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The Tanglewood Learning Institute's Inaugural Summer

A robust schedule of performances, public speakers, and educational programs are at the core of the new TLI, based in a new complex that transforms the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home in the Berkshires.

The BSO has released details of a schedule that begins on June 22 and continues through August 25, largely based in the new Linde Center for Music and Learning. This four-building, climate-controlled complex is situated near Seiji Ozawa Hall and is Tanglewood's first facility to be available throughout the year.

Hear a preview of this inaugural summer season with TLI Director Sue Elliott:

Hear more about TLI and its place as a milestone for the Boston Symphony from BSO Managing Director Mark Volpe:

ic190206_volpe_edit.mp3

The Tanglewood Learning Institute season includes several series of events, anchored by four TLI weekends:

  • O'Keeffe Weekend, July 19-21, is centered on the BSO's world premiere performance of The Brightness of Light, by Kevin Puts, and featuring soprano Renée Fleming. TLI events will explore the relationship between Georgia O'Keeffe and her husband Alfred Stieglitz through multi-media events that reveal new perspectives on the iconic artist's life and work.
  • Wagner Weekend, July 26-28, explores the composer's world of music and myth in conjunction with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra's performance of Wagner's Die Walküre, led by BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons. The weekend includes conversations with sopranos Christine Goerke and Jane Eaglen, an exploration of the special brass instruments used in Wagner's operas, and a screening of Stephen Fry's film Wagner & Me.
  • FCM Weekend, August 9-11, highlights the Festival of Contemporary Music, curated by BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès, one of the major musical voices of our time. Highlights of the weekend include a conversation between Adès and writer Tom Service; a talk about opera, psychology, and mental illness presented ahead of the August 8th American premiere of Richard Ayres’s 2005 chamber opera The Cricket Recovers; and a silent-film scoring discussion with composer Michael Gandolfi, along with performances of those scores.
  • Film Weekend, August 23-25, draws on Film Night with John Williams and illuminates the relationship of music and cinema through a working rehearsal the Boston Pops, a discussion with conductor David Newman and Pops Conductor Laureate John Williams, and a screening of The Score, an award-winning documentary about Hollywood’s most celebrated film composers.

In addition to those anchor weekends, the TLI schedule also includes several other series of events:

  • The Big Idea features presenations by former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Daniel Shapiro, a world-renowned expert on negotiation and conflict resolution.
  • Meet the Makers features conversations with several of today's celebrated artists, including playwright Tom Stoppard; composers André Previn and Joan Tower; performance artist Meow Meow; master bow maker Benoît Rolland; piano technician Steve Carver and the Steinway Spirio digital piano-player; and Alan Weiss and Aiven O’Leary from William S. Haynes Flute Company.
  • Full Tilt brings unconventional and even subversive performances to Tanglewood, including a cabaret event with Meow Meow; Black Mozart, a production by Bill Barclay; and the John Cage Songbook, with Stephen Drury.
  • String Quartet Masterpass is an eight-day immersive program of workshops, open rehearsals, and performances led by the Juilliard Quartet.
  • TLI Open Studio brings the audience to masterclasses with some of the most prominent and compelling performers of our time.
  • Focal Point, in collaboration with IS183 Art School of the Berkshires invites participants to explore the creation of visual art through the natural beauty of the Tanglewood campus.
  • Cinematics explores the relationships between music and film, in collaboration with the Berkshire International Film Festival.

For more information about the Tanglewood Learning Institute, visit the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Brian McCreath is the Director of Production for CRB.