For Immediate Release
September 10, 2015
VIOLINIST AUGUSTIN HADELICH MAKES BNY MELLON GRAND CLASSICS DEBUT WITH ‘BACH, BEETHOVEN & BRAHMS’
PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s second weekend of the BNY Mellon Grand Classics brings a perennial program favorite, “Bach, Beethoven and Brahms,” on September 25-27 at Heinz Hall.
This celebration of the “three Bs” features a fresh Bach transcription, arranged for string orchestra by Hideo Saito; Beethoven’s unexpectedly joyous Symphony No. 8; and Brahms’ renowned concerto for violin, one of the great concerted pieces of the 19th Century. Violinist Augustin Hadelich makes his Pittsburgh Symphony debut and Maestro Honeck finishes his Beethoven symphony cycle with this performance.
A pre-concert talk, open to all ticket holders, led by Assistant Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong, will occur on stage one hour before each concert. Program notes are available online at pittsburghsymphony.org/threebs and on the PSO mobile app the day of the concert.
The concert begins at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets, ranging in price from $20 to $94, can be purchased by calling the Heinz Hall box office at 412-392-4900 or visiting pittsburghsymphony.org/threebs.
Pitt Night at the Symphony is scheduled for September 25 and includes a post-concert reception in the Dorothy Porter Simmons Regency Rooms. University of Pittsburgh students, alumni, faculty and staff who are interested in attending should contact the Group Sales Department at 412-392-4819 for tickets.
The Pittsburgh Symphony would like to recognize and thank BNY Mellon for its 2015-2016 title sponsorship of BNY Mellon Grand Classics. Fairmont Pittsburgh is the official hotel of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Delta Air Lines is the official airline of the Pittsburgh Symphony.
About the Artists
Manfred Honeck has served as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since the 2008-2009 season. Together with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Honeck’s widely celebrated performances and distinctive interpretations continue to receive international recognition. To great acclaim, Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra regularly perform in major music capitals and festivals, among them the BBC Proms, Musikfest Berlin, Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Grafenegg Festival, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra have also built a close relationship with the Musikverein in Vienna. Following a week-long residency in 2012, they will return once again for three performances in the course of an extensive tour of Europe in spring 2016.
Honeck's successful work with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has been extensively documented on recordings with the Reference and Exton labels. The first SACD released by Reference Records of Strauss tone poems, drew rave reviews. The second recording, of Dvořák's Symphony No. 8 and the Symphonic Suite from Janáček's opera Jenůfa, conceptualized by Honeck himself, was nominated for a Grammy Award. Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 was released in February 2015 to critical acclaim and additional recordings are completed for future release. Several recordings, among them Mahler's Symphony No. 4, which won a 2012 International Classical Music Award, are also available on the Japanese label Exton.
As a guest conductor, Honeck has worked with the world’s leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris and Accademia di Santa Cecilia Rome. In the United States, Honeck has conducted the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra. He is also a regular guest at the Verbier Festival. In 2013, Honeck gave his successful debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, resulting in a CD recording of Dvořák together with Anne-Sophie Mutter for Deutsche Grammophon which received an Echo Klassik award in 2014. The 2015-2016 season sees him return to Bamberg, Stuttgart, Rome, Stockholm and New York, as well as the Munich Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, among others.
Born in Austria, Honeck received his musical training at the Academy of Music in Vienna. Many years of experience as a member of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and at the helm of the Vienna Jeunesse Orchestra have given his conducting a distinctive stamp. Honeck began his career as assistant to Claudio Abbado in Vienna. Subsequently, he was engaged by the Zurich Opera House, where he was bestowed the prestigious European Conductor’s Award in 1993. Honeck was one of three main conductors of the MDR Symphony Orchestra in Leipzig and in Oslo, he assumed the post of music director at the Norwegian National Opera and was engaged as principal guest conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2000 to 2006, he was music director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm and, from 2008 to 2011, principal guest conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he resumed for another three years at the beginning of the 2013-2014 season.
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's 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, the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg and the Salzburg Festival.
Honeck has received honorary doctorates from St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and, most recently, from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Moreover, he has been artistic director of the "International Concerts Wolfegg" in Germany for more than 20 years.
Continuing to astonish audiences with his phenomenal technique, poetic sensitivity and gorgeous tone, Augustin Hadelich has established himself as one of the great violinists of
his generation. His remarkable consistency throughout the repertoire, from Paganini to Adès, is seldom encountered in a single artist. Highlights of the 2015-2016 season include debuts with the Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, and the Finnish Radio Orchestra, as well as return performances with the London Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the symphonies of Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Louisville, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Oregon, Seattle, Utah and Vancouver. Other projects include a return to the Wigmore Hall in London, a recording with the London Philharmonic, a residency with the Bournemouth Symphony and numerous recital appearances in Germany. With this season’s addition of the Chicago and Pittsburgh symphonies, Hadelich will have appeared with every major orchestra and chamber orchestra in the United States, several on numerous occasions. Festival appearances include his 2015 debuts at Ravinia and the Grand Teton Music Festival, as well as return engagements at Aspen and Bravo! Vail Valley. He has also performed at Blossom, Britt, Chautauqua (where he made his American debut in 2001), Eastern Music Festival, the Hollywood Bowl, Marlboro and Tanglewood. Among Hadelich’s recent and upcoming worldwide appearances are the Badische Staatskapelle/Karlsruhe, BBC Philharmonic/Manchester, BBC Symphony/London, Danish National Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, German Radio Philharmonic/Saarbrücken, Helsinki Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Malaysia Philharmonic, Mozarteum Orchestra/Salzburg, Netherlands Philharmonic, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, NHK Symphony/Tokyo, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, RTE National Symphony Orchestra/Dublin, São Paulo Symphony, Stuttgart Radio Orchestra and a highly acclaimed tour of China with the San Diego Symphony. Hadelich plays on the 1723 “Ex-Kiesewetter” Stradivari violin, on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.
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| photo credit Luca Valentia |
American conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong has worked with orchestras around the world including engagements with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. With the start of the 2015-2016 season, he begins his new position as assistant conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra after serving four years as associate conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO). He will return to the MSO throughout the season for several guest engagements and will make his opera debut with the Florentine Opera. He also will continue as associate conductor of the Grand Teton Music Festival. As a trained pianist and composer, Lecce-Chong embraces innovative programming, champions the work of new composers and supports arts education. While working with the MSO, he curated and presented the works of both active and lesser-known composers, including two works commissioned by the orchestra, as well as two U.S. premieres. He also helped create the first MSO Composer Institute, providing performance opportunities for young American composers. Lecce-Chong has complemented his programming with a strong commitment to arts education for all ages. In Milwaukee, he provided artistic leadership for the MSO’s nationally lauded Arts in Community Education program — one of the largest arts integration programs in the country — and he continues to be a frequent guest speaker for arts organizations around the country. Lecce-Chong is a native of Boulder, Colorado, where he began conducting at the age of 16. He is a graduate of the Mannes College of Music, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree with honors in piano and orchestral conducting. Lecce-Chong also holds a diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied as a Martin and Sarah Taylor Fellow with Otto-Werner Mueller. He has been mentored by many world-renowned conductors, including Edo de Waart and Donald Runnicles, with whom he continues to maintain a close working relationship.
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, known for its artistic excellence for more than 120 years, is credited with a rich history of the world’s finest conductors and musicians, and a strong commitment to the Pittsburgh region and its citizens. Past music directors have included Fritz Reiner (1938-1948), William Steinberg (1952-1976), Andre Previn (1976-1984), Lorin Maazel (1984-1996) and Mariss Jansons (1995-2004). This tradition of outstanding international music directors was furthered in fall 2008, when Austrian conductor Manfred Honeck became music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony. The orchestra has been at the forefront of championing new American works, and gave the first performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1 “Jeremiah” in 1944 and John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine in 1986. The Pittsburgh Symphony has a long and illustrious history in the areas of recordings and radio concerts. As early as 1936, the Pittsburgh Symphony broadcast on the airwaves coast-to-coast and in the late 1970s it made the ground breaking PBS series “Previn and the Pittsburgh.” The orchestra has received increased national attention since 1982 through network radio broadcasts on Public Radio International, produced by Classical WQED-FM 89.3, made possible by the musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. With a long and distinguished history of touring both domestically and overseas since 1900—including 36 international tours to Europe, the Far East and South America—the Pittsburgh Symphony continues to be critically acclaimed as one of the world’s greatest orchestras.
Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts is owned and operated by Pittsburgh Symphony, Inc., a non-profit organization, and is the year-round home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. The cornerstone of Pittsburgh’s Cultural District, Heinz Hall also hosts many other events that do not feature its world-renowned orchestra, including Broadway shows, comedians, speakers and much more. For a full calendar of upcoming non-symphony events at the hall, visit heinzhall.org
Editors please note:
Friday, September 25 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, September 26 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, September 27 at 2:30 p.m.
Heinz Hall
PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
BNY MELLON GRAND CLASSICS: BACH, BEETHOVEN AND BRAHMS
MANFRED HONECK, conductor
AUGUSTIN HADELICH, violin
Johann Sebastian Bach (Hideo Saito) Chaconne, BWV 1004
Ludwig Van Beethoven Symphony No. 8 in F major, Opus 93
I. Allegro vivace con brio
II. Allegretto scherzando
III. Tempo di menuetto
IV. Allegro vivace
Johannes Brahms Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 77
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Adagio
III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace
Mr. Hadelich
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Contact: Louise Sciannameo, Vice President of Public Affairs
Phone: 412.392.4866 | email: lsciannameo@pittsburghsymphony.org
Phone: 412.392.4866 | email: lsciannameo@pittsburghsymphony.org
Contact: Joyce DeFrancesco, Director of Media Relations
Phone: 412.392.4827 | email: jdefrancesco@pittsburghsymphony.org
Phone: 412.392.4827 | email: jdefrancesco@pittsburghsymphony.org
Twitter: @pghsymphony |Facebook: facebook.com/PittsburghSymphonyOrchestra
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