2023-24 BSO Season

Bartók Bluebeard’s Castle

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Karina Canellakis, conductor
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Karen Cargill, mezzo-soprano
Nathan Berg, bass-baritone
Jeremiah Kissel, narrator

HAYDN Cello Concerto in C
Intermission
BARTÓK Bluebeard’s Castle*

*Concert performance; sung in Hungarian with English supertitles

Thursday evening's concert is supported by Alex Healy. Friday afternoon's performance by the vocal soloists is supported by a generous gift from the Ethan Ayer Vocal Soloist Fund.
Friday afternoon's performance by Alisa Weilerstein is supported by the May and Dan Pierce Guest Artist Fund.
Saturday evening's concert is supported by Mr. C. Thomas Brown.
Saturday evening's performance by Alisa Weilerstein is supported by Professor Paul L. Joskow and Dr. Barbara Chasen Joskow.

American conductor Karina Canellakis returns to lead a concert performance of Béla Bartók’s chilling and evocative opera Bluebeard's Castle. Based on the fable of the cruel duke whose new wife discovers his terrible past, the opera features some of Bartók’s most riveting orchestral writing. Scottish mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill sings the role of Judith, Canadian bass-baritone Nathan Berg is Bluebeard, and speaker Jeremiah Kissel performs the opera’s Prologue in these performances. To begin these concerts, the innovative American cellist Alisa Weilerstein is soloist in Joseph Haydn’s playful Cello Concerto in C.

Scholar and writer Lucy Caplan will give the Friday Preview on February 9 at 12:15pm. Admission included with ticket.

Thursday's performance will end around 9:30pm, Friday's performance will end around 3:30pm, and Saturday's performance will end around 10pm.

Regretfully, baritone Johannes Martin Kränzle has had to withdraw from his performances this week in the role of Bluebeard in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle due to illness. We are fortunate that bass-baritone Nathan Berg is able to sing the role in his place at very short notice.

Thu, Feb 8, 2024, 7:30pm EST (Past)

Fri, Feb 9, 2024, 1:30pm EST (Past)

Sat, Feb 10, 2024, 8:00pm EST (Past)

Performance Details

Feb 8, 2024, 7:30pm EST

Featuring

Program Notes & Works

Cello Concerto No. 1

Joseph Haydn

Haydn's charming, high-spirited Cello Concerto No. 1 is an early example of the Viennese Classical-era concerto.

Bluebeard's Castle

Béla Bartók

Written in 1911, Bartók’s only opera, Bluebeard’s Castle, was one of three stage works he composed in the 1910s, all with psychologically dark subject matter.