BOSTON (July 1, 2020) – With offerings for live classical music limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WCRB Classical Radio Boston will offer listeners seven mini-festivals, drawing from the best Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) performances recorded by the station at the BSO’s summer home at Tanglewood over the past 30 years.

Tied together through themes such as "BSO Signature Works," "Musicians' Choices," and "A Celebration of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus at 50,” these performances of individual works will air weeknights, Monday through Friday at 8 pm ET, July 5-Aug. 12, 2020. The schedule for the festivals can be found here.

In addition to the festivals, WCRB will broadcast eight full-length BSO performances featuring some of the top names in classical music. These previously-recorded concerts include BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons leading pianist Emanuel Ax in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22, violinist Joshua Bell performing Dvorák’s Violin Concerto, and Boston Pops Conductor Laureate John Williams leading the Pops and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter in some of the composer’s iconic film scores. WCRB will also broadcast Maestro Nelsons leading the traditional season-ending BSO performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

“WCRB’s Tanglewood broadcasts have always brought the celebrated music of the BSO and the unparalleled experience of the premier classical music summer festival directly into the homes of music lovers,” said Station Manager Anthony Rudel. “The pandemic has challenged our sense of community and has forced us to think of new ways to bring us together. The BSO and the WCRB team have mined the treasures of past recorded-live performances to bring new shared listening experiences to our audiences.”

A full schedule of these broadcasts can be found below. The broadcasts will also air on WAMC in Albany, NY; New England Public Radio in Springfield, MA; and WMNR in Monroe, CT. Please check local stations for specific broadcast times.

“We are immensely grateful to WCRB for their valuable partnership and commitment to presenting summertime broadcasts that will inspire our loyal audiences and welcome new listeners locally and globally during this period of hiatus from live performances at Tanglewood,” said Anthony Fogg, BSO Artistic Administrator and Director of Tanglewood. We’re especially grateful to Anthony Rudel who has curated a Tanglewood playlist that spotlights many of the most beloved performances of past seasons, with a special focus on many of the artists most closely associated with Tanglewood, including our very own Andris Nelsons and John Williams. We hope that these wonderful broadcasts, along with the offerings of the Tanglewood 2020 Online Festival, will help sustain music fans near and far until we are all together again in summer 2021.”

Schedule of WCRB’s Tanglewood Broadcasts

Sunday, July 5, 7 pm - Nelsons Conducts Mozart, with Emanuel Ax, and Mahler
Saturday, July 11, 8 pm - Nelsons Conducts Gershwin, with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Stravinsky
Saturday, July 18, 8 pm - Sibelius, with Thomas Adès and Christian Tetzlaff
Saturday, July 25, 8 pm - Dvorák, with Joshua Bell and Ken-David Masur
Saturday, August 1, 8 pm - Nelsons Conducts Chopin, with Lisiecki, and Copland
Saturday, August 8, 8 pm - Masur Conducts Rachmaninoff, with Gerstein, and Stravinsky
Saturday, August 15, 8 pm - John Williams and David Newman Conduct the Boston Pops in "Across the Stars," with Anne-Sophie Mutter
Sunday, August 23, 7 pm - Nelsons Conducts Beethoven's Ninth

About WCRB
WCRB 99.5 FM is a non-commercial, independent, listener-supported public radio station dedicated to excellence in classical music broadcasting. Serving Boston and the New England region, it offers accessible classical radio of the highest caliber and operates under the core belief that classical music can and should be part of everyone’s life. WCRB is a key community convener for classical music in New England, partnering with local arts organizations including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Early Music Festival, the New England Conservatory and more. Its online streaming reaches a global audience. WCRB is a service of national public media leader WGBH.

About WGBH
WGBH Boston is America’s preeminent public broadcaster and the largest producer of PBS content for TV and the Web, including Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Nova, American Experience, Arthur and more than a dozen other primetime, lifestyle and children’s series. WGBH’s television channels include WGBH 2, WGBX 44, and the digital channels World and Create. WGBH TV productions focusing on the region’s diverse community include Greater Boston, Basic Black and High School Quiz Show®. WGBH Radio serves listeners across New England with 89.7 WGBH, Boston’s Local NPR®; 99.5 WCRB Classical Radio Boston; and WCAI, the Cape and Islands NPR® Station. WGBH also is a major source of digital content and programs for public radio through PRX, including The World and Innovation Hub, a leader in educational multimedia with PBS LearningMedia™, providing the nation’s educators with free, curriculum-based digital content, and a pioneer in services that make media accessible to deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired audiences. WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors: Emmys, Peabodys, duPont-Columbia Awards and Oscars. Find more information at wgbh.org.
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