Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra goes big for 125th anniversary season

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has gone all-out in planning its 125th anniversary season in 2020-21.

The 20 weekends of Mellon Grand Classics concerts will feature many world premieres and 10 artist debuts, complementing exploration of the standard repertoire, and many returning popular guest soloists. Among these is cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who will play a special concert with music director Manfred Honeck and the orchestra (April 24), as part of his residency here.

The PNC Pops will offer seven weekends of concerts, three led by new principal pops conductor Byron Stripling.

In addition, the orchestra next season will engage in an unprecedented range of collaborations with other local performing arts groups, along with a major series of outreach concerts in communities around Pittsburgh.

“This anniversary is a time for intensifying our connections to our community in vibrant ways,” says symphony president and CEO Melia Tourangeau.

For example, members of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre will dance “The Rite of Spring” while Honeck and the orchestra perform Igor Stravinsky’s music (Oct. 16-18). Members of Pittsburgh Public Theater will add William Shakespeare’s words to Honeck’s performances of music from Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet “Romeo and Juliet” (Feb. 12-14). And the CLO will add dimension to the Pops’ celebration of George Gershwin (March 26-28). Symphony strings will also perform at the Manchester Craftsman’s Guild in its jazz subscription series on a program of music by Carlos Jobim (May 1).

The big initiative outside of the Cultural District will be a two-pronged “Beethoven in Your Neighborhood: Extraordinary Concerts in Extraordinary Places,” a big part of the second year of the symphony’s celebration of the 250 th anniversary of his birth. First, members of the string section will form ensembles to play all of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 16 string quartets at branches of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh where the audience can be up close to the musicians, mid-September to mid-November. There is no better music than Beethoven quartets.

Second, Honeck and the orchestra will play all nine of Beethoven’s Symphonies in the week of Nov. 30 at locations around Pittsburgh, such as the Carnegie Science Center.

The five premieres are by Michael Dougherty (Sept. 25-27), Mason Bates (March 5, 7) James MacMillan (April 16-18), Gloria Isabel Ramos Triano (April 23, 25) and Stacy Garrop (June 18, 20). All but the Bates are world premieres and all were commissioned or co-commissioned by the symphony. Dougherty, Bates and MacMillan have enjoyed past successful Heinz Hall premieres, while the two women composers will be new to the orchestra. Honeck will also introduce his newest operatic suite, which is from “Salome” by Richard Strauss (June 11-13).

There also will be two pieces by African-American composers on the classical series: “Lyric for Strings” by George Walker, the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for music, and Wynton Marsalis’ new Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti as soloist (March 19, 21).

The somewhat increased role for African-Americans and women will improve the balance and inclusivity of musical voices at Heinz Hall. “It is certainly a very intentional focus and will be moving forward,” says Tourangeau.

Some Pittsburgh premieres are of new music, but some are of older music. Honeck will conduct the first local performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (Feb. 26-28). The piece is sometimes call “Symphony of a Thousand” because of the immense musical forces that Mahler conducted at its 1910 premiere in Munich, Germany. It is scored for huge orchestra, many vocal soloists, two adult choirs plus children’s chorus, organ and extra off-stage brass.

“Mahler himself said it was the best work he ever composed,” says Honeck, who will be conducting it for the first time. “I have played it myself (as a member of the Vienna Philharmonic) at the Salzburg Festival under Seiji Ozawa. The gigantic sound and power of the orchestra and the biggest choir you can have is amazing. Nobody will go out of Heinz Hall feeling this is not one of the best pieces in the world.”

For sound, audiences will also be listening to the symphony’s new Steinway concert grand piano, which will be heard the first of 10 times this season on opening weekend when Emanuel Ax will play John Adams’ “Century Rolls” (Sept. 25-27).

Honeck and the orchestra are scheduled to record two weekends of concerts in their Grammy Award winning series: April 16-18, which includes the music director’s unique presentation of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem called “Mozart’s Death in Words and Music,” and June 11-13 which includes Honeck’s new “Salome” Suite and Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5

Finally, Honeck and the orchestra will make a 12-concert, five-country European Festivals Tour in August and September that includes being the only American orchestra at the centenary season of the Salzburg Festival in Austria, and being part of the opening weekend of the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, Germany, where Beethoven was born.

Classical subscriptions cost $102 to $1,470. Single tickets will go on sale in August.

Pops subscriptions cost $133 to $658. Single tickets will go on sale in July.

The Pittsburgh Symphony’s 2020-21 season of BNY Mellon Grand Classics, followed by the season of PNC Pops:

Sept. 25-27

Manfred Honeck, conductor

Emanuel Ax, piano

Michael Dougherty: “Fifteen” for orchestra (world premiere)

John Adams: “Century Rolls”

Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov: “Scheherazade”

Oct. 16-18

Honeck, conductor

Simone Porter, violin

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 1

Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1

Esa-Pekka Salonen: Lachen Verlernt

Igor Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring

Oct. 23, 25

Gianandrea Noseda, conductor

Francesco Piemontesi, piano

Antonin Dvorak: “Noonday Witch”

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 27

Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique

Oct. 30, Nov. 1

Rudolf Buchbinder, piano and conductor

Beethoven: the five Piano Concertos

Nov. 13, 15

Karina Canellakis, conductor

Cedric Tiberghien, piano

Jean Sibelius: “The Oceanides”

Maurice Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major

Benjamin Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem

Sibelius: Symphony No. 7

Nov. 27, 29

Honeck, conductor

Maria Duenas, violin

Micah Wilkinson, trumpet

Niccolo Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1

Franz Joseph Haydn: Trumpet Concerto

Strauss family favorites

Jan. 15, 17, 2021

David Afkham, conductor

Vadim Gluzman, violin

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto

Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10

Jan. 22, 24

Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor

Inon Barnatan, piano

Johann Sebastian Bach/Leopold Stokowski: Toccata and Fugue in D minor

George Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F major

Richard Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra

Feb. 5, 7

Vasily Petrenko, conductor

Daniel Lozakovich, violin

Beethoven: Violin Concerto

Edward Elgar: Symphony No. 2

Feb. 12-14

Honeck, conductor

Helene Grimaud, piano

Pittsburgh Public Theater

George Walker: Lyric for Strings

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20

Sergei Prokofiev: Suite from “Romeo and Juliet”

Feb. 26-28

Honeck, conductor

Vocal soloists

Mendelssohn Choir and other choirs

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8

March 5, 7

Honeck, conductor

Gil Shaham, violin

Antonin Dvorak: Symphony No. 7

Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto

Mason Bates: Philharmonic Fantastique (Pittsburgh premiere)

March 19, 21

Pablo Heras-Casado, conductor

Nicola Benedetti, violin

Wynton Marsalis: Violin Concerto

Manuel de Falla: The Three-cornered Hat (ballet)

April 9, 11

Sir Mark Elder, conductor

Kian Soltani, cello

Beethoven: Fidelio Overture

Haydn: Cello Concerto in C major

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4

April 16-18

Honeck, conductor

Christian Tetzlaff, violin

James MacMillan: world premiere

Alban Berg: Violin Concerto

Mozart: Requiem, Mozart’s Death in Words and Music

April 23, 25

Honeck, conductor

Matthias Goerne, baritone

Gloria Isabel Ramos Triano: world premiere

Beethoven: Symphony No. 5

Richard Wagner: sung by Goerne

May 14-16

Juraj Valchua, conductor

Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Giacomo Puccini: Preludio Sinfonico

Camille Saint-Saens: Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Egyptian”)

Beethoven: Symphony No. 4

May 21, 23

Fabien Gabel, conductor

Jonathan Biss, piano

Hector Berlioz: “Beatrice and Benedict” Overture

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 9

Paul Dukas: “La Peri” Fanfare and Ballet

Ravel: Une Barque sur l’ocean

Ravel: La Valse

June 11-13

Honeck, conductor

Yulianna Avdeeva, piano

Strauss/Honeck: “Salome: Suite for Orchestra

Franz Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5

June 18, 20

Honeck, conductor

Yefim Bronfman, piano

Stacy Garrop: world premiere

Saint-Saens: Piano Concerto No. 2

Ottorino Respighi: Trittico Botticelliano

Respighi: Feste Romane

PNC Pops 2020-21 season:

Oct. 9-11

Byron Stripling, conductor

Swingin’ at the Club

Nov. 6-8

Steven Reineke, conductor

Rajatan, vocalists

Music of ABBA

Dec. 12-14

Daniel Meyer, conductor

Highmark Holiday Pops

Feb. 19-21, 2021

Stewart Chafetz, conductor

CLO

S’Wonderful Gershwin

March 26-28

Stripling, conductor

Dancin’ in the Streets: Music of Motown

May 7-9

Stripling, conductor

Paul Simon Songbook

June 4-6

Jack Everly, conductor

To Marvin, with Love