Jim Cunningham speaks with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Music Director Manfred Honeck and PSO Principal Cello Anne Martindale Williams during intermission of our live broadcast on February 15, 2023. Yo-Yo Ma also says a quick hi at the end of the broadcast.

Jim Cunningham interviews Music Director Manfred Honeck, guest violinist Ray Chen, PSO Concertmaster David McCarroll, and thermin player Arturo Fernandez, during WQED-FM's live broadcast on February 10, 2023.

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Music Director Manfred Honeck stopped by the QED Morning Show with Jim Cunningham to talk about this weekend's concerts with violinist Ray Chen and Holst's "The Planets."

Pittsburgh Symphony soloist Baritone Matthias Goerne, described by many as the greatest singer in the lieder world today and one of the greatest operatic stars, speaks backstage minutes after his rehearsal of Wotan’s Farewell by Richard Wagner which he sings this weekend with music from Tristan und Isolde and The Flying Dutchman next to the Beethoven ‘s Fifth Symphony - February 3rd ,4th and 5th at Heinz Hall. He talks in detail about the program, the special challenges of singing Wagner, his teacher Dietrich Fischer Dieskau, about his new CD for Deutsche Grammophon, Schubert Revisited and about his decades long friendship with Manfred Honeck.

Pianist Paul Lewis joins Sir Mark Elder and the Pittsburgh Symphony to make his Heinz Hall debut with Mozart’s 12th Concerto in A January 20 and 22, 2023. He describes the delights of the Mozart with Jim Cunningham in his second floor dressing room following the Thursday rehearsal. Paul became a Commander of the British Empire in 2016. He has no opinion at all about Prince Harry’s criticism of the Royal Family. Paul greatly admires his teacher Alfred Brendel, talks about his years in Liverpool, his latest recordings of Brahms and Schubert for Harmonia Mundi, first impressions of Pittsburgh and where contemporary music turns up in his repertoire which has won the highest praise for Brahms, Beethoven, Liszt, Haydn and Schubert.

Conductor Peter Oundjian and violinist Alina Ibragimova provide the roadmap for the Prokofiev First Violin Concerto which they perform with the Pittsburgh Symphony January 13th and 15th. Peter chooses a few high points in his 14 years as Music Director of the Toronto Symphony and fills Jim Cunningham in on his family ties to Eric Idle of Monty Python. He also shares his love of Ralph Vaughan Williams and the Thomas Tallis Fantasy having recorded the composer in Toronto. Alina remembers being in Pittsburgh on March 11, 2020 just hours from her debut when the music world went on hiatus. Both are glad to have survived the pandemic and feel optimistic about the future of classical music.

Daniel Meyer conducts 8 Pittsburgh Symphony Holiday Pops concerts through Sunday the 18th of December with the Mendelssohn Choir, Santa and Blaine Alden Krauss who stars in Hamilton on Broadway plus dancers from the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater who perform highlights from the Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. Maestro Meyer has the rundown of the event for Jim Cunningham and what he is up to with the Erie Philharmonic and the Westmoreland Symphony.

Berlin born pianist Martin Helmchen makes his debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck playing the Schumann Concerto December 2 at Heinz Hall. He talks with Jim Cunningham in the upstairs dressing room about his earlier work with Manfred Honeck, the Schumann Concerto which he recorded a number of years ago and how his interpretation has changed, Robert Schumann the romantic figure in music, Germany and the US in the World Cup, and the progress in unification of the East and West in Germany.

Conductor David Robertson explains why you shouldn’t be too sad about Tchaikovsky’s last days, his final symphony and applauding before the last movement. Has he ever heard a better French Horn virtuoso than Pittsburgh Principal William Caballero? No, and Robertson started his musical life as a horn player. Oliver Knussen adds considerable virtuosity and color to the program too. What’s it like to train the next generation of conductors at Juilliard and exactly how do you do it? Find out in this conversation with Jim Cunningham recorded in the conductor’s dressing room at Heinz Hall after rehearsal on Thursday November 10, 2022.

Conductor David Robertson explains why you shouldn’t be too sad about Tchaikovsky’s last days, his final symphony and applauding before the last movement. Has he ever heard a better French Horn virtuoso than Pittsburgh Principal William Caballero? No, and Robertson started his musical life as a horn player. Oliver Knussen adds considerable virtuosity and  color to the  program too. What’s it like to train the next generation of conductors at Juilliard and exactly how do you do it? Find out in this conversation with Jim Cunningham recorded in the conductor’s dressing room at Heinz Hall after rehearsal on Thursday November 10, 2022.