PSO season to feature more living composers, Beethoven
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on Monday announced programming for the 2019-20 season, including a 10-city European tour in the fall, several works by living composers and the launch of a two-season celebration of Beethoven’s music in honor of the composer’s 250th birthday.
The PSO’s tour will span five European countries (whose names were not released) in October and November. Superstar pianist Lang Lang — last seen in Pittsburgh at the 2017 gala — will travel with the orchestra. International touring is one of the primary symbols of orchestral status — the PSO’s most recent tour in 2017 sold out halls across Europe and received rave reviews by foreign press. Funding for the tours comes from a special endowment fund as well as corporate and private sponsorship.
At home, after the season-opening gala in September with music director Manfred Honeck and Lang Lang, the orchestra will open its season with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe’s “Fountain of Youth,” co-commissioned with the New World Symphony and Carnegie Hall. The New World Symphony will give the world premiere in April.
Throughout the season, the PSO will perform music by Thomas Ades, Luxembourgian composer George Lentz and composer/conductor Matthias Pintscher. Mr. Honeck will lead the orchestra in works premiered by the PSO in recent seasons, including “Resurrexit” by Mason Bates and “Larghetto for Orchestra” by James MacMillan. He will also direct a new symphonic suite of music from Puccini’s opera “Turandot,” with orchestrations by composer Thomas Ille.
“I think it is good — we wanted to do more of this last season, but it did not work out,” Mr. Honeck said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I’m
very happy we’re going in that direction now. Living composers are our nearest and deepest connection to our time.”
While the PSO is increasing the number of works by living composers next season, none of them are world premieres. This means that the orchestra has not commissioned new work for its main concert series — Ms. Wolfe’s music being the exception — though second and third performances of new works are arguably as important as the world premieres (“even more important, in my opinion,” Mr. Honeck said). Too often, new music is performed once and then never again.
“For me it doesn’t matter whether it’s a world premiere or not. All that matters is that it’s good music,” Mr. Honeck said. “I don’t like just to put modern music on the program just to look good on the outside. This is not interesting. The music must be good, and it must fit with the program, and connect with the other pieces.”
The orchestra’s next season includes numerous staples of the repertoire, including three of Mozart’s five violin concertos, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, selections from Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1, Debussy’s “La Mer,” Brahms’ first and third symphonies, Beethoven’s seventh and third symphonies, and more.
The PSO’s 2018 recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 has been nominated for Grammy Awards including best orchestral performance and best engineered album, classical. The winner will be announced Sunday. The PSO took home the Grammy for best orchestral performance in 2018 for its recording of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 and Barber’s “Adagio for Strings.”
Noteworthy returning soloists include Helene Grimaud, Gil Shaham, Augustin Hadelich, Yefim Bronfman, James Ehnes and Anne-Sophie Mutter, and guest conductors include Osmo Vanska, Juanjo Mena, Pablo Heras-Casado and David Robertson. Making their debuts with the orchestra next season are rising stars cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan, pianist Seong-Jin Cho, violinists Baiba Skride and Alina Ibragimova and conductor Jakub Hrusa.
Mr. Honeck’s affinity for, and ability with, Beethoven’s music is celebrated around the world. In March 2020, he’ll lead a production of “Fidelio,” Beethoven’s only opera, featuring the Wiener Symphoniker at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, the theater where “Fidelio” premiered in 1805. The concert is a special collaboration intended to honor the composer’s 250th birthday. In Pittsburgh, Mr. Honeck will conduct a concert version of the opera in January 2020.
“This will be the 1806 version, [which is] still in the tradition of the Mozart singspiel,” Mr. Honeck said. “It’s almost a playful way of singing and needs lighter voices. I can’t wait to do that in Pittsburgh. Beethoven’s music is very special for me, personally.”
He’ll also lead the orchestra in Beethoven’s Mass in D major, “Missa Solemnis,” the fourth piano concerto and the violin concerto over the course of the season.
The 2019-20 lineup includes five PSO360 concerts, the popular format that seats listeners onstage with performing musicians. These concerts have sold out their limited seating every performance since their 2017 inception. Additionally, the symphony’s pops lineup features tributes to Aretha Franklin and the Beatles, the annual Highmark Holiday Pops shows, a Broadway sampler, and “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony.” Special concerts include a performance with The Chieftains on their Irish Goodbye Tour and Celtic Woman, as well as performances of “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” live with the films screened at Heinz Hall, Downtown.
The PSO will continue to develop community partnerships with Pittsburgh neighborhoods and perform educational programming for students across the region. The PSO’s education concerts reach roughly 26,000 students each year.
Season tickets for the classical series are available in packages of six, seven, 14 and 20 concerts and range in price from $102 to $1,470 with discounts for students and seniors. Tickets for individual concerts will go on sale in August. Season tickets are available by calling the Heinz Hall box office at 412392-4900 or go to pittsburghsymphony.org.