Manford Honeck and the PSO Return to Europe for Music Festivals, August-September

Music Director Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra return to Europe to perform at prominent music festivals from August 25 to September 9, 2017.

The tour will take the orchestra to Germany, Austria, England, Switzerland and Romania.

"The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is truly a Pittsburgh treasure. International touring allows us to be ambassadors for the city we call home while sharing the incredible artistry of our music director and our musicians with the world," said Melia Tourangeau, president and CEO. "This year's tour includes appearances at many of the most prestigious festivals - and the orchestra's appearance at the Salzburg Festival also marks the first time that Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony have performed together there. We are incredibly grateful for our supporters and community friends who have partnered with us to make this important tour a reality."

The orchestra departs from Pittsburgh on August 25. The tour opens on August 28 at the Rheingau Festival in Wiesbaden, Germany, with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, who last performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony on its 2016 European Tour. The orchestra then travels to Austria to perform at the Salzburg Festival (August 29) and the Grafenegg Festival (August 31-September 1). The Pittsburgh Symphony then travels to London to perform at a venue to be announced later this spring. From London, the orchestra travels to Switzerland to perform at the Lucerne Festival on September 6. The orchestra's final two concerts will take place at the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest, Romania, on September 7 and 8. The orchestra returns to the United States on September 9.

This tour marks the first time that Maestro Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony will perform together at the very prestigious Salzburg Festival. The Pittsburgh Symphony last performed there in 2003 under the direction of then Music Director Mariss Jansons.

Internationally celebrated violin superstar Anne-Sophie Mutter joins the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for five concerts on August 28-29, September 4, September 6 and September 8. German baritone Matthias Goerne performs on August 31 and September 7. Violinist Rainer Honeck, concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic and brother to Music Director Manfred Honeck, joins the Pittsburgh Symphony on September 1.

The tour program features Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, Dvo?ák's Rusalka Fantasy, Dvo?ák's Violin Concerto in A minor (with Anne-Sophie Mutter), Lutoslawski's Chain 2 and Partita (both with Anne-Sophie Mutter), Lutoslawski's Interlude for Orchestra, Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 (with Rainer Honeck), John Adams' Lollapalooza, selections from Mahler's Twelve Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (with Matthias Goerne), Mahler's Symphony No. 1, George Enescu's Concert Overture on Popular Romanian Themes and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6.

For tickets to and information about individual concerts, please visit pittsburghsymphony.org/tourconcerts.Partnership with Pennsylvania OIBD and Pittsburgh Regional Alliance

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Office of International Business Development (OIBD) and the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance (PRA), an affiliate of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, will partner with the Pittsburgh Symphony during its performance in London. This will mark the ninth time the Pittsburgh Symphony has partnered with the PRA to jointly market the region for international business investment, but it is the first time in recent years that the OIBD has joined a Pittsburgh Symphony international tour. The purpose of this partnership will be to market southwestern Pennsylvania to U.K.-based firms as a global destination for bilateral business partnerships, trade and North American business investment, including establishing or expanding operations in the Pittsburgh region.

The engagement at the Lucerne Festival is supported by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. International touring is made possible, in part, by the Hillman Endowment for International Performances.

2017 EUROPEAN FESTIVALS TOUR CONCERT SCHEDULE

Monday, August 28 Rheingau Music Festival in Wiesbaden, Germany, with Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin

Tuesday, August 29 Salzburg Festival in Salzburg, Austria, with Anne-Sophie Mutter

Thursday, August 31 Grafenegg Festival in Grafenegg, Austria, with Matthias Goerne
Friday, September 1 Grafenegg Festival in Grafenegg, Austria, with Rainer Honeck

TBA London, England, with Anne-Sophie Mutter

Wednesday, September 6 Lucerne Festival in Lucerne, Switzerland, with Anne-Sophie Mutter

Thursday, September 7 George Enescu Festival in Bucharest, Romania, with Matthias Goerne
Friday, September 8 George Enescu Festival in Bucharest, Romania, with Anne-Sophie Mutter

Renowned for his distinctive interpretations, MANFRED HONECK has served as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since the 2008-2009 season. The 2017-2018 concert season marks his tenth season with the orchestra. He and the orchestra are consistently recognized for their performances and are celebrated both in Pittsburgh and abroad. To great acclaim, they regularly perform in major music capitals and festivals, among them the BBC Proms, Musikfest Berlin, Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Grafenegg Festival, Carnegie Hall and the Musikverein in Vienna. This successful collaboration has also been extensively documented on recordings. The SACDs released by Reference Records, most recently Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, have received numerous rave reviews, as well as two Grammy Award nominations.

Born in Austria, Honeck received his musical training at the Academy of Music in Vienna. Many years of experience as a member of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra have given his conducting a distinctive stamp. He began his career as assistant to Claudio Abbado and was subsequently engaged by the Zurich Opera House, where earned the prestigious European Conductor's Award in 1993. Other early posts include Leipzig, where he was one of three main conductors of the MDR Symphony Orchestra, and Oslo, where he was appointed principal guest conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. He went on to become music director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm and principal guest conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2007 to 2011, Honeck was music director of the Staatsoper Stuttgart, where he conducted premieres of operas by Berlioz, Mozart, Verdi, Strauss, Poulenc and Wagner. Other operatic guest appearances include Semperoper Dresden, Royal Opera of Copenhagen and the Salzburg Festival.

As a guest conductor Honeck has worked with the world's leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Accademia di Santa Cecilia Rome and the Vienna Philharmonic. Orchestras he conducted in the United States include New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has been artistic director of the International Concerts Wolfegg in Germany for more than 20 years.

Honeck has received honorary doctorates from St. Vincent College, Carnegie Mellon University and the Catholic University of America. Most recently, he was awarded the title of honorary professor by the Austrian federal president.

The PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, known for its artistic excellence for more than 120 years, is credited with a rich history of the world's finest conductors and musicians, and a strong commitment to the Pittsburgh region and its citizens. Past music directors have included Fritz Reiner (1938-1948), William Steinberg (1952-1976), André Previn (1976-1984), Lorin Maazel (1984-1996) and Mariss Jansons (1995-2004). This tradition of outstanding international music directors was furthered in fall 2008, when Austrian conductor Manfred Honeck became music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony. The orchestra has been at the forefront of championing new American works, and gave the first performance of Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No. 1 "Jeremiah" in 1944 and John Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine in 1986. The Pittsburgh Symphony has a long and illustrious history in the areas of recordings and radio concerts. Its "Pittsburgh Live!" series with Reference Recordings has resulted in back-to-back Grammy Award nominations in 2015 and 2016. As early as 1936, the Pittsburgh Symphony broadcast on the airwaves coast-to-coast and in the late 1970s it made the ground breaking PBS series "Previn and the Pittsburgh." The orchestra has received increased national attention since 1982 through network radio broadcasts on Public Radio International, produced by Classical WQED-FM 89.3, made possible by the musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. With a long and distinguished history of touring both domestically and overseas since 1900 - including international tours to Europe, the Far East and South America-the Pittsburgh Symphony continues to be critically acclaimed as one of the world's greatest orchestras.

To post a comment, you must register and login.