Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra celebrates 125th anniversary in 2020/21 season (February 2020)
Under the banner “Pittsburgh Symphony and You: Extraordinary Together”, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and its Music Director Manfred Honeck announced its 125th anniversary season yesterday that will feature special artist debuts, collaborations and concerts.
“Our 125th anniversary season is a tribute to Pittsburgh, to this orchestra’s treasured heritage and to its bright future. It is so exciting to present for the first time a major work like Mahler 8, an exceptional residency with Yo-Yo Ma, the unique artistic partnerships and community engagement, and all of the many premieres, debuts and Pittsburgh firsts. Our 125th Celebration season will be inspiring, thought-provoking and riveting—and we can’t wait to share it with you,” said Manfred Honeck.
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will welcome many of the world’s greatest artists to the Heinz Hall stage, including Emanuel Ax, Karina Canellakis, Matthias Goerne, Hélène Grimaud, Pablo Heras-Casado, Gianandrea Noseda, Vasily Petrenko, Gil Shaham, Christian Tetzlaff, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Juraj Valčuha, and finally Yo-Yo Ma who will visit Pittsburgh for an unprecedented three-day residency. The orchestra will showcase 10 artist debuts and introduce five new works and world premieres as well as the Pittsburgh and Heinz Hall premiere of Mahler 8, known as the Symphony of a Thousand. A new Steinway concert piano will also be making its debut to open the season.
For the first time in Pittsburgh history, all nine Beethoven symphonies will be performed in one week by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Music Director Manfred Honeck.
“This great orchestra is known throughout the world for its rich history of the world’s best musicians and conductors, as well as its deep commitment to the people of the Pittsburgh region. It is only fitting that the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 125th anniversary season with significant partnerships, collaborations, premieres and debuts that extend and amplify our distinguished history,” said Melia Tourangeau, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
In this distinguished history, Music Director Manfred Honeck stands in tradition of past Music Directors such as renowned Fritz Reiner (Music Director from 1938 – 1948), André Previn (1976-1984), Lorin Maazel (1988-1996) and Mariss Jansons (1997-2004).
Find out more about the upcoming season here.
In August and September 2020, Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony embark on a 12-concert, 11-city, five-country European Festivals Tour. The Pittsburgh Symphony is the only American orchestra that will perform at the prestigious Salzburg Festival and will be a featured orchestra as part of the Opening Weekend at the Beethovenfest in Bonn as well as at the Rheingau Musik-Festival, in Ljubljana, at the Lucerne Festival, in Grafenegg, at the Philharmonie Essen and other cities to be announced shortly. Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter joins the orchestra as soloist in nine of the concerts while pianists Rudolf Buchbinder and Lukáš Vondráček also appear as featured soloists.