@ the Symphony

WQED-FM broadcast the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concert live on Friday September 27, 2024. Jim Cunningham spoke with WQED-FM's Anna Singer, PSO Principal Cellist Anne Martindale Williams and Post-Gazette Classical Music Critic Jeremy Reynolds after the concert.

Pittsburgh Symphony Music Director, Manfred Honeck, talks about the upcoming European festivals tour starting with a visit to the prestigious Salzburg festival. He talks with Jim Cunningham about the special atmosphere at Salzburg and how it is Mozart’s birthplace, the country where Honeck was born, and where the Sound Of Music was filmed over 60 years ago! Maestro runs through the special qualities of each stop on the tour and how pleased he is to be working with Yefim Bronfman, Anne Sophie Mutter and Maria Duenas as soloists. Gute Reise and Bon Voyage!

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performed Samy Moussa's "Elysium," Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 with pianist Janice Carissa and conductor Osmo Vanska. WQED-FM broadcast the concert on Friday January 17, 2025 live! Jim Cunningham spoke to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Classical Music Critic Jeremy Reynolds to get his initial thoughts on the concert, as well as some of the other articles he's writing.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performed Samy Moussa's "Elysium," Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. WQED-FM broadcast the concert on Friday January 17, 2025 live! During intermission, Jim Cunningham spoke to the pianist Janice Carissa, who was making her Heinz Hall debut; guest conductor Osmo Vanska; and composer Samy Moussa.

Maestro Elder talks with Jim Cunningham in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel downtown Pittsburgh about his Pittsburgh Symphony concerts of January 31st and February 2nd, 2025 with principal Oboe Cynthia Koledo de Almeida playing Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto, Pohjohla’s Daughter by Sibelius, and the Shostakovich Symphony No. 15. What does it all mean? The William Tell Overture quote, Wagner, and self reference along the way. Even with comments from Shostakovich's son Maxim that we’re in a musical toy box of childhood and suggestions that Shostakovich is mourning the deaths of Stalin’s victims we still don’t have all the answers. Sir Mark discusses his new post in Valencia Spain, his work with the BBC Proms, his statement about the Gulf War that was “blown completely out of proportion “ and resulted in his removal from the concert. He chooses some career highlights of working with living composers such as Thomas Ades and Harrison Birtwhistle, mentions his joy working with Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo, recording a highly praised Wagner Ring Cycle and many other amazing nights from his four decades with the Halle Orchestra, touring with English National Opera and making hundreds of records which encompassed a complete Vaughan Williams Symphony cycle. He is amazed at the composer’s talent, loves the Pastoral Sixth which is much more than “cows looking over the gate,” and has loved his concerts with the Pittsburgh Symphony.