, and Symphony Hall performance schedules, patrons have access to a number of free and paid media options. Free offerings include WGBH radio broadcast streams of select BSO, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood performances; audio concert preview podcasts; Emmy Award-winning interviews with guest artists and BSO musicians; music excerpts highlighting upcoming programs as well as all self-produced albums by the BSO, Boston Pops, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and Tanglewood Music Center Fellows, and complete program notes for all performances, which can be downloaded and printed or saved offline to an e-reading device such as a Kindle or Nook.

Paid content includes digital music downloads produced and published under the BSO's music label BSO Classics and includes performances by the BSO, Boston Pops, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and Tanglewood Music Center Fellows. Albums available include the BSO’s and James Levine’s Grammy-winning recording of Ravel’s complete Daphnis and Chloé, Brahms’s A German Requiem; the Boston Pops’ Oboe Concerto composed by John Williams, The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers featuring Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Ed Harris, and The Red Sox Album; the Tanglewood Festival Chorus’s 40th Anniversary album; the Tanglewood “From the Audio Archives” 75 Streams Digital Music Subscription, featuring historic, remastered recordings from performances across Tanglewood’s first 75 years; as well as the Boston Symphony Chamber Players' latest album, the Grammy-nominated Profanes et Sacrées: 20th-Century French Chamber Music. Digital music is available in standard definition MP3, and select content is also available in high definition (HD) stereo and 5-channel surround formats. The Media Center can be visited by clicking on Media Center at bso.org.

BSO.org is now accessible in a smart phone-/mobile device-friendly format. Patrons can use BSO.org Mobile to access performance schedules, purchase tickets as well as pre-performance food and beverages, download program notes, listen to radio broadcasts, music clips, and concert previews, watch video exclusives, and make donations to the BSO – all in the palm of their hand. BSO.org also launched eTicketing and Print-at-Home tickets, making it easier for patrons attending a concert to access their tickets at home or on their smartphones.

RADIO BROADCASTS AND STREAMING
BSO concerts are broadcast regularly on the stations of Classical New England, a service of WGBH. Saturday evening concerts are broadcast live on 99.5 in Boston and 88.7 in Providence, on HD radio at 89.7 HD2, and online – both live and archived – at www.classicalnewengland.org. Live and archived BSO concerts can also be streamed online at www.bso.org. Listeners can also enjoy the "BSO Concert Channel" online, a continuous high-quality audio stream of live BSO performances from Symphony Hall and Tanglewood. In addition, BSO concerts are now heard throughout New England and upstate New York, on a network of stations including WFCR in Amherst, MA, WAMC in Albany, NY, WMNR in Monroe, CT, Vermont Public Radio, and the Maine Public Broadcasting Network.  BSO broadcasts on Classical New England begin at 7 p.m. on Saturday nights, and are repeated at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoons. The full schedule is available at www.classicalnewengland.org/bso.

FOOD SERVICES AT SYMPHONY HALL
The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s catering partner, Boston Gourmet, offers a fresh perspective on the food and beverage options offered at Symphony Hall before concerts, during intermission, and in the popular Symphony Café.  Symphony Café offers buffet-style dining from 5:30 p.m. until concert time for all evening Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts. In addition, Symphony Café is open for lunch prior to Friday-afternoon concerts. Patrons enjoy the convenience of pre-concert dining at the Café in the unique ambiance of historic Symphony Hall. The cost of dinner is $41 per person; the cost of lunch is $27, tax included. The Café is located in Higginson Hall; patrons enter through the Cohen Wing entrance on Huntington Avenue. Please call 617-638-9328 for reservations. 

Additionally, casual pre-concert and intermission dining, including sandwiches, light appetizers, and desserts, is available at the bars in Symphony Hall’s Cabot-Cahners Room and O’Block-Kay Room. Light appetizers and sandwiches can also be ordered and picked up at the snack bar outside the O’Block-Kay Room. A tapas style menu is available in the Symphony Café Lounge area alongside Huntington Avenue. Reservations for the Lounge can be made by calling 617-638-9328. Patrons can purchase appetizers at the bars or order in advance a pre-concert package that features an appetizer and half-bottle of wine and they can also take advantage of the hall-wide beverage service by purchasing beverage coupons in advance through the BSO’s website at www.bso.org/dining. 

SYMPHONY HALL SHOP AND TOURS
The Symphony Shop, located in the Cohen Wing on Huntington Avenue, is open Thursdays and Saturdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., and from one hour before concert time through intermission. A satellite shop, located on the first-balcony level, is open only during concerts. Merchandise may also be purchased by visiting the BSO website at http://www.bso.org/shop. The shop can be reached at 617-638-9383.

The Boston Symphony Association of Volunteers offers weekly public and private tours of Symphony Hall during the BSO and Pops seasons. For more information on taking an Irving W. and Charlotte F. Rabb Symphony Hall tour, please visit us at www.bso.org. You may also email bsav@bso.org, or call 617-638-9390 to confirm specific dates and times. Schedules are subject to change.

SPONSORSHIPS
Longstanding major corporate partners Bank of America and EMC Corporation return as the BSO Season Sponsors for the 2013/14 Season.

As a company with employees and clients in more than 100 markets around the world, Bank of America is committed to a diverse program of cultural support, designed to engage individuals, organizations, communities and cultures in creative ways to build mutual respect and understanding of the arts. By partnering with our stakeholders, we create shared value that empowers individuals and communities to thrive and contributes to the long-term success of our business. Bank of America is one of the world’s leading corporate supporters of the arts, supporting thousands of arts organizations worldwide. The program is unique and diverse, and built around three main pillars:  Enable, Share, and Preserve. http://museums.bankofamerica.com/arts/Default.aspx  

"The BSO is an integral part of the Massachusetts arts community, with engaging programming from Boston to the Berkshires,” said Bob Gallery, Bank of America Massachusetts president.  “Our longstanding partnership is based on a shared goal of cultural enrichment for the widest possible audience, which can have a resounding impact at the local level.”

EMC is a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver information technology as a service (ITaaS). Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing. Through innovative products and services, EMC accelerates the journey to cloud computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyze their most valuable asset—information—in a more agile, trusted and cost-efficient way.

 "As a Great Benefactor, EMC is proud to help preserve the wonderful musical heritage of the BSO, so that it may continue to enrich the lives of listeners and create a new generation of music lovers, not only in Boston, but around the world." said Joe Tucci, Chairman and CEO, EMC Corporation.  

The BSO is proud to announce that longtime sponsor Arbella Insurance Foundation increases its support this season with its sponsorship of the BSO College Card and BSO Youth and Family Concerts.

The Fairmont Copley Plaza, together with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, begins its 12th season as the Official Hotel of the BSO, and Commonwealth Worldwide Chauffeured Transportation begins its 11th season as the Official Chauffeured Transportation Provider of the BSO.

All programs and artists are subject to change. For current program information, dial 617-CONCERT (266-2378). For further information, call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is online at www.bso.org.

PRESS CONTACT:
Bernadette Horgan, Director of Public Relations (bhorgan@bso.org)                       617-638-9285

for the BSO 2013-14 Season Listing

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