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| Laurie Anderson Image credit: Ebru Yildiz |
August 3, 20, & 21, 2026
by Michael J. Moran
The last three concerts in Tanglewood's 2026 recital series by smaller ensembles reflected the ever-broadening range of artists presented there.
On August 13 in Ozawa Hall, protean American musician Laurie Anderson performed two of her recent large-scale works, playing viola, keyboards, and electronics, narrating text, and leading her ensemble of five singer-instrumentalists. "Amelia" honored aviator Amelia Earhart and adapted excerpts from her pilot's log of the round-the-world flight from which she never returned. "What War Is This?," a world premiere, lamented the randomness of modern warfare, included improvised passages, and quoted several sources, most notably the Shaker song "Tis a Gift to Be Simple." Boston Symphony string players under conductor Dennis Russell Davies had a supporting role in each piece. Despite their eerie soundscapes and visceral power, both ended in fervent hope.
A week later in Ozawa Hall, the international Silkroad Ensemble, founded in 1998 by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, presented a moving program called "Sanctuary: The Power of Resonance and Ritual." Starting when the 12 musicians entered through the audience, all present were often invited to join them in singing and dancing, showing music's ability to build community. Led by American Rhiannon Giddens, ensemble members hailed from eight countries and played a vast range of instruments.
The next afternoon in Studio E at the Linde Center, Brooklyn-based pianist Simone Dinnerstein and 15 string players from the Boston-based chamber orchestra A Far Cry collaborated in the world premiere of a new version they had just workshopped over the past few days at Tanglewood of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Goldberg Variations." Written in 1741 for solo harpsichord and played mainly on piano, the 90-minute piece (an aria - restated at the end - and 30 variations) had also been transcribed for many other instruments or ensembles. This imaginative new version by the charismatic Dinnerstein and the resourceful band (aka "Criers") was easily the most varied (jazz inflections, plucked piano strings, Criers singing, etc.) of the series' programs.
A season with this high level of excellence in Tanglewood’s recital series will be hard to top in 2027.