(LENOX, Mass.) – The Boston Symphony Orchestra opens its 2015 Tanglewood season with an all-American program featuring works by John Harbison, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland and Duke Ellington, all under the direction of conductor Jacques Lacombe, music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, on Friday, July 3, 2015, at 8:30pm. Actor John Douglas Thompson will narrate excerpts from some of Abraham Lincoln’s greatest speeches, including the Gettysburg Address, as part of the performance of Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,” replacing opera star Jessye Norman, who had to withdraw due to illness.
Opening Night at Tanglewood features acclaimed Russian pianist Kirill Gerstein in Gershwin’s 1925 Piano Concerto in F, which strikes a perfect balance between the composer’s jazz-pop style and classical form; Copland’s patriotic and profound Lincoln Portrait, with special guest John Douglas Thompson narrating excerpts from some of Abraham Lincoln’s greatest speeches, including the Gettysburg Address; Boston-based composer and longtime BSO collaborator John Harbison’s Jazz Age-inspired Remembering Gatsby (Foxtrot for Orchestra); and Duke Ellington’s orchestral jazz piece Harlem, all under the direction of conductor Jacques Lacombe, music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.
Friday, July 3, 8:30 p.m. Shed
Opening Night at Tanglewood
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Jacques Lacombe, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano
John Douglas Thompson, speaker
All-American program
HARBISON Remembering Gatsby (Foxtrot for Orchestra)
GERSHWIN Piano Concerto in F
COPLAND Lincoln Portrait
ELLINGTON Harlem