Baritone Thomas Hampson talks about some magnificent but obscure songs by Richard Strauss that he'll sing with the PSO on the season's opening weekend. Hampson also talks about his concert with the Israel Philharmonic at Salzburg, and his forays into the world of Twitter and iPad apps, including golf and news apps -- as well as the Thomas Hampson app. With the fall season ahead, he talks about sensible tips to avoid colds and keep his voice healthy.

Manfred Honeck talks in depth about Mahler's "Tragic" Symphony #6, including powerful hammer blows, and delicate, distant cowbells such as Honeck heard in his hometown of Nenzing, Austria. Also, a work by Eugene Goosens that will feature the PSO's Gorton family: retiring Co-Principal Oboist James Gorton; his wife, Principal Harpist Gretchen Van Hoesen Gorton; and their daughter, Toronto Symphony Principal Harpist Heidi Van Hoesen Gorton.

Violinist Joshua Bell talk about Brahms's Violin Concerto, which he'll play with the PSO led by Manfred Honeck. Bell talks about some of his media outreach projects, such as appearing on Dancing with the Stars, and his new post as Director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, founded by Sir Neville Marriner.

Maestro Honeck talks about having the three big Strauss tone poems in one concert, as necessitated by recording the orchestra's next CD. He also talks about the young Strauss's keen insight in "Death and Transfiguration."

Gianandrea Noseda discusses the opening program of the PSO's three-week Paris Festival which includes Respighi's La Boutique Fantasque, Debussy's Iberia, and de Falla's The Three-Cornered Hat. Noseda talks about his recording projects and is reluctant to praise French films out of deference to Italian cinema.

The PSO's Gianandrea Noseda leads Romantic-era pieces by Hector Berlioz (excerpts from Romeo & Juliet) and Johannes Brahms (Piano Concerto #2) with soloist Nicholas Angelich. Noseda addresses the possible origins of the Capulet & Montague feud, and talks about his work as guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera.

Pianist Stephen Hough talks about Saint-Saens' "Egyptian" Concerto, and about life in New York, hats, cooking, his own compositions including a mass and a sonata, blogging and tweeting, Kindles and reading.

PSO Principal Guest Conductor Leonard Slatkin talks about a colorful program of Steven Stucky's Son et Lumiere, Saint-Saens' "Egyptian" concerto featuring pianist Stephen Hough, and Slatkin's own suite of favorites from Prokofiev's Cinderella. Slatkin also talks about his forthcoming book, his travels in Japan, and the work of his father, mother, and brother in the arts.

Violinist Sarah Chang returns to Heinz Hall with a 2011 arrangement of Leonard Bernstein's "West Side Story" by Hollywood's David Newman. Sarah talks with WQED's Jim Cunningham about Bernstein, her favorite films, tweeting, Phantom of the Opera, Vivaldi's Four Seasons and much more.

Tortelier, the PSO's former Principal Guest Conductor, returns with Bernstein's West Side Story Suite played by violinist Sarah Chang as arranged by Thomas Newman, Morton Gould's Spirituals for Orchestra, and Jean Sibelius' Symphony #1.