Boston Symphony Orchestra - Sunday Classical

Concerts from the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 2012-13 Season will be heard from 1 - 3 p.m. on 88.5FM WFCR* during the station's Sunday classical music line up.  

"The Boston Symphony Orchestra has lined up an impressive series of soloists for their fall broadcast season, with repertoire both familiar and varied enough to satisfy all," says New England Public Radio's Music Director, John Montanari.  "Add in the US premiere of a premiere composer's latest -- Kaija Saariaho's 'Cirle Map' -- and Ravel's endearing, moving one-act opera 'L'enfant et les sortilèges' ('The Child and the Spells'), and you've got unusually fresh and engaging programs from Symphony Hall."

The Sunday afternoon concerts are co-hosted by Classical New England's Ron Della Chiesa and Cathy Fuller. Classical New England is the classical music service of WGBH in Boston.   

BSO : Jan. 6  A Midsummer Night’s Dream 
BSO Laureate Conductor Bernard Haitink conducting the BSO in the complete incidental music to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Felix Mendelssohn.

BSO Jan. 13 BSO Players: Copland and Tchaikovsky 
Members of the BSO play Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, two Serenades by Richard Strauss and Pyotr Tchaikovsky, the Procesion du Cendredi-Saint by Henri Tomasi, and Igor Stravinsky’s riot-inducing Rite of Spring.

BSO Jan. 20: Michael Stern conducts Meyer and Tchaikovsky 
Violin soloist Joshua Bell plays with the composer as duo-soloists in Edgar Meyer’s Double Concerto – the second commission Meyer has written for Bell. Michael Stern conducts the BSO in Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony.

BSO Jan. 27: Gilbert conducts Dutilleux, Stravinsky, and Ravel 
Lisa Batiashvili returns to Symphony Hall as soloist in Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D, and Alan Gilbert conducts Dutilleux's Métaboles, Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements, and Ravel's La Valse.

BSO Feb 3: Verdi’s Requiem 
Daniele Gatti conducts the BSO and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem, with soprano Fiorenza Celodins, mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova, tenor Stuart Neill, and bass Carlo Colombara.

BSO Feb. 10: Dutoit conducts Hindemith, Liszt, and Prokofiev
Charles Dutoit conducts Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphosis on Theme of Carlo Maria von Weber, Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1, with soloist Stephen Hough, and music from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.

BSO Feb. 17: Nelsons conducts Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky 
Andris Nelsons conducts two Russian masterpieces, including Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1, with soloist Baibe Skride, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5.

BSO Feb. 24: Dohnányi conducts Brahms, Beethoven, & Sibelius 
Christoph von Dohnányi leads the BSO in Brahms's Variations on a Theme by Haydn and the Symphony No. 5 by Beethoven, and Renaud Capuçon is the soloist in Sibelius's Violin Concerto.

BSO March 3: Dohnányi conducts Mozart and Bruckner 
Pianist Radu Lupu is the soloist in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23, and conductor Christoph von Dohnányi returns for a second week with the BSO in Bruckner's Symphony No. 4, the "Romantic."

BSO Mar. 10: Fruhbeck de Burgos conducts Haydn and Stravinsky 
Tenor Matthew Polenzani is joined by soprano Alexandra Coku, mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill, bass Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for Haydn's Mass in Time of War, preceded by Stravinsky's complete Pulcinella, all conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.

BSO Mar. 17: Lang Lang plays Rachmaninoff 
Pianist Lang Lang is the soloist in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos conducts two BSO signature works: Hindemith's Konzertmusik for Strings and Brass, commissioned by the BSO and premiered in 1931, and Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky and premiered by the BSO in 1944.

BSO Mar. 24: Remembering Van Cliburn 
One of the most memorable concerts in Boston Symphony history: The pianist Van Cliburn's BSO debut in October of 1958, where the red-hot Tchaikovsky Competiton winner played both the Piano Concerto in A minor by Robert Schumann AND the Piano Concerto No. 3 by Rachmaninoff. Charles Munch conducts the BSO.

BSO Mar. 31: Eschenbach conducts Thomas, Mozart, and Saint-Saëns 
Christoph Eschenbach returns to the Symphony Hall podium for the premiere of a BSO commission: Augusta Read Thomas's Cello Concerto No. 3, with soloist Lynn Harrell. Also on the program are Mozart's Symphony No. 41, the "Jupiter," and the spectacular Symphony No. 3, the "Organ," by Camille Saint-Saëns.

BSO Apr. 7: Wagner Bicentennial 
Mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung joins the BSO and conductor Daniele Gatti for a celebration of the bicentennial of the birth of Richard Wagner, with excerpts from Parsifal, Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde, and Götterdämmerung, as well as the gorgeous Siegfried Idyll.

BSO Apr. 14: Gatti, von Otter, PALS, and TFC play Mahler 
Daniele Gatti returns to the Symphony Hall podium for Gustav Mahler's massive Symphony No. 3, with mezzo-soprano Anne-Sophie von Otter, the PALS Children’s Chorus, and the women of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

BSO Apr. 21: Emanuel Ax plays Beethoven 
Pianist Emanuel Ax is the soloist in Beethoven’s second Piano Concerto, with Jaap Van Zweden conducting. The program also includes Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2.

BSO Apr. 28: Knussen conducts Knussen 
Pinchas Zukerman is the soloist in Oliver Knussen's Violin Concerto, conducted by the composer. Knussen also conducts his Whitman Settings, with soprano Claire Booth, Miaskovsky's Symphony No. 10, and Stokowski's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

BSO May 5:The BSO Goes Conductor-less 
The individual sections of the BSO take center stage in a conductor-less concert that includes Serenades by Mozart and Dvorák, brass and percussion works by Britten and Tippett, and Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.

BSO May 12: Haitink conducts Schubert and Mahler 
Bernard Haitink returns to the Symphony Hall podium for two weeks, beginning with a program that includes Schubert's Symphony No. 5 and Mahler's Symphony No. 4, with soprano Camilla Tilling.

BSO May 19: Haitink conducts Schubert and Brahms 
The final concert of the season features Nikolaj Znaider as soloist in the Violin Concerto by Brahms, and Bernard Haitink conducts Schubert's Symphony No. 9 in C, the "Great."