Tanglewood Learning Institute Announces Its Fall/Winter/Spring Season, With Over Three Dozen Programs September 2025 Through May 2026

The Tanglewood Learning Institute (TLI) is pleased to announce its 2025–26 season to take place at the Linde Center for Music and Learning on Tanglewood’s campus in the Berkshires. With over three dozen programs running from early September through May, this year’s series represents a significant expansion of TLI’s year-round offerings to fulfill its founding mission to welcome audiences to experience Tanglewood year-round. The season includes a new jazz series, solo and chamber recitals, holiday programming, a film series, and several events for families. 

TLI programming echoes, deepens, and complements the BSO’s artistic vision for the 2025–26 season, including the themes Where Words End: Music and the Natural World—inviting us to contemplate our relationship with nature, Faith in Our Time—encouraging us to search for meaning and transcendence, and E Pluribus Unum: From Many, One—celebrating the rich diversity that defines American music and society. 

New this year, TLI Jazz kicks off fall programming with vocalist Lucía (Sept. 12), followed by the Berkshires Jazz 20th Anniversary Concert with Emmet Cohen and Georgia Heers (Oct. 10), drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. and his band Generation Y (Nov. 7), the Ted Rosenthal Trio (Nov. 28), and vocalist Stella Cole (Dec. 13). For Valentine’s Day, vocalist Tammy McCann gives two performances of With Love from the Legendary Ladies of Jazz honoring Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, and Billie Holiday and featuring cabaret-style table seating and food and beverage service (Feb. 14 & 15).  Rounding out the jazz series are the Sullivan Fortner Trio (March 20), saxophonist Nick Hempton (April 10), and, back by popular demand, trumpeter Jumaane Smith (May 9). 

The annual TLI Presents series this year offers Palaver Strings (Sept. 28), Sandbox Percussion (Oct. 5), classical guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre (Nov. 1), the Catalyst Quartet (Nov. 14), violinist Joshua Brown (Jan. 30), Irish music quintet Goitse (March 15), and Arcis Saxophone Quartet (March 22) to Studio E to present innovative and intimate solo and chamber recitals. The series also includes two Berkshire Bach Portals, pairing films about Bach with live performances and conversations, presented in collaboration with Berkshire Bach Society (Nov. 8, with film Bach & Friends, and March 21, with film In the Key of Bach). Another highlight is a back-to-back set of programs inspired by Schubert’s Winterreise (“A Winter’s Journey”) with bass Andrew Munn and pianist Elenora Pertz; the first, a traditional performance of the beloved song cycle, and the second, a new work entitled postWinterreise by composer and sound artist Kat Austen (Apr. 24 & 25). The final program of the series, Mirage with Hub New Music and Daniel Wohl, includes a performance of Wohl’s UFO-inspired work as well as specially-made arrangements from his 2019 album, État (May 1). 

Once again, TLI Chamber Concerts bring small ensembles of BSO musicians to perform throughout the year on Sunday afternoons at the Linde Center, with repertoire to be announced at a later date (Oct. 19, Nov. 23, Feb. 1, Feb. 22, and March 8). Each concert highlights a local Berkshires nonprofit through TLI’s In Concert with Community initiative. BSO players also return for four presentations of BSO Holiday Brass, a program of cheerful and uplifting seasonal music complete with festive decorations and a holiday-themed menu, including one morning performance aimed at families with children (December 19– 21). 

In addition to the Holiday Brass family show (Dec. 21), TLI for Families welcomes Baba Israel back to the Linde Center for Music Moves, Stories Groove (Oct. 26) and offers Magic Piano & The Chopin Shorts (Apr. 12). 

TLI Cinematics, a film series in collaboration with Great Barrington’s Triplex Cinema, will offer three screenings on Saturdays, Nov. 15, March 14, and April 11. Additional details will be announced at a later date. 

Quote from Chad Smith, BSO President and CEO: 

“We have been thrilled and humbled to see the Tanglewood Learning Institute (TLI) embraced as a year-round destination for a breadth of exceptional programming, including classical, jazz, and family friendly events. Our 2025–26 fall, winter, and spring season reflects our deepening commitment to engaging the vibrant, year-round Berkshires community and to fully exploring the potential of TLI as a space where BSO programs make thought-provoking connections between music, art, and society. This ongoing work is also a passion project for our musicians, who form deep ties to the area and are eager to remain active in the Berkshires beyond the summer months. TLI Chamber Concerts and a festive TLI Holiday Brass series, curated by BSO players especially for the Linde Center, bring a personal and dynamic touch to our program. We look forward to welcoming new and returning audiences to experience all that TLI offers—all year long."