@ the Symphony

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra President and CEO Melia Tourangeau recognizes and honors Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Associate Concertmaster Mark Huggins, who is retiring from the orchestra at the end of September.   From the PSO Opening Night concert on Friday September 23, 2022.

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Jim Cunningham interviews cellist Alisa Weilerstein and composer Joan Tower about her piece "A New Day", plus he talks with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra President and CEO Melia Tourangeau about the upcoming season during the orchestra's Season Opening Concert on Friday September 23, 2022.

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Violinist Joshua Bell tells Jim Cunningham the Tchaikovsky Concerto never gets old having recorded it as a teenager with several re- recordings since and a previous performance with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck. He estimates 1000 times he’s played the Tchaikovsky and he always hears something new. Joshua thinks the classical music scene is in good shape and will never decline in spite of the pandemic and concern about audiences returning. He’s just back from a tour with the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields to Brazil and other stops in South America plus visits to Italian concert halls where the vibrancy of classical music was strong. Pittsburgh and his thirty years of music making here is always a highlight he suggests in the dressing room conversation after rehearsal on Friday afternoon before the Saturday gala.

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Pittsburgh Symphony Music Director Manfred Honeck visited the WQED studios for a live conversation on the QED Morning show on August 10th. It was the first in-person interview during the last two years of the pandemic outside of live broadcasts at Heinz Hall. Maestro Honeck ran down the special features of the upcoming 75th Anniversary European Tour of the Orchestra and the special guests Anne Sophie Mutter, Helene Grimaud and Gautier Capucon. He says he has sailed through the pandemic but regrets that so many have suffered and that audiences for music are slowly rebounding. Maestro Honeck mentioned his summer vacation with his family in the Tirol and Tuscany, ran down the special repertoire on the tour including Ligeti's "Lontano" and his transcriptions of music by Erwin Schulhoff. Manfred Honeck thanked the tour report sponsors Thiel College, Botkin Family Wealth Management and Elliot Dinkin of Cowden Associates and promised to provide dressing room commentary whenever possible.

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Jim Cunningham spoke with guest pianist Emanuel Ax, Music Director Manfred Honeck, and sound recordist Dirk Sobotka during intermission of our live broadcast of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on Friday June 17, 2022.  

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Emanuel Ax sat down with Jim Cunningham on Saturday afternoon after the live broadcast of opening night Friday June 17 to talk about Mozart's 20th concerto, Chopin for an encore, his long association with the Pittsburgh Symphony, friendship with Andre Previn, the war in Ukraine and it's effect on Lviv where Emanuel Ax was born, his recent Beethoven Trios cd Beethoven for Three with Yo Yo Ma and Leonidas Kavakos, and the answer to the question are there too many good musicians today-- recorded upstairs at Heinz Hall in the rehearsal room on the fourth floor with help from Adam Kilburn engineer and videographer.

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The Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Manfred Honeck talks with Jim Cunningham about the program for the weekend of June 10th with three pieces written for or first heard in America. The first Pittsburgh performance of the Dvorak Te Deum, the Poulenc Gloria inspired by Benedictine Monks playing soccer in 1961 both sung by the Mendelssohn Choir, and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto with Beatrice Rana. Maestro Honeck says he enjoys the time on the plane to study his music and he enjoyed his recent tour with the Orchestra of Paris, having his son Joachim in town, how delighted he was with the Beethoven Symphony complete series this Spring and how thrilled he is with the general state of affairs even following a pandemic.

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