[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 87 (Friday, July 1, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
           SEIJI OZAWA CONCERT HALL INAUGURATED IN TANGLEWOOD

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, each summer a spectacular migration 
occurs in Massachusetts, as music lovers follow the beloved Boston 
Symphony Orchestra to the Berkshires in the beautiful western part of 
our State for the music festival at Tanglewood. The symphony takes up 
residency in the Berkshires for 9 weeks of superb music in that 
magnificent mountain setting.
  The creative arts are a major industry in western Massachusetts, with 
outstanding organizations such as the Williamstown Theater Festival, 
Jacob's Pillow, Clark Art Institute, Shakespeare & Co., and many 
others.
  Tanglewood is named for Tanglewood Tales, a collection of stories for 
children adapted from Greek mythology by Nathaniel Hawthorne and 
written at a nearby cottage in 1853. The yearly festival now adds $50 
million to the economy of the Berkshires each year. The fans keep 
coming. In its first season in 1937, the audiences numbered 30,000. In 
1993, more than 10 times that number--a record 350,000--attended the 
musical performances. The youngest, under 12, come for free.
  Tanglewood is both a music festival and a training program, 
especially for young musicians who have a unique opportunity to study 
with some of the most talented artists of our time. Many of the 
Nation's best known singers, musicians, and composers also come to 
perform, to study, to learn, and to be a part of the unique atmosphere. 
At Tanglewood in the summer, the hills are literally alive with the 
sound of music.
  Conductors who are alumni of the Tanglewood Music Center include 
Leonard Bernstein, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, and the current BSO 
conductor, Seiji Ozawa.
  For half a century, the Tanglewood Music Center has offered intensive 
training in music, including the Fellowship Program, the Conducting 
Class, and the Phyllis Curtin Seminar. More recently, a cooperative 
program with Boston University's School for the Arts has been available 
for high school musicians. An additional program, ``Days in the Arts,'' 
or ``DARTS,'' offers 400 Massachusetts fifth and sixth graders from 
across the State an opportunity to experience the arts. Also, the 
Tanglewood Teachers Institute of the Boston Music Education 
Collaborative trains classroom and music teachers in the Boston public 
schools.
  This year is especially notable, because on July 7 the symphony will 
inaugurate its new concert hall, an 1,180-seat facility on the grounds 
of Tanglewood. The hall, designed by William Rawn Associates of Boston, 
will provide a new home for solo and chamber performances. It will be 
named in honor of Seiji Ozawa, the symphony's outstanding music 
director. The hall is an especially appropriate tribute. Maestro Ozawa 
came to the United States in 1960 to study music in Lenox, MA. 
Tanglewood was so renowned that Ozawa, as one of the most talented 
young musicians in the world, traveled here from Japan to study music 
with the masters.
  Fortunately for the Boston Symphony, Seiji Ozawa has been a fixture 
ever since at Tanglewood, and he has been music director for the 
symphony since 1974. Our symphony is one of the finest in the Nation as 
a result of his leadership and commitment.
  All of us in Massachusetts are delighted that this new concert hall 
will bear his name. It is a fitting monument to Maestro Ozawa, and a 
well-deserved recognition of the enduring promise of the Tanglewood 
Music Center.
  It is an honor to take this opportunity to congratulate Seiji Ozawa, 
all the members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the countless 
people from Massachusetts and throughout the Nation who have made this 
magnificent concert hall the latest chapter in the brilliant musical 
legacy of Tanglewood.
  I urge my colleagues in Congress to visit the Berkshires this summer. 
They'll find that the beauty of the setting and the quality of the 
music are unparalleled in the world.

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