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43-564: The Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) was founded in 1940 as the Berkshire Music Center by the BSO's music director, Serge Koussevitzky , three years after the establishment of Tanglewood as the summer home of the BSO. He served as director of the center until one year after his retirement with the BSO, when he was succeeded by new BSO director Charles Münch , who ran the TMC from 1951 until 1962. Munch

86-569: A 1997 recording of Claude Debussy songs. Upshaw appears on an album of Christmas music in association with the male vocal ensemble Chanticleer titled Christmas with Chanticleer featuring special guest Dawn Upshaw for Teldec Classics. Upshaw tours regularly with pianist Gilbert Kalish . Richard Goode and Margo Garrett are also long-standing partners. She has worked with director Peter Sellars many times, including on his staging of Händel 's Theodora at Glyndebourne , his Paris production of Stravinsky 's The Rake's Progress —as part of

129-593: A conductor in 1908. The concert included Sergei Rachmaninoff 's Piano Concerto No. 2 , with the composer at the piano. The next year he and his wife returned to Russia, where he founded his own orchestra in Moscow and branched out into the publishing business, forming his own firm, Éditions Russes de Musique , and buying the catalogues of many of the greatest composers of the age. Among the composers published by Koussevitzky were Rachmaninoff, Alexander Scriabin , Sergei Prokofiev , Igor Stravinsky , and Nikolai Medtner . During

172-703: A conductor/vocalist), Russell Peck , Ned Rorem , Gitta Steiner , Steven Mackey , Richard Aaker Trythall , Norma Wendelburg , and composer and conductor Oliver Knussen , among many others. Conducting alums include Leonard Bernstein , Robert Spano , Eleazar de Carvalho , Seiji Ozawa , Lorin Maazel , Claudio Abbado , Michael Tilson Thomas , David Zinman , Christoph von Dohnanyi , Zubin Mehta , and Marin Alsop . Other notable TMC alumni include Dawn Upshaw , Wynton Marsalis , and Burt Bacharach . The Festival of Contemporary Music

215-911: A number of works from prominent composers. During his time in Paris in the early 1920s he programmed much contemporary music, ensuring well-prepared and good quality performances. Among the well-received premieres were Arthur Honegger 's Pacific 231 , George Gershwin 's Second Rhapsody and Albert Roussel 's Suite in F . For the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 50th anniversary, he commissioned Copland's Ode , Prokofiev's Symphony No. 4 (which Prokofiev later revised), Paul Hindemith 's Concert Music for Strings and Brass , and Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms , as well as works by Albert Roussel and Howard Hanson . In 1922, Koussevitzky commissioned Maurice Ravel 's arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky 's 1874 suite for piano, Pictures at an Exhibition , which

258-610: A pair of cufflinks from Koussevitzky as a gift, and thereafter wore them at every concert he conducted. Koussevitzky's first wife was Bolshoi ballet dancer Nadezheda Galat, whom he married at an unknown date probably before 1903; he divorced her in 1905 and married Natalya (Natalie) Ushkov on 8 September of that year. Koussevitzky's second wife Natalie died in 1942, and he created the Koussevitzky Music Foundations in her honor. In late 1947, he married Olga Naumova (1901–1978), Natalie's niece. Naumova had lived with

301-479: A soloist in Moscow, although his biographer Moses Smith states he made his solo début earlier in 1896; he later won critical acclaim with his first recital in Berlin in 1903. In 1902 he married the dancer Nadezhda Galat . The same year, with Reinhold Glière 's help, he wrote a popular concerto for the double bass, which he premiered in Moscow in 1905. In 1905, Koussevitzky divorced Nadezhda and married Natalie Ushkova,

344-565: A very spirited Beethoven " Egmont Overture ", were made during the 1940s. Several of the Koussevitzky/ Boston Symphony's 78 rpm recordings with were reissued on LP on the bargain RCA Camden label, originally released at US$ 1.98 for a 12-inch LP album when premium priced Red Seal records were selling for US$ 5.98, in the early 1950s as the "Centennial Symphony Orchestra". One of the later albums featured Prokofiev's Peter and

387-401: Is an American soprano . She is the recipient of several Grammy Awards and has released a number of Edison Award -winning discs; she performs both opera and art song , and her repertoire spans Baroque to contemporary . Many composers, including Henri Dutilleux , Osvaldo Golijov , John Harbison , Esa-Pekka Salonen , John Adams , and Kaija Saariaho , have written for her. In 2007, she

430-755: Is an annual event at Tanglewood, organized by the Tanglewood Music Center. It began in 1964 as a project of then BSO Music Director Erich Leinsdorf, the newly appointed coordinator of contemporary music studies at the TMC, Gunther Schuller, and noted contemporary music patron Paul Fromm . Recent Festivals have focused on composers born in 1938 (2007) and the music of Elliott Carter (2008). Serge Koussevitzky Serge Koussevitzky (born Sergey Aleksandrovich Kusevitsky ; Russian : Сергей Александрович Кусевицкий , IPA: [sʲɪrˈɡʲej ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ kʊsʲɪˈvʲitskʲɪj] ; 26 July [ O.S. 14 July] 1874 – 4 June 1951)

473-637: Is not awarded annually. Past winners have included Seiji Ozawa (1960), Russell Peck (1966), and Michael Tilson Thomas (1969). The Musicians Club of New York , of which Olga Koussevitzky was president from 1962 to 1975, presents the Serge and Olga Koussevitzky Young Artist Awards. Three prizes are awarded annually in categories that rotate between voice, strings, piano, and woodwind/brass. Winners have included Judith Raskin (1956), Jean Kraft (1959), Robert DeGaetano (1969), Paul Neubauer (1982) and François Salque (1994). Serge Koussevitzky recorded with

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516-624: The Concerts Koussevitzky (1921–1929), presenting new works by Prokofiev, Stravinsky, and Maurice Ravel . In 1924 he took a post in the United States, replacing Pierre Monteux as conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra . However, he continued to return to Paris in the summers to conduct his Concerts Koussevitzky until 1929. In 1941 he and his wife became United States citizens. Koussevitzky's appointment as conductor of

559-664: The Grawemeyer Award -winning opera L'Amour de Loin by Kaija Saariaho , The Great Gatsby by John Harbison , the nativity oratorio El Niño by John Adams , and Osvaldo Golijov's highly acclaimed chamber opera Ainadamar and song cycle Ayre . In 2009, she premiered David Bruce's song cycle The North Wind was a Woman at the gala opening of the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Centre's season. In addition to her operatic recordings, she has also sung

602-762: The Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen 's month-long residency at the Théâtre du Châtelet , 1996—a staging of Bach's cantata Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut , BWV 199 , presented in the 1995–96 season at New York's 92nd Street Y , and the Salzburg Festival production of Olivier Messiaen 's Saint François d'Assise (1998). Upshaw has often performed as a soloist at the annual Ojai Music Festival in California; most recently in 2006, 2008, and 2009. In 2011, she

645-837: The Manhattan School of Music in New York City , earning her M.M. in 1984. She also attended courses given by Jan DeGaetani at the Aspen Music School . She was a winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions (1984) and the Walter M. Naumburg Competition (1985), and was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Young Artists Development Program. Since her start in 1984, Upshaw has made more than 300 appearances at

688-540: The Metropolitan Opera . Upshaw came to international fame with her performance on the million-selling recording (1992), with David Zinman , of Symphony No 3 by Henryk Górecki , known as the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs ( Symfonia pieśni żałosnych ). She has premiered more than twenty-five new works, notably Henri Dutilleux 's song-cycle Correspondances , and has embraced several pieces created for her, including

731-480: The 2006–07 academic year. She also is a faculty member at the Tanglewood Music Center . Upshaw holds honorary doctorates of arts from Yale University , the Manhattan School of Music , Illinois Wesleyan University , and Allegheny College . She is an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University from 2020 to 2026. Upshaw is a divorced mother of two. She lives near New York City. She

774-523: The 5,700-seat main performance venue bears his name. In the early 1940s, he discovered a young tenor named Alfred Cocozza (who would later be known as Mario Lanza ), and provided him with a scholarship to attend Tanglewood. With the Boston Symphony he made numerous recordings, most of which were well regarded by critics. His students and protégés included Leonard Bernstein , Eleazar de Carvalho , Samuel Adler , and Sarah Caldwell . Bernstein once received

817-473: The BSO announced Andris Nelsons as its 15th Music Director. Since assuming his post in 2015, Nelsons has worked with the TMC Orchestra every season and given frequent conducting masterclasses to the conducting fellows of the TMC. Following Highstein's retirement Michael Nock, who previously served as Associate Director, was named interim director for the summer of 2022. In October 2023, violist Edward Gazouleas

860-414: The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) was the beginning of a golden era for the ensemble that would continue until 1949. Over that 25-year period, he built the ensemble's reputation into that of a leading American orchestra . Together with Gertrude Robinson Smith he played a central role in developing the orchestra's internationally acclaimed summer concert and educational programs at Tanglewood where today

903-512: The Boston Symphony exclusively for Victor/ RCA Victor , except for a live recording made for Columbia Records , the Symphony 1933 composed by Roy Harris , recorded in Carnegie Hall , New York, during a concert, using portable equipment. One quite notable early RCA Victor session in Boston's Symphony Hall in 1929 was devoted to an early recording of Ravel 's Boléro , and his first sessions with

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946-627: The Boston orchestra of Beethoven 's Pastoral Symphony and a suite from Stravinsky 's Petrushka were recorded in Symphony Hall in 1927. Some of Koussevitzky's later recordings, including performances of the second suite from Prokofiev 's Romeo and Juliet (1945, Symphony Hall, Boston), first symphony (1947, Carnegie Hall, New York, a session that included Mendelssohn 's "Italian" Symphony ), and fifth symphony (1945, Symphony Hall, Boston), were reportedly mastered on RCA's sound film optical recording process, first employed in this way with

989-475: The Koussevitzky mansion (Seranak) near the grounds; this practice ended with Highstein's appointment as director. Koussevitzky's vision for the TMC was an institution where students would work closely with faculty members of the BSO and guest artists, as well as with each other. The selection process is extremely competitive: in 2007, there were over 1500 applicants, from whom 156 Fellows were chosen. Alumni of

1032-645: The San Francisco Symphony in March 1942. Koussevitzky's final recordings, made in November 1950, on magnetic tape using RCA's proprietary RT-21 two-track, 1 ⁄ 4 -inch machines at 30 inches per second , were acclaimed performances of Sibelius 's Second Symphony and Grieg 's "The Last Spring". Both have been re-released by RCA on CD in Taiwan. Films of some of Koussevitzky's performances at Tanglewood, including

1075-454: The TMC constitute a significant presence in the professional classical music scene: it is estimated that 20% of American symphony orchestra members, as well as 30% of all first-chair players, have attended the program. Notable alums in composition include John Adams , Luciano Berio , Leonard Bernstein , William Bolcom , Mario Davidovsky , David Del Tredici , Jacob Druckman , Lukas Foss , Michael Gandolfi , John Harbison (who attended as

1118-618: The Wolf and Richard Strauss 's Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks ; while the orchestra was again listed as the Centennial Symphony and the conductor not identified, the narrator, actor Richard Hale , was. Koussevitzky rerecorded the piece in Tanglewood with Eleanor Roosevelt narrating during the summer of 1950 on magnetic tape; originally issued on a ten-inch LP and three 45 rpm records, it has never been reissued officially by RCA in spite of

1161-621: The age of fourteen he received a scholarship to the Musico-Dramatic Institute of the Moscow Philharmonic Society , where he studied double bass with Rambusek and music theory . He excelled at the bass, joining the Bolshoi Theatre orchestra at the age of twenty, in 1894, and succeeded his teacher, Rambusek, as the principal bassist in 1901. That same year, according to some sources, he made his début (25 March) as

1204-663: The cost of their performance. New works created with the foundations' support include: Benjamin Britten 's opera Peter Grimes , Douglas Moore 's opera The Ballad of Baby Doe , Béla Bartók 's Concerto for Orchestra , Aaron Copland 's Symphony No. 3 , Henri Dutilleux 's string quartet Ainsi la nuit and Olivier Messiaen 's Turangalîla-Symphonie . Following Koussevitzky's 1951 death, his widow, Olga Koussevitzky, presented double-bassist Gary Karr with his double bass , once believed to have been made in 1611 by brothers Antonio and Girolamo Amati . The instrument now bears

1247-546: The couple and acted as their secretary for 18 years. Olga Naumova was the daughter of the distinguished politician and civil servant Aleksandr Naumov (1868, Simbirsk – 1950, Nice, France) who served as Minister of Agriculture in the Russian Imperial Cabinet. She has been described as quiet, and soft-spoken, and Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland counted her among their close friends. His nephew Faviy Adolfovich Koussevitzky, known professionally as Fabien Sevitzky ,

1290-559: The daughter of an extremely wealthy tea merchant. He soon resigned from the Bolshoi, and the couple moved to Berlin, where Serge studied conducting under Arthur Nikisch , using his wife's wealth to pay off his teacher's gambling debts. In Berlin he continued to give double bass recitals and, after two years practising conducting in his own home with a student orchestra, he hired the Berlin Philharmonic and made his professional début as

1333-439: The direction of TMC in 1985, but resigned abruptly several years later in 1997 after a "lengthy, bitter dispute" with Ozawa. Fleisher was replaced by Ellen Highstein in 1998. Ozawa was succeeded as BSO director in 2001 by James Levine , who conducted some TMC concerts and operas and worked with the student conductors in addition to leading Tanglewood's BSO programs. Levine left the BSO in 2011 after health issues. On May 16, 2013,

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1376-594: The names of both Karr and Koussevitzky, and has been played by bassist Scott Pingel and the San Francisco Academy Orchestra . In 1956, the American composer Howard Hanson , a friend of Koussevitzky, wrote his Elegy for Serge Koussevitzky. The Tanglewood Music Center awards the Koussevitzky Prize for outstanding student conductor. It has been awarded since 1954, but unlike many prizes, it

1419-593: The period 1909 to 1920 he continued to perform as soloist in Europe, and in Russia he and his orchestra toured towns along the Volga River by riverboat in 1910, 1912, and 1914. The programs included many new works. After the 1917 Russian Revolution , he accepted a position as conductor of the newly named State Philharmonic Orchestra of Petrograd (1917–1920). In 1920, he left Soviet Russia for Berlin and Paris. In Paris he organized

1462-594: The popularity of the Camden disc with Hale. Hale was also the narrator for Arthur Fiedler 's 1953 RCA Victor recording of the same music with the Boston Pops Orchestra . RCA Victor reissued several other historic orchestral recordings on its Camden label with spurious names to avoid having them in direct competition with newer recordings by the same artists on the upscale Red Seal label. Notes References Dawn Upshaw Dawn Upshaw (born July 17, 1960)

1505-688: The title role in the first complete recording of the score of Gershwin 's Oh, Kay! . She has also recorded albums of songs by Vernon Duke and Rodgers and Hart . Upshaw was a guest of President of the United States Bill Clinton and Mrs. Clinton on the NBC special Christmas in Washington . The BBC presented a prime-time telecast of her 1996 London Proms Concert , Dawn at Dusk , in which she performed songs from American musical theater . Her engagements with James Levine over many years led to

1548-550: The word sung 64 times in the Russian manner – which became his most frequently performed work. In 1915, Claude Debussy dedicated the first movement of his En blanc et noir for two pianos to Koussevitzky. As an avid supporter of new music, Koussevitzky created the Koussevitzky Music Foundations in 1942. The basic aim of the foundations was to assist composers by commissioning new compositions and underwriting

1591-495: Was a Russian and American conductor, composer, and double-bassist , known for his long tenure as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1949. Koussevitzky was born into a Jewish family of professional musicians in Vyshny Volochyok , Tver Governorate (present-day Tver Oblast ), about 250 km northwest of Moscow, Russia. His parents taught him violin, cello, and piano. He also learned trumpet. At

1634-518: Was announced as director designate of the Tanglewood Music Center. Tanglewood activities take place on 210 acres (85 ha) of meadow, most of which was donated to the BSO in 1936 by the Tappan family. Students of the TMC are typically housed in Miss Hall's School , a boarding school for high-school aged girls in nearby Pittsfield. Until 1999, composition students at the festival were housed separately at

1677-632: Was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship . Dawn Upshaw was born in Nashville, Tennessee . She began singing while attending Rich East High School in Park Forest, Illinois and was the only female ever promoted to the top choir (the Singing Rockets) as a sophomore, according to choir director Douglas Ulreich. She received a B.A. in 1982 from Illinois Wesleyan University , where she studied voice with Dr. David Nott. She went on to study voice with Ellen Faull at

1720-765: Was music director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from 1937 until 1955. Sevitzky changed his surname in order to mitigate accusations of nepotism against him. Koussevitzky died in Boston in 1951 and was buried alongside his wife Natalie at the Church on the Hill Cemetery in Lenox. His pet is buried at the Pine Ridge Pet Cemetery in Dedham. Koussevitzky was a great champion of modern music, commissioning

1763-651: Was premiered on 19 October that year and quickly became the most famous and celebrated orchestration of the work. Koussevitzky held the rights to this version for many years. In 1940, Koussevitzky commissioned Randall Thompson , then a professor at the University of Virginia and director of the men's Glee club , to write a new piece for performance at Tanglewood. Koussevitzky had a large-scale festival piece in mind, but with World War II underway and France having fallen to Germany, Thompson could not find such an inspiration. Instead, he produced his unaccompanied Alleluia – with

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1806-581: Was succeeded by BSO director Erich Leinsdorf , who was TMC director from 1963 to 1970. In 1970, three years before he was appointed as Music Director of the BSO, Seiji Ozawa took over BSO activities at Tanglewood, with Gunther Schuller as TMC director and Leonard Bernstein as general advisor. In 1975, the Italian conductor Franco Ferrara began teaching conducting at TMC. Schuller remained as director until August 1984 when he resigned over differences with Ozawa. Pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher took over

1849-724: Was the music director of the festival, where she performed the world premiere of the Peter Sellers-staged production of George Crumb 's work Winds of Destiny . She joined the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra as artistic partner beginning with the 2007–08 season, and she is artistic director of the Graduate Program in Vocal Arts at the Bard College Conservatory of Music , which accepted its first students in

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