Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra announces 2019-20 season offerings
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The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s 2019-20 season will include 20 classical weekends and seven Pops weekends.
The programming includes not only new music and repertoire favorites, but also features stimulating juxtapositions. For example, three of the world’s top violinists will play violin concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, contrasting them with more recent violin solo works showcasing virtuosity, a major contemporary voice and folk influences.
“At heart, we are all humans who need to share love, laughter, sadness and joy,” says music director Manfred Honeck. “At the center of this stand-out season is the exceptional artistry of our Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra musicians and the power of great music to stir the soul.”
Honeck dominates the fall activities because he will lead the orchestra on a five-country, 11-concert European tour in late October and early November. He’ll lead the “A Night in Black and White” gala on Sept. 14 (not part of the subscription series), which will feature Lang Lang playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24. The BNY Mellon Grand Classics series begins with the music director leading the Pittsburgh premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Julia Wolfe’s “Fountain of Youth,” a symphony co-commission.
Honeck will also play a leading role in the symphony’s observance of the 250 th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, a celebration which will stretch into next season. This season Honeck will conduct the German composer’s Symphonies Nos. 3 (“Eroica”) and 7, as well as the first symphony performances in a quarter century of his opera “Fidelio” and the Missa solemnis. The conductor also will conduct a staged production with European musicians of “Fidelio” at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, Austria, where the opera was first performed.
Honeck and the orchestra, who have already won two Grammys, are scheduled to be recorded in concert performing excerpts from Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet “Romeo and Juliet” and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7.
Two notable conductors will make their debuts in 2019-20, including Jakob Hrusa, who is music director of the Bamberg Symphony in Germany. He is also principal guest conductor of the Czech Philharmonic in Prague, Czech Republic, a post Honeck held until a few years ago. Matthias Pintcher is a composer and conductor who will lead a program including one of his own pieces.
Instrumentalists’ Heinz Hall debuts will include Armenian cellist Norek Hokhnazaryan, South Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho (who took over many of Lang Lang’s concerts when he was injured), and Latvian violinist Baiba Skride.
Leading conductors returning to the symphony next season include Osmo Vanska, who will conduct subscription concerts plus a special Saturday evening performance of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” on Dec. 7, Mark Elder, David Robertson, Vasily Petrenko and Juanjo Mena.
Major violinists and pianists bringing their distinctive personalities to the Heinz Hall stage include Igor Levit, Helene Grimaud and Yefim Bronman at the keyboard. The roster of leading violinists includes James Ehnes, Augustin Hadelich, Gil Shaham and Nikolaj Znaider. In addition, German superstar violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter will play Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Honeck conducting at a special non-subscription concert June 13, 2020.
Finally, the “PSO 360” concerts are well worth checking out. The audience sits on stage with one or a small group of musicians, which is revelatory in sound and connection with the performers. These concerts will feature cellist Norek Hokhnazaryan, Nov. 30, PSO brass playing Holiday Favorites, Dec. 9, violinist Baiba Skride, Feb. 22, pianist Yulianna Avdeeva, March 7, and symphony musicians playing Beethoven, April 18.
Classical subscriptions cost from $102 for six concerts in the least expensive seats to $1,470 for 20 concerts in the most expensive seats.
Pops subscriptions for the seven-concert season cost $133 to $658.
Single classical and Pops tickets will go on sale in August.
Details: 412-392-4900 or pittsburghsymphony.org
BNY Mellon Grand Classics
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s 2019-20 season of BNY Mellon Grand Classics at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall:
Sept. 20, 22
Manfred Honeck, conductor
James Ehnes, violin
Julia Wolfe: “Fountain of Youth”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 4
Antonin Dvorak: Scherzo capriccioso
Camille Saint-Saens: Introduction and Rondo capriccioso
Alexander Borodin: Polovtsian Dances
Oct. 11, 13
Honeck, conductor
Matthias Goerne, baritone
Jan Sibelius: “The Swan of Tuonela”
Franz Schubert: Lieder
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”)
Oct. 18, 19, 20
Honeck, conductor
Igor Levit, piano
Oct. 18:
Mason Bates: Resurrexit
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
Oct. 19:
James MacMillan: Larghetto
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
Oct: 20:
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
Nov. 29, Dec. 1
Honeck, conductor
Norek Hokhnazaryan, cello
Aram Khachaturian: Concerto-Rhapsody
Strauss family: waltzes and polkas
Dec. 6, 8
Osmo Vanska, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin
Carl Nielsen: Helios Overture
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 2
Thomas Ades: Violin Concerto (“Concentric Paths”) Sibelius: Symphony No. 3
Jan. 17, 18, 19, 2020
Honeck, conductor
Seong-Jin Cho, piano
Giacomo Puccini: “Turandot” Suite
Franz Liszt, Piano Concerto No. 2
Sergei Prokofiev: selections from “Romeo and Juliet”
Jan. 24, 26
Honeck, conductor
Vocal soloists: TBA
Mendelssohn Choir
Beethoven: Fidelio
Feb. 14, 15, 16
Vasily Petrenko, conductor
Ray Chen, violin
Elgar: Cockaigne Overture
Sibelius: Violin Concerto
Maurice Ravel: “Daphnis and Chloe” Suites 1 and 2
Feb. 21, 23
Juraj Valcuha, conductor
Baiba Skride, violin
Alexander Glazunov: Valse de Concert No. 1
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 3
March 6, 8
Mark Elder, conductor
Yulianna Avdeeva, piano
Hector Berlioz: “King Lear” Overture
Edvard Grieg: Piano Concerto
Sibelius: Symphony No. 1
March 13, 15
Jakob Hrusa, conductor
Alina Ibragimova, violin
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 1
March 27, 29
Jukka-Pekka Saraste, conductor
Randolph Kelly, viola
Zoltan Kodaly: Galanta Dances
Bela Bartok: Viola Concerto
Igor Stravinsky: “Petrouchka”
April 3, 5
Matthias Pintcher, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5
Ravel: Tzigane
Pintcher: Ex Nihilo
Claude Debussy: La Mer
April 17, 19
Honeck, conductor
Vocal soloists: TBA
Mendelssohn Choir
Beethoven: Missa solemnis
April 24, 25, 26
Honeck, conductor
Helene Grimaud, piano
Brahms: Symphony No. 3
Brahms: Academic Festival Overture
Schumann: Piano Concerto
May 8, 9, 10
Juanjo Mena, conductor
Benjamin Grosvenor, piano
Haydn: Symphony No. 85
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1
Felix Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 (“Italian”)
May 15, 17
Pablo Heras-Casado, conductor
Soloists and program: TBA
May 29, 30, 31
David Robertson, conductor
Jan Lisiecki, piano
Georges Lentz: “Jerusalem” (after William Blake)
Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (“Pathetique”)
June 12, 14
Honeck, conductor
Nikolaj Znaider, violin
Anton Webern: “Im Sommerwind”
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
June 19, 20, 21
Honeck, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
PNC Pops
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s 2019-20 season of PNC Pops at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall:
Oct. 4-6
Respect: A Tribute to Aretha Franklin
Nov. 15 to 17
Revolution: The Beatles Symphonic Experience
Dec. 13-15, plus Dec. 20-22 non-subscription performances
Highmark Holiday Pops
Feb. 7-9
Blockbuster Broadway!
March 20-22
Bugs Bunny at the Symphony
May 1-3
Pops Paul Shaffer
June 5-7
The Doo Wop Project
Mark Kanny is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.