Newly appointed BSO Associate Conductor Nicholas Hersh embraces love, longing and dance in this program. He opens with John Adams’ witty depiction of Chairman Mao and his future wife joining in a humorous, slightly amorous foxtrot. The sights and sounds of dream-like Arabian Nights are conjured in Ravel’s ravishingly beautiful song cycle. And what better way to be transported to the Land of Sweets, than through the glorious, joyous music of Tchaikovsky’s second act fromThe Nutcracker?