Florence Price waited the better part of a century for this. On Saturday, August 22, the Boston Symphony Orchestra gives the first BSO performance of her Violin Concerto No. 2 — a piece by a composer the orchestral world spent decades overlooking, now closing out Tanglewood’s classical summer. It is the kind of programming choice that tells you exactly where the BSO’s head is in 2026, and it lands on the season’s final Saturday in the Berkshires.
About the Program
Artistic Partner Thomas Wilkins conducts, and the night belongs in no small part to violinist Randall Goosby, making his Tanglewood debut. Goosby is one of the most persuasive advocates for Price’s music working today — Juilliard-trained, a former student of Itzhak Perlman, and the 2022 recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant. He plays the 1708 “Strauss” Stradivarius, on loan from the Samsung Foundation of Culture in Korea, and that instrument paired with Price’s lush, unhurried writing should be the emotional center of the evening.
From there the program opens up. Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms brings in the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and boy soprano Edward Njuguna, and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 — sunny, folk-soaked, endlessly tuneful — sends everyone home satisfied. The whole evening sits under the BSO’s multi-season banner, E Pluribus Unum: From Many, One, the orchestra’s nod to America’s 250th.
One tip worth knowing: if you’re holding an 8 PM ticket, the 6 PM Prelude Concert is included at no extra charge. Get there early.
About Tanglewood
Tanglewood, the BSO’s summer home in Lenox, Massachusetts, is one of the great outdoor rooms in the Northeast. The Koussevitzky Music Shed seats more than 5,000 under its open-air roof, with the famous lawn stretching out beyond it — and on a clear August night, the lawn is where the magic happens. From the Capital Region it’s a straightforward drive east into the Berkshire Hills; build in time for the scenery, because you’ll want it.
Families, take note: up to four free children’s tickets per parent or guardian are available at the Tanglewood Box Office on the day of the performance.
Tickets
Tickets are on sale now. Get tickets here.