Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is one of the finest American orchestras, located at the renowned Heinz Hall in the Cultural District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A classical symphony orchestra, it has been active since 1895, except for a brief period of inactivity from 1910 to 1926. Watched each season by those who buy Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra tickets, it has one of the highest subscription rates in the US and one of the most diverse repertoires.
 
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is led by Manfred Honeck, the musical director. Leonard Slatkin is the principal guest conductor, Marvin Hamlisch is the principal pops conductor, Lawrence Loh is the resident conductor with Thomas Hong as the assistant conductor. It was founded by conductor Frederic Archer and the Pittsburgh Arts Society, the former bring in a number of Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians and being the founding music director.
 
In 1898, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra welcomed new director Victor Herbert who lead the orchestra to a number of tours, increasing its presence. In 1904, Emil Paur replaced him, and began attracting famous guest conductors to perform with the orchestra, including the likes of Richard Strauss and Edward Elgar. In 1910, the orchestra was inactive until 1926, due to financial issues. It was resurrected by its members, each of whom contributed financially and performed with no fee.
 
During this time, Elias Breeskin was the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s music director, with Antonio Modarelli taking over in 1930 and Otto Klemperer joining in 1937. The orchestra built a sizeable endowment fund, and was lead by Fritz Reiner who increased its repertory, adding music by Bela Bartok, Richard Strauss and Mozart, amongst others. During William Steinberg’s reign, the orchestra toured Europe and expanded its repertory.
 
From the late seventies to the eighties, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra was led by Andre Previn, who brought national fame to the orchestra with a TV series on PBS, titled Previn and the Pittsburgh. He was followed by Lorin Maazel, with Mariss Jansons taking over in 1997. Today, it is led by Manfred Honeck, a renowned Austrian conductor and their present home is the Heinz Hall, named in honor of H. J. Heinz II of the global H. J. Heinz Company and who funded the creation of the new venue.
 
In 2004, the orchestra made history when it became the first American orchestra to perform at the Vatican for the Pope. This was a special concert, conducted by Sir Gilbert Levine, who also created it. It was part of the celebrations of the twenty fifth anniversary of Pope John Paul II and reached out to all the three Abrahamic religions; Christianity, Islam and Judaism. This monumental event, attended by leaders of all faiths and a total of seven thousand guests, was broadcast all over the world by PBS, RAI and other networks. It was also released as a DVD and lead to the orchestra starting its Music for the Spirit series of concerts, inspired by this.
 
An orchestra that has made music history, it is often seen by many after buying Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra tickets.