The BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA is back and here are next season’s highlights along with a personal message from Maestro Andris Nelsons who can’t wait to reconnect with all of us music lovers and unite us with the beauty, power, artistry, and inspiration that is the Boston Symphony!

BSO MUSIC DIRECTOR NELSONS WILL OPEN THE SEASON ON SEPTEMBER 16TH WITH A BEETHOVEN 250TH SYMPHONY CYCLE TO CELEBRATE THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY OF BEETHOVEN’S BIRTH! THE SEASON OPENER WILL FEATURE LANG LANG PERFORMING PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2 ON A PROGRAM WITH SYMPHONY NO. 1.

 

THE SEASON CONTINUES WITH  SHOSTAKOVICH’S LANDMARK OPERA LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK, KEVIN PUTS’S THE BRIGHTNESS OF LIGHT, SCRIABIN’S PROMETHEUS, THE POEM OF FIRE, AND SIX MAJOR WORKS OF RICHARD STRAUSS, AS WELL AS STRAVINSKY’S THE RITE OF SPRING AND PETRUSHKA, HOLST’S THE PLANETS, MAHLER’S FIFTH SYMPHONY, WORKS BY SEVEN COMPOSERS OF OUR TIME, AND THE CONTINUATION OF THE BSO’S GRAMMY-AWARD WINNING SHOSTAKOVICH RECORDING CYCLE WITH SYMPHONIES NOS. 3 AND 13

 

Subscriptions to the 2020–21 BSO season are available beginning at 10 a.m. on May 11, by calling 888-266-1200 or visiting www.bso.org; single tickets go on sale in August!

To honor greater Boston’s essential workers during the COVID-19 crisis, the BSO will offer special complimentary concert nights and a season-long 50% ticket discount program!

ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS OF BSO 2020-21 SEASON

 Anna Rakitina, BSO Assistant Conductor in her Symphony Hall debut, leading music of Thomas Adès, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar (11/24-28); Thomas     Wilkins, BSO Artistic Advisor for Education and Community Engagement, leading works by Ellington, Gershwin, and Still (1/28-30); Thomas Adès,   BSO Artistic Partner, leading music of Prokofiev, Ravel, and Janáček, as well as a reprisal of his highly acclaimed Concerto for Piano and Orchestra Piano   with Kirill Gerstein as soloist (2/11-13)

Pianist Mitsuko Uchida joining the BSO and Andris Nelsons for performances of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 3 (4/22-27)—the start of a three-year cycle of performances of the five concertos; additional acclaimed soloists include Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Rudolf Buchbinder, Daniil Trifonov, Inon Barnatan, and Paul Lewis; violinists Augustin Hadelich and Gil Shaham; cellist Yo-Yo Ma; vocalists Kristine Opolais, Brandon Jovanovich, Lise Davidsen, Sir Willard White and Renée Fleming

Guest conductors Giancarlo Guerrero (Julia Wolfe, Her Story, written in commemoration of the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment and Gorecki Symphony No. 3, Symphony of Sorrowful Song, 11/5-7); Dima Slobodeniouk (Stravinsky’s complete Firebird and music of Mendelssohn, 11/12-17); Alan Gilbert (Nielsen Symphony No. 3, music of Bartók and Beethoven, 11/19-21); Herbert Blomstedt (Sibelius Symphony No. 4 and Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3, 3/4-6)

TANGLEWOOD FESTIVAL CHORUS CONTINUES ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON CELEBRATION WITH PERFORMANCES OF MUSIC BY SHOSTAKOVICH AND BEETHOVEN

CLICK HERE FOR WEEK BY WEEK DESCRIPTIONS OF THE 2020-21 SEASON
CLICK HERE FOR THE 2020-21 SEASON PRESS KIT WITH PHOTO AND VIDEO
CLICK HERE FOR A COMPLETE SEASON LISTING
CLICK HERE FOR A LISTING OF ANDRIS NELSONS’ CONCERTS
CLICK HERE FOR A LISTING OF 14 WORKS BY COMPOSERS OF OUR TIME
CLICK HERE FOR A LISTING OF 27 ARTISTS MAKING DEBUTS
BANK OF AMERICA IS THE LEAD SPONSOR OF THE 2020–21 BSO SEASON