Symphony to showcase Pittsburgh composers

Feb 16, 2013 (The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchesta will celebrate contemporary Pittsburgh composers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss during the 2013-14 season of BNY Mellon Grand Classics at Heinz Hall, Downtown.

Music director Manfred Honeck will conduct 10 of the 21 weeks of programming, plus the season-opening gala concert on Sept. 27 called "Once Upon a Time" and featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

The most unusual subscription concerts will be showings of the film "West Side Story," modified to remove only the Hollywood orchestra's contributions, which will be performed live by the symphony conducted by Sarah Hicks, March 28 to 30, 2014.

The programming of Pittsburgh composers replaces the symphony's traditional "Composer of the Year" residency, which has focused on a single contemporary American composer in recent years.

"When we're doing a Composer of the Year, sometimes it could also mean we're ignoring our own composers in town, and I think we have great composers here, also," Honeck says.

The music director will conduct the first two weeks of subscription concerts, starting with the world premiere of David Stock's Symphony No. 6, Oct. 4 to 6. Stock is a prolific and widely performed composer who also founded the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. The concert will be completed by Carl Orff's popular "Carmina Burana" with three vocal soloists and the Mendelssohn Choir.

Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos will lead Leonardo Balada's Symphony No. 6 at concerts also featuring Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade," Nov. 8 to 10. Balada, who will be 80 at the time of the concert, is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. His music is played internationally and much of it is available on Naxos CDs.

Five Pittsburgh composers -- Patrick Burke, Bomi Jang, Matthew Rosenbum, Reza Vali and Amy Williams -- will collaborate in another symphony commission that Honeck will conduct, Feb. 7 to 9, 2014, on a program also featuring Gustav Holst's "The Planets." "I invited them to come talk about this concept, and they were all excited," the conductor says. "I asked each of them to write a piece we can combine with a link to Pittsburgh. I also said to write a piece they personally wish to write. I don't want them to be in a corset of a theme, but it's also important that not everyone write a quick movement. I can't wait to hear the result." The final Pittsburgh composer concert will present "Tormenta del Sur" by Carnegie Mellon's Nancy Galbraith, conducted by Donald Runnicles, March 21 to 23, 2014. The program also features Stephen Hough playing Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 and excerpts from Richard Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen." In addition, the symphony will present the world premiere of an as yet untitled piece it commissioned from Christopher Rouse at concerts led by Juraj Valcuha, April 4 and 6, 2014.

Principal guest conductor Leonard Slatkin will lead a single weekend of concerts, March 14 to 16, 2014, including jazz pianist Michel Camilo playing his Piano Concerto No. 2 on a program with "Bolero" and other music by Maurice Ravel The second of Gianandrea Noseda's two weeks of concerts, Feb. 21 to 23, 2014, feature violinist Joshua Bell playing Edouard Lalo's "Symphonie espagnole" and Franz Liszt's "Faust Symphony." The Mozart Festival, April 25 to May 4, 2014, includes two orchestral concerts led by Honeck. Musicologist and pianist Robert Levin will play the Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor at concerts April 25 to 27, which also feature principal horn William Caballero playing Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 1 in a version prepared by Levin. In addition, Levin and symphony musicians will give a chamber music concert, April 29, at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland.

The season will conclude with two weeks of June concerts led by Honeck. Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 9 fills the program June 6 to 8, 2014, while the final week will salute the 150th anniversary of the birth of Strauss, June 13 to 15. It will open with a suite from the opera "Elektra" being prepared by composer Milos Bok.

Subscriptions range from $117.25 for seven concerts in the least expensive seats to $1,695.74 for all 21 concerts in the most expensive seats. Single tickets will go on sale around Labor Day.

Details: 412-392-4900 or www.pittsburghsymphony.org.

Pittsburgh Symphony's 2013-14 season The BNY Mellon Grand Classics concerts are all performance at Heinz Hall, Downtown: Sept 27 -- Opening Night Gala Manfred Honeck, conductor Yo-Yo Ma, cello (not part of the subscription series) Oct. 4-6: Manfred Honeck, conductor Lisette Oropesa, Andrey Nemzer, Hugh Russell, Mendelssohn Choir David Stock: Symphony No. 6 Carl Orff: Carmina Burana Oct. 11-13: Manfred Honeck, conductor Yulianna Avdeeva, piano Ludwig van Beethoven: "Fidelio Overture" Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 Antonin Dvorak: Symphony No. 8 Oct. 25 and 27: Nikolaj Zanider, conductor Noah Bendix-Balgley, violin Zoltan Kodaly: Galanta Dances Max Bruch: Scottish Fantasy Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 4 Nov. 1-3: Yan Pascal Tortelier, conductor Daniil Trifonov, piano Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2 Sergei Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 Nov. 8-10: Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, conductor Arabella Steinbacher, violin Leonardo Balada: Symphony No. 6 Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade Nov. 29 and Dec. 1: Manfred Honeck, conductor Till Fellner, piano Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 Strauss family waltzes and polkas Dec. 6-8: Manfred Honeck, conductor The Tallis Scholars A capella choral music from the Renaissance and by Anton Bruckner Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 Jan. 17-19, 2014: Christoph Konig, conductor Hila Plitman, soprano Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 22 Richard Danielpour: "Darkness in the Ancient Valley" Richard Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra Jan. 31 and Feb. 2: Manfred Honeck, conductor Helene Grimaud, piano Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 Feb. 7-9: Manfred Honeck, conductor Mendelssohn Choir Pittsburgh composers Gustav Holst: The Planets Feb. 21 and 23: Gianandrea Noseda, conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano Alfredo Casella: "La donna serpente" orchestral excerpts Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 5 Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 2 Feb. 28-March 2: Gianandrea Noseda, conductor Joshua Bell, violin Edouard Lalo: Symphonie espagnole Franz Liszt: A Faust Symphony March 14-16: Leonard Slatkin, conductor Michel Camilo, piano Paul Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice Camilo: Piano Concerto No. 2 ("Tenerife") Maurice Ravel: Alborada del gracioso, Pavane pour une infant defunte, Menuet antique, Bolero March 21 and 23: Donald Runnicles, conductor Stephen Hough, piano Nancy Galbraith: Tormenta del Sur Felix Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 Richard Wagner: Siegfried Idyll Wagner: Ring of the Nibelungs, orchestral excerpts March 28-30: Sarah Hicks, conductor Leonard Bernstein: "West Side Story" April 4 and 6: Juraj Valcuha, conductor Stefan Jackiw, violin Christopher Rouse: (world premiere) Erich Korngold: Violin Concerto Claude Debussy: La Mer Maurice Ravel: La Valse April 25-27: Manfred Honeck, conductor Robert Levin, piano William Caballero, horn Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20, Horn Concerto No. 1, Symphony No. 41 May 2 and 4: Manfred Honeck, conductor Mozart: Mass in C ("Coronation") Mozart: operatic highlights May 30-June 1: Nicholas McGegan, conductor Ye-Eun Choi, violin Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons Mozart: Idomeneo, Chaconne Haydn: Symphony No. 103 June 6-8: Manfred Honeck, conductor Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9 June 13-15: Manfred Honeck, conductor Rudolf Buchbinder, piano Richard Strauss: Suite from "Elektra," Burleske, Suite from "Der Rosenkavalier" ___ (c)2013 The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.) Visit The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.) at www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib Distributed by MCT Information Services

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