A free day with Andris Nelsons

The Boston Symphony is inviting the city to spend a spring Sunday with the new music director – free of charge, first come, first in. Cool idea.

press release:

Symphony Hall will open its doors for a free day of musical activities for the community on Sunday, April 12, from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., in celebration of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s new music director, Andris Nelsons. In his first public appearances since taking on the role of BSO music director this past September, Mr. Nelsons will lead a performance featuring the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood Festival Chorus and spend some time interacting with visitors and taking audience questions from the stage. The Symphony Hall Open House will also provide visitors with an opportunity to explore historic Symphony Hall and enjoy fun family activities and a wide variety of performances by the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, alumni of the Tanglewood Music Center, and student ensembles from Berklee College of Music, Boston Conservatory, and New England Conservatory. Emmy Award-winning arts and entertainment critic Joyce Kulhawik (JoycesChoices.com) will host the event as the Open House master of ceremonies.

In what is sure to be the center point of the day, BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons will lead the orchestra at 2 p.m. in a program including the magnificent Prelude and Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, the third and fourth movements from Haydn’s Symphony No. 90, and the Overture to Bernstein’sCandide. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus will join Mr. Nelsons and the BSO for performances of Verdi’s “Va, pensiero” from Nabuccoand Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds’ Lakes Awake at Dawn. Following the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood Festival Chorus performance, Andris Nelsons will participate in an on-stage interview with BSO Managing Director Mark Volpe at 3 p.m.

The Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, led byFederico Cortese, and the New England Conservatory Brass and Percussion Ensemble, led by BSO principal horn James Sommerville and featuring soprano Meredith Hansen, will give performances on the Symphony Hall stage during the Open House. A string ensemble made up of alumni of the Tanglewood Music Center; a chamber ensemble from the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra; Mixcla, a Latin jazz ensemble from Berklee College of Music, and members of Boston Conservatory Theater Division will perform in Higginson Hall throughout the day.Project STEP will also host a master class, open for attendees to observe the student string players working with BSO cellist Owen Young. A full schedule of events is available below.

Family-friendly activities taking place at Symphony Hall throughout the day will include an Instrument Playground, where children have a chance to try out a variety of musical instruments; craft activities; a station for children to gettemporary tattoos; a composer scavenger hunt throughout the hall; and tours of the Boston Symphony’s new Archives facilities.