The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra excels in transporting audiences to musical realms, but it has never itself been to the Land of Song -- until now.

	Steve Mellon , Post-Gazette The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, conducted here by Hans Graf, rehearses at Heinz Hall for it first European tour in three years. Click photo for larger image. Interactive map See the PSO's 2006 European Tour | View the tour in a popup window Previous coverage Symphony conductor to miss Europe tour due to bypass surgery (8/12/06)

The PSO will travel to Wales, performing in Cardiff for the first time in its illustrious touring history as part of its 2006 European Tour. The orchestra also will debut in Patras, Greece, play a new concert hall in Dortmond, Germany, and give the BBC Proms premiere of Charles Ives' Symphony No. 2. It's also the first tour with Leonard Slatkin, who is filling in at the last minute for ailing Sir Andrew Davis, and the first international tour with conductor Hans Graf, who leads the PSO in a German leg.

But the relative newness of the touring itself is what has the PSO beaming. After a string of successes under former music directors Lorin Maazel and Mariss Jansons, the orchestra had to forgo international tours the past two summers due to its precarious financial situation, outside of a quick trip to the Vatican in 2004. It made for a depressing situation for musicians and management alike, especially when the last tour filled its marketing quote book with dandies.

"The first of their concerts was one of those very great evenings that you catch half a dozen times in your life if you're lucky" (London's The Guardian in 2003); "Now beat this! Concerts do not come much more brilliant than the pair given by the Pittsburgh Symphony" (The Financial Times, 2003).

"We feel it is very important to tour internationally," says PSO general manager Genevieve Twomey, and reputation is one of the main reasons. "We end up getting reviews from critics abroad that say, 'Pittsburgh is one of the world's greatest orchestras.' "

The touring hiatus has not hurt that reputation, says a man who would know, Nicholas Kenyon, controller of the BBC Proms in London's Royal Albert Hall. "From our point of view, it has not been an unusually long gap at all," he says. "If you look at certain other American orchestras, it has been longer since they have appeared [at the Proms]." In fact, Kenyon is appreciative that the orchestra didn't book a visit and then have to cancel it later -- a far more disruptive occurrence.

Leonard Slatkin will fill in for the ailing Sir Andrew Davis for the Pittsburgh Symphony's European tour.

"Artistically we were very keen to get them back," he says. "Pittsburgh is [on] our small select list of American orchestras to whom we say, we are not going to give you enough money to cross the ocean, but if you can assemble a summer festival appearance in Europe, we would be very happy to have you at the Proms. In the end, when they were able to offer themselves for this year, it was sadly too late to give them two concerts as we would normally do for an American orchestra of that stature. But everybody was more than keen to make that happen."

For the PSO, that last sentiment is a major understatement.

"The feeling was strong that we had to make this tour work," says Twomey.

"We actually had two different tours we were working on that came together at the same time. It just worked out perfectly," says PSO president Larry Tamburri, which explains the two conductors. "It had its ups and downs trying to fit it together, but it worked." The tour will cost $1.2 million in expenses, with all but $300,000 covered by fees. Mellon Financial Corp. will make up much of the rest, with other local sponsors pitching in.

Weighing the risks

The latest "down," of course, has been the tighter security after the breakup of an alleged terrorist plot to destroy airplanes bound for America out of London. Last week, the New York-based Orchestra of St. Luke's canceled a tour to the Edinburgh International Festival and BBC Proms, "owing to the changes and limitations on international travel in recent days," its management said in a release.

Following performances in London, the Bolshoi Theater musicians will travel by train to Paris and fly from there to avoid checking instruments individually into cargo holds for flights out of England. Even with somewhat lightened restrictions by the British Air Authority now allowing one small carry-on, some instruments were still too big and would have to be checked. That is often too big a risk for the valuable instruments professionals carry.

But other orchestras are finding they are able to roll with the punches. The Minnesota and Philadelphia orchestras are both pushing off to Europe this month with no itinerary changes.

"We are just monitoring the situation in regards to flying in and out of the U.K.," says Philadelphia spokeswoman Katherine Blodgett. "The situation changes a little bit every day, but we are preparing to stow all the musicians' instruments if need be in the cargo trunks."

Unlike the individual musician who must pay for an extra ticket for a seat for a cello or sweat out carrying a violin onto a flight, large orchestras such as the PSO provide large cargo containers specifically designed to protect instruments in travel. They are able to accommodate anything from the smallest percussion mallet to the entire bass section. Though the cargo is always scheduled to arrive at concert halls in plenty of time for musicians to rehearse, some musicians with smaller instruments still prefer to take them on board to get extra practice time in hotels. For this trip, however, the PSO will recommend that these musicians reconsider that and stow their instruments in the padded cargo containers.

The alternative -- having to individually check an instrument -- is risky.

"We feel pretty good about things," says Twomey. "We are busing into London and fly out on a charter. So far we haven't made any changes to schedule."

PSO tour managers are not entirely discouraged by travel restrictions, because they show that security is at work.

"The current news that security is at a high level is a good thing," says Twomey. "Security is at the top of our mind." The PSO has arranged for its own security for the tour, this time opting to use security based in each country it travels to, rather than a firm based in the United States.

"It is different than we have done it in the past," she says. The reasoning is that private foreign firms will have a better sense of the situations for risk assessment, and obtaining liaisons with hotel, venue and airport security and other issues on the PSO's behalf. The orchestra also is in constant contact with the U.S. State department.

Worth their while

Is it really worth the hassle to tour internationally? For the PSO, the answer is unequivocally yes, and reputation is not the only reason touring is crucial for a major orchestra.

"Touring as a group and playing the same repertory again and again builds esprit de corps, and it helps attract musicians and guest conductors," says Tamburri.

For instance, the PSO's trip to the Vatican to perform for Pope John Paul II brought the ensemble enormous prestige. However, its brevity didn't provide the same extra benefits as a longer tour, such as the 16-day, nine-concert affair it will embark on this Tuesday.

There's also the issue of repertoire. Before he canceled his appearance to undergo bypass surgery on his left leg, Davis and the PSO had put together programs heavy in American music, including Ives' Symphony No. 2, Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story" and George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and "Promenade: Walking the Dog." It's actually not as common as you might expect for a U.S. orchestra to travel with native music.

"Normally, the Europeans don't like it," says Slatkin. "[The PSO] is one of the few American orchestras to take that much American music on tour. That is really one reason I wanted to do [the tour]. I would not have liked to see, particularly, the Ives go away. It will be a new piece for them."

But at the Proms, the Ives may be trumped by another piece. That's because popular pianist Lang Lang will perform Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1.

First stop, Patras

If performing in front of 5,500 people at the Royal Albert Hall (a good 1,400 of which stand the entire time in the "promming" pit in front of the stage) is the highest-profile concert of the tour, the keystone is Patras. The PSO was invited to perform there in the festivities celebrating the Greek city's selection as the European Capital of Culture for 2006, a rotating selection launched in 1985.

"It was Patras that brought [the tour] together," says Tamburri. "It is a really great honor to be asked as the only American orchestra to participate."

The PSO has performed in Greece before, with music director William Steinberg in 1964. Now, as then, the orchestra won't have a roof over its head. At least not when it performs. The PSO played amid Athenian ruins then, and in Patras, it will give an outdoor concert in the Ancient Odeion. This is essentially an amphitheater with the orchestra partially set up on a thrust stage, with no acoustic shell above it.

Because it potentially puts the PSO at the mercy of the weather, the musicians' union had to approve the concert. "We are talking about valuable instruments that cannot be subject to rain," said PSO union spokesman and percussionist John Soroka.

"We are not supposed to play a concert that does not have overhead protection," says Marcie Soloman, PSO operations manager. "It is rare, but it has happened."

Another complication is that the PSO won't be the biggest ticket in town when it debuts in Cardiff's St. David's Hall. The Rolling Stones will be rocking the nearby Millennium Stadium. While the town will be a little more packed than usual with visitors, hall management said the PSO concert is selling well.

Like the Cardiff event, the concerts in Dublin will feature Irish pianist Barry Douglas performing "Rhapsody in Blue." The PSO's first trip to Dublin in seven years will involve two concerts, the most in any city on this tour. After the U.K. leg of the tour, Slatkin will depart and Graf will take the reins. He leads the group in a four-city swing through Germany.

So it's bon voyage to a complex trip with 104 musicians that has been further complicated by recent events. But it is all worth it to the PSO, which is only a year into its new artistic leadership model.

"When you go through a transition, it is important to maintain connections," says Twomey. "It is really important to be out there."