2 world premieres, more 360 concerts in PSO’s new season
On the heels of its recent Grammy win, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on Wednesday announced its 2018-2019 lineup, complete with a pair of world premieres, a return to New York City’s Lincoln Center and four additional PSO360 performances, which seat audience members onstage with the musicians.
Pittsburgh’s orchestra has named the omnipresent Mason Bates composer of the year, with a world premiere of his music scheduled for September. Later in the season is a new concerto for clarinet and bassoon from Baltimore-based composer Jonathan Leshnoff, set to premiere with the PSO’s own Michael Rusinek (clarinet) and Nancy Goeres (bassoon). Mr. Leshnoff’s music will be recorded live alongside Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in June 2019.
Outside of the two premieres, the repertoire is very traditional, even repeating several works from the current season. This is at odds with the orchestra’s more adventurous programming in its education series.
The season kicks off Sept. 15 with Renee Fleming headlining the annual gala concert.
Music director Manfred Honeck will conduct half of the BNY Mellon Grand Classics concerts. For the other half, conductors will include Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; Pietari Inkinen, chief conductor of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie; and Long Yu, artistic director and chief conductor of the China Philharmonic and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
Returning maestros include Yan Pascal Tortelier, Herbert Blomstedt, Juraj Valcuha and Leonard Slatkin, who will lead the orchestra in his own music titled “Kinah” as well as Rachmaninoff’s fourth piano concerto and Elgar’s “Enigma Variations.”
Fourof today’s top pianists (George Li, Behzod Abduraimov, Inon Barnatan and Garrick Olhsson) will lend their talents to a full Rachmaninoff piano concerto cycle.
Other soloists to watch for include returning pianist Emanuel Ax (Mozart’s 17th concerto) and cellist Maximilian Hornung (Shostakovich’s first cello concerto), and debuts by 24-year-old pianist Beatrice Rana (Prokofiev’s third piano concerto), and violinist Simone Lamsma (Korngold’s violin concerto).
PSO360, the limited-seating concert format that puts audiences onstage with musicians on select Saturdays, continues with three performances featuring soloists Maximilian Hornung, Inon Barnatan, Emanuel Ax and Vilde Frang. The current season’s PSO360 concerts sold out almost immediately after they were announced.
Symphony management has contracted with Shelly Fuerte, a Marvin Hamlisch programming protege, to develop the 2018-2019 Pops lineup. Next season’s sevenconcert series includes homages to the cinematic collaborations of Danny Elfman and Tim Burton, traditional military and holiday tributes, a concert of Disney music, The Wonderful Music of Oz and a Nat King Cole Centennial Celebration.
Outside of the traditional “Messiah” concert and the gala, the symphony’s other specials include a visit from violinist Joshua Bell in June and a pair of concerts with pianist Till Fellner, one in Pittsburgh and one in New York City’sLincoln Center in May.
Notably absent is any word about the orchestra’s “Fuse” program. Once a series of classical/pop mashups curated by conductor, composer and arranger Steve Hackman, the series was discontinued at the end of last season. The orchestra has continued to talk about reviving the program with different priorities and more information will be available after Ben Folds’ June appearance.
After a year of experimentation, the PSO plans to launch its Young Professionals Club in earnest during the 2018-2019 season, intending to offer discounts, networking opportunities and other perks to draw a larger number the 21-35 crowd to Heinz Hall.