Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra tour to include 4 concerts in Vienna

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's fall 2012 European tour led by music director Manfred Honeck will be highlighted by a prestigious four-concert residency at the Musikverein in Vienna.

The musicians will give 12 concerts in eight cities in five countries from Oct. 25 to Nov. 10. It will be the orchestra's 36th international tour, the fifth with Honeck.

Much of the tour repertoire will be previewed at BNY Mellon Grand Classics concerts in the fall at Heinz Hall, Downtown. Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World") will be played in September, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 ("Resurrection") in October.

Planning is in the final stages for recording the Mahler Symphony No. 2 in the Musikverein with the Vienna Singverein for the Exton label at concerts Nov. 2 and 3.

Other repertoire will include a piece by Steven Stucky, symphony composer of the year for 2011-12, and Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5.

Tour soloists will be Rudolf Buchbinder playing George Gershwin's Piano Concerto and Nikolaj Znaider playing Jan Sibelius' Violin Concerto and a world premiere in Vienna.

After initial concerts in Spain on Oct. 25 in Barcelona and Oct. 26 and 27 in Madrid, the orchestra heads to Vienna for a week.

"As a symbol of excellence and historic traditions in the art form, the Musikverein stands alone, just slightly above the other super-great halls, both because it has superior acoustics and its history," says Bob Moir, symphony vice president for artistic planning.

Vienna's central role in the development of classical music is emphasized, he says, by the fact that it's an easy to walk from the Musikverein to places where composers such as Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss and Mahler lived and worked.

"You also have this building which could not be more historic. The fact that Brahms was the director there is enough to suggest the value of being in the Musikverein," Moir says. "To be invited to perform here in any capacity sends the message you are perceived and expected to be playing at the highest international level. To receive an invitation to be there for one week is a very unusual and rare opportunity."

Vienna concerts will include Honeck's special version of Mozart's Requiem, "Mozart's Death in Word and Music," on Nov. 1. This concert will open with two pieces by Herbert Willi -- the world premiere of his Violin Concerto played by Znaider, which was commissioned by the Musikverein for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and "Abba-Ma."

Willi is an Austrian composer whose music has been played by the Berlin and Vienna philharmonics and Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras.

The tour will conclude with concerts in Paris, Nov. 5; Cologne, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, Germany, Nov. 7 to 9; and in Luxembourg, Nov. 10

The costs of the tour will be covered by fees from presenters and support from the Hillman Endowment for International Performances.

Representatives of the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance will partner with the symphony for the seventh consecutive tour to promote economic development.