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The Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) is dedicated to providing enriching musical experiences for TMC Fellows and the local community, both on the Tanglewood campus and throughout the greater Berkshire area. This commitment is strengthened through an ongoing partnership with the Tanglewood Learning Institute (TLI), which is expanding opportunities for community outreach and fostering relationships with arts partners across the region.
Information about recent collaborations can be found below.
Community Engagement
In July 2024, the Tanglewood Learning Institute (TLI) brought a group of TMC Fellows to perform a free community concert at Chesterwood, the former estate of sculptor Daniel Chester French in Stockbridge, MA. In honor of one of French’s most famous works, the Lincoln Memorial, a select group of TMC Fellows performed Roy Harris’s cantata “Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight” alongside Aaron Copland’s Sextet for clarinet, piano, and string quartet.
2024 Festival of Contemporary Music Curator Tania León is highly regarded as a composer, conductor, educator, and advisor to arts organizations. Among her many accolades, she holds a Pulitzer Prize in Music and a Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime artistic achievement. In July 2024, León engaged in an intimate and honest conversation with several members of the cultural group Latinas413 about her experiences growing up in Cuba and her journey to the United States for her career in music.
At the April Hill Conservation and Education Center, the TMC and TLI collaborated with Greenagers in creating a shared experience for teens and young adults centered on music and the environment. The event combined music with discussion on the topics of working with one’s hands, artisanal pursuits, and the roles that they play in shaping the broader culture. Two ensembles of TMC Fellows performed Valerie Coleman’s Suite Portraits of Josephine and Nick DiBerardino’s Beet Juice.
“What a treat to step away from the toils of the garden to hear strains of a quartet coming from the barn. [...] These moments are reminders that silos make echo chambers and I’d say we need fewer of those these days.” - Will Conklin, Executive Director of Greenagers
Arts Partnerships
The TMC closed out its 2024 season by taking its annual Silent Film Night on the road to Brookline, MA. “An Evening of Silent Film with Tanglewood Music Center'' is an ongoing collaboration between the TMC, the Tanglewood Learning Institute (TLI), and the Coolidge Corner Theatre, featuring original music composed by TMC Composition Fellows. Their scores are performed live by TMC Conducting Fellows and members of the TMC’s New Fromm Players, a group comprised of musicians who are recent TMC alumni and have distinguished themselves in the performance of new music. In 2024, a portion of the film was provided by Jacob’s Pillow.
A recording of 2024’s performance can be accessed here.
“We are proud to showcase these visionary works of cinema on our big screen, especially as accompanied by original compositions and performances by Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center, some of the most talented young musicians in the world. This program speaks to the vitality of both of our art forms, and we are thrilled to be able to share it with audiences in Greater Boston.” - Katherine Tallman, Executive Director & CEO of the Coolidge Corner Theatre
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and the Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) joined forces to explore intersections and connections between the arts, creativity, and science in service of community, knowledge sharing, and well-being. This collaboration took place at EMPAC—the Curtis R. Priem Center for Experimental Media and Performing Arts—, a research, production and presentation space for time-based arts and technology in Troy, New York.
In this program, the TMC’s Fromm Quartet performed Tania León’s Cuarteto no. 2 and Steven Mackey’s One Red Rose. León and Mackey were Co-Directors of the Festival of Contemporary Music in 2024, and León’s Cuarteto no. 2 was composed while reflecting on her mother’s decline due to Alzheimer’s Disease.
Interwoven between the music, RPI Biological Sciences Professor Chunyu Wang, M.D. Ph.D., spoke about his exciting research on the mechanism and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease that recently garnered a $3.7 million grant from the National Institute on Aging and RPI Music Faculty Dr. Robert Whalen illuminated connections between Dr. Wang’s research and León’s music.
“This collaboration speaks to the inherent interconnectedness of the arts and sciences, and we greatly look forward to engaging with the Tanglewood Music Center to explore these confluences together in the coming seasons.” - Dr. Robert Whalen
