May 2nd, 3rd and 4th 2024

The works of William Shakespeare deeply influenced composer Hector Berlioz. In fact, it was actress Harriet Smithson’s performances of two great Shakespearean heroines — Ophelia in Hamlet and of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet — that captivated the composer and led to their (ill-fated) marriage. As we close the season, Andris Nelsons leads one of Berlioz’s most successful and vibrant compositions, Roméo et Juliette. Berlioz called his Roméo et Juliette a “symphony with choruses,” highlighting the importance of the orchestra and of the work’s overall form. These performances celebrate the role of French repertoire in the BSO’s rich history; the complete symphony and movements from it were frequently programmed by Pierre Monteux, Serge Koussevitzky, Charles Munch, and Seiji Ozawa.

April 11th, 12th, and 13th 2024

March 14th, 15th, and 16th 2024

January 25th and 26th 2024

This performance is the most ambitious endeavor in the BSO and Andris Nelsons’ multi-year survey of the works of Dmitri Shostakovich, just as Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was an immense undertaking for its 24-year-old composer. Shostakovich began the score in late 1930, basing it on Nikolai Leskov’s 1865 novella of the same name; the story is a dark portrayal of Katerina Ismailova, the oppressed, ambitious, and ultimately murderous wife of a provincial merchant. The opera was a worldwide sensation following its 1934 premiere, but after Josef Stalin attended a performance in January 1936, an unsigned Pravda editorial titled “Muddle instead of Music” unequivocally damned the piece and put Shostakovich in real danger. The composer responded by hastily writing the ostensibly heroic, triumphant Fifth Symphony, thus surviving the first of many confrontations with Stalin and the Soviet regime.

January 11th, 12th, 13th, and 26th 2024

Tania León’s Pulitzer Prize-winning piece Stride draws on her Cuban heritage and her long association with dance to create music rich with rhythmic vitality and scintillating instrumental colors. Closing the concert is and one of the most influential pieces in history: Igor Stravinsky’s ballet score The Rite of Spring, a work of primal power.