@ the Symphony: Recent Episodes
WQED Multimedia
Insights and anecdotes from musicians, dancers, artists, actors and directors, as well as audience response.
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Assistant Conductor Moon Doh stopped by the QED Morning Show with Jim Cunningham to talk about the "Summer Shorts" series of concerts the orchestra is doing this summer.
Pianist Igor Levit will play the Gershwin Piano Concerto this weekend with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He spoke with WQED-FM's Anna Singer about the piece.
June 9th through the 11, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will World Premiere "Forging Steel" by composer Stacy Garrop. Stacy spoke with WQED-FM's Anna Singer about the piece.
WQED-FM's Anna Singer spoke with Manfred Honeck and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra President and CEO Melia Tourangeau about the PSO's concert this Friday through Sunday that features the Pittsburgh Ballet, two commissions and features Igor Levit with Gershwin's piano concerto. They also talk about the League of American Orchestra meetings taking place in Pittsburgh.
Conductor Pablo Heras-Casado speaks with Jim Cunningham in the conductor’s dressing room after rehearsal on May 18, 2023 about the Stravinsky Rite of Spring and it’s ferocity, sense of danger and riot inducing nature which he recently recorded in France. He explains what composer Igor Stravinsky meant when he said Herbert von Karajan’s Rite of Spring featured a “Hootchie Kootchie tempo”; he speaks about his personal approach and about his recent recordings for Harmonia Mundi of Schumann, Schubert and Beethoven, his tour with the the Freiburg Orchestra, the Disrupt concert at Heinz Hall with the Riot theme and how to engage a younger audience for classical music.
Pianist Alice Sara Ott tells Jim Cunningham about her long association with the Edvard Grieg Concerto, playing it in Norway, visiting the Grieg House and playing his piano, recording it with Esa Pekka Salonen , her ten CDs for DG, growing up in Germany and home in Munich, her fashion sense and design work and how delighted she is to make her Pittsburgh debut.
Korean born pianist Seong–Jin Cho returns to Heinz Hall and the Pittsburgh Symphony conducted by Manfred Honeck April 21, 22 and 23 2023 in the Ravel Piano Concerto in G. He’s played it many times for a pianist who is 28 years old and in this conversation with Jim Cunningham, explains the special moments of the French masterpiece. Fresh from his solo recital at Carnegie Hall in New York where he played music by Handel featured on his latest DG cd, Seong-Jin shares what he’s working on for concerts in the near future and the high wire debut at Carnegie Hall with the Vienna Philharmonic when Denis Matsuev and Valery Gergiev withdrew from the program on short notice. Berlin is his home these days but he gets back to his birthplace often where classical music is thriving.
Members of the Pittsburgh Symphony including David McCarroll, Concetmaser; Tatjana Mead Chamis, viola; Dylan Naroff, violin; and cellist Angela Park joined Jim Cunningham to discuss their performance of suppressed composers including Gideon Klein, Erwin Schulhoff and Mieceslaw Weinberg in the Chatham University Chapel, 7pm on April 18. Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, is the cornerstone program of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. It is the day set aside to remember the approximately six-million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The Holocaust Center’s annual Yom HaShoah Commemoration is a solemn community gathering. This year, in addition to a concert, the evening will include a candle lighting ceremony, with additional candles lit in honor of the Liberators, Veterans, and the non-Jews who risked their lives to save the lives of their Jewish friends and neighbors; a film produced by Chatham University students featuring local survivors; and a memorial for local survivors who have passed away.
Jader Bignamini makes his Pittsburgh Symphony debut with Shostakovich Tenth Symphony and Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto played by Kiril Gerstein - April 14th and 16th, 2023 with a special Disrupt concert on the 15th with a more casual concert presentation. Maestro Bignamini speaks about the Tenth and Beethoven, plus gives Jim Cunningham a summary of his early years in Crema, Italy not far from Cremona. He says he is delighted to make several debuts this season and is enjoying his second full season in Detroit as Music Director.
Jim Cunningham spoke with Guest Conductor Daniele Rustioni and pianist Francesco Piemontesi during intermission of WQED-FM's live broadcast of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on March 31, 2023.
Daniele Rustioni makes his Heinz Hall debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony March 31st and April 2nd with Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, the Brahms First Piano Concerto with Francesco Piemontesi, and Unsuk Chin’s "Subito Con Forza." It’s a high wire act because he is also conducting the Metropolitan Opera’s Falstaff during the same weekend with a Saturday matinee live broadcast on radio and to theaters with the HD series. He told the orchestra his Mother will be watching in Italy so it must be good! He flew to Pittsburgh on Thursday morning for rehearsal and he will fly to New York after the Friday performance at Heinz Hall for the Saturday Met Falstaff which begins with an early curtain. Then he returns to Pittsburgh for Sunday afternoon. His friend and mentor Gianadrea Noseda had done something similar a few years ago. Daniele tells Jim Cunningham about his admiration for Italian conductor Victor de Sabata who made his American debut in Pittsburgh at the Syria Mosque. Daniele Rustioni was born in Milan and studied at the Conservatory there. He is married to Francesca Dego and they recoded the Violin Concerto by Ermanno Wolf Ferrari and the Mozart Violin Concertos. About his Falstaff at the Met, Patrick Dillon in Opera Canada wrote: “The not-quite-forty-year-old Milanese has been making ever-increasing waves in the world’s opera houses and concert halls, and at the Met this season he took the virtuosic house band out of the pit and onto the stage of Carnegie Hall for Bartók and Stravinsky before helming the current string of Falstaff's. Everything about his deft, graceful, shipshape account of this infinitely rewarding score seemed unobtrusively right.”
Members of the Pittsburgh Symphony visit Teutonia Maennerchor on Phineas Street, Northside to present Triumph of the Misfits in the Discovery and Drinks series with Schubert’s Death and the maiden Quartet and Ravel’s String Quartet on March 30 at 7pm. Each ticket includes a selection from the bar. Pittsburgh Symphony Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Marty Bates will host. In May, Assistant Conductor Moon Doh will present the next program in the series with Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring as the centerpiece. Assistant Conductor Doh also has a free Side by Side concert April 11 at Heinz Hall with Gustav Mahler. The plans for the PSO Disrupt series and highlights of the remainder of the season are in the discussion with Jim Cunningham.
Composer Sir James MacMillan joins Jim Cunningham in the WQED-FM studio just hours before his world premiere to share his thoughts about his new music heard for the first time on commission from the Pittsburgh Symphony - March 17th ,18th and 19th, 2023. Her tears fell with the dews at even will be recorded along with the Mozart Requiem for Reference. He wrote the music and found the words of Tennyson From Mariana that seemed to fit.Sir James has known Principal Flute Lorna McGhee since she was just starting out in Scotland and he wrote a considerable amount for the flute in the score. He discusses his time as Composer of the Year in Pittsburgh, and his music written for Pittsburgh starting with a Fanfare in 2016, the Fourth Symphony, the Larghetto for Manfred Honeck’s 10th year as Music Director. Also on the list of topics: the chant workshop he will lead on Saturday with the men of the Westminster Choir, his new music being heard around the globe including at the Cincinnati May Festival, St. Patrick’s Day in Scotland, Andrew Carnegie the Great Scot, the ability of music to lift us even in our darkest hour, how he shares much of Manfred Honeck’s thinking about spirituality and where we are with the state of the spiritual life in our world today.
The Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony runs down the concerts of March 7 with Lang Lang playing the Saint-Saens 2nd Concerto and March 10th and 12th with Franz Schmidt’s Fourth Symphony for the first time at Heinz Hall, along with Emanuel Ax playing Chopin’s Second Concerto . The weekend of March 17, 18 and 19, Manfred Honeck conducts his personal version of the Mozart Requiem which will be recorded for the Reference label with narrator F. Murray Abraham and soloists with the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh.
Emanuel Ax plays the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Chopin with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Friday March 10 and Saturday March 12 at 2:30 at Heinz Hall. Jim Cunningham joined Mr. Ax to talk about Chopin, the love of his life George Sand, Ax's long association with the composer including the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, recording the concerto twice with Eugene Ormandy and Sir Charles Mackerras plus doing crosswords, a new cd on the way from Yo Yo Ma and much more in this interview recorded after rehearsal at Heinz Hall.
Violinist Gil Shaham talks about his unique approach to the Beethoven Violin Concerto and Franz Clement who played his instrument upside down during the cadenza at the premiere when the ink was still wet on the page. Gil also talks about his recording with the Knights, his long collaboration with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the 360 concert on Saturday night and how to pronounce his name depending on where you are in the world.
Conductor Dima Slobodeniouk, born in Moscow and a long time resident of Finland where he conducted and recorded with the Lahti Symphony makes his debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony this weekend. In this conversation with Jim Cunningham he speaks about the war in Ukraine and adding music by Valentin Silvestrov, the Prayer for Ukraine, played on the anniversary of entering year two of the conflict.
The Music Director of Syracuse New York’s Symphoria, Lawrence Loh, leads a program of favorite film scores by John Williams for the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops. After serving more than a decade as Resident Conductor in Pittsburgh and conducting hundreds of concerts in and out of Heinz Hall, Lawrence Loh has become an acknowledged master with concerts in Seattle, Detroit, Florida and Phoenix just recently in addition to a long standing annual holiday concert with the Dallas Symphony. He has the rundown of scores, the surprises, the Chewbacca Roar contest in the lobby, which players have nice solo moments, and much more in this discussion with Jim Cunningham.
Jim Cunningham speaks with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Music Director Manfred Honeck and PSO Principal Cello Anne Martindale Williams during intermission of our live broadcast on February 15, 2023. Yo-Yo Ma also says a quick hi at the end of the broadcast.
Jim Cunningham interviews Music Director Manfred Honeck, guest violinist Ray Chen, PSO Concertmaster David McCarroll, and thermin player Arturo Fernandez, during WQED-FM's live broadcast on February 10, 2023.
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Music Director Manfred Honeck stopped by the QED Morning Show with Jim Cunningham to talk about this weekend's concerts with violinist Ray Chen and Holst's "The Planets."
Pittsburgh Symphony soloist Baritone Matthias Goerne, described by many as the greatest singer in the lieder world today and one of the greatest operatic stars, speaks backstage minutes after his rehearsal of Wotan’s Farewell by Richard Wagner which he sings this weekend with music from Tristan und Isolde and The Flying Dutchman next to the Beethoven ‘s Fifth Symphony - February 3rd ,4th and 5th at Heinz Hall. He talks in detail about the program, the special challenges of singing Wagner, his teacher Dietrich Fischer Dieskau, about his new CD for Deutsche Grammophon, Schubert Revisited and about his decades long friendship with Manfred Honeck.
Pianist Paul Lewis joins Sir Mark Elder and the Pittsburgh Symphony to make his Heinz Hall debut with Mozart’s 12th Concerto in A January 20 and 22, 2023. He describes the delights of the Mozart with Jim Cunningham in his second floor dressing room following the Thursday rehearsal. Paul became a Commander of the British Empire in 2016. He has no opinion at all about Prince Harry’s criticism of the Royal Family. Paul greatly admires his teacher Alfred Brendel, talks about his years in Liverpool, his latest recordings of Brahms and Schubert for Harmonia Mundi, first impressions of Pittsburgh and where contemporary music turns up in his repertoire which has won the highest praise for Brahms, Beethoven, Liszt, Haydn and Schubert.
Conductor Peter Oundjian and violinist Alina Ibragimova provide the roadmap for the Prokofiev First Violin Concerto which they perform with the Pittsburgh Symphony January 13th and 15th. Peter chooses a few high points in his 14 years as Music Director of the Toronto Symphony and fills Jim Cunningham in on his family ties to Eric Idle of Monty Python. He also shares his love of Ralph Vaughan Williams and the Thomas Tallis Fantasy having recorded the composer in Toronto. Alina remembers being in Pittsburgh on March 11, 2020 just hours from her debut when the music world went on hiatus. Both are glad to have survived the pandemic and feel optimistic about the future of classical music.
Daniel Meyer conducts 8 Pittsburgh Symphony Holiday Pops concerts through Sunday the 18th of December with the Mendelssohn Choir, Santa and Blaine Alden Krauss who stars in Hamilton on Broadway plus dancers from the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater who perform highlights from the Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. Maestro Meyer has the rundown of the event for Jim Cunningham and what he is up to with the Erie Philharmonic and the Westmoreland Symphony.
Berlin born pianist Martin Helmchen makes his debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck playing the Schumann Concerto December 2 at Heinz Hall. He talks with Jim Cunningham in the upstairs dressing room about his earlier work with Manfred Honeck, the Schumann Concerto which he recorded a number of years ago and how his interpretation has changed, Robert Schumann the romantic figure in music, Germany and the US in the World Cup, and the progress in unification of the East and West in Germany.
Pittsburgh Symphony Principal Cello Anne Martindale Williams discusses her Vivaldi Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra in B flat, which she played with Berlin Philharmonic Concertmaster Noah Bendix Balgley on November 25 and 27 2022 at Heinz Hall with the Pittsburgh Symphony conducted by Music Director Manfred Honeck. She tells Jim Cunningham about her work with Noah dating back to his years as Pittsburgh Symphony Concertmaster and about her hiring in 1976 by former Music Director William Steinberg.
Former Pittsburgh Symphony Concertmaster Noah Bendix Balgley talks with WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham about his appearance with the Pittsburgh Symphony November 25 and 27 with Music Director Manfred Honeck. He played his Fidl Fantazye: A Klezmer Concerto and the Vivaldi Concerto by Antonio Vivaldi in B flat for Violin and Cello in which he was joined by PSO Principal Cello Anne Martindale Williams. Noah talks about his fall 2022 tour with the Berlin Philharmonic which featured him as a soloist in Mozart's First Violin Concerto with Kiril Petrenko conducting. Other topics include his work in Pittsburgh and his thoughts about the Berlin Philharmonic plus a preview of the upcoming season in Berlin.
From his newly redecorated dressing room Pittsburgh Symphony music Director Manfred Honeck discusses Mozart’s Mass in c minor with the Schumann Piano Concerto to be heard Friday and Sunday December 3 and 5 2022 and Saturday night only Handel’s Messiah. Both concerts are with with the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh and soloists including Ying Fang who appeared in Mozart’s Idomeneo at the Metropolitan Opera this past fall. Manfred Honeck tells Jim Cunningham about the mystery of the missing sections of the Mozart Mass and why a non believer should care about the Mass in the modern world. He also shares his thoughts regarding the Thanksgiving day concert and the visit of his daughter Anna Maria to Heinz Hall.
Conductor David Robertson explains why you shouldn’t be too sad about Tchaikovsky’s last days, his final symphony and applauding before the last movement. Has he ever heard a better French Horn virtuoso than Pittsburgh Principal William Caballero? No, and Robertson started his musical life as a horn player. Oliver Knussen adds considerable virtuosity and color to the program too. What’s it like to train the next generation of conductors at Juilliard and exactly how do you do it? Find out in this conversation with Jim Cunningham recorded in the conductor’s dressing room at Heinz Hall after rehearsal on Thursday November 10, 2022.
Yefim Bronfman has the detail on Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22 which he plays with the Pittsburgh Symphony October 28, 29 and 30 at Heinz Hall. In the upstairs rehearsal room he tells Jim Cunningham how he made up his mind on selecting the new Steinway which debuts this weekend with Manfred Honeck; New York after the pandemic; Halloween decorations; and his premiere in Cleveland. Plus, a look ahead at the rest of his winter season in this "At the Symphony" conversation.
Manfred Honeck discusses the program this weekend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with Yefim Bronfman in the Mozart 22nd Piano Concerto, the Sibelius Second Symphony and the first Pittsburgh performance of the Open Mind by Rolf Martinsson. Manfred Honeck explains the power of the marillenmarmalade made of apricots from the Wachau valley in Austria and enjoys a sample given as a gift by his sister Elfi and brother in law Florian Partl. Maestro Honeck will play a concert for winners of the Nobel Prizes in Stockholm, Sweden in December and he recaps his visit to the Metropolitan Opera in his visit to the WQED-FM Morning Show with Jim Cunningham.
Nikki Porter, Head of Staff and Minister of Music at Eastminster Presbyterian Church, leads the Unity Choir in "Lift Every Voice and Sing" - Saturday October 22 at Heinz Hall with the Pittsburgh Symphony. She tells her story to Jim Cunningham and suggests the spirit will move you downtown on Saturday evening. Kellen Gray conducts the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for the fourth Lift Every Voice concert! After more than two years, back together in Heinz Hall to experience music’s power to bring us forward. Kendra Ross and Garfield Lemonius host this one-night-only celebration of dynamic contemporary artists, including the world premiere of As I Please, a multimedia work by composer Kathryn Bostic, filmmaker Njaimeh Njie, and writer Jessica Lanay, commissioned by the PSO. Josh Jones, alumnus of the Paul J. Ross Fellowship program, makes his PSO solo debut performing Vivaldi’s Concerto for Piccolo on marimba, Jasiri X makes his solo debut performing the Academy and Grammy Award-winning "Glory" from the movie Selma, Jessie Montgomery’s Strum for String Orchestra musically animates the mural "Playing the Cosmic Strings" by local artists Mikael Owunna and Marques Redd.
WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham speaks with violinist Augustin Hadelich after he performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra during our live broadcast on October 14, 2022.
WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham speaks with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Executive Vice-President of Learning and Community Engagement during our live broadcast on October 14, 2022.
WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham speaks with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra guest conductor Juraj Valcuha after the concert on our live broadcast from October 14, 2022.
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Assistant Conductor Moon Doh presents the orchestra's Free Radical Days concert at Heinz Hall on Tuesday October 11th, 7:30pm. While on the European Tour, Jim Cunningham asked Maestro Doh about the pieces on the Radical Days concert.
This weekend's Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concerts feature violinist Karen Gomyo playing Chausson's Poeme for Violin and Orchestra, as well as the US Premiere of the Violin Concerto by Samy Moussa. Karen spoke to WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham about the pieces.
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Guest Conductor Fabien Gabel spoke to WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham about this weekend's concerts with music by Ravel, Moussa, Chausson, and Stravinsky.
Pittsburgh Symphony Pops presents "The Sounds of New Orleans" September 30th through October 2nd at Heinz Hall. Principal Conductor Byron Stripling stopped by the QED Morning Show to tell Jim Cunningham all about the concerts this weekend.
Jim Cunningham interviews cellist Alisa Weilerstein and composer Joan Tower about her piece "A New Day", plus he talks with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra President and CEO Melia Tourangeau about the upcoming season during the orchestra's Season Opening Concert on Friday September 23, 2022.
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra President and CEO Melia Tourangeau recognizes and honors Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Associate Concertmaster Mark Huggins, who is retiring from the orchestra at the end of September. From the PSO Opening Night concert on Friday September 23, 2022.
WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham spoke with guest conductor Osmo Vanska at the end of our live broadcast of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's Season Opening Concert on Friday September 23, 2022.
Composer Joan Tower introduced her piece, "A New Day" from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Season Opening Concert on Friday September 23, 2022.
Violinist Joshua Bell tells Jim Cunningham the Tchaikovsky Concerto never gets old having recorded it as a teenager with several re- recordings since and a previous performance with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck. He estimates 1000 times he’s played the Tchaikovsky and he always hears something new. Joshua thinks the classical music scene is in good shape and will never decline in spite of the pandemic and concern about audiences returning. He’s just back from a tour with the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields to Brazil and other stops in South America plus visits to Italian concert halls where the vibrancy of classical music was strong. Pittsburgh and his thirty years of music making here is always a highlight he suggests in the dressing room conversation after rehearsal on Friday afternoon before the Saturday gala.
Pittsburgh Symphony Music Director Manfred Honeck visited the WQED studios for a live conversation on the QED Morning show on August 10th. It was the first in-person interview during the last two years of the pandemic outside of live broadcasts at Heinz Hall. Maestro Honeck ran down the special features of the upcoming 75th Anniversary European Tour of the Orchestra and the special guests Anne Sophie Mutter, Helene Grimaud and Gautier Capucon. He says he has sailed through the pandemic but regrets that so many have suffered and that audiences for music are slowly rebounding. Maestro Honeck mentioned his summer vacation with his family in the Tirol and Tuscany, ran down the special repertoire on the tour including Ligeti's "Lontano" and his transcriptions of music by Erwin Schulhoff. Manfred Honeck thanked the tour report sponsors Thiel College, Botkin Family Wealth Management and Elliot Dinkin of Cowden Associates and promised to provide dressing room commentary whenever possible.
Jim Cunningham spoke with guest pianist Emanuel Ax, Music Director Manfred Honeck, and sound recordist Dirk Sobotka during intermission of our live broadcast of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on Friday June 17, 2022.
Emanuel Ax sat down with Jim Cunningham on Saturday afternoon after the live broadcast of opening night Friday June 17 to talk about Mozart's 20th concerto, Chopin for an encore, his long association with the Pittsburgh Symphony, friendship with Andre Previn, the war in Ukraine and it's effect on Lviv where Emanuel Ax was born, his recent Beethoven Trios cd Beethoven for Three with Yo Yo Ma and Leonidas Kavakos, and the answer to the question are there too many good musicians today-- recorded upstairs at Heinz Hall in the rehearsal room on the fourth floor with help from Adam Kilburn engineer and videographer.
The Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Manfred Honeck talks with Jim Cunningham about the program for the weekend of June 10th with three pieces written for or first heard in America. The first Pittsburgh performance of the Dvorak Te Deum, the Poulenc Gloria inspired by Benedictine Monks playing soccer in 1961 both sung by the Mendelssohn Choir, and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto with Beatrice Rana. Maestro Honeck says he enjoys the time on the plane to study his music and he enjoyed his recent tour with the Orchestra of Paris, having his son Joachim in town, how delighted he was with the Beethoven Symphony complete series this Spring and how thrilled he is with the general state of affairs even following a pandemic.
Beatrice Rana returns to Heinz Hall with Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto conducted by Manfred Honeck June 10, 11 and 12 after a rave review from the New York Times for her New York performance. She talks with Jim Cunningham about Tchaikovsky and what makes it always new, and discusses her recording with Antonia Pappano and the Santa Cecilia orchestra, her chamber music festival in Puglia Italy, studying at the Nino Rota Conservatory, Fellini movies, driving on Italian highways, her new Chopin cd and visiting the Three Rivers Arts Festival.
Jean Horne, long time Fanfare columnist for the Pittsburgh tribune Review and Chris Thompson, Mendelssohn Choir member, who discusses singing Poulenc and Dvorak with Manfred Honeck the weekend of the 10th of June.
Jennifer Orchard, Yeokyung Kim, Marylène Gingras-Roy and Charlie Powers play the Beethoven Quartet opus 59 No 2 allegretto live in the WQED-FM studio and talk about the Beethoven in our Neighborhood Library Project which takes them to Oakmont and the Carnegie Library on June 6 at 5:30. Their colleagues will continue to play the complete cycle of all the Beethoven Quartets in Carnegie Libraries though June 29.
WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham spoke with Guest Conductor Matthias Pintscher, Principal Flute Lorna McGhee and PSO Vice President of Artistic Planning Mary Persin during intermission of our live broadcast.
Alexi Kenney is the soloist this weekend with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He'll play the Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2 with guest conductor Matthias Pintscher. In this conversation with Jim Cunningham, Alexi talks about the concerto, being familiar with the PSO, and more.
Matthias Pintscher is the guest conductor this weekend with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He'll conduct Ravel's "Mother Goose" and "Alborada del gracioso," as well as Debussy's "La Mer." Alexi Kenney will play the Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2. Matthias talks to WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham about the concert, his recordings and composing and more.
Daniel Lozakovich was born in Sweden just 18 years ago. He became the youngest artist ever signed to Deutsche Gramophone at 15 and he discusses his prior collaboration with Nathalie Stutzmann who he joins for a Pittsburgh debut playing the Brahms Concerto May 6th, 7th and 8th, 2022. He tells Jim Cunningham about his instrument too.
Nathalie Stutzmann makes her Pittsburgh Symphony debut May 6th, 7th, and 8th 2022 with Dvorak’s New World Symphony and the Brahms Violin Concerto played by Daniel Lozakovich, along with a Heinz Hall first of Missy Mazzoli. Maestra Stutzmann makes her Met debut in two Mozart operas in 2021 and her debut at Bayreuth as well as the new Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony. Then there’s the Kristiansand Orchestra in Norway and the recording career as a contralto. What’s next? Hear all about it in the interview with Jim Cunningham complete with an assessment of women in the composing and conducting world and a little light shopping in Market Square.
WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham spoke to Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Music Director Manfred Honeck and pianist Yefim Bronfman during intermission of our live broadcast from April 22, 2022.
George Daugherty, conductor and creator of "Bugs Bunny at the Symphony" discusses the world wide phenomenon of the scores of Carl Stalling and others that accompany cartoon classics. How do they do it so precisely? George explains. He's a ballet conductor too and won an Emmy for a televised "Peter and the Wolf" on ABC. Pittsburgh began it all and Maestro Daugherty is delighted to be back in town sharing the updated version - now revised four times in the place where it began over thirty years ago.
During intermission of WQED-FM's live broadcast of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Jim Cunningham interviewed Music Director Manfred Honeck, guest soloist Leif Ove Andsnes, and PSO President and CEO Melia Tourangeau.
Leif Ove Andsnes returns to Heinz Hall to play the Benjamin Britten Piano Concerto No. 1 in its first time out in Pittsburgh. He talks about the concerto, playing it at the BBC Proms in 2019, the Britten record Sviatoslav Richter made with the composer conducting, Richter’s eccentricities, the new Mozart recording he’s just released, and his switch to the Sony label after 35 CDs for EMI. He discusses the music of Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov, which he will play on Saturday night in a special benefit concert at Heinz Hall. Leif shares with Jim Cunningham his feelings about the conflict in Ukraine and he discusses his recent all Grieg songs recording with Lise Davidsen including a meditation on Spring at the end as especially evocative of the Nordic soul.
This Friday at 8pm and Sunday afternoon at 2:30pm, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra plays the Pittsburgh premiere of "Herald, Holler and Hallelujah" by Wynton Marsalis. WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham spoke to Mr. Marsalis and Music Director Manfred Honeck about the piece; how it came to be; and much more in this conversation.
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Music Director Manfred Honeck and Vice President of Artistic Planning Mary Persin, sat down with WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham to talk about the Orchestra's 2022-2023 season. They also discuss their upcoming "Concert for Ukraine" performance taking place on Saturday April 2nd at 7:30pm.
Pittsburgh Symphony Guest Conductor Juanjo Mena discusses the Lutoslawski Concerto for Orchestra, Debussy Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun featuring Lorna McGhee and Rodrigo and Concierto de Aranjuez with Pablo Sainz Villegas. He talks with Jim Cunningham about his work in Cincinnati with the May Festival, his recent recordings, and his thinking about the world emerging from a pandemic and immersed in conflict with Russia and Ukraine.
David Ludwig has composed the Sinfonia Concertante for two clarinets and two bassoons which receives the world premiere February 18 and 19 at Heinz hall with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck. The new Dean and Director of the music Division at Juilliard composer David Ludwig sat down with the soloists Michael Rusinek Principal Clarinet with Second Clarinet Ron Samuels, Bassoon Philip Pandolfi, Principal Bassoon Nancy Goeres and Jim Cunningham to talk over the special features and the creation of the concerto, whether they will wear black, the shape of the music and how it was created.
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performs two world premieres, plus music of Smetana, Schumann and Stravinsky this weekend at Heinz Hall. WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham spoke to composer Michael Daugherty about his brand new piece "Fifteen: Symphonic Fantasy on the Art of Andy Warhol." He also talks about other pieces he's working on, winning multiple Grammy's, and more.
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performs two world premieres, plus music of Smetana, Schumann and Stravinsky this weekend at Heinz Hall. WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham spoke to composer Reza Vali about his brand new piece ""The Girl from Shiraz" from Persian Folk Songs, which features as soloist, Kian Soltani. Kian also joins the conversation to talk about the Reza Vali piece, as well as playing the Schumann Cello Concerto.
Manfred Honeck returns to Heinz Hall to conduct Stravinsky's Suite from "The Firebird," along with two world premieres, and music by Schumann and Smetana. He chats with WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham about this program, what he's been up to since he was last in Pittsburgh, and more.
Jacob Joyce, Pittsburgh Symphony Assistant Conductor, makes his Heinz Hall subscription concert debut this Saturday and Sunday January 22 and 23 conducting concertos by Corelli and Geminiani, plus Stravinsky sharing the program with his colleague Moon Doh who conducts Bartok. Jacob explains why he loves baroque music and tells us about his work with the Indianapolis Symphony plus his story so far. He also talks about his work with the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony as their new conductor.
Moon Doh arrived as Pittsburgh Symphony Assistant Conductor just two weeks ago and now leads his first subscription concert at Heinz Hall January 22 and 23. He discusses the joy of Bartok and tells Jim Cunningham that his path from Korea has been winding but wonderful most recently with several appointments in Germany. He has climbed hundreds of steps to the top of Cologne Cathedral in whistling wind and he promised to share lessons in dancing Gangnam Style.
The story of a veteran Pittsburgh Symphony violinist who joined in 1968 under William Steinberg. Richard DiAdamo is admired by his colleagues for his artistry and, more recently since retiring, an heroic struggle with cancer which metastasized to multiple areas and further caused strokes and blindness. He started the violin at age 8 in Philadelphia studying with Armand DiCamillo of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Richard traces his path to the Eastman School of Music, his participation in the Howard Hanson American Music Festivals, study with Joseph Knitzer and Carroll Glenn followed by work at the Taos School of Music in New Mexico. He joined the Syracuse Symphony conducted by Karl Kritz who had emigrated to the US in 1937 first serving as assistant in the early years of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Richard played alongside violinist Louis Krasner who commissioned the Alban Berg Concerto. He founded the Amati String Trio. He won the Pittsburgh Concert Society Audition in 1981. The following year he gave the world premiere of Thomas Janson’s Harlequin for Richard DiAdamo which won praise from critics Robert Croan in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Tim Page who described it as “committed and praiseworthy” in the New York Times following the first New York performance at Symphony Space with David Stock conducting. Richard DiAdamo remembers his work as a coach of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony and Three Rivers Young People’s Orchestra as well as teaching and founding the strings program at Washington and Jefferson College. He told Andrew Duckenbrod writing for the Post Gazette in 2006 "I am retiring from the symphony but not the violin...I plan on getting up every day and doing my practice. I am looking forward to practicing some solo pieces that I really haven't had the time for." Marvin Hamlisch called him onstage to speak about his retirement plans which included polishing classic cars—a Packard, a Mercedes and Carman Ghia. Among the highlights of his thousands of concerts across four decades were the visit to Rome to play Mahler at the Vatican, the opening of Heinz Hall with Mahler’s Second Symphony and tour concerts with William Steinberg in Japan and Andre Previn at the Musikverein in Vienna. Manfred Honeck is a fan, checking in regularly. Richard made a rosary for Maestro Honeck which he treasures. Richard DiAdamo does not let his health problems get him down. He continues to inspire his colleagues with an indomitable spirit loving life with his wife Catherine DiAdamo who joins in the conversation with Jim Cunningham.
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Guest Conductor Lorenzo Viotti makes his Heinz Hall debut to conduct music of Verdi, Rachmaninoff, Strauss and Ravel. He spoke with WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham about the concert, knowing former PSO Music Director Mariss Jansons and more.
Benjamin Grosvenor returns to Heinz Hall to play the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2. Always a crowd favorite, Benjamin talks about the piece's appeal, handling the Covid pandemic and more in this conversation with WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham.
Today (12/7) is the Musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's Day of Music. Due to Covid, they were only able to perform live at one location - WQED-FM! Principal Oboe Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida and Principal Horn Bill Caballero stopped by during our Fundraiser to talk about the Day of Music and why you should support WQED-FM. They were also joined by pianist Rodrigo Ojeda to perform three pieces live in the studio.
Violinist James Ehnes returns to Heinz Hall to perform the Barber Violin Concerto this weekend with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He spoke with WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham about the piece, his recent recordings, and his love of the Winnipeg Jets hockey team.
Manfred Honeck returns to Heinz Hall for the Thanksgiving weekend concert of Strauss waltzes and polkas in the spirit of the Vienna New Year’s Day concerts seen around the world and on WQED-TV from the ORF and PBS. This year at Heinz Hall, Maria Duenas makes her debut with the Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1. Maria is 18 years old. She tells her story and describes the special qualities of the instrument she plays. Manfred Honeck remembers his concerts playing the New Year’s Day program in Vienna and suggests the spirit of the program with encores expected. The interview with Jim Cunningham took place in the upstairs rehearsal room in order to record video which can be found on Vimeo.
Pianist Behzod Abduraimov returns to Heinz Hall to make his debut with Juraj Valcuha in the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2. They’ve recorded together in Italy for Decca but never given a live concert until Pittsburgh. Is playing with a mask fun? No. Especially during this concerto, which requires heavy lifting but he’s managing. Behzod talks all about Prokofiev and his recent recordings of Rachmaninov’s own piano in Lucerne, Switzerland, where he toured the villa Rachmaninov.
Fanfare columnist for the Tribune-Review, Jean Horne, and Christine Thompson, long time member of the Mendelssohn Choir, both have worked tirelessly for the Pittsburgh Symphony Association event Symphony Splendor Holiday House Tour 2021 taking place at a gilded age Shadyside House Mansion the weekend of November 19th. The story of the house and the forty musicians of the orchestra who will perform is discussed with Jim Cunningham. Christine also has details on the upcoming Choir events and Jean reveals at least one secret of her column.
Daniel Meyer conducts the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops Troupe Vertigo concert this weekend at Heinz Hall with Bizet's Carmen, Ravel's Bolero, music by Gimenez, Marquez and an overall Latin Spanish flavor. The acrobatics and the orchestra come together in a way that Maestro Meyer suggest is not to be missed. Daniel also runs down upcoming events on his calendar and why you should drive to the Warner Theater in Erie to hear his orchestra there.
Kirill Karabits, born in Ukraine, makes his Heinz Hall debut October 29th and 31st with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Principal Trumpet Micah Wilkinson playing the Haydn Trumpet Concerto and the Anthony Plog Scherzo; plus the Stravinsky Pulcinella Suite and the Tchaikovsky Little Russian Symphony with its Ukrainian folk tunes. He has recorded more than a dozen CDs with standard and rare repertoire including a never before recorded Liszt opera. Now he feels he must spend more time in his homeland, Ukraine. Only a week ago he wasn’t certain if the Covid travel regulations would allow him to make the trip to Pittsburgh, but he is loving it now as you can hear in the conversation with Jim Cunningham recorded in the Conductor’s dressing room on October 28th right after rehearsal.
Pittsburgh Symphony Principal Trumpet Micah Wilkinson plays the Haydn Trumpet Concerto along with a world premiere of the orchestrated Scherzo by Anthony Plog, Micah’s teacher during his European year of study in Freiburg, Germany. He remembers with pleasure his Haydn performances while touring with his colleagues from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. He didn’t mind the cold at all. In this conversation with Jim Cunningham, Micah discusses his pandemic back porch concerts, his newly published books of trumpet solos, and the music he plays at Heinz Hall October 29th and 31st with the debut of Kirill Karabits.
Pianist Jan Lisiecki returns to Pittsburgh to perform the Grieg Piano Concerto on Friday October 22nd, 8pm and Sunday October 24th, 2:30pm at Heinz Hall. He talks about the concerto, working with Guest Conductor Pablo Heras-Casado, and more in this conversation with WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham.
Minnesota Orchestra Music Director Osmo Vanska returns to Heinz Hall as a guest with Pittsburgh Symphony Principal Flute Lorna McGhee in Kaija Saariaho’s new Flute Concerto "Wing of a Dream" with bird song, extended technique, poetry, exclamations, smiles, guttural sounds and general delight. Jim Cunningham joins the duo masked in the Guest Conductor’s Dressing Room sitting as far apart as possible discussing how the concerto was a hit in its out of town try out in Minnesota. In Pittsburgh, it will appear with Beethoven’s Egmont Overture and the Scottish Symphony by Mendelssohn. Soloist and conductor talk about the premiere in detail and Maestro Vanska accepts congratulations for presiding over the designation as Orchestra of the Year in Minnesota as voted by the readers of England’s Grammophon magazine. He suggests that unlike Mick Jagger budgeting an extra day to visit the Phipps Conservatory, he is all about the music when he’s in Pittsburgh. His last season includes a Sibelius party on New Year’s Eve and after 19 years, he goes out on a high note but promises to return. The Minnesota performance can be seen on Youtube. Pittsburgh will hear the concert October 8th and 10th at Heinz Hall.
French born pianist Jean Yves Thibaudet has performed in Pittsburgh in at least three visits with Mariss Jansons, Charles Dutoit and Marek Janowsky. He was scheduled for a return when the pandemic hit but promises to back soon. Fom his home in LA, he spoke with Jim Cunningham about his new cd Carte Blanche with 24 tracks of very personal favorites, arrangements, encores, music from the film score for Pride and Prejudice, Pierre Sancan, Morton Gould, Chopin, Couperin. He’s done 50 cds for Decca, so the company said you’ve got Carte Blanche to record what you like and he went to work just this past May at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. Renee Fleming interviewed Jean Yves for the notes and he discusses their work together on a PBS special broadcast just this past New Year’s Eve 2020. Jean Yves has a special memory of playing an encore for Mariss Jansons and he had to include something for his Mom on the play list.
Pianist Helene Grimaud returns to Pittsburgh for the Ravel Piano Concerto in G with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony. She’s just arrived from Los Angeles where she played Schumann with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a new conductor Marta Gardolinska. She tells us about her new cd from Deutsche Grammophon, The Messenger; how she survived the pandemic and about the 20th anniversary of the attacks on 9/11 at the World Trade Center the same day she played Beethoven at the Proms in London. Plus, she still runs with the wolves and is active in conservation efforts. In order to be socially distanced in Rehearsal Room 2 upstairs at Heinz Hall, Helene Grimaud held the microphone on a long cord while Jim Cunningham shouted.
Pittsburgh Symphony Music Director Manfred Honeck returned this week for the first full Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concerts in 18 months to open the Heinz Hall 50th anniversary season with Anne-Sophie Mutter at the Gala on September 16th. Ms. Mutter will be playing a concerto by the Chevalier de Saint George and music by John Williams. She discusses her solo spots and the incredible success of her live Vienna Philharmonic cds with John Williams conducting. She works with John Williams a few days after Pittsburgh in Los Angles at a concert which will play tribute to cellist Lynn Harrell. She remembers her colleague along with Maestro Honeck’s thoughts. Other topics include pandemic reflections; the Mutter Virtuosi with which she will go on tour; upcoming recording plans which include a disc with Manfred Honeck conducting in Prague; why now is the time to belatedly look into African-American composers and other composers who have been long out of the spotlight; the importance of radio to classical music; and much more in this half hour with Jim Cunningham. Recorded at the Fairmont Hotel in the floor 2 restaurant.
The Pittsburgh Symphony presents "Hollywood Hits" in a virtual concert found on the Pittsburgh Symphony website from August 23rd at 7:30pm through September 5th - with music from Game Of Thrones, Henry Mancini, George Gershwin and John Lunn's score for Downton Abbey. In his online concert, Jack Everly speaks to the camera in introductory remarks. Maestro Everly is one of America's most widely traveled guest conductors with regular spots at four orchestras and serving as conductor of "A Capitol Fourth" and the Memorial Day US Capitol celebrations with the National Symphony for many years. So is the American orchestra getting as many minutes on TV in 2021? You must judge. He speaks about the broad array of military trumpets that participated in this year's Olympic Fanfare by John Williams, remembers Gene Kelly and Oscar Levant, recalls almost conducting the Civic Light Opera, the challenges of pandemic programs, and the hope of getting audiences back in seats in this July 26, 2021 conversation by Zoom with Jim Cunningham.
Pittsburgh Symphony Associate Conductor Earl Lee will lead four concerts at Hartwood Acres in July and August for he Summer With the Symphony series. He discuses his programs on July 30 and 31 with violinist Marta Krechkovsky in the Tchaikovsky Concerto, Rossini's Thieving Magpie Overture and Brahms First Symphony. On August 6 and 7, Maestro Lee joins cellist Will Chow to perform the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations, Mendelssohn's Scherzo From A Midsummer Nights Dream and dances by Brahms and Dvorak plus Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony. He discusses his wife's work as flutist with the New York Philharmonic, studying Mendelssohn in Leipzig, and more in this interview with Jim Cunningham.
Pittsburgh Symphony Principal Pops Conductor Byron Stripling leads four concerts at Hartwood Acres in the Summer with the Symphony series. In this conversation with Jim Cunningham, he joins soloist singing and playing bass Nicki Parrott to talk about their favorite jazz singers Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Eckstein and George Benson, Nikki's journey from Australia to the USA, work with Pittsburgh bass superstar Ray Brown, how singers learn to control their breath at a whisper and the program at Hartwood Friday night July 23rd at 8:15pm titled "Songbook and Sunset," Saturday morning July 24th at 11:15am it's "Melodies and Movement" for families, and August 13th and 14th with "Summer and Sinatra." With food trucks!
The Principal Flute of the New York Philharmonic, Robert Langevin, served as Principal in Pittsburgh for eight years until he was asked to join New York by Kurt Mazur. He discusses his new cd on the Bridge label "La Belle Epoque" with the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Syrinx, Faure Fantaisie and Morceau, Enesco Cantabile and presto, Mouquet Flute de Pan, Widor Suite and Gaubert Nocturne, Fantaisie and Madrigal with pianist Margaret Kampmeier. Robert remembers his years with Lorin Maazel and Mariss Jansons in Pittsburgh and New York, talks about his love of summers at Chautauqua, New York, recordings of Mozart and Nielsen and whether he has bribed the director of Live From Lincoln Center to feature his solos on the PBS New Year's Eve broadcasts. The tradition of French flute playing is explored in detail in this conversation with Jim Cunningham.
Pittsburgh Symphony Acting Principal Viola, Tatjana Mead Chamis, and violinist Jeremias Sergiani-Velazquez talk about rrecording Arnold Shoenberg's "Transfigured Night" and the musical influences that shape them - including Tatjana in Germany at age 7 winding up in Utah with a slight European accent, studying at Curtis and working with the Philadelphia Orchetra's Joseph de Pasquale. Can either musician tango? Tatjana wants to and Velazquez played in a Grammy award winning tango ensemble but the steps are still a mystery. Jeremias describes his young years in Cordoba, Argentina riding the bus 10 hours to lessons in Buenos Aires, later joining Midori in playing chamber music for refugees in camps and shelters after the earthquake in Nepal and much more in this converstaion with Jim Cunningham.
Pittsburgh Symphony Principal Trombone Peter Sullivan speaks about the music he recorded for Center Stage by Casterede and Defaye, his teaching, summer music making at Hartwood Acres and Aspen, his many recordings in Montreal before coming to Pittsburgh, and the current state of affairs with the Pittsburgh Penguins in this conversation with Jim Cunningham.
Pittsburgh Symphony cellist Will Chow talks about his recording of Zoltan Kodaly's Cello Sonata made Center Stage at Heinz Hall. Will picks a favorite recording of the Kodaly among many. In this discussion with Jim Cunningham he recalls his work with the Pittsburgh Symphony since joining in 2016, an appearance on From the Top with Chrisopher O'Riley, heading out with Curits on Tour during his workk at the Curtis Institute, recording Two by Four for the Cedille label with Jaime Laredo and Jennifer Koh and looks forward to working with fellow Curtis scholar conductor Earl Lee in the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations at Hartwood Acres this summer.