In Europe, Pittsburgh Symphony to play in most prestigious halls
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Philharmonie, Luxembourg, will be one of the concert halls on the tour for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
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The last time the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performed in Vienna, music director Manfred Honeck found himself in a strange place: among the audience.
The performance at the Konzerthaus in early February 2008 was part of a tour the orchestra had arranged years earlier with conductor Marek Janowski at the helm. Mr. Honeck happened to be in town with the Vienna Symphony, and he spent a great deal of time with his new orchestra -- showing musicians, staff, board members and media the musical highlights of his hometown. But for him the highlight was clear:
"It was one of the rare moments when I could sit and listen to the orchestra," he said.
No buyer's remorse here; in fact, the concert that night inspired him to push harder to get the PSO back in the most prestigious Viennese hall, the Musikverein.
"It is the Carnegie Hall of Europe," said Mr. Honeck. "It is a new step for showing our music-making. The orchestra is very well known and respected in Vienna. It is a great thing to be there."
PG INTERACTIVESoon, the orchestra was invited for not one, but two concerts there. The Musikverein dates are the anchor of a three-week, eight-country, 12-concert European Tour that opens Saturday and touches down in several other major music capitals, including Paris, Prague and Budapest. The orchestra will be joined by some heavy hitters of the classical scene: violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter performing Brahms' Violin Concerto, pianist Emanuel Ax soloing in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor," and cellist Jan Vogler playing Schumann's Cello Concerto.
The remainder of the tour program -- Mahler's Symphony No. 1, Dvorak's Symphony No. 8 and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 -- is designed to showcase the chemistry the PSO has with Mr. Honeck, especially within his areas of expertise.
"People [in Europe] know about the new combination of the orchestra and me, but we have to go to those venues and show this exciting thing that they have read about," said Mr. Honeck, who became music director in 2008. "This is the biggest stakes for us."
First Published May 12, 2010 12:00 am
