BSO to tour Europe in summer

The Boston Symphony Orchestra, eager to show off its repertoire under music director James Levine, will head to Europe next summer for a two-week, seven-city tour that stops in Switzerland, Germany, France, and England. The BSO's first international tour since 2001, it will feature performances of works by Brahms, Ives, Carter, Ravel, Bartok, and Berlioz. All of the pieces will have been drawn from works performed during Levine's three-year tenure.

The tour, which runs Aug. 26-Sept. 7, opens with three concerts at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, followed by performances in Hamburg, Essen, D üsseldorf , Berlin, Paris, and London. The BSO will be accompanied by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and an array of high-profile soloists.

Levine, in a phone interview yesterday, said he'd begun speaking about a BSO tour with Michael Haefliger, director of the Lucerne Festival, before he started as BSO music director in 2004. Levine said he didn't want to rush into a tour too early in his BSO tenure.

"There wouldn't have been a sufficient array and depth and results in our repertoire," he said.

He's pleased to be conducting works -- including Bartok's opera "Bluebeard's Castle" and Berlioz's "La Damnation de Faust" -- that have been programmed for the orchestra's current season.

"Audiences want to hear it as soon as you can do it," he said. "They want to be there as it's going on, they don't want you to take 15 years to unveil something."

The tour will cost about $3.4 million, says BSO managing director Mark Volpe, largely paid for by festival fees and tour sponsors. Volpe said the international media have noted the BSO's improvements under Levine, but it's important to have the orchestra heard in person.

"We've created a buzz in the musical world with what Jim's been doing, and [positive press], but it's different from taking the orchestra out and going to other musical capitals and major festivals."

Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com. For more arts news, visit boston.com/ae/theater_arts/exhibitionist.