InTune

Another summer season in the Berkshires heralds the return of two BSO learning initiatives that are integral to the Tanglewood experience – the Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) and the Tanglewood Learning Institute (TLI). For the first time this year, both programs unite under the guidance of a single leader, Asadour Santourian, who joined the BSO as Vice President, Tanglewood Music Center and Learning in January 2022. Santourian joined the BSO from the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he served for 18 years as Vice President for Artistic Administration and Artistic Advisor. In his new role, he will lead all the BSO’s training, education, and community programs, and will focus on expanding broader representation through wide-ranging partnerships and collaborations. InTune caught up with Santourian as he eagerly anticipates (and busily prepares) both programs for this summer.

As the BSO’s summer academy for advanced musical study, the TMC provides a unique learning and mentorship experience for about 125 Fellows this year, who will attend the program free of charge thanks to generous donors whose contributions cover the cost of tuition, room, and board included. The Fellows also participate in select TLI programs, which offer performance opportunities for an even wider audience than the TMC’s concerts. “The Tanglewood Music Center, in conjunction with Tanglewood Learning Institute, offers unique insights into the inner workings of the ineffable side of learning and teaching,” Santourian explains, and notes how the Fellows each summer can learn from distinguished faculty, including members of the BSO and Ray and Maria Stata Music Director Andris Nelsons, as well as renowned artists like Yo-Yo Ma, Stephanie Blythe, Jonathan Biss, Emanuel Ax, and Stephen Drury, among others. The programming presents chamber music concerts that highlight familiar and new works, and the Fellows are given chances that highlight their concentrations. “Composition Fellow works are presented in concerts throughout the summer and conducting Fellows are presented with each TMCO program nearly on a weekly basis where we celebrate their progress,” Santourian notes, adding that the vocal Fellows regularly present a diverse set of works with piano and with various instrumental combinations.

This season, the TMC will once again present the Festival of Contemporary Music (FCM), which Santourian explains was curated under the direction of recently retired Edward H. Linde TMC Director Ellen Highstein, who will return this summer as the Merwin Geffen, M.D. and Norman Solomon, M.D., Festival of Contemporary Music Director, assisted by co-curators Tony Arnold, Stephen Drury, George Lewis, and Astrid Schween. The FCM, one of the world's premier showcases for works from the current musical landscape, affords Fellows the opportunity to explore unfamiliar repertoire and experience the value of direct collaboration with living composers. Among many highlights, one exciting program in the festival that Santourian is looking forward to is the U.S. premiere of composer George Benjamin’s opera Lessons in Love and Violence, in a performance featuring a full orchestra and cast of singers.

Launched in 2019, but already a fixture in the Berkshires and beyond, the Tanglewood Learning Institute cultivates communities of engaged, diverse participants whose love of music reflects their curiosity about the wider world. Each summer, TLI programs are purposefully developed in conjunction with other BSO and TMC programs at Tanglewood. The TLI, Santourian explains, “brings a lens on the TMC and BSO summer activities that enhance the concertgoers' enjoyment of these offerings.” He makes particular note of the In Conversation series, eight events that feature artists of the season that will allow audiences to “delve deeper into becoming more acquainted with these artists, their artistry, interpretive talents, and views on the music they will perform with the BSO.” Not only do the events act as a supplement to the BSO’s season, but they also are reflective of the state of the music world and beyond. The TMC String Quartet Seminar’s programming this year will focus on pairing selections from Haydn with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) composers.

Though an important part of the Tanglewood experience, the TLI’s reach stretches beyond the summer and the Tanglewood campus. In March 2023, the BSO will present three weeks of concerts focused on social justice, and the TLI “will enhance and expand the conversation in pre-concert presentations featuring major speakers as well as chamber music.” Santourian notes that these will give “a deeper understanding of the difficult seminal topic reflected in our times and society.” The TLI also has a significant presence in the community. From October through December 2022, the institute will host chamber music concerts in the community. It will also host concerts from March through May 2023, featuring members of the BSO performing a variety of pieces. The Tanglewood Learning Institute also has partnered with many local Berkshire organizations and will continue these partnerships throughout the spring.

With so much on tap for the TMC, TLI, and all the BSO’s learning programs, the BSO is delighted to welcome Santourian to bring a fresh and experienced perspective to augmenting performances with learning experiences for all. Likewise, the BSO has always been a special place to Santourian, and he explains how it means so much to so many. “It is an international orchestra that belongs to many—with our concerts, recordings, and affiliations with the greatest artists of anytime,” he continues. The significance of assuming this position at this time in our cultural history is not lost on him. “The organization stands at an exciting time when so much visionary work is going on to forge and form the shape of musical performances of the future,” he notes, and goes on to highlight the “thrill [it is] to be part of the team to develop these ideas into projects and into performances.”

For the upcoming season and into the future, Santourian is confident that the audiences will enjoy the organization’s merging of the familiar and the unexpected. And he is already looking forward to where he can lead the Tanglewood Music Center and the Tanglewood Learning Institute. “With TMC and TLI, it is my wish that we explore these both in terms of experimentation and being part of developing the path of the future of music,” he explains. “Again, by wrapping the familiar with the new, we can arrive at new discoveries informed by the past, present, and pointing to the future.”