LENOX, Mass. — Smell the freshly cut grass while having a glass of wine and a picnic on Tanglewood's lawn. If you don't feel like bringing a cooler along, you can grab something to eat and drink from a variety of vendors.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home offers a wide array of performances and learning opportunities in a relaxing atmosphere on the 210 acres of lawn and meadows that was previously the Tappan estate. 

Tanglewood's season kicks off on June 20 with a performance by American singer-songwriter and guitarist John Fogerty. List of concerts this 2024 season here. 

Tours of the estate are available starting July 6. Tanglewood provides guided meditation and meditation music or visitors can come during nonperforming hours to walk the beautiful lawn and meadows.

The ground hours are open daily from 9-3. Staff close the grounds before concerts.

Some History: 

Tanglewood estate was donated as a gift to the BSO by Mrs. Gorham Brooks and Miss Mary Aspinwall Tappan in the winter of 1936.

BSO on Aug. 5, 1937, held its first Tanglewood concert, an all-Beethoven program, which had the largest crowd to date assembled under a tent.

Today more than 350,000 festivalgoers still gather every summer to watch performances from world-renowned, award-winning artists under the historic Koussevitzky Music Shed or at the Linde Center and Ozawa Hall, or picnic on the lawn to watch the concerts on large screens.

Tanglewood's mission is to "foster and maintain an organization dedicated to the making of music consonants with the highest aspirations of the musical art, creating performance and providing educational and training programs at the highest level of excellence."

In 1936, the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Serge Koussevitzky held its first Berkshire concert. A year later the BSO took up annual summer residence at Tanglewood and Koussevitzky founded the Berkshire Music Center in 1940, now called the Tanglewood Music Center.

Koussevitzky was succeeded in 1949 by Charles Munch, who led BSO on its first international tour and was the first American orchestra to tour the Soviet Union.

BSO expanded its audience through its education outreach and digital concerts. Associate Director and Dean of Fellows Michael Nock explained in the Tanglewood video "Fellows Talk About the TMC" that Tanglewood is the only festival with a major symphony orchestra in residence all summers

Fellows who spend their summer learning at the Tanglewood Learning Institute perform on the grounds during the summer festival.

Fellow Daniel Overlay said in the video, "I visited Tanglewood as an audience member on my family vacation. Several years down the line, I realized I could come and spend the summer here to learn. It is wonderful to come here to be treated as a young colleague."

The BSO returned to performing for live audiences at Tanglewood in 2021 after the pandemic, during which it had turned to streaming performances on BSO NOW.

Through its work with Berkshire County, BSO has made music accessible to more people than ever before.