Boston Symphony Orchestra Celebrates Wagner Bicentennial with Special Program, March 21 – 26

EXCERPTS FROM LOHENGRIN, TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, SIEGFRIED, GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG, AND PARSIFAL TO BE PERFORMED

MAESTRO GATTI RETURNS TO THE BSO PODIUM MARCH 28-30 TO LEAD MAHLER’S SYMPHONY NO. 3, FEATURING ANNE SOFIE VON OTTER, WOMEN OF THE TANGLEWOOD FESTIVAL CHORUS, AND BOYS OF THE PALS CHILDREN’S CHORUS

ALL WAGNER PROGRAM, March 21-26
Performances to take place Thursday, March 21, Saturday, March 23, and Tuesday, March 26, at 8 p.m., and Friday, March 22, at 1:30 p.m.; for press tickets reply to this email or call 617-638-9286
These selections represent five of Wagner’s legendary music dramas and span nearly the entire length of the composer’s mature musical output, from Tannhäuser, completed in 1845, to Parsifal, Wagner’s final opera, completed in 1882. Over that time, Wagner went from being an impoverished fugitive of the law who was forced to flee Dresden in the wake of a thwarted uprising, to one of the world’s leading musical figures, with powerful patronage and the now-legendary Bayreuth festival theater designed for and devoted to his work. Even today, this music retains its awe-inspiring sense of originality and visceral emotional impact, demonstrating Wagner’s revolutionary musical idiom that changed the course of music history.

MAHLER’S SYMPHONY NO. 3, MARCH 28-30
Performances to take place Thursday, March 28, Friday, March 29, and Saturday, March 30, at 8 p.m.; for press tickets reply to this email or call 617-638-9286

Across its nearly 100-minute length, the broad musical canvas of Mahler’s Third Symphony incorporates a full range of musical and emotional expression, moving through rousing fanfares, tender lyricism, and melancholy to the height of exaltation. “A symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything.” So Mahler believed, and composed accordingly. All of the composer’s symphonies live up to this credo, but the Third—calling for a massive expanded orchestra, offstage musicians, mezzo-soprano soloist, female chorus, and boy choir—swells to especially broad dimensions; in addition to the tremendous forces required, Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 is the longest piece in the standard orchestral repertoire.

Composed between 1893 and 1896, this work—like all of Mahler’s first four symphonies—originally had an elaborate program specified by the composer. He described the symphony as a whole as “A Summer’s Midday Dream,” and went on to title the six movements as follows: “Pan Awakes, Summer Marches In”; “What the Flowers in the Meadow Tell Me”; “What the Animals in the Forest Tell Me”; “What Man Tells Me”; “What the Angels Tell Me”; and “What Love Tells Me. ” But as with Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, and 4, Mahler later retracted these programmatic explanations, and they were not included in the published score.

The Third also shares with its surrounding counterparts the incorporation of sung text from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a collection of German folk poetry that fascinated the composer and that was popular with writers, musicians, and artists throughout the Romantic period. Mahler didn’t stop there, however, and also included philosophical, existential ruminations from Nietzsche’s Also Sprach Zarathustra in the fourth movement. It is this combination of the high- and lowbrow, the simple and the unknowable—along with the dazzlingly wide-ranging music—that makes this symphony a model of music’s ability to “embrace everything.”

For complete programs, ticket information, photos, and artist bios, click here: .

DANIELE GATTI
Daniele Gatti, who earlier this season led the BSO in Verdi’s Requiem, January 17-19, leads the 2012-13 BSO season programs marking the orchestra’s Verdi and Wagner bicentennial celebrations in 2013. He will lead the BSO in both the Mahler and Wagner programs (March 21-26 and March 28-30, respectively) at Carnegie Hall on April 4 and 5. Prior to January, Mr. Gatti, who made his BSO debut in February 2002, last conducted the BSO October 1, 2009, when he filled in for James Levine at Carnegie Hall for a program including Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, John Williams’s On Willows and Birches, and Debussy’s La Mer. He last led the BSO at Symphony Hall in March 2008, leading Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. He is one of three conductors (the others being Charles Dutoit and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos) who will lead the BSO in three programs during the 2012-13 season.

Mr. Gatti, who currently holds the titles of Music Director of the National Orchestra of France since 2008 and Conductor Laureate of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (he was music director 1996-2009), was Chief Conductor of the Zurich Opera House from 2009 through 2012. He has a close relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw orchestras, appearing in their concert seasons as well as on tour. In addition to his appearances with the BSO, Mr. Gatti appears regularly as a guest conductor with the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Bayerischen Rundfunk Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, and Philharmonia Orchestra. In fall 2012, Daniele Gatti completed a Brahms cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (the German Requiem and the four symphonies) to celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of the Society of Music friends of Vienna, of which Brahms was music director. This past fall, Mr. Gatti led the Vienna Philharmonic on tour; he will lead that orchestra in performances of Die Meistersinger at the Salzburg Festival in 2013. Guest conducting appearances in 2012-13 season also include performances of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, concerts with the Bayerischen Rundfunk Orchestra, and programs commemorating the Verdi and Wagner anniversaries, including performances of Parsifalat the Metropolitan Opera, starting February 15. Among the highlights of his work with the Orchestre National de France are a performance of Parsifal at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, tours in Europe and the U.S., and a performance of Verdi’s Requiem in June, a work he will also lead in April with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Mr. Gatti has signed an exclusive contract with Sony Classical: the first recording of this association, dedicated to Debussy’s 150th anniversary, was released in April 2012; the second one, marking the 100th anniversary of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, will be released in spring 2013. Mr. Gatti has been involved in several audio and DVD releases in 2012 and 2013: a DVD of Puccini’s La bohème with the Vienna Philharmonic, released December 11, 2012; a box set of Mahler symphonies (conducting Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 with Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra) to be released in January 2013; and a DVD of Verdi’s Falstaff with the Zurich Opera House, released in July 2012.

MICHELLE DeYOUNG
Michelle DeYoung last performed with the BSO on February 23-25, 2012, in a performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. She made her BSO debut on January 30, 1996.

Ms. DeYoung has also appeared with many of the finest opera houses of the world including the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Houston Grand Opera, the Seattle Opera, the Glimmerglass Opera, La Scala, the Bayreuth Festival, Berliner Staatsoper, the Opera National de Paris, the Thèâtre du Châtelet, the Theater Basel, and the Tokyo Opera. Ms. DeYoung’s recording of Kindertotenlieder and Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS Media) was awarded the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Classical Album.

ANNE SOFIE VON OTTER
Anne Sofie von Otter last appeared with the BSO at Tanglewood on July 6, 2008, as Dido in Berlioz’s Les Troyens, Part 2. She previously appeared with the BSO at Symphony Hall on April 30, May 2 and 4, 2008 in Les Troyens. Ms. von Otter made her BSO debut on November 10, 1994.

Internationally acclaimed Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter is one of the finest singers of her generation. Her relationship with Deutsche Grammophon has produced a wealth of recordings and numerous awards including Recording Artist of the Year, International Record Critics Association; a Grammy Award for best classical vocal performance for Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn; and a Diapason d’Or for a recording of Swedish songs with her longtime accompanist, Bengt Forsberg. Anne Sofie von Otter gained an international reputation as an outstanding Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) with performances at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra National de Paris and the Wiener Staatsoper. She also performed the role as part of a series of engagements with James Levine and The Metropolitan Opera; and a recording under the late Carlos Kleiber is available on DVD. A busy concert schedule takes Anne Sofie von Otter to all corners of the globe. This season she performs music of Anders Hillborg with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Esa-Pekka Salonen), orchestrated Schubert songs with the New York Philharmonic (Alan Gilbert), Das Lied von der Erde at the Salzburg Festival with the Berliner Philharmoniker (Sir Simon Rattle), Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Münchner Philharmoniker (Iván Fischer), and Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins with the London Symphony Orchestra (Michael Tilson Thomas).

TICKET, SPONSORSHIP, AND OTHER PATRON INFORMATION

TICKET INFORMATION
Subscriptions for the BSO’s 2012-13 season are available by calling the BSO Subscription Office at 888-266-7575 or online through the BSO’s website (http://www.bso.org/subscriptions). Single tickets are priced from $30 to $124. Regular-season Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings are priced from $30 to $114; Friday afternoons are priced from $31 to $107; concerts on Friday and Saturday evenings are priced from $33 to $124. Tickets may be purchased by phone through SymphonyCharge (617-266-1200 or 888-266-1200), online through the BSO’s website (www.bso.org), or in person at the Symphony Hall Box Office (301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston). There is a $6.25 service fee for all tickets purchased online or by phone through SymphonyCharge.

A limited number of Rush Tickets for Boston Symphony Orchestra subscription concerts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Friday afternoons are set aside to be sold on the day of a performance. These tickets are sold at $9 each, one to a customer, at the Symphony Hall Box Office. For Friday afternoon concerts Rush Tickets are available beginning at 10 a.m. For Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday evening concerts Rush Tickets are available beginning at 5 p.m.

The BSO’s <40=$20 program allows patrons under the age of 40 to purchase tickets for $20. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis on both the orchestra and balcony levels. There is a limit of one pair per performance, but patrons may attend as many performances as desired.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra offers groups advanced ticket reservations and flexible payment options for BSO concerts at Symphony Hall. Groups of 20 or more may take advantage of ticket discounts, backstage tours, clinics, and master classes. Pre- and post-concert dining options and private function space are available. More information is available through the group sales office at groupsales

The BSO College Card and High School Card are the best way for students and aspiring young musicians to experience the BSO on a regular basis. For only $25 (College Card) or $10 (High School Card) students can attend most BSO concerts at no additional cost by registering the card online to receive text and email notifications of real-time ticket availability.

American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Diners Club, and Discover (in person or by mail) and cash (in person only) are all accepted at the Symphony Hall Box Office. Gift certificates are available in any amount and may be used toward the purchase of tickets (subject to availability) to any Boston Symphony Orchestra or Boston Pops performance at Symphony Hall or Tanglewood. Gift certificates may also be used at the Symphony Shop to purchase merchandise.

Patrons with disabilities can access Symphony Hall through the Massachusetts Avenue lobby or the Cohen Wing on Huntington Avenue. An access service center, accessible restrooms, and elevators are available inside the Cohen Wing entrance. For ticket information, call the Access Services Administrator at 617-638-9431 or TDD/TTY 617-638-9289.

EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES AT SYMPHONY HALL
As part of the BSO’s ongoing initiative to make classical music programming and education widely available to listeners, the orchestra is offering adult educational initiatives for the 2012-2013 season.

UnderScore Fridays is a uniquely formatted concert series. At all Friday-evening concerts, subscribers will hear comments from the evening’s conductor, guest artists, or other important guests speaking from the stage about the program. Tickets for UnderScore Fridays range from $33 to $123.

BSO 101: Are You Listening?returns in 2012-2013, offering seven Wednesday-evening sessions with BSO Director of Program Publications Marc Mandel and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra designed to enhance your listening abilities and general appreciation of music by focusing on works from the BSO’s repertoire. No prior musical training, or attendance at any previous session, is required, since each session is self-contained. BSO: 101: An Insider’s View also returns in 2012-2013, offering four Tuesday-evening sessions with BSO administrative staff and musicians in discussions of such behind-the-scenes activities as program planning, auditions, and the rehearsal process, as well as player perspectives on performing with the BSO. All “BSO 101” sessions take place from 5:30-6:45pm at Symphony Hall, and each is followed by a complimentary reception. Full details of the 2012-2013 “BSO 101” schedule will be announced at a later date.

The popular Friday Preview Talks, during which sandwiches and beverages are available for purchase, run from 12:15pm to 12:45pm and the Symphony Hall doors open at 11:30am. Given by BSO Director of Program Publications Marc Mandel and Assistant Director of Program Publications Robert Kirzinger, these informative half-hour talks incorporate recorded examples from the music to be performed.

BSO MEDIA OFFERINGS
The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s extensive website, BSO.org, is the largest and most-visited orchestral website in the country, receiving approximately 7 million visitors annually and generating over $70 million in revenue since its launch in 1996. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is on Facebook at Facebook.com/BostonSymphony and on Twitter at Twitter.com/BostonSymphony. Video content from the BSO is also available at YouTube.com/BostonSymphony.

In the fall of 2011, the BSO redesigned and updated its popular website at BSO.org. The site’s Media Center, consolidates its numerous new media initiatives in one location. In addition to comprehensive access to all BSO, Boston Pops, Tanglewood, and Symphony Hall performance schedules, patrons have access to a number of free and paid media options. Free offerings include WGBH radio broadcast streams of select BSO, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood performances; audio concert preview podcasts; Emmy Award-winning audio and video interviews with guest artists and BSO musicians; music excerpts, of up to three minutes, highlighting upcoming programs as well as all self-produced albums by the BSO, Boston Pops, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and Tanglewood Music Center Fellows, and complete program notes for all performances, which can be downloaded and printed or saved offline to an e-reading device such as a Kindle or Nook.

Paid content includes digital music downloads produced and published under the BSO’s music label BSO Classics and includes performances by the BSO, Boston Pops, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and Tanglewood Music Center Fellows. Albums available include the BSO’s and James Levine’s Grammy-winning recording of Ravel’s complete Daphnis and Chloé, Brahms’s A German Requiem; the Boston Pops’ The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers featuring Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Ed Harris, and The Red Sox Album; as well as the Tanglewood Festival Chorus’s 40th Anniversary CD. The most recent album released by BSO Classics in November 2011, is the Boston Symphony Chamber Players’ Profanes et Sacrées: 20th-Century French Chamber Music. During the summer of 2012, BSO Classics released 75 archive recordings from Tanglewood’s storied history. These recordings were released individually as a free stream within the first 24 hours of release for the first 75 days of the Tanglewood season, and then were available as a paid digital download after the streaming period ended. Digital music is available in standard definition MP3, and select content is also available in high definition (HD) stereo and surround formats. The Media Center can be visited by clicking on Media Center at bso.org.

In the Fall of 2012, BSO.org will also be available in a phone/mobile device format. Patrons will be able to use BSO.org Mobile to access performance schedules, purchase tickets as well as pre-performance food and beverages, download program notes, listen to radio broadcasts, music clips, and concert previews, watch video exclusives, and make donations to the BSO – all in the palm of their hand.

RADIO BROADCASTS AND STREAMING
BSO concerts are broadcast regularly on the stations of Classical New England, a service of WGBH. Saturday-evening concerts are broadcast live on 99.5 in Boston and 88.7 in Providence, on HD radio at 89.7 HD2, and online – both live and archived – at www.classicalnewengland.org In addition, BSO concerts are now heard throughout New England and upstate New York, on a network of stations including WFCR/Amherst MA, WAMC/Albany NY, WCNH/Concord NH, Vermont Public Radio, and the Maine Public Broadcasting Network. BSO broadcasts on Classical New England begin at 7 p.m. on Saturday nights, and are repeated at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoons. The full schedule is available at www.classicalnewengland.org/bso.

FOOD SERVICES AT SYMPHONY HALL
The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s catering partner, Boston Gourmet, offers a fresh perspective on the food and beverage options offered at Symphony Hall before concerts, during intermission, and in the popular Symphony Café. Symphony Café offers buffet-style dining from 5:30 p.m. until concert time for all evening Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts. In addition, Symphony Café is open for lunch prior to Friday-afternoon concerts. Patrons enjoy the convenience of pre-concert dining at the Café in the unique ambiance of historic Symphony Hall. The cost of dinner is $39 per person; the cost of lunch is $25. The Café is located in Higginson Hall; patrons enter through the Cohen Wing entrance on Huntington Avenue. Please call 617-638-9328 for reservations.

Additionally, appetizers will be available at the bars in Symphony Hall’s Cabot-Cahners Room and O’Block-Kay Room. Patrons can purchase appetizers at the bars or order in advance a pre-concert package that features an appetizer and half-bottle of wine and they can also take advantage of the hall-wide beverage service by purchasing beverage coupons in advance through the BSO’s website at www.bso.org/dining.

SYMPHONY HALL SHOP AND TOURS
The Symphony Shop, located in the Cohen Wing on Huntington Avenue, is open Thursdays and Saturdays from 3pm to 6pm, and from one hour before concert time through intermission. A satellite shop, located on the first-balcony level, is open only during concerts. Merchandise may also be purchased by visiting the BSO website at http://www.bso.org/shop. The shop can be reached at 617-638-9383.

The Boston Symphony Association of Volunteers offers weekly public and private tours of Symphony Hall during the BSO and Pops seasons. For more information on taking an Irving W. and Charlotte F. Rabb Symphony Hall tour, please visit us at bsav, or call 617-638-9390 to confirm specific dates and times. Schedules are subject to change.

SPONSORSHIPS
Bank of America and EMC Corporation are proud to be the Season Sponsors of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2012-13 season. The Fairmont Copley Plaza Boston, celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2012, together with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, is the Official Hotel of the BSO. Commonwealth Worldwide Chauffeured Transportation is the Official Chauffeured Transportation Provider of the BSO.

PRESS CONTACTS:
Bernadette Horgan, Director of Public Relations (bhorgan) 617-638-9285

BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PROGRAM LISTING, MARCH 21-30, 2013

Thursday, March 21, 8 p.m.
Friday, March 22, 1:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 23, 8 p.m.
Tuesday, March 26, 8 p.m.
Daniele Gatti, conductor
Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano
ALL-WAGNER PROGRAM
Dawn, Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, and Siegfried’s Death and Funeral Music from Götterdämmerung
Overture to Tannhäuser
Kundry’s narrative (“Ich sah das Kind”) from Act II of Parsifal
Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin
Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde

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Thursday, March 28, 8 p.m.
Friday, March 29, 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 30, 8 p.m.
Daniele Gatti, conductor
Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano
Women of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus
John Oliver, conductor
Boys of the PALS Children’s Chorus
Andy Icochea Icochea, conductor
MAHLER Symphony No. 3