AboutOfficial Site: http://www.pittsburghsymphony.org/The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has been a vital part of the City of Pittsburgh’s heritage for more than 100 years. With its noble history of the finest conductors and musicians and its strong commitment to artistic quality and excellence, audiences around the world have claimed the Pittsburgh Symphony as their orchestra of choice. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra most recently captured worldwide headlines with the announcement of an innovative model for artistic leadership to pilot the PSO into the 21st century. Beginning with the 2005-06 season, Artistic Advisor Sir Andrew Davis will be joined by Yan Pascal Tortelier, serving as Principal Guest Conductor, and Marek Janowski, assuming the Endowed Guest Conductor Chair position, bringing to the orchestra richly diverse repertoire and ensuring music making of the highest quality. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette voted the Musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra its No. 1 Cultural Force in Pittsburgh for 2004, a list of Top 50 Cultural Forces in the city compiled each year by the newspaper. The Post-Gazette stated: “For the musicians, the past 12 months have been a banner year. From the Proms to the Pope, they have served as cultural exporters, connecting the name of Pittsburgh to excellence overseas.” At home in Pittsburgh’s elegant Heinz Hall, the Orchestra offers 22 weeks of subscription concerts annually, a Pops series of seven weekends, four Thursday matinees, a four-concert chamber orchestra series and a three-concert happy hour series, Symphony with a Splash. The Orchestra also performs free of charge education concerts for students in preschool to grade 6. The three-concert Fiddlesticks Family Concert series, featuring the feline “Ambassador to Children,” is immensely popular with the 3 to 8 set. A new Sunday afternoon series, Popular Classics, invites families to enjoy great music together—programmed for ages 8-14. In addition, the Orchestra stages summer, free-admission concerts in area parks and a series of year-round community engagement concerts throughout western Pennsylvania. Starting in the early 1900s with frequent performances in Canada, the Pittsburgh Symphony has confirmed its ranking as a world-class orchestra, earning critical acclaim for each tour abroad. The 29 international tours, beginning with a 1947 appearance in Mexico, include 15 European tours, seven trips to the Far East and two to South America. The Far East Tour in 2002 marked first-time concerts by the Orchestra in Kuala Lumpur and Australia. The Pittsburgh Symphony became the first American orchestra to perform for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in January 2004--part of the Pontiff’s Silver Jubilee celebration. This concert helped spread his lifelong message of unity among all faiths, and reached a global audience. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra also enjoys an equally distinguished record of domestic tours, which over the years have showcased the Orchestra in all of America’s major cities and music centers, including yearly performances in New York’s Carnegie Hall. In recent seasons, the Orchestra has toured both Florida and the West Coast. The Orchestra has achieved a long and illustrious reputation for its recordings and radio concerts. As early as 1936, it was broadcast coast-to-coast, sponsored then by the H. J. Heinz Company. Since 1982 the PSO has received increased national attention through its annual series of network radio broadcasts by Public Radio International. The PRI series is produced by WQED-FM 89.3 in Pittsburgh and is made possible by the H. J. Heinz Company Foundation and musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Starting with the release of its first commercial recording in 1941, the Orchestra has made hundreds of critically acclaimed discs. Pittsburgh Symphony recordings are available on the EMI, Angel, CBS, Philips, MCA, New World, Nonesuch, Sony Classical and Telarc labels. The Orchestra, with Lorin Maazel conducting and Yo-Yo Ma as cello soloist, won a 1992 Grammy award for a Sony Classical disc featuring works by Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky. Cinema Serenade, a CD with John Williams conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Itzhak Perlman in performances of celebrated film scores, reached No. 1 on the Billboard crossover chart. Released in 2001 by EMI, the Shostakovich Symphony No. 8 was the first collaboration by the Orchestra with Music Director Mariss Jansons. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performs music of Rodion Shchedrin, conducted by Jansons, was released by Pittsburgh Symphony Curtain Call in 2002, and in 2004, The Jansons Years, a 3-CD compilation of Jansons/PSO concert performances in Heinz Hall, available through Curtain Call. Heading the list of internationally recognized conductors who influenced the development of the Orchestra is Victor Herbert, who was Music Director between 1898 and 1904. Preceding Herbert as the first Pittsburgh Orchestra Conductor was Frederic Archer from 1896-1899. Otto Klemperer was critical to the Orchestra’s solidification as an American institution in the late 1930s. Prior to Mr. Klemperer, permanent conductors were Emil Paur (1904-1910), Elias Breeskin (1926-1930) and Antonio Modarelli (1930-1937). Under the dynamic directorship of Fritz Reiner, from 1938 to 1948, the Orchestra embarked on a new phase of its history, taking its first foreign tour and making its first commercial recording. In the more recent past, the Orchestra’s high standard of excellence was maintained and enhanced through the inspired leadership of William Steinberg during his quarter-century as Music Director between 1952 and 1976. André Previn, during his music directorship between 1976 and 1984, led the Orchestra to new heights through accomplishments on tours, recordings and television, including the PBS series “Previn and the Pittsburgh.” Lorin Maazel had a formal affiliation with the Orchestra beginning in 1984 when he became Music Consultant. From 1988-89 through 1995-96, Maestro Maazel was Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony, molding it into one of the finest orchestras in the world. Mariss Jansons became Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony in the 1997-98 season and concluded his tenure in Pittsburgh at the end of the 2003-04 season. Today the Pittsburgh Symphony remains among the world’s top orchestras, continually gathering more fans around the globe. Drawing upon musicians from five continents and music schools throughout the world, the Orchestra has assembled a cross section of musical talent. The PSO maintains a strict policy of nondiscrimination covering age, sex, sexual preference, race, religion, political affiliation and national origin. The only criterion for hiring is that the musicians you see have proven themselves to be among the best in the world. The Pittsburgh Symphony has established its role as one of the world’s finest orchestras in the lives of music lovers for generations to come. |
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Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
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Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Newsletter |
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Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Discography (11titles)
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