Honeck Leads PSO on Tour in Florida in February

For Immediate Release
June 12, 2012

HONECK TO LEAD PSO ON FLORIDA TOUR IN FEBRUARY

Concerts in West Palm Beach, Miami, Sarasota, Gainesville; pianist Denis Matsuev joins PSO on tour, performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2

PITTSBURGH – Music Director Manfred Honeck will lead the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) in February on a tour of Florida.

The orchestra will perform Feb. 19 at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, Feb. 21 at Miami’s Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Feb. 23 at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota, and Feb. 24 at the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Arts, Gainesville.

Joining the PSO on this tour will be renowned pianist Denis Matsuev, who will perform Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Gramophone magazine described Matsuev as “a virtuoso in the grandest of Russian traditions who returns us to the great days of Emil Gilels. ... He literally possesses the sort of technique which begins where others end.”

Matsuev last appeared with the PSO in February 2011 at Heinz Hall, wowing audiences with his performance of Tchaikovksy’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

The tour program also will include Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, and Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain.

A native of Austria, Manfred Honeck was appointed its ninth music director and began his tenure at the start of the 2008-2009 season. He recently extended his contract through the 2019-2020 season. After performances at Carnegie Hall and a much-celebrated tour of European musical capitals in 2010, Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra returned to Europe again in August and September 2011 for appearances at major music festivals, such as the Rheingau Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Grafenegg Festival, Musikfest Berlin, Beethovenfest Bonn, Lucerne Festival, BBC Proms, and concerts in Paris and Vilnius, Lithuania.

In October-November 2012, he will lead the PSO in another tour of Europe, including a four-concert residency at the prestigious Musikverein in Vienna. Honeck's successful work in Pittsburgh is captured on CD by the audiophile Japanese label Exton. So far, Mahler's Symphonies Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben have been released to critical acclaim.

From 2007 to 2011, Honeck was Music Director of the Staatsoper Stuttgart where he conducted premieres including Berlioz's Les Troyens, Mozart's Idomeneo, Verdi's Aida, Richard Strauss' Rosenkavalier, Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, and Wagner's Lohengrin and Parsifal, as well as numerous symphonic concerts. His operatic guest appearances include Semperoper Dresden, Komische Oper Berlin, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Royal Opera of Copenhagen, White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Salzburg Festival, and Verbier Festival in Switzerland.

Denis Matsuev has become a fast-rising star on the international concert stage since his triumphant victory at the 11th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1998, and is quickly establishing himself as one of the most sought-after pianists of his generation. He has collaborated with the world’s best known orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de Paris, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Berliner Philharmonic, Vienna Symphoniker, Accademia Nationale di Santa-Cecilia, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the European Chamber Orchestra. He is continually engaged with legendary Russian orchestras including the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Mariinsky Orchestra. Matsuev’s worldwide festival appearances include Leipzig’s Mendelssohn and Schumann Festival in Germany, Chopin Festival in Poland, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Mito Festival, both in Italy, Les Choregies d’Orange in France, Verbier Festival in Switzerland, Enescu Festival in Romania, and the Ravinia Festival in the United States.

Tour details:

MANFRED HONECK, conductor
DENIS MATSUEV, piano

Program: Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2.

WEST PALM BEACH
Kravis Center for the Performing Arts
8 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 19

Tickets go on sale Oct. 6. Call 561.832.7469 or 1.800.572.8471, or visit www.kravis.org.
MIAMI
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
7:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 21

Tickets go on sale Sept. 8. Call 305.949.6722, or visit www.arshtcenter.org.
SARASOTA
Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
8 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 23

Tickets go on sale Sept. 8. Call 941.953.3368 or 1.800.826.9303, or visit www.vanwezel.org.
GAINESVILLE
Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
7:30 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 24

Tickets go on sale July 13. Call 352.392.2787, or visit http://performingarts.ufl.edu
Also:
There will be a private event hosted by PSO supporters on Friday, Feb. 22, in Naples, Fla.

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Contact: James Barthen, Vice President of Public Affairs
Phone: 412.392.4835 | email: jbarthen@pittsburghsymphony.org


Contact: Ramesh Santanam, Director of Media Relations
Phone: 412.392.4827 | email: rsantanam@pittsburghsymphony.org

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