Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra history

Following the Pittsburgh appearances Archer led the PSO on its first American concert tour in 1896.

In 1898, a man steeped in popular music was chosen to lead the Orchestra.

It would most certainly create a most favorable impression." - Andréw Carnegie, as quoted in the Pittsburgh Post, November 18, 1899"

Under Herbert's direction, the Pittsburgh Orchestra played as part of the Pan-American Exposition at the 1901 World's Fair in Buffalo, New York.

He ended his appointment with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1904 when he left to take a higher paid position in New York.

To make matters worse, Paur's practice of hiring European musicians damaged relations with local musicians to the point where half of the orchestra's members refused to renew their contracts for the 1908–09 season.

With the loss of its musicians and financial backers, the orchestra was disbanded in 1909.

By 1910, the Orchestra's future was in immediate jeopardy.

They performed their first concert on Sunday April 24, 1926 defying the Pittsburgh blue laws.

Following the newly restructured Orchestra's successful debut, the Symphony Society organized a Sunday concert series that began on April 24, 1927.

In 1930, Antonio Modarelli assumed his post as the music director of the Orchestra.

As a protégé of Otto Klemperer, Steinberg had a glamorous career in his homeland of Germany before fleeing the Nazis in 1936.

He was music director until 1937, but he never quite won the whole-hearted acceptance of Pittsburgh audiences, in part because he was a local boy, born in nearby Braddock.

His family settled here while he was still a young child so he could continue to study with his conducting teacher, Vladimir Bakaleinikov, who had become Associate Conductor of the PSO in 1939.

Since its first recording on Columbia Records in 1941 under Fritz Reiner, the PSO has released hundreds of acclaimed recordings on the CBS, Sony Classical, EMI, Philips, MCA PentaTone, Angel, New World, Nonesuch, and Telarc labels.

Reiner on Leonard Bernstein, 1944: "Wait until you see that kid conduct tonight.

The Orchestra has appeared in all of America’s major cities, including performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Since its 1947 appearance in Mexico, the PSO has gone on more than 30 International tours including 18 European tours, seven trips to the Far East, and two to South America.

Reiner left the Orchestra in 1948 to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and went on to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Steinberg conducted this complex work with amazing control, exacting the fullest possible interest from the score. - Pittsburgh Press, January 9, 1954

In 1957 it became the first American city to generate electricity by nuclear power.

The four-time Academy Award Winner developed an equally successful career as a Jazz pianist before turning to conducting in 1960.

William Steinberg and the Pittsburgh Symphony made a number of highly acclaimed recordings for the Command label starting in 1962.

On August 14, 1964, the PSO embarked on an 11-week, 24,000 mile tour to 14 nations in Europe and the Near East.

The opening of Heinz Hall on September 10, 1971 marked the completion of an 11-year campaign, initiated by Henry J. Heinz II. The resplendent concert hall stands as a testimonial to the civic spirit that has supported Pittsburgh's cultural organizations since the turn of the century.

He is a man not afraid of mixing new works with old and his shaping of programs for the orchestra should offer some of the best variety seen here in years. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 21, 1974

Steinberg conducted his final Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concerts as Music Director in 1976, after which he returned to conduct occasionally as Music Director Emeritus.

In February 1977, the PSO and Previn made their national debut on PBS with eight specials, "Previn and the Pittsburgh." Alcoa sponsored the award-winning series, which ran for three years.

Previn had a collegial working style with symphony musicians and even formed a chamber music trio with Herbert Greenberg, associate concertmaster, and principal cellist, Anne Martindale Williams around 1979.

In 1981, Previn renewed his contract with the symphony orchestra.

Public Radio International began network broadcasts of WQED produced performance in 1982.

Following Previn's departure in 1984, Maazel agreed to act as Music Consultant while the Orchestra sought a permanent Music Director.

The first international tour with Honeck as music director marked the Orchestra's debut in Shanghai, China and Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and the Orchestra's first performance in Beijing since 1987.

He was offered and accepted that position in 1988, having already dazzled the world and won the hearts of the players in the course of numerous guest appearances and three acclaimed tours.

Leonard Bernstein on Reiner, 1989: "He was a genius, apart from all other conductors I've ever known.

Beginning in 1990, Maazel gave audiences the chance to gain a deeper appreciation of some of the world's great composers with seasonal retrospectives featuring Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky.

Marek Janowski had a relationship with the orchestra since 1991, conducting the great masters of the German-Austrian repertoire that have been central to the identity of the orchestra since the days of former Music Director William Steinberg.

The first was the Benjamin Lees' Horn Concerto, which premiered on May 14, 1992 and was performed later that year on the Pittsburgh Symphony's European tour by William Caballero.

In 1993 he assumed an additional music directorship, as artistic head of the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio in Munich.

During the 1994-95 season, Maazel placed American works in the spotlight by including one American composition in each of 24 concert programs.

Also, in 1995, the orchestra welcomed Marvin Hamlisch as its first principal pops conductor.

Two new sports venues opened in 2001 on the north bank of the Allegheny opposite the Golden Triangle: PNC Park is home of the Pirates, the city’s professional baseball team, and Heinz Field houses the Steelers, its professional gridiron football team.

In addition to directing the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Jansons also served as an influential music director for the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in Norway until 2002.

The Pittsburgh Symphony was the first American orchestra to perform at the Vatican in January 2004 for the late Pope John Paul II, as part of the Pontiff's Silver Jubilee celebration.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra entered a bold new era with the 2005-06 season introducing its innovative model for artistic leadership.

Honeck first conducted the symphony in May 2006, and returned for another guest appearance in November 2006.

Its current music director is Austrian Manfred Honeck, who joined the orchestra in 2008, and its current president and CEO is Melia Tourangeau.

In May 2009, Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony embarked on a tour to Asia.

The orchestra established a Guest Conductor Chair in his name in 2010.

His staged version of Handel’s Messiah set across three periods of American history with stage director Samuel Helfrich in 2011 was a remarkable achievement.

In August and September 2013, Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra returned to Europe, this time for a European Festivals tour that included Grafenegg, Lucerne, Beethovenfest in Bonn and several others.

The July 2014 release, Dvořák/Janáček, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Recording.

Helfrich returns in 2016 to work with Honeck on a semi-presentation of Bach’s St John Passion, the first time the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performs the work.