Saturday, August 22, 2026
8:00 PM
Thomas Wilkins conducts the first BSO performance of Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2, with soloist and Avery Fisher Career Grant Winner Randall Goosby, in his Tanglewood debut. The program also includes Bernstein’s life-affirming Chichester Psalms with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and boy soprano Edward Njuguna, and Dvořák’s songful Symphony No. 8.
Thomas Wilkins, conductor
Randall Goosby, Violin
Edward Njuguna, boy soprano
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
Leonard BERNSTEIN Chichester Psalms
Florence PRICE Violin Concerto No. 2
Camille SAINT-SAËNS Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, for violin and orchestra
Antonín DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 8
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In a conversation with CRB's Brian McCreath, Thomas Wilkins describes the magnetism of Dvořák's music and what Florence Price's works have brought to the conversation in orchestral music, as well the qualities he sees in Randall Goosby's playing and Bernstein's "reverence to the wildness" in his Chichester Psalms.
TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):
Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at the Koussevitzky Music Shed with Thomas Wilkins, the conductor of the Boston Symphony for family projects and a lot more. There's so many things that you do here, Tom. So thanks for a little of your time today. I appreciate it.
Thomas Wilkins I am happy to be here as always.
Brian McCreath I love talking to you about everything that you do here, but this concert that you're doing in August is anchored by Dvořák's Eighth Symphony. And who doesn't love hearing a Dvořák symphony at any time? But tell me what your kind of connection to the Eighth Symphony is - do you have memories of your initial introduction to the piece - and what it means for you to conduct Dvořák here at Tanglewood.
Thomas Wilkins You know, it's funny. Dvořák himself said to a friend that, "I have just written the happiest symphony I have ever written." And, you know, you could suspect that, because the Symphony No. 7 is so treacherous, I guess is the best way to put it, that this was almost a relief for him. It's kind of like Beethoven having to stop writing the 5th and write the 6th just because he was so wound up from his work. And he's spot on. It is just delightful. It is charming in places. It's delightful in places. But for me, the moment that I'm most married to is the second movement because it begins with three big question marks in the orchestra, in my way of thinking about it, that don't get resolved right away. And there's this constant tug in that second movement between affirmation and suspicion, or affirmation and a lack of confidence, or confidence and a lack of confidence. And there's this moment when you think, when this first big tune comes along, you think, "Oh, this is going to be okay." And then all of a sudden, it disintegrates into this harshness. It's exchanged between the lower strings and the upper strings.
And then these sort of marching chords that happen, and they're all dissonant chords. And then the last couple of those chords is a G major chord. And he so subtly says, with just one chord change, don't fall for this. This is going to— it's going to be okay, you know. And all of a sudden, the light comes back, and we're off. And then, the third movement just dances, almost in relief, I guess. So, I mean, I've lived with this symphony for a long, long time, and for me, the beauty is that I have also matured with this symphony as well.
Brian McCreath That's fantastic. I've never thought about that second movement that way. That's really wonderful. Great things to listen for in that. That's terrific. And I always love when there's a program that puts Florence Price and Dvořák together because it just feels— you don't even have to know the history of anything to feel a connection. It seems that Florence Price really loved Dvořák's music. What do you think - because it's been, what, a decade or so since her music, maybe a little bit more, really reemerged when it was discovered, that famous story of the house in Illinois that her music was discovered in and people woke up again to her music - what has that discovery meant for music in general, for orchestral music? What has Florence Price now added to the conversation in orchestral music?
Thomas Wilkins It adds a lot. First of all, you have to give kudos to the young couple who bought the house and found the music in the first place, because I probably would have— not me as a musician, but any other person would have said, "Oh, I got to clear out this dumb attic," right? But somehow, they figured out that, "Wait a minute, this may be something that's important." And so, I always think that's the first gift in this thing, is this young couple. But, you know, you talk about the relationship between Price and Dvořák. I think the thing that we get from Florence Price is the same thing that we get from Dvořák, and that is an honesty, a real humanity, and a real sense of being comfortable in your own skin. There's nothing pretentious about any of this stuff. And so, you sort of, in a sense, you get to see who the person is. I think about this with Bernstein, too. I mean, when I'm doing his music, I just did some last week, you can actually see the flamboyance in Bernstein when you hear his music. And I think you can see and hear the genuineness in the music of Dvořák and Florence Price.
And the other thing about her is that because she has now emerged onto the scene, you get to study her and her life and the challenges in her life. And the fact that I've often been quoted as saying, sometimes when there's a brick wall in front of you, you have to paint your own doorway onto that brick wall. And that was Florence Price. She was indefatigable when it comes to making herself a better artist and a better creator of music and also probably a better human being.
Brian McCreath Yeah, she is someone that we've gotten to know now. I mean, it's debatable how widely, but for anybody who's involved in orchestral music, it's no longer the new discovery. It's a substantial part of what's going on in music. Randall Goosby has been someone who has really embraced her music. Tell me about Randall and what your experience is with him. What kind of artist do you think he is, especially— he's doing Saint-Saëns and Florence Price, but especially, what does he bring to Florence Price?
Thomas Wilkins It's that same kind of dignity, I think, first of all, taking it seriously. And he's done his homework. You know, I've known Randall— we first worked together on a program at the Kennedy Center. I think it was the 50th anniversary concert that we did there. And there was, you know, there were a cast of thousands, but he did a movement from the Mendelssohn with me, and he was younger. This was quite a few years ago and it was fast and it was way fast. And I remember thinking, yeah, he's young because I've been there. But the funny thing is, and then we did it someplace. Oh, we did it at New York Phil a few years later down the road. And he talks about - we're having our little soloist meeting and he talks about this spot. He says, I don't go too fast in this spot. I went, excuse me, who are you? And I looked at his mom and said, "You know, this boy is growing up," because she was there at the time. He is an athletic violinist. In fact, I think a lot of young kids now, when they take on string playing, they take it on like athletes.
I don't mean that they don't try to be artists, but I mean that the physical challenges of playing a string instrument are different, and they can be daunting. And I've seen so many brave young men and women just attacking it, you know, I mean, in a good way. And that's Randall. And then I discovered that he's also a golfer, and we— so we recently learned that we have that in common. But this, I think, this is probably going to be our fourth or fifth time working together.
Brian McCreath Oh, nice. That's great. You make me actually think of Wynton Marsalis, who's the person for me— I mean, there's many people who have said it, but the person for me who actually unlocked that mystery between hard work and artistry. You have to do the hard work, which I think you're getting at with the athleticism, the athletic approach, that is the route to being an artist. It's what unlocks the potential of any given piece. And it sounds like that's what you're saying about Randall.
Thomas Wilkins Yeah, it's funny because when I do concerts with young people, I spend a lot of time talking about the meaning of a phrase or why this note is important or why this bar is important or whatever, or why we must take time here. And I talk about the emotion of it or the psychology of it or whatever, because I want them to first fall in love because once you fall in love, you'll do the hard work because you know that the only way I can get to that essence of the music, the power of that essence, is if I work on the substance of it. But you got to do it from a place of love rather than a place of obligation.
Brian McCreath That's very wise. You're right, that that athletic approach, if you want to call it that, only comes because someone is so dedicated and in love with what you're talking about. That's great. I'm so glad you mentioned Bernstein and that you can feel the flamboyance in his music. And sure enough, Chichester Psalms on this program, but what a unique piece from Bernstein's output because it is sacred and yet that flamboyance never ever goes away. Tell me about conducting Bernstein at Tanglewood and this balance that he has between the charge and the electricity and the sacred in Chichester Psalms.
Thomas Wilkins You know, when I first came to Tanglewood, one of my colleagues from the staff came by, and I hadn't even thought about it before because I had a concert to conduct, and I had stuff, other stuff on my mind. And I'm sitting on the couch in my dressing room, and he says, "Hey, congratulations on your Tanglewood debut." And I went, "Oh, right." And then I thought, "Oh my gosh, Bernstein probably sat on this couch." You know? Now I'm like, "What are you doing here?" But then I started, like, rubbing the texture, maybe hoping some of that Bernstein vibe would sort of jump into my body. A colleague of mine said that the thing about Bernstein, when he played under him, was that when he invited you to jump off of a cliff, you really wanted to do it. And I think there's that on-the-edginess with his music while it's speaking in real time that you feel like, I'm going someplace that I've not been before. With Chichester, I'm glad you used the word sacred because obviously they are sacred texts, but they are presented with such reverence. And I think that's also Bernstein. Even when he's wild, there's a reverence to the wildness.
I mean, I think about, you know, the innocence of the boy soprano singing. There's... You know what the word is? There's a purity to this music. That is so inviting and so welcome.
Brian McCreath Yeah, you know, I've never really made this connection, literally, until we're sitting here talking about it, but just the fact that Chichester Psalms was written when it was, and then not so long later came Mass. And Mass has this reputation for being overblown and out of control, and what's even going on here? But if you really grapple, I feel like, if you really grapple with Mass, you really sit with it, the reverence is there. There's such reverence for higher power in our lives that I think all that other stuff can kind of get in the way. But maybe, as you're saying, Chichester is a purer expression of that.
Thomas Wilkins Yeah, I think you're right. I think if you— it's like my earlier point. If you get overwhelmed by the dotting of the i's and crossing the t's, but you miss the storytelling, then you've missed the point of doing the piece in the first place.
Brian McCreath Thomas Wilkins, I love seeing you here at Tanglewood. I love talking to you about music. So thanks a lot for your time today. I appreciate it.
Thomas Wilkins This is always a treat to be with you as well. Thanks so much.