Three outstanding maestros—Kurt Masur, Christoph Eschenbach, and Stéphane Denève—will each conduct a program by the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in its annual visits to Carnegie Hall this March, with music ranging from large-scale Romantic choral music to twentieth-century Russian works. Between the second and third BSO programs, the Boston Pops returns to Carnegie Hall with conductor Keith Lockhart for the first time since 2000, for a program featuring the acclaimed trio Time for Three (making its Carnegie Hall debut) and a special tribute to the “King of Swing,” Benny Goodman, featuring BSO clarinetist Thomas Martin.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra begins its series onTuesday, March 6 at 8:00 p.m. with Mr. Masur conducting Beethoven’s Missa solemnis. Joining the BSO and Maestro Masur are soprano Christine Brewer, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, tenor Simon O’Neill, bass-baritone Eric Owens, and theTanglewood Festival Chorus under the direction ofJohn Oliver.
The following evening, Wednesday, March 7 at 8:00 p.m., Mr. Eschenbach leads the BSO in Berlioz’s Overture to Benvenuto Cellini and Symphonie fantastique, and Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with guest soloist Cédric Tiberghien.
In the final BSO program, on Friday, March 9 at 7:30 p.m., Mr. Denève conducts the orchestra in Ravel’s Ma Mère l'Oye (Mother Goose) Suite, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, and Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Winds featuring soloist Peter Serkin.
Prior to the BSO’s final concert, on Thursday, March 8 at 8:00 p.m., Keith Lockhart leads the Boston Pops in a program that includes the New York premiere of Chris Brubeck's Travels in Time for Three, featuring the groundbreaking “classically trained garage band” Time for Three, as well as a tribute to legendary Benny Goodman featuring clarinetist Thomas Martin. The Boston Pops will also perform a rendition of Freddie Mercury’s iconic rock song Bohemian Rhapsody, before inviting the audience to join the Pops in “A Cinematic Sing-Along” including Moon River, Over the Rainbow, and Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.
About his premiere, Brubeck writes, “I feel like I am a tailor. If I am going to make a concerto suite it’s got to fit. I have to know what they like, what excites them. What was funny is that after we got tired of jamming it in a jazz style we decided to approach it from a classical music style, and all of a sudden it was like the guys had stepped through a musical portal and they were now playing in powdered wigs and waistcoats. But the piece is filled with that sort of thing where they are in one style and then suddenly they are yanked into another time zone. Three hundred years ahead and then three hundred years back and up into the mountains.”
