Rehearsal: Andris Nelsons conducts Elizabeth Ogonek, Farrenc, and Beethoven featuring Paul Lewis, piano

The key image for Ogonek’s BSO co-commissioned Starling Variations is the group flight of starlings, known as murmuration, in which hundreds of the birds swoop and dive, separate and recombine. The analogy is apt for Ogonek's dynamic treatment of the orchestra's groups.

This is the first Boston Symphony Orchestra performance of music by Farrenc and the first time her work has been performed at Tanglewood.

Beethoven brought a bold and singular new voice to Western music, and there is no better example than the Emperor Concerto.