The opening weekend of Tanglewood will mark the 50th anniversary of James Taylor

Bring out your picnic baskets and lawn chairs and your love of music.

Tanglewood is back.

The summer season at this legendary Lenox music venue recently kicked off with concerts by several popular artists, including performances by rock legends John Fogerty, Roger Daltrey, Kool & The Gang featuring En Vogue, Jon Batiste and Brandi Carlile.

But for many longtime Tanglewood fans, the summer season in the Berkshires begins with the performance of James Taylor and his All-Star Band on July 3 and 4, followed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s premiere on July 5 and several other BSO concerts over the weekend.

“There’s something for everyone this summer and I think that’s the great appeal of the 2024 season,” Tony Fogg, the BSO’s director of artistic planning, said in a recent phone interview.

This summer is special for Taylor. Exactly 50 years ago, in 1974, he performed at Tanglewood for the first time.

To celebrate this milestone, the BSO will award Taylor the 2024 Tanglewood Medal in recognition of his exceptional achievements as a singer-songwriter and performer, as well as his significant contributions to the BSO and the Berkshires communities.

“For the past 50 years, James Taylor has been a familiar sight at Tanglewood – not just onstage, but in the audience at so many of our concerts,” BSO President and CEO Chad Smith said in a recent statement. “And I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that Tanglewood would not be the same without his efforts as an artist and advocate.”

The BSO rarely awards the Tanglewood Medal to individuals, but past medal recipients include former BSO Music Director Seiji Ozawa (2012), Tanglewood Festival Chorus founder John Oliver (2015), and renowned composer John Williams (2022).

Taylor is one of the most celebrated musicians of his generation, having won six Grammy Awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

He also has deep ties to the area. Since 2001, Taylor has owned a home not far from Tanglewood in Lenox. And long before that, the Boston native came to the area in 1968 as a 20-year-old and entered treatment at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, where he sought help in overcoming his drug addiction, a subject Taylor has explored extensively over the years and which served as inspiration for some of his best-known songs, including 1970’s “Fire and Rain.”

Taylor is also a long-time supporter of the BSO. As in years past, proceeds from his Tanglewood concert on July 4 will be donated by Taylor and his wife, Kim, to support Tanglewood. Taylor’s Tanglewood performance on July 4 will also feature a fireworks display following the concert.

The following evening, the BSO will perform an all-Beethoven program in its opening concert at Tanglewood. BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons will conduct the July 5 concert, which will include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (Eroica) and Beethoven’s Lyric Violin Concerto. Violin soloist Gil Shaham will be filling in for Hilary Hahn, who had to cancel her July concerts on doctor’s orders due to a pinched nerve.

Then on Saturday, July 6, conductor Keith Lockhart will lead the Boston Pops Orchestra and a cast of Broadway singers through a wide range of recently award-winning musicals, including songs from “Hamilton,” “In the Heights,” “The Light in the Piazza,” “Kimberly Akimbo,” “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder,” “The Band’s Visit” and “Dear Evan Hansen.”

The matinee concert on Sunday afternoon, July 7, at 2:30 p.m. is an all-Richard Strauss program with the BSO under the direction of Nelsons and world-renowned soprano and Strauss specialist Renee Fleming. The program includes the Suite from “Der Rosenkavalier,” the Symphonic Fantasy on “Die Frau ohne Schatten,” and several Strauss songs performed by Fleming with the BSO.

If that’s not enough reason to head to Tanglewood, Nelsons will conduct the BSO in three star-studded performances the following weekend, featuring the Boston Ballet (July 12), piano virtuoso and force of nature Yuja Wang in Beethoven’s powerful Fourth Piano Concerto (July 13), and violinist Augustin Hadelich in a Sunday matinee performance of Prokofiev’s intense Second Violin Concerto (July 14).

Performances will take place throughout the summer through August 31 at Tanglewood, located at 297 West Street in Lenox.

James Taylor and his All-Star Band perform on Wednesday, July 3 and Thursday, July 4 at 8 p.m. For more information about tickets for the July 3rd and 4th concerts, click here.

Gil Shaham, the BSO and conductor Andris Nelsons perform an all-Beethoven program as part of the opening concert at Tanglewood on Friday, July 5, at 8 p.m. For more information about tickets for the July 5 concert, click here.

The Boston Pops, conductor Keith Lockhart and several singers perform “Broadway Today! Broadway’s Modern Masters” on Saturday, July 6, at 8 p.m. For more information about tickets for the July 6 concert, click here.

Renee Fleming, the BSO and conductor Andris Nelsons will perform an all-Richard Strauss program on Sunday, July 7, at 2:30 p.m. For more information about tickets for the July 7 concert, click here.

You can find Tanglewood’s full summer schedule here.