WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham talks to Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Music Director Manfred Honeck about the music on this weekend's season finale concerts.

WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham talks to Nicholas Phan, tenor, and Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano, about Beethoven's 9th Symphony, which will be performed at Heinz Hall June 5th through 7th.

WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham talks to PSO Principal Oboe Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida about the world premiere of Alan Fletcher's Oboe Concerto. The piece will be performed June 12th through 14th at Heinz Hall.

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Music Director and his brother, Rainer Honeck, who is the soloist for this weekend's concerts, stopped by the QED Morning Show.

Guest pianist Lars Vogt talks about Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.1.

Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and PSO Music Director Manfred Honeck talk about their season-opening gala performance on Sep. 13th at Heinz Hall and recent events in their lives.

Pianist Stephen Hough returns to the Pittsburgh Symphony in Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto #1. He shares details of Mendelssohn's music and the composer's link to singer Jenny Lind, and Hough's own editorial approach to blogging.

Scottish conductor Donald Runnicles, now chief conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, talks about the music of Wagner which has been a passion of his since his early career in Freiburg, Germany. He also speaks about his work at the Grand Teton Music Festival, and his appearance on a web-based cooking show that features top-ranked classical musicians.

Giananadrea Noseda brings Alfredo Casella's Symphonic Fragments from "La Donna Serpente" to Heinz Hall to begin two weekends with the Pittsburgh Symphony. Noseda also diuscusses Prokofiev's Piano Concerto #5 as pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet makes his Pittsburgh debut, and the Symphony #2 by Schumann.

Pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet gives an inside look at Prokofiev's 5th Piano Concerto, which he describes as a bizarre, cubist, kaleidoscopic treatment of its themes. Bavouzet compares this concerto to works by Debussy and Liszt. Bavouzet credits his early exposure to electronic music with giving him insights into the "parameters of sound." He also talks about his ongoing cycle of Haydn sonata recordings and future projects.