PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND MUSIC DIRECTOR MANFRED HONECK
ON TOUR IN SUMMER 2026
3 WEEKS THROUGH EUROPE

Guest soloists:
Alexandre Kantorow, Augustin Hadelich, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Bruce Liu

From 26 August – 10 September 2026, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Manfred Honeck will go on their 11th joint international tour.

During the tour, 13 concerts will take place in 9 different cities: in Merano, Salzburg, Warsaw, Hamburg, Lucerne, Cologne, Amsterdam, Essen, and Vienna. The repertoire includes works by Adams, Barber, Brahms, Dvorak, Penderecki, Rachmaninoff, Schulhoff/Honeck/Ille, Shostakovich, Carlos Simon, and Szymanowski, reflecting the orchestra’s wide artistic range.

The tour marks an impressive kick-off to a promising 2026–27 season for the PSO and Manfred Honeck. The upcoming season features 9 artist debuts, 3 world premieres, 2 U.S. premieres, 3 commissioned works, 3 co-commissioned works, and 10 PSO premieres.  In addition, the orchestra will dedicate itself to a special commemoration of the anniversary of Beethoven’s death and a Mozart festival. You can get a preview of this season here. If you want to hear a live recording of the concert in the New York Carnegie Hall in December 2025, please click here.

Before the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck embark on their European tour, there is another highlight to look forward to: In early July 2026, the latest album will be released by Reference Recordings, featuring Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 (»From the New World«) and Carlos Simon’s Four Black American Dances.

»After almost 19 years together, what continues to inspire me most is the depth of trust and curiosity we share as an orchestra,« said Music Director Manfred Honeck. »This season reflects that spirit of the artistic mission and its intensity, where we stand side by side to challenge and inspire one another. I am restless in my search for the essential meaning of the music and am grateful to our wonderful musicians that they are so devoted in this exploration.«

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s first international tour took place in 1947. Over the past 79 years, the PSO has traveled to Africa (Canary Islands), Asia, Australia, Europe, Puerto Rico, and South America.

Pittsburgh is one of the most culturally rich cities in the world. The downtown area, where the PSO is based, is considered one of the most culturally dense districts in North America. Around 4,000 performances take place there every year, ranging from opera and ballet to Broadway musicals, experimental theater, and concerts. The thriving local arts and culture scene has a significant influence on the city’s cultural identity, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is one of its central artistic institutions, alongside the Carnegie Museum of Arts and the Andy Warhol Museum. The orchestra has developed its distinctive Pittsburgh sound over the past decades in collaboration with renowned conductors such as William Steinberg, André Previn, Lorin Maazel, and Mariss Jansons.