Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow Announce Stars (and Stripes) Filled Spring/Summer Shows

Paul Simon comes to Tanglewood June 27.

Winter shrinks our cultural calendar. After the holidays, the interminable cold, and grimy snowbanks, spring feels like a rumor. This week however, two of the region’s biggest cultural anchors are whispering sweet affirmations in our ear, promising 2026 lineups that make June and July feel like real places again. Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow are announcing their schedules and just the thought of it warms the senses.  

So, in an attempt to thaw creative juices and light a fire of expectations, here’s the scoop on some of what’s been announced so far:

Tanglewood’s 2026: This is America 

Tanglewood’s newly announced 2026 season runs June 21 through September 2, and its organizing idea is civic: a summer-long continuation of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s multi-season theme “E Pluribus Unum: From Many, One,” timed to the national lead-up to America’s 250th.

That framing doesn’t translate into didactic programming so much as breadth—classical weekends, a heavily curated week of music and conversation, and a Popular Artist Series that grows more star-studded by the day. The throughline is American voice in the wide sense: orchestral canon, living composers, dance collaborations, and big-name.

A few early-season tentpoles include The Boston Pops and of course James Taylor (July 3-4), underscoring the venue’s ability to be both a local ritual and international destination in the same weekend. As far as Independence Day lawn shows go this one looks to honor what’s good about America in a slightly more reflective and elegant way than the scheduled cage fight out front of the White House. 

The classical season begins in earnest when music director Andris Nelsons returns to lead weeks of Boston Symphony Orchestra programs and a parade of renowned soloists—names like Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Seong-Jin Cho, Daniil Trifonov, Renée Fleming, and others are part of the announced roster). 

Loud voices in the woods

Beyond its classical and orchestral marquee programs, Tanglewood’s 2026 Popular Artist Series promises surprises, turning the famed Koussevitzky Music Shed into a multi-genre toolbox. The series opens with Yacht Rock Revue kicking off the season on June 21 in smooth, nostalgia-soaked style, followed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis on June 26. 

Making his long-anticipated Tanglewood debut, Paul Simon brings his widely praised “A Quiet Celebration" tour to the Shed on Saturday, June 27. The evening is structured in two distinct halves: first, a complete performance of Seven Psalms, Simon’s GRAMMY-nominated, 33-minute continuous work released in 2023, followed by a second set that moves freely through decades of songwriting, from canonical hits to deep cuts rarely heard live. Tickets for the June 27 performance go on sale Friday, February 6 at 10am via Tanglewood, with demand expected to be high for what is likely to be one of the summer’s most can’t-miss nights in the Berkshires.

One of the nations most noted elder statesmen of goofing around, and five-time Grammy winner Weird Al Yankovic brings his “Bigger & Weirder” tour to the Shed on July 21, with his longtime band and special guest Puddles Pity Party. And Americana and roots rock arrive with Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit on July 28.

The one and only Cynthia Erivo makes her Tanglewood debut on August 21, Ziggy Marley with Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue come through on July 14, and the season is set to wrap with the Tedeschi Trucks Band with Lukas Nelson on September 2.

Artist-led weeks, not just concerts

Iconic cellist Yo-Yo Ma curates a weeklong residency, “We the People: Our Shared Past, Present, and Future” (August 4-9). The title reads like a mission statement, but plays out as a mix of orchestral programs, smaller-format events, and conversations. One of the most intriguing pairings is a Spotlight Series conversation between historian Heather Cox Richardson and legal scholar Bryan Stevenson (Equal Justice Initiative).

Cross-discipline collaborations

A highlight already drawing attention is an on-campus debut collaboration that links the Martha Graham Dance Company appears with the BSO as part of a program tied to Graham’s centennial year at Jacob’s Pillow. Even on paper, it reads as a meaningful bridge—dance history meeting orchestral tradition.

Elsewhere in the lineup, Tanglewood leans into its identity as a cultural campus: Esa-Pekka Salonen directs the Tanglewood Music Center’s Festival of Contemporary Music and also conducts, and multimedia artist Laurie Anderson makes a Tanglewood debut with performances and events stretching across mid-August. 

 Jacob’s Pillow: Spring Arrives Early

For decades, Jacob’s Pillow has taught audiences to associate Becket with mid-summer intensity: a long festival run, a daily rhythm of performances and talks, and the sense that dance, at the Pillow, is its own community ecosystem. Now the institution is widening that identity. The Pillow’s first-ever spring season is built around fully produced weekends in the recently opened, but not yet fully utilized Doris Duke Theatre. 

The spring programming is deliberately compact—two weekends, two very distinct propositions:

• Compañía Irene Rodríguez: “Flamenco Soul” runs April 24-26, is an intimate solo performance with live musicians in a surround-seating setup that emphasizes proximity and percussion. 
• Hari Krishnan’s in “DANCE: ROWDIES IN LOVE” follows May 1-3, an eight-dancer work developed in part through a Pillow Lab residency, described as a contemporary/queer rethinking of Bharatanatyam and global contemporary forms. 

Alongside performances, Jacob’s Pillow is expanding how it teaches dance literacy—launching two online courses designed for audiences as much as practitioners: Dance History 101, (March 17-April 21) and Experiencing Dance (April 28-June 2), both structured as weekly sessions. The new programming is another leap towards making the institution feel less like a summer-only pilgrimage site and more like a year-round resource.

And summer, importantly, remains the focus. Jacob’s Pillow’s Festival 2026 is already dated for June 24–August 30, a 10-week run that will mark the festival’s 94th season. That schedule will likely be announced soon.