Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra is resident at Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District. Since 2008, the orchestra's music director is Manfred Honeck. The orchestra's current president and CEO is Melia Tourangeau.
History
1895–1910: Founding and early history
The orchestra was founded by the Pittsburgh Arts Society with conductor Frederic Archer in 1895, who brought with him a number of musicians from the Boston Symphony Orchestra and led the PSO in its first concert the following year.In 1898, Victor Herbert was chosen to lead the orchestra. The orchestra traveled at a more frequent rate under Herbert's tenure, performing in Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Canada. Its personnel included such musicians as Luigi von Kunits as concertmaster, first violinist Frederick William Stahlberg, second violinist John Stepan Zamecnik, assistant principal cello Gaston Borch, Paul Henneberg as first flute, and Leon Medaer as first clarinet.
Herbert composed two orchestral works that the Pittsburgh Orchestra premiered: his Suite romantique op. 31 and the tone poem Hero and Leander op. 33. 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, for which Herbert had also composed an original work for the exhibition titled "Panamericana: Morceau Characteristique" for the Orchestra to perform. His tenure with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra ended in 1904 because of increasingly strident disagreements with the orchestra's manager, George H. Wilson, who disliked Herbert's populist manner and personally despised him.
When Herbert left the orchestra in 1904, the Symphony Society chose as his successor Austrian conductor Emil Paur. Paur took an intellectual approach to his work and avoided theatrics. Trained as a violinist, he had served as conductor of both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, as well as guest conductor throughout Europe, and held the Pittsburgh Orchestra to the same exacting standards. Paur's programs emphasized the classical repertoire and increased the presence of works by Johannes Brahms, whose music was considered too challenging for most audiences at that time. Additionally, Paur clashed with many of the orchestra's musicians when he prohibited them from accepting outside performing engagements and continued to hire mainly European musicians. Orchestra manager George H. Wilson resigned on December 24, 1906, shortly after the beginning of Paur's third season, saying that his tenure, pride, and pleasure with the orchestra:
Paur remained at the head of the orchestra until it disbanded in 1910.
1926–1938: The New Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
After the symphony disbanded, concert promoter May Beegle founded the Pittsburgh Orchestra Association to bring other musical performers to the city. A new Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra had its first season in 1926-27.Antonio Modarelli, an American conductor and composer, became conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphonic Orchestra in 1930. A German newspaper described his conducting as "forceful, authentic, modern music", and he was invited to conduct in Moscow. He had taught at Duquesne University and been a band leader in the Navy prior to his work in Europe and with the Symphony.
This program of frequent guest conductors was made in an effort to restore the symphony to its "golden years," but in effect demoted Modarelli, who was finally asked by the Board to resign in 1936.
Otto Klemperer was responsible for bringing in much new talent while working with the Musicians' Union to hire both local and imported performers. Since then, the orchestra has experienced ongoing growth and development, including building a substantial endowment fund.
1938–1948: The Reiner years
was music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony from 1938 to 1948. Reiner studied with Hungarian composer Béla Bartók and programmed many of Bartók's works in Pittsburgh Symphony performances.Women joined the orchestra for the first time during World War II. Eighteen women joined in 1942, and 24 more women joined in 1944. The PSO had more female performers than any other major American symphony during the war.
Victor De Sabata came to Pittsburgh in 1948, in part because of the urgings of his colleague Vladimir Bakaleinikoff, whom he had conducted in Cincinnati in 1927. Ticket sales increased with de Sabata at the helm. He was so popular with local audiences that around 1,200 people attended a concert he conducted at the Syria Mosque during one of Pittsburgh's worst snowstorms. He returned to conduct the orchestra in 1949, 1950, and 1951. The orchestra established a Guest Conductor Chair in his name in 2010.
1952–1976: The Steinberg years
became the orchestra's music director in 1952. During the early part of the 1950s, the Symphony played a number of "industry concerts", conducted by Steinberg and sponsored by area industries, specifically the United Steelworkers of America. The sponsorship offset costs for industry workers, and the Symphony performed in more convenient locations throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. The Symphony continued to bring music to smaller communities in partnership with Manufacturers Heat and Light Company and Columbia Gas during the Steinberg era.The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performed for audiences in Warsaw, Madrid, Berlin, Zagreb, Reykjavik, and 15 other locations throughout Europe and the Middle East during the State Department tour.
Many of the orchestra's earlier recordings were made in the Syria Mosque with labels such as Capitol Records and Columbia Records. The Pittsburgh Symphony performed at the Syria Mosque from 1926 until 1971. The building was torn down in 1992.
Steinberg and the Pittsburgh Symphony made several recordings for the Command label starting in 1962. These recordings were made at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh. The technical superiority of the Command recordings was aided by the company's use of 35mm film as the recording medium.
Steinberg conducted his final Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concerts as music director in 1976, after which he returned for guest-conducting appearances as music director emeritus.
1976–1984: The Previn years
succeeded Steinberg as music director in 1976. 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.During this time, Victoria Bond served as an affiliate conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra from 1978 to 1980. Bond was the first woman to earn a doctoral degree in orchestral conducting from the Juilliard School and is a prolific composer. While at the Pittsburgh Symphony, she also served as the music director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony and the New Amsterdam Symphony in New York City.
Previn often brought jazz to the concert hall. In February 1977, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Previn made their national debut on PBS with eight specials, Previn and the Pittsburgh. The Alcoa Foundation sponsored the Emmy-nominated program, which ran for three years. Guests on the program included John Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, and Oscar Peterson.
Previn left the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1984, credited with "renewing the stature of the orchestra, expanding its position in the community, and giving the city a positive image internationally…"
1984–1996: The Maazel years
became music consultant to the orchestra in 1984. In 1985, the orchestra elevated Maazel's title to music adviser and principal guest conductor. In 1988, Maazel became music director of the orchestra. Maazel announced in 1995 his intention to stand down music director of the orchestra in 1996, to focus on composition. After Maazel's death in July 2014, the Pittsburgh Symphony performed memorial pieces for Maazel as well as created a multimedia exhibit featuring Symphony archival materials related to the late director.Marvin Hamlisch served as principal pops conductor beginning in 1995 until his death in 2012.
1995–2004: The second century
A capital campaign was launched in 1993 to increase the Pittsburgh Symphony's endowment by $70 million. On April 10, 1995, the orchestra announced the appointment of Mariss Jansons to succeed Maazel in 1996 as its eighth music director. Latvian–born Jansons was well received by critics and audiences in Pittsburgh, who applauded the "warmth and humanity" that he brought to the ensemble. With Jansons, the Pittsburgh Symphony toured worldwide and recorded extensively. During this time, the Symphony was "innovative in drawing new elements of the Pittsburgh region’s population to concerts in Heinz Hall and elsewhere." Jansons conducted his tenure at the close of the 2003–2004 season.2005–2007: Interregnum
With the 2005–2006 season, the PSO introduced a different model for artistic leadership. During this time, a new collective bargaining agreement was in effect, which gave the musicians increased authority over matters of running the orchestra, such as the hiring of musicians and choice of repertoire. Starting in 2005, Sir Andrew Davis served as the PSO artistic advisor, with Yan Pascal Tortelier as principal guest conductor and Marek Janowski holding the "endowed guest conductor chair."Sir Andrew Davis, while providing overall programming input regarding the entire season and leading the orchestra in a variety of styles, paid special attention to the music of British and American composers. Under his direction, the Symphony performed many symphonic, operatic, and choral works ranging from baroque to contemporary. Davis had previously led the Pittsburgh Symphony several times as a guest conductor between 1977 and 1990.
Davis was originally scheduled to step down after the 2007–2008 season, but in October 2007, Davis and the Pittsburgh Symphony mutually agreed to terminate his contract early and for him not to conduct his scheduled concerts in the 2007–2008 season because of increased demands on Davis' schedule. The contracts of Tortelier and Janowski also expired in 2008. Janowski now holds the Otto Klemperer Guest Conductor Chair with the PSO.