At Tanglewood, You Can Hear 8 Concerts in 3 Days | Classical Music - The New York Times

Between the Festival of Contemporary Music and Boston Symphony Orchestra programs, a recent visit offered an exhilarating immersion, inform Anthony Tommasini, chief classical music critic, inform Anthony Tommasini, chief classical music critic.

The Silent Film Project presents scenes from classics with students playing scores by composers from the Tanglewood Music Center.
Photo: Hilary Scott

There are really two Tanglewoods here in the bucolic Berkshires. One is the popular summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The other is the less-known Tanglewood Music Center, the orchestra’s prestigious training institute for exceptional student performers and composers.

But during a few densely scheduled days every summer, the Tanglewood Music Center takes center stage to present the Festival of Contemporary Music. This year’s edition, directed for the second consecutive year by the composer and conductor Thomas Adès and spread over five days, was no exception. On a recent visit, I attended both festival events and Boston Symphony programs — a total of eight concerts in three days, an exhilarating immersion in the two Tanglewoods...

A prelude concert on Monday at Ozawa Hall, featuring mostly piano pieces, was dedicated to the composer Oliver Knussen, who died last year at 66. As the director of contemporary music activities at the Tanglewood Music Center from 1986 to 1993, Mr. Knussen conducted and organized dozens of programs like these. His distinctive piano works, including the “Prayer Bell Sketch” (played sensitively by Tomoki Park), and the impetuous 12 Variations (played arrestingly by Christine Wu), were among the highlights.

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Source: The New York Times