Tanglewood Music Center - History

History

The Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) was founded in 1940 as the Berkshire Music Center by the BSO's music director, Serge Koussevitzky, three years after the establishment of Tanglewood as the summer home of the BSO. He served as director of the Center until one year after his retirement with the BSO, when he was succeeded by new BSO director Charles Münch, who ran the TMC from 1951 until 1962. Munch was succeeded by BSO director Erich Leinsdorf, who was TMC director from 1963 to 1970.

In 1970, three years before the start of his directorship of the BSO, Seiji Ozawa took over its activities at Tanglewood. He was also actively involved in the Center, which was directed by Gunther Schuller during this time, with Leonard Bernstein as general advisor. In 1975 also the great Italian conductor Franco Ferrara took over its activities at Tanglewood. Pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher took over the direction of the Center in 1985, but resigned abruptly several years later in 1997 after an apparent dispute with Ozawa. Fleisher was replaced by Ellen Highstein, the current TMC director. Ozawa was succeeded as BSO director in 2001 by James Levine, who conducted some TMC concerts and operas and worked with the student conductors in addition to leading Tanglewood's BSO programs. Levine left the BSO in 2011 after health issues. No replacement has yet been announced.