Boston Philharmonic Orchestra
Staff changes and 2024/25 programme
The Boston Philharmonic, the internationally recognized organization founded in 1979 and still led by conductor Benjamin Zander, recently appointed Derek Beckvold as its new managing director, replacing Elisabeth Christensen, who was hired twelve years ago to help create the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.
The Board of Directors voted unanimously to appoint Beckvold, who has been with the organization for nearly eight years, most recently as development officer and previously as education and community engagement manager. The multitalented social entrepreneur, arts administrator, educator, performing musician, composer and conductor has performed extensively across five continents after receiving a degree from New England Conservatory; he sees music as a tool to create social change while enriching the local community.
Derek Beckvold
The appointment marks an exciting new chapter for the Boston Philharmonic - composed of both the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) and the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (BPYO) - while remaining committed to presenting world-class performances and to contributing to the vibrant cultural landscape of Boston and beyond.
In his new role, Beckvold will oversee both orchestras, working closely with Benjamin Zander and the board of directors to advance the organization's artistic vision. The BPO, which is celebrating its forty-sixth season, is dedicated to creating transformative experiences through live performances featuring inspiring renditions of celebrated masterworks in Boston's most storied concert halls. Members of the orchestra include professionals, students, and exceptional amateur musicians who continually inspire and educate audiences of all ages, fostering a love for classical music and its power to uplift the human spirit. As one of Boston's top orchestras, the BPO features professional, student, and amateur musicians who perform. The BPYO, which is entering its thirteenth season, offers year-long, tuition-free orchestral and leadership training at the highest level for talented musicians between the ages of twelve and twenty-one, as well as the opportunity to go on tours and cultural exchanges each June.
Derek Beckvold says:
I am grateful to Benjamin Zander and Elisabeth Christensen, both of whom I have known for twenty years, for giving me the opportunity to contribute in meaningful ways to this organization in a variety of capacities. I look forward to seeing our community in Symphony Hall this coming year. It's going to be a stellar season of music making.
The Boston Philharmonic also announces its forty-sixth season, running from 20 October 2024 through until 1 May 2025 at Boston's Symphony Hall. Concerts will also be available for free via live stream. Prior to each BPO concert, Zander will inspire audiences with his legendary Guide to the Music talks which provide a deeper understanding of the works.
The season's four BPO and three BPYO concerts include several of Zander's pivotal musical compositions from his fifty-two years as a conductor (including Mahler's Symphonies 2, 4 and 6), as well as some of his favourite soloists. Former Berlin Philharmonic concertmaster and conductor Guy Braunstein, who captivated audiences and critics alike during his performance of Elgar's Violin Concerto at last year's opening concert (followed by his astonishing interpretation of The Beatles' Blackbird as an encore) will once again open the season as soloist in the Johannes Brahms Violin Concerto on Sunday 20 October at 3pm.
Guy Braunstein, violin;
Boston Philharmonic / Benjamin Zander.
Brahms/Bartók, 20 October 2024, 3pm
Other soloists include three musicians from Zander's native England. Cellist Alexander Baillie, who has performed seven times with the BPO over the past thirty years, will be the soloist in Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto as part of an all-British program on 17 November.
Alexander Baillie, cello;
Boston Philharmonic / Benjamin Zander.
Brahms/Bartók, 17 November 2024, 3pm
Soprano Claire Booth, the soloist in Richard Strauss' Four Last Songs and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No 4 on 16 February; and mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, who last performed Das Lied von der Erde with the orchestra in 2022, for Mahler's Symphony No 2, alongside Swedish soprano Miah Persson on 18 April 2025. Connolly and Persson are the two singers featured on Zander's recording of Mahler's Symphony No 2 with the Philharmonia Orchestra, released in 2018 on the Linn label.
Boston Philharmonic / Benjamin Zander.
Concerts in 2025. Strauss and Mahler
Building on the orchestra's tradition of presenting emerging soloists, twenty-five-year-old Boston cellist Leland Ko (who was a BPYO first cellist at age fourteen, and more recently, the first prize winner at the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Competition in 2023) will be the soloist in William Walton's Cello Concerto at the BPYO's closing concert on 1 May 2025. Violinist Itzhak Perlman describes Ko as someone who '... plays with the beauty of sound and subtlety that we don't often encounter in a cellist of his age ... a musician who willingly considers all aspects of music'.
Leland Ko
Further information: bostonphil.org
Posted 17 August 2024 by Keith Bramich
