Boston Symphony Orchestra
The BSO avoided a strike and greeted its music director warmly, but an oddly programmed opening night culminated in a deeply disappointing Brahms Fourth.
With Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax on hand—and an audience that repeatedly, rapturously made its feelings known—the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s opening weekend served as both a musical showcase and a public tribute to its departing music director.
A court-ordered reset in Washington and a self-inflicted rupture in Boston expose deeper failures of leadership, transparency, and trust.
Early promise, enduring vision, and a lifetime of well-timed reinvention.
Why festival programming—and humanities partnerships—can help the BSO.
In Boston, Leonard Bernstein might have sustained Serge Koussevitzky’s bold adventure—and changed the course of American classical music. Today’s Boston Symphony is adrift
Last Friday night, conductor Andris Nelsons and the musicians came on stage together wearing red carnations as symbols of solidarity. The applause was immediate and fervent.
Ultimately—and regardless of one’s take on Andris Nelsons as an artist—it’s hard to see how the institution’s long-term interests are served by last week’s developments.
Reflecting on our divisive politics, BSO music director Andris Nelsons told the concert audience that “Every tunnel has light at the end.”
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Hedge-fund logic, executive excess, celebrity casting, and algorithmic ticket prices are remaking nonprofit arts groups and Broadway alike
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