TANGLEWOOD

Tanglewood is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, spread across 500 acres in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. The campus includes the Koussevitzky Music Shed (seating ~5,100 under cover with lawn space for ~12,000 more) and Seiji Ozawa Hall (seating 1,200 indoors with an open-back design for additional lawn listeners).

Tanglewood's summer season runs from late June through early September, featuring BSO concerts, chamber music, contemporary works, and the Tanglewood Music Center fellowship program for emerging artists. A typical summer draws more than 350,000 visitors. The lawn seating experience — with picnicking and mountain views — is a signature element of the Tanglewood tradition.

The BSO accepted the donation of the Tanglewood estate from Mrs. Gorham Brooks and Miss Mary Aspinwall Tappan in 1936, and the orchestra's Berkshire festival relocated there in 1937. The Koussevitzky Music Shed was inaugurated on August 4, 1938, designed by engineer Joseph Franz after architect Eliel Saarinen's original plans exceeded budget. Ozawa Hall opened in 1994. The Shed was rededicated as the Serge Koussevitzky Music Shed in 1988 on its 50th anniversary.