Opening Night at Tanglewood with Andris Nelsons, Yuja Wang, and Jack Canfield
Tanglewood
Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA
The BSO’s Opening Night concert begins with a benediction by Leonard Bernstein, a setting in Hebrew for baritone that was the composer’s last work with orchestra; baritone Jack Canfield makes his BSO debut. The brilliant Chinese pianist Yuja Wang performs Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1, which the composer premiered himself with Hector Berlioz conducting in 1855. Liszt transformed the concerto's main thematic ideas throughout the piece, contrasting displays of drama and virtuosity with lush and tender lyricism. In its orchestral finesse and raw power, Igor Stravinsky’s revolutionary 1913 ballet score The Rite of Spring still astonishes after more than 100 years.
Ticket includes admission to 6pm Prelude Concert.
Gates open at 5:30pm
With great regret, Jean-Yves Thibaudet must withdraw from Tanglewood this weekend due to a death in the family. Coming to Tanglewood every summer is one of the highlights of his season. He looks forward to making music at Tanglewood with his dear friends Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony—and to seeing the wonderful Berkshires audience—for many years to come.
Performance Details
Jul 8, 2022, 8:00pm EDT
Program Notes & Works
Opening Prayer
Bernstein wrote Opening Prayer for a gala concert celebrating the reopening of the main auditorium of Carnegie Hall on December 15, 1986. The composer led the New York Philharmonic and baritone Kurt Ollmann in the first performance.
Piano Concerto No. 1
For all his self-assurance at the piano, Franz Liszt was insecure as a composer. He would rework old compositions repeatedly, often at the dubious advice of random acquaintances. Many of his compositions went through stages of creation and exist in two different “finished” forms.
The Rite of Spring
With his third ballet, Le Sacre du printemps, Stravinsky secured his place as the foremost composer of his day. He took two years to prepare his daring score, following a vision the composer had in 1911 of a young girl in pagan Russia, dancing herself to a ritual death surrounded by village elders.
