The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) ushers in its 2016-2017 season this Saturday, September 24 with an evening of Russian musical splendor, the music of Shostakovich and Prokofiev conducted by Andris Nelsons, with world-renowned pianist Lang Lang as soloist on Prokofiev's "Piano Concerto No. 3". The rest of the calendar is marked by premieres and classic favorites; rising talents and venerable veterans and the arrival of prodigious musician/composer Thomas Adès for a three-year tenure as Artistic Partner.

A special treat on this year's musical menu is the October 1 performance of Strauss's "Der Rosenkavalier" with Renee Fleming and mezzo-soprano Susan Graham. "It's a huge undertaking; a bigger undertaking than anything we've done before," Anthony Fogg, artistic administrator, commented in a telephone interview. While tickets for the season's opening performance range from $95 to $300, the BSO will continue its High School Card, College Card, $20 tickets for people under 40 and Rush Ticket programs in an effort to make concerts accessible to a wider audience. We try to make our concerts available to absolutely everyone and we hope money is not an impediment to everyone coming," Fogg said.

While Nelsons is set to lead the BSO 14 weeks this season, a greater number of performances than in his previous seasons with the orchestra, the schedule features guest appearances by conductor emeritus Bernard Haitink, Christoph von Dohnányi and Charles Dutoit as well as Adès.

"I feel a great sense of excitement and anticipation about next year's Boston Symphony Orchestra programs, which I think stand out as something quite special, quite extraordinary," Nelsons said in a written statement. Lang Lang's appearance is the first of 10 performances by some of the world's greatest pianists, including Hélène Grimaud, Yefim Bronfman, Mitsuko Uchida and Menahem Pressler. "If you're a piano lover, this is the season for you," Fogg said.

This year's premieres include new works by young American composers Eric Nathan ("The Space of a Door", November 8) and Timo Andres (Everything Happens So Much", November 15) as well as George Benjamin's "Dream of the Song" (February 9) and Matthias Pintscher's "Cello Concerto" on March 23.

Adès's appointment is a major development in the leadership of the orchestra. Adès, who has composed operas, chamber and orchestral pieces, choral and solo piano works, first worked with the BSO in 2011, when he conducted a program of his own work, Tchaikovsky and Sibelius. The orchestra felt a close rapport with him and vice versa," Fogg recalled.

"The relationship continued to develop over subsequent visits. When we offered him a formal relationship, we thought long and hard about what that might be called and came up with artistic partner. We thought that would reflect all the aspects of his collaboration," Fogg added. Adès is a composing piano concerto and one other work to premiere at BSO, and he will appear at Tanglewood the next three summers. Adès will perform one of his own works on piano with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players on October 30.

On November 2, he will discuss his 2013 composition, "Totentanz", on a panel called "Conversations with Creators" at the Goethe-Institut of Boston, and the following night he will conduct the BSO on "Totentanz", Benjamin Britten's "Sinfonia da Requiem" and Sibelius's "Tapiola". "He will wear many hats. That's what someone of his talent does," Fogg remarked.

The breadth and depth of this year's schedule are in keeping with the changing makeup of the BSO's audience. "Audiences have remained constant, but the balance changes between subscribers and single ticket buyers," Fogg explained. "We've seen the average age of audiences come down considerably. That's a very positive fact that our audiences are becoming younger and more diverse. The average age is 47 now," he continued.

The Casual Fridays series, a combination of performance, pre- and post-concert receptions, remarks from BSO members and additional content available on digital media, return this season after a popular debut in 2015-2016.

For concert and ticket information, please visit https://www.bso.org.