:Tanglewood Music Center

The Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) was founded in 1940 as the Berkshire Music Center by the BSO's music director, Serge Koussevitzky, three years after the establishment of Tanglewood as the summer home of the BSO.{{cite web |last1=Daniel |first1=Peggy |title=PART I: Tanglewood Music Center at 75: Koussevitsky's dream |url=https://theberkshireedge.com/part-i-tanglewood-at-75-koussevitskys-dream/ |website=theberkshireedge.com |date=4 August 2015 |publisher=The Berkshire Edge, LLC. |access-date=3 May 2022}} He served as director of the center until one year after his retirement with the BSO, when he was succeeded by new BSO director Charles Münch, who ran the TMC from 1951 until 1962. Munch was succeeded by BSO director Erich Leinsdorf, who was TMC director from 1963 to 1970.{{cite web |title=History of the TMC |url=https://www.bso.org/tmc/history |website=bso.org |access-date=3 May 2022}}

In 1970, three years before he was appointed as Music Director of the BSO, Seiji Ozawa took over BSO activities at Tanglewood, with Gunther Schuller as TMC director and Leonard Bernstein as general advisor.{{cite web |title=History of the TMC |url=https://www.bso.org/tmc/history |website=bso.org |access-date=3 May 2022}} In 1975, the Italian conductor Franco Ferrara began teaching conducting at TMC. Schuller remained as director until August 1984 when he resigned over differences with Ozawa.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/31/arts/schuller-resigns-as-tanglewood-center-director.html|title=Schuller resigns as Tanglewood Center Director|last=Rockwell|first=John|date=31 August 1984|work=New York Times|access-date=26 January 2017}}

Pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher took over the direction of TMC in 1985, but resigned abruptly several years later in 1997 after a "lengthy, bitter dispute" with Ozawa.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/03/arts/a-director-angrily-quits-tanglewood.html|title=A director angrily quits Tanglewood|last=Tommasini|first=Anthony|date=3 December 1997|work=New York Times|access-date=26 January 2017}} Fleisher was replaced by Ellen Highstein in 1998. Ozawa was succeeded as BSO director in 2001 by James Levine, who conducted some TMC concerts and operas and worked with the student conductors in addition to leading Tanglewood's BSO programs. Levine left the BSO in 2011 after health issues.{{cite web|url=http://www.boston.com/ae/specials/culturedesk/2011/03/official_press_release_from_bs.html|title=Official press release from BSO about James Levine resigning}}

On May 16, 2013, the BSO announced Andris Nelsons as its 15th{{Cite web|url=http://www.bso.org/brands/bso/press/press-releases/archived-press-releases/031213/pr_andris-nelsons-music-director.aspx|title=Boston Symphony Orchestra appoints Andris Nelsons as its 15h Music Director since its founding in 1881|last=Horgan|first=Bernadette|date=16 May 2013|website=bso.org|publisher=Boston Symphony Orchestra|access-date=26 January 2017|archive-date=16 June 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130616050900/http://www.bso.org/brands/bso/press/press-releases/archived-press-releases/031213/pr_andris-nelsons-music-director.aspx|url-status=dead}} Music Director. Since assuming his post in 2015, Nelsons has worked with the TMC Orchestra every season and given frequent conducting masterclasses to the conducting fellows of the TMC. Following Highstein's retirement Michael Nock, who previously served as Associate Director, was named interim director for the summer of 2022. In October 2023, violist Edward Gazouleas was announced as director designate of the Tanglewood Music Center.{{Cite news |last=Fanto |first=Clarence |date=2023-01-26 |title=Tanglewood's summer academy names Ed Gazouleas as its new leader |work=The Berkshire Eagle |url=https://www.berkshireeagle.com/news/local/tanglewood-music-center-new-leader-ed-gazouleas/article_dac11968-9d87-11ed-b3cf-03c0291c6c19.html |access-date=2023-04-13}}

Image:The Shed, Lenox MA.jpg

Tanglewood activities take place on {{convert|210|acre|ha}} of meadow, most of which was donated to the BSO in 1936 by the Tappan family.{{cite web |title=Tappan |url=https://lenoxhistory.org/tag/tappan/ |website=lenoxhistory.org |date=10 February 2016 |access-date=1 May 2022}}

Students of the TMC are typically housed in Miss Hall's School, a boarding school for high-school aged girls in nearby Pittsfield. Until 1999, composition students at the festival were housed separately at the Koussevitzky mansion (Seranak) near the grounds; this practice ended with Highstein's appointment as director.

• Serge Koussevitzky (1940–1950)
• Charles Münch (1950–1962)
• Erich Leinsdorf (1963–1970)
• Gunther Schuller (1970–1984)
• Leon Fleisher (1985–1997)
• Ellen Highstein (1998–2021)
• Michael Nock, Interim (2022)
• Edward Gazouleas (2023 – present)

Koussevitzky's vision for the TMC was an institution where students would work closely with faculty members of the BSO and guest artists, as well as with each other. The selection process is extremely competitive: in 2007, there were over 1500 applicants, from whom 156 Fellows were chosen.

Alumni of the TMC constitute a significant presence in the professional classical music scene: it is estimated that 20% of American symphony orchestra members, as well as 30% of all first-chair players, have attended the program.{{cite web|url=http://www.bso.org|title=Boston Symphony Orchestra - bso.org|website=www.bso.org}} Notable alums in composition include John Adams, Luciano Berio, Leonard Bernstein, William Bolcom, Mario Davidovsky, David Del Tredici, Jacob Druckman, Lukas Foss, Michael Gandolfi, John Harbison (who attended as a conductor/vocalist), Russell Peck, Ned Rorem, Gitta Steiner, Steven Mackey, Richard Aaker Trythall, Norma Wendelburg, and composer and conductor Oliver Knussen, among many others. Conducting alums include Leonard Bernstein, Robert Spano, Eleazar de Carvalho, Seiji Ozawa, Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado, Michael Tilson Thomas, David Zinman, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Zubin Mehta, and Marin Alsop. Other notable TMC alumni include Dawn Upshaw, Wynton Marsalis, and Burt Bacharach.

The Festival of Contemporary Music is an annual event at Tanglewood, organized by the Tanglewood Music Center. It began in 1964 as a project of then BSO Music Director Erich Leinsdorf, the newly appointed coordinator of contemporary music studies at the TMC, Gunther Schuller, and noted contemporary music patron Paul Fromm.{{cite web |url=http://www.music.fas.harvard.edu/fromm.html |title=Fromm_foundation |access-date=2014-08-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140827120923/http://www.music.fas.harvard.edu/fromm.html |archive-date=2014-08-27 }} Recent Festivals have focused on composers born in 1938 (2007){{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/arts/music/04cont.html?scp=10&sq=&st=nyt|title=The Festival of Contemporary Music – Tanglewood – Music – Review|first=Allan|last=Kozinn|work=The New York Times |date=4 August 2007 }} and the music of Elliott Carter (2008).{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/26/arts/music/26cont.html?pagewanted=all|title=Works by Elliott Carter Highlight the Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood|first=Allan|last=Kozinn|work=The New York Times |date=26 July 2008 }}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://www.bso.org/tmc}}

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Category:Music festivals established in 1940

Category:Music schools in Massachusetts

Category:1940 establishments in Massachusetts

Category:Buildings and structures in Lenox, Massachusetts

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Category:Educational institutions established in 1940

Category:Classical music festivals in the United States

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