Open Rehearsals
Experience a BSO concert in the making. Open Rehearsals offer you a unique perspective on the creative dynamic between the orchestra and conductor. As the musicians repeat passages or focus on a particular movement, you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at how a performance transforms from a work in progress to a work of art.
To provide you with the best possible experience, all seats are ticketed rather than general seating.
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![Andris Nelsons headshot]()
Andris Nelsons conducts Mozart, Shaw, and Strauss
Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Caroline Shaw wrote her Bach-inspired Punctum originally for string quartet; the BSO-commissioned orchestral version was premiered in summer 2022. The second of his final trilogy of symphonies, composed in 1788, Wolfgang Mozart’s riveting No. 40 in G minor is for many his most familiar symphony. Richard Strauss’ amazingly vivid Alpine Symphony depicts the picturesque ascent and (much faster!) descent of a Bavarian mountain.
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![Headshot of Karina Canellakis wearing a black collared shirt.]()
Karina Canellakis conducts Dvořák, Lutosławski, and Szymanowski with Nicola Benedetti, violin
Making her BSO debut, violinist Nicola Benedetti joins conductor Karina Canellakis in her Symphony Hall debut for Karel Szymanowski’s scintillating Violin Concerto No. 2 from 1933, his last major work. His compatriot Witold Lutosławski’s folk-music influenced Concerto for Orchestra (1954) helped establish his international reputation. Antonín Dvořák’s nature-inspired tone poem Wood Dove has not been played by the BSO since 1905.
Karina Canellakis, conductor
Nicola Benedetti, violinDVOŘÁK Wood Dove (18)
SZYMANOWSKI Violin Concerto No. 2 (22)
---- Intermission----
LUTOSŁAWSKI Concerto for Orchestra (28)
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![Jean-Yves Thibaudet lounging on an ornate couch]()
Lahav Shani conducts Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, and Saint-Saëns with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Israeli conductor Lahav Shani, making his Symphony Hall debut, and elegant French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet perform Camille Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5, Egyptian, a brilliantly virtuosic but tuneful Romantic-era work for which Thibaudet is an ideal interpreter. Sergei Prokofiev’s delightful First Symphony was conceived as a 20th-century successor to works by Wolfgang Mozart and Joseph Haydn. Sergei Rachmaninoff’s ingeniously constructed, brilliantly colorful Symphonic Dances was his last finished work.
Lahav Shani, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, pianoPROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1, Classical (15)
SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 5, Egyptian (29)
---- Intermission----RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances (33)
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![Gautier Capucon portrait]()
Andris Nelsons conducts Escaich, Rachmaninoff, and Ravel with Gautier Capuçon, cello
Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the American premiere of a new work for cello and orchestra by French organist-composer Thierry Escaich, written for soloist Gautier Capuçon. Maurice Ravel’s exuberantly orchestrated Alborada del gracioso is tinged with Flamenco rhythms and Spanish flavors. Sergei Rachmaninoff’s by turns lush and exuberant Symphony No. 2 closes the program.
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Gautier Capuçon, celloRAVEL Alborada del gracioso
Thierry ESCAICH Les Chants de l'aube, for cello and orchestra (American premiere; co-commissioned by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons, Music Director, through the generous support of Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser.)
Intermission
RACHMANINOFF Symphony No. 2 -
![A headshot of Joana Mallwitz wearing a white top]()
Open Rehearsal: Joana Mallwitz conducts Kodály, Tchaikovsky, and Schubert with Anna Vinnitskaya, piano
Joana Mallwitz, conductor
Anna Vinnitskaya, pianoKODÁLY Dances of Galánta
TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1
SCHUBERT Symphony in C, The Great -
![Seong Jin Cho sitting in front of a piano]()
Open Rehearsal: Andris Nelsons conducts León, Ravel, and Stravinsky with Seong-Jin Cho, piano
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Seong-Jin Cho, pianoTania LEÓN Stride
RAVEL Piano Concerto for the left hand
STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring -
![John Storgaards conducting intensely.]()
Open Rehearsal: John Storgårds conducts Tarkiainen, Nielsen, and Sibelius with Pekka Kuusisto, violin
John Storgårds, conductor
Pekka Kuusisto, violinOuti TARKIAINEN Midnight Sun Variations
NIELSEN Violin Concerto
SIBELIUS The Oceanides and The Bard
SIBELIUS Tapiola -
![Hilary Hahn smiling directly ahead while holding a violin close to her body]()
Open Rehearsal: Andris Nelsons conducts Mozart, Thorvaldsdottir, and Brahms with Hilary Hahn, violin
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Hilary Hahn, violinMOZART Symphony No. 33
Anna THORVALDSDOTTIR Archora
BRAHMS Violin Concerto
