PSO Spotlights American Composers

For Immediate Release
March 13, 2014

AMERICAN COMPOSERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT DURING PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BNY MELLON GRAND CLASSICS PERFORMANCE

PITTSBURGH—Salute the red, white and blue with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra during the BNY Mellon Grand Classics “American Fanfare” weekend on March 28-30 at Heinz Hall.

With conductor Michael Stern, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will be the centerpiece of a program featuring some of the most beloved works of American composers, including “Appalachian Spring” by Aaron Copland and George Gershwin's “An American in Paris,” among others.

Each BNY Mellon Grand Classics concert is part of the Explore & Engage program, which includes pre-concert talks, exhibits, display boards and interactive activities that illuminate the music, composers and the time in which they created. This weekend, Resident Conductor Lawrence Loh will conduct a pre-concert talk one hour before each performance.

The concert begins at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets, ranging in price from $25.75 to $105.75, can be purchased by calling the Heinz Hall box office at 412-392-4900 or by visiting pittsburghsymphony.org.

The Pittsburgh Symphony would like to recognize and thank BNY Mellon for its 2013-2014 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.

Conductor Michael Stern is in his eighth season as music director of the Kansas City Symphony, hailed for its remarkable artistic growth and development since his tenure began. Stern and the orchestra, joined by an amazing collection of guest artists, have performed to critical acclaim and sold-out audiences in their new world-class performance home, Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Stern also is the founding artistic director and principal conductor of IRIS Orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee. This unique group, now in its second decade, has been widely praised for its virtuosity and programming, and has produced a string of recordings and acclaimed commissioned new works by American composers. Other positions include a tenure as the chief conductor of Germany’s Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra (the first American chief conductor in the orchestra’s history) and as permanent guest conductor of the orchestre National de Lyon in France, a position which he held for five years, and a stint as the principal guest conductor of the Orchestre National de Lille, France. Stern received his music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where his major teacher was the noted conductor and scholar Max Rudolf. He is a 1981 graduate of Harvard University, where he earned a degree in American history.

Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Runnicles Leads PSO with Wagner's Ring Cycle

For Immediate Release
March 6, 2014

DONALD RUNNICLES LEADS PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA IN EXCERPTS FROM WAGNER’S RING CYCLE AT HEINZ HALL

PITTSBURGH—One of the world’s leading Wagnerians, Maestro Donald Runnicles, returns to lead the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in the BNY Mellon Grand Classics program on March 21 and 23.

Another Pittsburgh Composer of the Year is featured during the weekend’s performance — the Pittsburgh Symphony will perform “Euphonic Blues” by Carnegie Mellon University’s Nancy Galbraith. Mendelssohn's nuanced Piano Concerto No. 1 features acclaimed British-born pianist Stephen Hough, the first classical musician to win a McArthur Foundation Fellowship. Runnicles finishes the performance with a rare treat — orchestral excerpts from Wagner's famous four-epic opera cycle, “Der Ring des Nibelungen.”

Each BNY Mellon Grand Classics concert is part of the Explore & Engage program, which includes pre-concert talks, exhibits, display boards and interactive activities that illuminate the music, composers and the time in which they created. That weekend, Resident Conductor Lawrence Loh will conduct a pre-concert talk with composer Nancy Galbraith one hour before each performance.

The concert begins at 8 p.m. on Friday and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets, ranging in price from $25.75 to $105.75, can be purchased by calling the Heinz Hall box office at 412-392-4900 or by visiting pittsburghsymphony.org.

The Pittsburgh Symphony would like to recognize and thank BNY Mellon for its 2013-2014 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.

Donald Runnicles is concurrently the general music director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (DOB), chief conductor of BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO), and music director of the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson, Wyo. Runnicles also is principal guest conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO). Beyond his annual BBC SSO, Atlanta and Grand Teton commitments, Runnicles is active in symphonic repertoire and finds time to guest conduct with some of the world’s finest symphony orchestras. Runnicles was born in Edinburgh and was educated there and at Cambridge. Following a season with the London Opera Centre, he began his career in Mannheim, Germany as repetiteur, and spent summers assisting in Bayreuth where he further honed and explored his Wagnerian disposition, and guesting throughout the German repertory theaters and orchestras. He made his North American debut in 1988 conducting Berg’s “Lulu” at the Metropolitan Opera, jumping in for an indisposed James Levine; in 1989, he became General Music Director in Freiburg, Germany for three years, and to which he returned in 2010 to help honor and celebrate the Freiburg orchestra’s centennial. In 1990, after two “Ring” cycles at San Francisco Opera, he was asked to be its music director, and began the appointment two years later. Over the last two decades he has conducted at leading international opera houses, orchestras, and summer festivals. Among the awards bestowed upon him are the Order of the British Empire and honorary degrees from Edinburgh University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, an honorary doctorate from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Photo Credit:  Sim Canetty-Clark

In 2001, Stephen Hough was the first classical performing artist to win a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. He was awarded the 2008 Northwestern University’s Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano, won the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award in 2010 and in January 2014 was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth in the New Year’s Honors List. He has appeared with most of the major European and American orchestras and plays recitals regularly in major halls and concert series around the world. He is also a regular guest at festivals such as Aldeburgh, Aspen, Blossom, Edinburgh, Hollywood Bowl, Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, Salzburg, Tanglewood, Verbier and the BBC Proms, where he has made more than 20 concerto appearances, including playing all of the works written by Tchaikovsky for piano and orchestra over summer 2009, a series he later repeated with the Chicago Symphony. He is artist-in-residence with the BBC Philharmonic and performs with orchestras including the Netherlands Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Royal Philharmonic and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. A noted writer, Hough has regularly contributed articles for The Guardian, The Times, The Tablet, Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine and was invited by The Telegraph in London in 2008 to start a blog that has become one of the most popular and influential forums for cultural discussion. His book, “The Bible as Prayer,” was published by Continuum and Paulist Press in 2007. Hough resides in London and is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music and holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at his alma mater, the Royal Northern College in Manchester.

Composer and Pittsburgh native Nancy Galbraith is professor of composition at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Music. She began piano studies at age four, and later earned degrees in composition from Ohio University (BA) and West Virginia University (MA). Her studies in composition, piano and organ continued at Carnegie Mellon University. In a career that spans over three decades, her music has earned praise for its rich harmonic texture, rhythmic vitality, emotional and spiritual depth, and wide range of expression. Galbraithʼs symphonic works have enjoyed regular performances by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, including premieres led by Gennady Rozhdetsvensky and Mariss Jansons. Her “De profundis ad lucem” received its European premiere by the Limburg Symphony Orchestra in the Netherlands. Her Piano Concerto No. 1 was recorded by Keith Lockhart and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. Galbraith composes in a variety of styles, including pieces for wind ensembles, major choral works, chamber works (including electroacoustic pieces for Baroque flutist Stephen Schultz), ballet (“Whispers of Light” premiered this year at Bodiography Contemporary Ballet in Pittsburgh) and scared music. Galbraith is an accomplished pianist and organist and has written a number of works for those instruments.

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 hosts many 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, March 21 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 23 at 2:30 p.m.

Heinz Hall
PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
BNY MELLON GRAND CLASSICS
DONALD RUNNICLES, conductor
STEPHEN HOUGH, piano
Nancy Galbraith                         Euphonic Blues
Felix Mendelssohn                     Concerto No. 1 in G minor for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 25
I. Molto allegro con fuoco
II. Andante
III. Presto - Molto allegro e vivace

Richard Wagner              Orchestral Highlights from Der Ring des Nibelungen
Ride of the Valkyries
                                                            Forest Murmurs
                                                            Siegfried's Rhine Journey
Siegfried's Funeral March
Brunhilde's Immolation Scene

###

Contact: Louise Sciannameo, Vice President of Public Affairs
Phone: 412.392.4866 | email: lsciannameo@pittsburghsymphony.org
Contact: Joyce DeFrancesco, Director of Media Relations
Phone: 412.392.4827 | email: jdefrancesco@pittsburghsymphony.org
Twitter: @pghsymphony |Facebook: facebook.com/PittsburghSymphonyOrchestra

Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Slatkin Leads PSO Grand Classics Program

For Immediate Release
Feb. 27, 2014

LEONARD SLATKIN LEADS PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA IN BNY MELLON GRAND CLASSICS PROGRAM FEATURING GOETHE, DUKAS, CAMILO, RAVEL

PITTSBURGH—Guest Conductor Leonard Slatkin returns to Heinz Hall to lead the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in a BNY Mellon Grand Classics program featuring French masters and a composer performing his own concerto on March 14-16.

Featured in the Disney film “Fantasia” and based on a poem by Goethe, Paul Dukas’ “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” tells the story of a young apprentice who uses magical spells he has not yet learned to control. Dominican pianist Michel Camilo, whose musical sensibility combines elements of classical, jazz and world music, performs his own Piano Concerto No. 2. Maestro Slatkin finishes the concert with several works that demonstrate Maurice Ravel’s penchant for reinterpreting the music of traditional dance forms, including his famous “Boléro.”

The Saturday night performance is a Behind the Notes program, highlighting Ravel. In this concert, the conductor and orchestra will first discuss and then demonstrate the secrets behind Ravel’s music, taking the audience inside the compositions and revealing fascinating details. Audience members will gain an enriched understanding of the composer and his work, which will show how to listen anew to Ravel’s most popular work, “Boléro.” Please note that Camilo will not be a part of the Saturday performance. Anne Martindale Williams and Noah Bendix-Balgley will be performing solos on Saturday.

The concert begins at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets, ranging in price from $25.75 to $109.75, can be purchased by calling the Heinz Hall box office at 412-392-4900 or by visiting pittsburghsymphony.org.

The Pittsburgh Symphony would like to recognize and thank BNY Mellon for its 2013-2014 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.

Pianist and composer Michel Camilo was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in 1954. Fascinated with music since childhood, he composed his first song at the age of five, then studied for 13 years at the National Conservatory. At 16, he became a member of the National Symphony Orchestra. Seeking to expand his musical horizons, he moved in 1979 to New York, where he continued his studies at Mannes and Juilliard School of Music. Camilo made his Carnegie Hall debut with his trio in 1985. Since then, he has become a prominent figure performing regularly in the United States, the Caribbean, Japan and Europe. December 1987 marked his debut as a classical conductor when the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic invited him to conduct a recital featuring the works of Rimsky-Korsakoff, Beethoven, Dvorak and Camilo’s own composition, The Goodwill Games Theme, which won an Emmy Award. That year, he became the musical director of the Heineken Jazz Festival in his native Dominican Republic, a post he held through 1992. In addition to compiling an extensive discography and maintaining a rigorous performance schedule, Camilo has composed and recorded a number of Spanish film scores over the years, and holds honorary degrees from his alma mater, Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo, and UTESA University of Santiago, Dominican Republic. In 1992, he was named a Knight of the Heraldic Order of Christopher Columbus by the Dominican Government. In addition to his activities as a composer and pianist, Camilo lectured and performed at many universities and colleges throughout Europe and the United States—including New York University, Berklee School of Music, MIT, William Paterson College (in New Jersey) and Puerto Rico Conservatory.

Leonard Slatkin is music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre National de Lyon, France. Slatkin has received the United State’s 2003 National Medal of Arts, the American Symphony Orchestra League’s Gold Baton and several ASCAP awards. He has received France’s Chevalierof the Legion of Honor, Austria’s Declaration of Honor in Silver and honorary doctorates from The Julliard School, Indiana University, Michigan State University, and Washington University in St. Louis. Slatkin has served as music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He has held principal guest conductor positions with the Royal Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl, Philharmonia Orchestra of London and the Pittsburgh Symphony. Founder and director of both the National Conducting Institute and the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, Slatkin continues his conducting and teaching activities at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School. Born in Los Angeles to a distinguished musical family — his parents were the conductor-violinist Felix Slatkin and cellist Eleanor Aller, founding members of the famed Hollywood String Quartet — Slatkin began his musical studies on the violin and studied conducting with his father, Walter Susskind at Aspen and Jean Morel at The Juilliard School.

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 hosts many 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, March 14 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 16 at 2:30 p.m.

Heinz Hall
PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
BNY MELLON GRAND CLASSICS
LEONARD SLATKIN, conductor
MICHEL CAMILO, piano

Paul Dukas                    The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Michel Camilo               Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra, “Tenerife”

Maurice Ravel                Alborada del gracioso

Maurice Ravel                Pavane pour une infante défunte
Maurice Ravel                Menuet antique
Maurice Ravel                Boléro

Saturday, March 15 at 8 p.m.
Heinz Hall
PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
BNY MELLON GRAND CLASSICS: BEHIND THE NOTES
LEONARD SLATKIN, conductor
ANNE MARTINDALE WILLIAMS, cello
NOAH BENDIX-BALGLEY, violin

Georges Bizet                “Habanera” from Carmen

Maurice Ravel                Piece en forme de habanera for Cello and Piano

Ernesto Lecuona             Malagueña
Maurice Ravel                Rapsodie espagnole
I. Prélude à la nuit
II. Malagueña
III. Habanera
IV. Feria

Maurice Ravel                "Pavane" from Ma Mère l'Oye [Mother Goose]
Morton Gould                "Pavanne" from Symphonette No. 2

Maurice Ravel                Pavane pour une infante défunte
Manuel de Falla                         “Asturiana” from Canciones populares Espanolas
Maurice Ravel                Alborada del gracioso
Maurice Ravel                Boléro

###
Contact: Louise Sciannameo, Vice President of Public Affairs
Phone: 412.392.4866 | email: lsciannameo@pittsburghsymphony.org
Contact: Joyce DeFrancesco, Director of Media Relations
Phone: 412.392.4827 | email: jdefrancesco@pittsburghsymphony.org
Twitter: @pghsymphony |Facebook: facebook.com/PittsburghSymphonyOrchestra

Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Travel to Spain Musically

For Immediate Release
Feb. 14, 2014

TRAVEL TO SPAIN AND BACK AGAIN WITH PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND BNY MELLON GRAND CLASSICS

PITTSBURGH—The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra joins with one of the world’s most celebrated violinists, Joshua Bell, and Victor de Sabata Guest Conductor Gianandrea Noseda for a BNY Mellon Grand Classics program inspired by dramatic tales and far off lands on February 28 to March 2 at Heinz Hall.

Gianandrea Noseda (Sussie Ahlburg)

During this performance, Noseda leads the Pittsburgh Symphony in a daring presentation of two alluring and fascinating pieces. The performance begins with Joshua Bell’s performance of Edouard Lalo’s challenging “Symphonie espagnole.” Although composed at the beginning of the French fascination with Spanish-themed music, this piece took many years to gain the fame it truly deserved. In the second half, the audience is taken through the rarely preformed tale of “A Faust Symphony.” Composer Franz Liszt, inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s drama “Faust,” dramatically portrays the three main characters— the fallen scholar, Faust, his innocent love, Gretchen, and the demon, Mephistopheles—in one beautiful movement after another.

Each BNY Mellon Grand Classics concert is part of the Explore & Engage program, which includes pre-concert talks, exhibits, display boards and interactive activities that illuminate the music, composers and the time in which they created. This weekend, Resident Conductor Lawrence Loh will conduct a pre-concert talk one hour before each performance. Also, on Sunday, March 2, the PSO Book Club with WQED-FM’s Jim Cunningham will meet at 1:30 p.m. in the Grand Tier Lounge to discuss “The Violin Maker: Finding a Centuries-Old Tradition in a Brooklyn Workshop” by John Marchese. The book club session is free to all ticket holders to the Sunday afternoon performance, but availability is limited; advance registration is required. To register, call 412.392.4876 or email explore@pittsburghsymphony.org.

The concert begins at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets, ranging in price from $25.75 to $105.75, can be purchased by calling the Heinz Hall box office at 412-392-4900 or by visitingwww.pittsburghsymphony.org.

The Pittsburgh Symphony would like to recognize and thank BNY Mellon for its 2013-2014 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.

Joshua Bell ( Lisa Marie Mazzucco)

Joshua Bell is one of the world's most celebrated violinists. Recently named the music director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Bell is the first person to hold this post since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958. Equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and orchestra leader, Bell’s 2013 highlights included performances with the Israeli Philharmonic and at Eastern, Brevard, Tanglewood and Mostly Mozart festivals. In 2014, Bell reunites with his beloved Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, directing Beethoven’s 3rd and 5th Symphonies and recording the violin concertos of Bach. He will also perform the Brahms concerto with the legendary Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Paavo Järvi, and the Sibelius with Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Growing up with his two sisters in Bloomington, Ind., Bell was an avid computer game player and placed fourth in a national tennis tournament at age 10, and still keeps his racquet close by. At age four, he received his first violin after his parents, both mental health professionals, noticed him plucking tunes with rubber bands he had stretched around his dresser drawer handles. By 12, he was serious about the instrument, thanks in large part to the inspiration Josef Gingold, his beloved teacher and mentor. Two years later, Bell came to national attention in debut with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. His Carnegie Hall debut, an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a notable recording contract further confirmed his presence. In 1989, Bell received an Artist Diploma in Violin Performance from Indiana University where he currently serves as a senior lecturer at the Jacobs School of Music. His alma mater honored him with a Distinguished Alumni Service Award, he has been named an “Indiana Living Legend” and is the recipient of the Indiana Governor’s Arts Award. Bell has received many accolades: In 2013 he was honored by the New York Chapter, The Recording Academy; in 2012, by the National YoungArts Foundation, in 2011, the Paul Newman Award from Arts Horizons and the Huberman Award from Moment Magazine. Bell was named “Instrumentalist of the Year, 2010” by Musical America and received the Humanitarian Award from Seton Hall University. In 2009, he was honored by Education through Music and received the Academy of Achievement Award in 2008. In 2007, he was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize and recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2005. Bell serves on the artist committee of the Kennedy Center Honors and the Board of Directors of the New York Philharmonic. He has twice performed before President Obama and returned to the Capital to perform for Vice President Biden and President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping. Bell performs on the 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin and uses a late 18th century French bow by Francois Tourte.

Gianandrea Noseda is among the world’s most sought-after conductors. Since becoming music director of the Teatro Regio Torino in 2007, he has propelled it into the ranks of leading opera houses. Noseda is chief guest conductor of the Israel Philharmonic, Victor De Sabata Guest Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Conductor Laureate of the BBC Philharmonic. His career took off in 1997 when he was appointed the first foreign principal guest conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre. In 2002, he became principal conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, a post he held for nearly 10 years. He now visits many of the world’s great orchestras, including regular engagements with the London Symphony Orchestra. In addition to conducting numerous productions in Torino each season, Noseda’s work with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Regio Torino includes major recording projects and international tours and residencies he instituted in Asia (Japan and China) and Europe. In May he took his Italian forces to perform the Verdi Requiem at the Dresden Music Festival and then to the Vienna Konzerthaus for the first time. The current season has seen successful debuts in Europe at the Vienna State Opera as well as in the United States with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Born in Milan, Noseda is one of the highest profile Italian cultural figures, and regularly speaks publicly about the need to continue investing in culture despite difficult economic conditions. In March 2012, he was able to communicate the message to a massive American TV audience when he was interviewed on the subject on CNBC’s iconic “Closing Bell” with Maria Bartiromo at the New York Stock Exchange. He holds the Honor of “Cavaliere Ufficiale al Merito della Repubblica Italiana.”

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 hosts many 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, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 1 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 2 at 2:30 p.m.

Heinz Hall
PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
BNY MELLON GRAND CLASSICS
GIANANDREA NOSEDA, conductor
JOSHUA BELL, violin

Édouard Lalo                  Symphonie espagnole for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 21
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Scherzando: Allegro molto
III. Intermezzo: Allegretto non troppo
IV. Andante
V. Rondo

Franz Liszt                     A Faust Symphony
I. Faust
II. Gretchen
III. Mephistopheles

###

Contact: Louise Sciannameo, Vice President of Public Affairs
Phone: 412.392.4866 | email: lsciannameo@pittsburghsymphony.org
Contact: Joyce DeFrancesco, Director of Media Relations
Phone: 412.392.4827 | email: jdefrancesco@pittsburghsymphony.org
Twitter: @pghsymphony |Facebook: facebook.com/PittsburghSymphonyOrchestra

Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Maestro Gianandrea Noseda Conducts Casella, Prokofiev, Schumann

For Immediate Release
Feb. 7, 2014

MAESTRO GIANANDREA NOSEDA RETURNS TO BNY MELLON GRAND CLASSICS WITH CASELLA, PROKOFIEV & SCHUMANN

PITTSBURGH—The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Victor de Sabata Guest Conductor Gianandrea Noseda join with multi-award winning pianist, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, for a BNY Mellon Grand Classics program infused with the power of hope, comedy and tragedy. The program runs Feb. 21 and Feb. 23 at Heinz Hall.

Gianandrea Noseda (Photo Credit:  Sussie Ahlberg)

Noseda will lead the Pittsburgh Symphony in a dynamic presentation of three beautifully moving pieces. The concert begins with the exotic, witty and vibrantly scored Symphonic Fragments No. 1 and 2 from Alfredo Casella’s La Donna Serpente. Bavouzet will then perform Sergei Prokofiev’s dauntingly complex Concerto No. 5. In the second half, the symphony will perform Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 2, a remarkably uplifting piece given the composer’s struggle with illness and depression.

Each BNY Mellon Grand Classics concert is part of the Explore & Engage program, which includes pre-concert talks, exhibits, display boards and interactive activities that illuminate the music, composers and the time in which they created. This weekend, Jim Cunningham of WQED FM will conduct a pre-concert talk one hour before each performance.

The concerts will begin at 8 p.m. on Friday and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets ranging in price from $25.75 to $105.75 can be purchased by calling the Heinz Hall box office at 412-392-4900 or by visiting pittsburghsymphony.org

The Pittsburgh Symphony would like to recognize and thank BNY Mellon for its 2013-2014 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.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Photo Credit:  Paul Mitchell)

Multiple-award-winning pianist and ICMA Artist of the Year in 2012, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is renowned for his performances of works by Debussy, Ravel, Prokofiev, Bartók, Beethoven and Haydn. He regularly works with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vasily Petrenko, Pierre Boulez, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kirill Karabits, Andris Nelsons, Krzysztof Urbański, Lawrence Foster and Iván Fischer.

Recent and upcoming highlights include a return to the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, where he opened the 2013 festival with a performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 under the baton of Louis Langrée, and a return to the BBC Proms with regular collaborators Gianandrea Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and performances with San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Sydney Symphony and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.

Other recent collaborations include appearances with the Boston Symphony and Budapest Festival orchestras, the New York Philharmonic and the Orchestre National de France. In the 2013-14 season, Bavouzet makes his debuts with the Pittsburgh, Seattle and Beijing symphony orchestras, and returns to the Philharmonia Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra (for a Beethoven concerto cycle over two days), Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and Tivoli Symphony Orchestra (in a program directed from the piano). He is artist-in-residence with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo in 2014, and further ahead, he returns to the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski. A former student of Pierre Sancan at the Paris Conservatoire, Bavouzet won first prize in the International Beethoven Competition in Cologne and made his American debut through Young Concert Artists in New York in 1987. As well as his performing activities, Bavouzet has made a transcription for two pianos of Debussy’s Jeux, published by Durand with a foreword by Pierre Boulez. Bavouzet is artistic director of the Lofoten Piano Festival in Norway. For more information, please visitbavouzet.com

Gianandrea Noseda is among the world’s most sought-after conductors. Since becoming music director of the Teatro Regio Torino in 2007, he has propelled it into the ranks of leading opera houses. Noseda is chief guest conductor of the Israel Philharmonic, Victor De Sabata Guest Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Conductor Laureate of the BBC Philharmonic. His career took off in 1997 when he was appointed the first foreign principal guest conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre. In 2002, he became principal conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, a post he held for nearly 10 years. He now visits many of the world’s great orchestras, including regular engagements with the London Symphony Orchestra. In addition to conducting numerous productions in Torino each season, Noseda’s work with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Regio Torino includes major recording projects and international tours and residencies he instituted in Asia (Japan and China) and Europe.

In May he took his Italian forces to perform the Verdi Requiem at the Dresden Music Festival and then to the Vienna Konzerthaus for the first time. The current season has seen successful debuts in Europe at the Vienna State Opera as well as in the United States with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Born in Milan, Noseda is one of the highest profile Italian cultural figures, and regularly speaks publicly about the need to continue investing in culture despite difficult economic conditions. In March 2012, he was able to communicate the message to a massive American TV audience when he was interviewed on the subject on CNBC’s iconic “Closing Bell” with Maria Bartiromo at the New York Stock Exchange. He holds the Honor of “Cavaliere Ufficiale al Merito della Repubblica Italiana.”

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, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 23 at 2:30 p.m.

Heinz Hall
PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
BNY MELLON GRAND CLASSICS
GIANANDREA NOSEDA, conductor
JEAN-EFFLAM BAVOUZET, pianist

Alfredo Casella              Symphonic Fragment No. 2 from “La Donna Serpente”
 Sinfonia
 Preludio Atto III
 Battaglia e Finale

Alfredo Casella              Symphonic Fragment No. 1 from “La Donna Serpente”
 Musica del sogno di Re Altidor
 Interludio
 Marcia guerriera

Sergei Prokofiev             Concerto No. 5 in G major for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 55
 I. Allegro con brio
 II. Moderato ben accentuato
 III. Toccata: Allegro con fuoco (più presto che la prima volta)
 IV. Larghetto
 V. Vivo

Robert Schumann           Symphony No. 2 in C major, Opus 61
 I. Sostenuto assai - Allegro ma non troppo
 II. Scherzo: Allegro vivace
 III. Adagio expressivo
 IV. Allegro molto vivace

###


Contact: Louise Sciannameo, Vice President of Public Affairs
Phone: 412.392.4866 | email: lsciannameo@pittsburghsymphony.org
Contact: Joyce DeFrancesco, Director of Media Relations
Phone: 412.392.4827 | email: jdefrancesco@pittsburghsymphony.org
Twitter: @pghsymphony |Facebook: facebook.com/PittsburghSymphonyOrchestra

Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Russian Masterpieces with The PSO

For Immediate Release
Oct. 21, 2013

RUSSIAN MASTERPIECES TAKE CENTER STAGE WITH CONDUCTOR YAN PASCAL TORTELIER AND THE PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Young Russian piano virtuoso Daniil Trifonov makes his Pittsburgh Symphony debut

PITTSBURGH—Returning guest conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier and piano virtuoso/winner of the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition Daniil Trifonov will transport the BNY Mellon Grand Classics audience to early 20th-century Russia with the music of Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff on Nov. 1-3.

One of the rising stars of the new generation of pianists, Trifonov tackles Prokofiev’s tumultuous Piano Concerto No. 2, which is known for its impressive technical demands. The concert finishes with the Pittsburgh Symphony performing Rachmaninoff’s passionate and sweeping Symphony No. 2, his answer to the critical failure of his first symphony.

The concerts will begin at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets, ranging from $25.75 to $109.75, can be purchased by calling the Heinz Hall box office at 412-392-4900, or by visiting www.pittsburghsymphony.org.

Each BNY Mellon Grand Classics concert is part of the Explore & Engage program, which includes pre-concert talks, exhibits, display boards and interactive activities that illuminate the music, composers and the time in which they created. This weekend, Pittsburgh Symphony Assistant Conductor Fawzi Haimor and Guest Conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier will conduct a pre-concert talk one hour before each performance. Also, on Sunday, Nov. 3, the PSO Book Club with WQED-FM’s Jim Cunningham and Principal Contrabassoon James Rodgers will meet at 1:30 p.m. in the Grand Tier Lounge to discuss “Lina and Serge: The Love and Wars of Lina Prokofiev” by Simon Morrison. The book club session is free to all ticket holders to the Sunday afternoon performance, but availability is limited; advance registration is required. To register, call 412.392.4876 or email explore@pittsburghsymphony.org.

The Pittsburgh Symphony would like to recognize and thank BNY Mellon for its 2013-2014 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.

Daniil Trifonov is one of the brightest names of the next generation of pianists. His reputation for outstanding performances, musical insight and expressive intensity has already surpassed the attention he received when, during the 2010-2011 season, he won medals at three of the most prestigious competitions in the music world: the Chopin Competition in Warsaw (Third Prize), the Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv (First Prize) and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (First Prize and Grand Prix). Trifonov began his musical studies at the age of five. He studied at Moscow Gnesin School of Music (2000-2009), where he also studied composition and has continued to write piano, chamber and orchestral music since. Since 2009, he has studied piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music. In 2008, at the age of 17, he received awards at the Scriabin Competition of Moscow and at the San Marino International competition. He also received a Guzik Foundation Career Grant in 2009 and toured the USA and Italy.

Yan Pascal Tortelier enjoys a distinguished career as a guest conductor with the world’s most prestigious orchestras. He began his musical career as a violinist and at 14 won first prize for violin at the Paris Conservatoire and also made his debut as a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Following general musical studies, Tortelier studied conducting with Franco Ferrara at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. From 1974 to 1983, he was associate conductor of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. Further positions have included principal conductor and artistic director of the Ulster Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He was principal conductor of the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, and currently holds the position of guest conductor of honour, as which he returns to the orchestra a number of times each season. Following his outstanding work as chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic between 1992 and 2003, he was given the title of conductor emeritus and continues to work with the orchestra regularly. He also holds the position of principal guest conductor at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Editors Please Note:

Friday, Nov. 1 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 2 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 3 at 2:30 p.m.

Heinz Hall
PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
BNY MELLON GRAND CLASSICS
YAN PASCAL TORTELIER, conductor
DANIIL TRIFONOV, piano

Sergei Prokofiev                                     Concerto No. 2 in G minor for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 16
I.          Andantino
II.         Scherzo: Vivace
III.        Moderato
IV.        Finale: Allegro tempestoso

Sergei Rachmaninoff                   Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Opus 27
I.          Largo - Allegro moderato
II.         Allegro molto
III.        Adagio
IV.        Allegro vivace

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Contact: Louise Sciannameo, Vice President of Public Affairs
Phone: 412.392.4866 | email: lsciannameo@pittsburghsymphony.org
Contact: Joyce DeFrancesco, Director of Media Relations
Phone: 412.392.4827 | email: jdefrancesco@pittsburghsymphony.org

Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Carmina Burana

Sept. 9, 2013

TITLE:                         Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra BNY Mellon Grand Classics: Carmina Burana

CATEGORY:               Classical Music

DATE:                         Oct. 4-6, 2013
         
TIME:                          Oct. 4 & 5 at 8 p.m.; Oct. 6 at 2:30 p.m.

LOCATION:                Heinz Hall, 600 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15222

DESCRIPTION:           The 2013-2014 BNY Mellon Grand Classics season opens with one of the most recognizable works of all time—Carmina Burana.  Based on 24 of the poems found in the medieval collection Carmina Burana, this 20th-century choral masterpiece has been heard countless times in film, television and even at professional sports events. Also on this dynamic program: Acclaimed composer David Stock, one of the PSO's Pittsburgh Composers of the Year, premieres a work written specifically for his hometown orchestra.

TICKET COST:           $30.75 - $124.75

INFO/TICKETS:          412-392-4900 or www.pittsburghsymphony.org          

 Lisette Oropesa Soprano (Photo Credit Jason Homa)

Tenor Andrey Nemzer

Baritone Hugh Russell (Photo Credit Larry Lapidus)

PHOTOS:                     Photos of the featured soloists [Lisette Oropesa (soprano), Andrey Nemzer (tenor) and Hugh Russell (baritone)] and composer David Stock are attached.

Composer David Stock

Please note: A press release with additional details will be sent closer to the event date.


Contact: Joyce DeFrancesco, Director of Media Relations
Phone: 412.392.4827 | email: jdefrancesco@pittsburghsymphony.org

Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

PSO Sing-Along Highlights Verdi Wagner Concerts

For Immediate Release

Feb. 15, 2013

AUDIENCE SING-ALONG OF FAMOUS ‘ANVIL CHORUS’ HIGHLIGHTS
PSO’S BNY MELLON GRAND CLASSICS CONCERTS OF VERDI, WAGNER


PITTSBURGH – Audiences at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO)’s first BNY Mellon Classics concerts in March will get a rare opportunity to sing along during the encore, the well-known “Anvil Chorus” from Verdi’s opera, Il Trovatore.

The concerts – at 8 p.m., Friday, March 1, and Saturday, March 2, and 2:30 p.m., Sunday, March 3, at Heinz Hall – will celebrate the operas of Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi. Tickets, ranging from $20-$93, can be purchased by calling the Heinz Hall box office at 412.392.4900, or visiting www.pittsburghsymphony.org.

PSO Music Director Manfred Honeck will lead the orchestra in selections from Wagner’s Lohengrin, Tannhäuser, Gotterdämmerung, and Die fliegende Holländer, as and Verdi’s La Traviata, Nabucco, Rigoletto, Don Carlo and Aida. The concert concludes with the sing-along of the “Anvil Chorus.”

Ticket holders should arrive one hour early to participate in a free choral session on Verdi’s “Anvil Chorus” with the PSO’s Singing City Project Coordinator Christine Hestwood at Heinz Hall. For more information, visit www.pittsburghsymphony.org/verdi&wagnerworkshop, where sheet music for the “Anvil Chorus” can be downloaded. To register for the workshop, call 412.392.4876, or email explore@pittsburghsymphony.org with your name and total number of ticket holders attending the workshop by Friday, March 1. Registration will be confirmed by email.

Pittsburgh Opera General Director Christopher Hahn will host the concerts and introduce the selections from each of the operas. The concerts also will feature soprano Simona Šaturová, baritone Gregg Baker, and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, directed by Betsy Burleigh. Baker most recently performed with the PSO during Thanksgiving weekend at Heinz Hall.

The PSO would like to recognize and thank BNY Mellon for its 2012-2013 title sponsorship of BNY Mellon Grand Classics. Fairmont Pittsburgh is the official hotel of the PSO. Delta Air Lines is the official airline of the PSO.

Simona Šaturová studied singing at the Bratislava Conservatory and attended various master classes, most notably with the Romanian soprano singer Ileana Cortrubas. Besides her numerous appearances at the National Theatre Prague, the soprano singer has also performed on the stages of the Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), the Théâtre du Châtelet Paris, the Opéra de Monte Carlo and the Megaron in Athens. She is a popular guest performer at the Frankfurt Opera where she has sung in revivals of Rossini's Il Viaggio à Reims and Verdi's A Masked Ball and, most recently, was heard as a wonderful Lucia di Lammermoor. She appeared as Ilia (Idomeneo) at the beginning of 2010 in the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels as a sudden stand-in and was invited once again in the spring of 2011 as a guest in the role of Sandrina (La Finta Giardiniera) with Ursel and Karl-Ernst Herrmann. She has also earned an international reputation as a concert and oratorio singer. She made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2006 and, in the same year, sang the soprano part in Mahler's 2nd Symphony under Christoph Eschenbach on the occasion of the reopening of the famous Salle Pleyel in Paris. As a result of her spectacular performance, the Philadelphia Orchestra immediately invited her to appear at concerts in Philadelphia and in New York's Carnegie Hall.

A Baritone of imposing voice and stature, Gregg Baker continues to make an indelible mark on the world of Opera Theater.  Since his opera debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1985, he has performed leading roles at The Vienna Staatsoper, Arena di Verona, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Hamburg Opera, New Israeli Opera, Stuttgart Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Vancouver Opera, Baden-Baden Opera, Scottish National Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Houston Grand Opera, Greater Miami Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, and the Berkshire Opera. The past two seasons held important role debuts for Baker:  title roles in Verdi’s Macbeth and Rigoletto. A successful veteran of Broadway and a Lawrence Oliver Award nominee, Baker discovered his gift for and love of opera while performing the role of Crown in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. The Metropolitan Opera heard his performance in the Radio City Music Hall production and engaged him immediately for their production of the opera. He has since returned to the Metropolitan Opera in the roles of High Priest in Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila, Amonasro in Verdi’s Aida, Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen, Silvio in Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci, Donner in Wagner’s Das Rheingold and Belcore in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’Amore.

In addition to his operatic performances, Baker has performed and recorded with leading orchestras and conductors, including, the Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Danish Symphony, Radio Stuttgart Symphony, James Levine, Simon Rattle, Zubin Mehta, André Previn, Lorin Maazel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir Roger Norrington, Jesus Luis Cobos, Daniel Oren, Eric Kunzel and the late Anton Guadagno and Robert Shaw. Baker has worked with the renowned stage directors Otto Schenk, the late Pierre Ponelle, Nathaniel Merrill, and Franco Zeffirelli.


Editors Please Note:

Friday, March 1, at 8 p.m.

Saturday, March 2, at 8 p.m.

Sunday, March 3, at 2:30 p.m.


Heinz Hall
PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MANFRED HONECK, conductor

CHRISTOPHER HAHN, host

GREGG BAKER, baritone
SIMONA ŠATUROVÁ, soprano
MENDELLSOHN CHOIR OF PITTSBURGH, directed by Betsy Burleigh



Richard Wagner                      Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin

                                                “Einsam in trüben Tagen” (Elsa’s Dream) from Lohengrin

                                                “Siegfried’s Funeral Music” from Gotterdämmerung

                                                “Chorus of the Norwegian Sailors” from Die fliegende Holländer

                                                 “O! du mein holder Abendstern” (Song to the Evening Star) from Tannhäuser

                                                “Entrance of the Guests into the Wartburg” from Tannhäuser



Giuseppe Verdi                       Prelude to Act I of La Traviata

                                                “Ah! fors è lui…Sempre Liberia” from La Traviata

                                                “Choruses of the Gypsies and Matadors” from La Traviata

                                                “Di Provenza il mar” from La Traviata

                                                “Va, pensiero” (Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves) from Nabucco

                                                “Caro nome” from Rigoletto

                                                “lo morrò, ma lieto in core” (Death of Rodrigo) from Don Carlo

                                                “Gloria all’Egitto” (Triumphal March and Chorus) from Aida

                                                “Anvil Chorus” from Il Trovatore



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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

Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Russian Pianist Matsuev Performs with PSO

For Immediate Release
Feb. 7, 2013

PSO MUSIC DIRECTOR MANFRED HONECK’S RETURN
FEATURES POWERHOUSE RUSSIAN PIANIST MATSUEV PLAYING RACHMANINOFF

Program includes ‘A Night on Bald Mountain’ made famous by ‘Fantasia,’ Beethoven’s 7th Symphony

PITTSBURGH – Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) Music Director Manfred Honeck returns to Heinz Hall for a weekend of BNY Mellon Grand Classics concerts showcasing Russian pianist Denis Matsuev performing Serge Rachmaninoff’s masterpiece, Piano Concerto No. 2.

The concerts will begin at 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 15, and 2:30 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 17. Tickets, ranging from $20 to $85, can be purchased by calling the Heinz Hall box office at 412.392.4900, or at www.pittsburghsymphony.org.

The first half features A Night on Bald Mountain, Mussorgsky’s well-known tone poem about a witch’s Sabbath near Kiev; its theme made more famous by Disney’s 1940 classic film, Fantasia, and Matsuev performing Rachmaninoff’s well-known Piano Concerto No. 2.  The second half features Honeck leading the PSO in a performance of Beethoven’s exciting and electrifying Symphony No. 7.

Gramophone magazine once wrote of Denis Matsuev, “For here is 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.” The Times of London said, “Perhaps he is the new Horowitz.”

As part of the PSO’s Explore & Engage concert prelude program, Honeck will be interviewed on stage by Robert Moir, senior vice president of artistic planning. This event is free and open to all ticket holders and begins one hour prior to the concert.

Outside the auditorium, audiences can also browse through displays about Beethoven and his world as part of the PSO’s multi-year Beethoven Project, as well as Rachmaninoff and composer-pianists.

The PSO Book Club with WQED-FM’s Jim Cunningham will be held at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 17, in the Grand Tier Lounge. Cunningham will lead a discussion of Parallels and Paradoxes, Explorations in Music and Society by Daniel Barenboim and Edward W. Said. The session is free to all ticket holders to the Sunday afternoon performance. Availability is limited; advance registration is required. To register, call 412.392.4876, or emailexplore@pittsburghsymphony.org.

The PSO would like to recognize and thank BNY Mellon for its 2012-2013 title sponsorship of BNY Mellon Grand Classics. Fairmont Pittsburgh is the Official Hotel of the PSO. Delta Air Lines is the official airline of the PSO.

Since his triumphant victory at the 11th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1998, Denis Matsuev has quickly established himself as one of the most sought-after pianists of his generation. Laureate of prestigious Shostakovich Prize in Music and State Prize of Russian Federation in Literature and Arts, Matsuev has appeared in hundreds of recitals at the most prestigious and legendary concert halls throughout the world. Matsuev collaborates with the world's best known orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony, National Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, WDR of Cologne, Frankfurt Radio and BBC Symphony, Philharmonia orchestra of London, Verbier and Budapest Festival Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala and Zurich Opera House Orchestra, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, NHK Symphony, Rotterdam and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Israel and Helsinki Philharmonic and the European Chamber Orchestra; he is continually re-engaged with the legendary Russian orchestras such as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Orchestra and the Russian National Orchestra. He appears regularly with prominent conductors, including Lorin Maazel, Valery Gergiev, Zubin Mehta, Mariss Jansons, Yuri Temirkanov, Kurt Masur, Paavo Jarvi, Leonard Slatkin, Myung-Whun Chung, Antonio Pappano, Semyon Bychkov, Ivan Fischer and Adam Fisher, Gianandrea Noseda, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, James Conlon, Vladimir Spivakov, Mikhail Pletnev, and Vladimir Fedoseyev.

Manfred Honeck was appointed the ninth Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in January 2007, and began his tenure at the start of the 2008-2009 season. After a first extension in 2009, his contract was extended for the second time in February 2012, now through the 2019-2020 season. Following their successful European Tour in 2010 and the European Festival Tour 2011 with appearances at the major music festivals, such as BBC Proms, Lucerne, Grafenegg, Rheingau, Schleswig-Holstein or Musikfest Berlin, Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra returned to Europe in October-November 2012. The tour took them to Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Luxembourg, and Cologne, Frankfurt and Stuttgart in Germany. During a week-long residency at the Musikverein in Vienna, the orchestra performed four concerts. Honeck's successful work in Pittsburgh is captured on CD by the Japanese label Exton. So far, Mahler's Symphonies Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 and Richard Strauss' Ein Heldenleben have been released to critical acclaim. Their recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 won a 2012 International Classical Music Award (ICMA).  Honeck was born in Austria and studied music at the Academy of Music in Vienna. An accomplished violinist and violist, he spent more than 10 years as a member of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra.

Editors Please Note:
Friday, Feb. 15 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 17 at 2:30 p.m.

Heinz Hall
PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MANFRED HONECK, conductor
DENIS MATSUEV, violin

Modest Mussorgsky                    A Night on Bald Mountain

Serge Rachmaninoff                    Concerto No. 2 in C minor for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 18
I.                    Moderato
II.                  Adagio sostenuto
III.                Allegro scherzando

Ludwig Van Beethoven               Symphony No. 7 in A major, Opus 92
I.                    Poco sostenuto – Vivace
II.                  Allegretto
III.                Presto
IV.                Allegro con brio

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Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh