“The main gate at Tanglewood has a dramatic new look this season, thanks to the installation of a sculpture honoring the music festival’s founding father, Serge Koussevitzky,” writes Clarence Fanto in Monday’s (6/24) Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, MA). “The work by sculptor Penelope Jencks, unveiled at a Monday afternoon ceremony, was commissioned by John Williams, the third and last in a series he has funded honoring the three famous musicians, including Leonard Bernstein and composer Aaron Copland, who were central to the Boston Symphony’s summer home and its academy for young musicians. Williams, the world-famous film composer, Boston Pops Laureate Conductor and Tanglewood artist-in-residence, presided over the dedication of the sculpted tribute honoring Koussevitzky, who created Tanglewood in 1937 and opened his brainchild, the orchestra’s academy for the most promising, advanced music students in 1940…. Before Monday’s unveiling, four members of the BSO’s double bass section, led by principal bass Edwin Barker, performed several pieces, including two composed by Koussevitzky, who was a bass player…. Koussevitzky served as BSO music director from 1924 to 1949 and was the leading mentor and father figure to Bernstein, who was in the first class of the music academy … in 1940.”
Posted June 26, 2019
