Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Music Director Manfred Honeck opens the orchestra’s 2012-2013 season at West Virginia University with a concert featuring principal horn William Caballero as soloist, and a performance of Dvoř�k’s “New World” Symphony.
The concert, which is part of the Canady Symphony Series at WVU, will begin at 7:30 p.m., Monday, Sept. 24, in the Lyell B Clay Concert Theatre at the WVU Creative Arts Center.
Tickets, ranging from $26.50 to $43, are now on sale and can be purchased by calling the Heinz Hall box office toll free at 1-800-743-8560, or by visiting the orchestra online at www.pittsburghsymphony.org.
Tickets also will be available at the Creative Arts Center the evening of the concert.
Student rush tickets may be purchased the day of the performance for $15, or students can purchase their tickets online in advance for $12 by visiting the orchestra website at www.pittsburghsymphony.org/wvustudent. Discounted student tickets are made possible through the generosity of William and Loulie Canady, in memory of their daughter Valerie.
William Caballero, hailed by “The Guardian” newspaper in the United Kingdom as “one of the best in the business,” will perform Richard Strauss’ famous Horn Concerto No. 1.
Nicknamed “From the New World,” Dvoř�k’s 9th Symphony was inspired by the composer’s visit to America and exposure to Native American and African American cultures. The concert also includes Verdi’s overture to “La forza del destino.”
The Program:
Monday, Sept. 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre at WVU Creative Arts Center
Pittsburgh Symphony Canady Symphony Series
PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Manfred Honeck, conductor
William Caballero, horn
Giuseppe Verdi, Overture to “La forza del destino”
Richard Strauss, Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major for Horn and Orchestra, Opus 11
Anton�n Dvoř�k, Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Opus 95 “From the New World”
Jim Cunningham, artistic director of WQED-FM, Pittsburgh, will conduct a pre-concert lecture on stage at 6:30 p.m., discussing the music to be performed during the concert. The lecture is free to ticket holders.
Program notes and bios for the concert are available on the orchestra website.
The 2012-13 title sponsors of the Canady Symphony Series at WVU are William and Loulie Canady, in memory of their daughter Valerie.
William Caballero begins his 24th year as the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s principal horn. Before joining the orchestra in May 1989, Caballero previously held principal horn positions with the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera and Hartford Symphony. He held third horn positions with the Montreal Symphony, Montreal Opera, and acting third horn with the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops. He has also performed as guest principal horn with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the St. Louis Symphony. Born in New Mexico and reared in Wisconsin, Caballero’s early horn studies included working under Larry Simons, Barry Benjamin and Basil Tyler, as well as studying the piano and pipe organ. Caballero graduated from New England Conservatory in Boston, where he studied with Richard Mackey and Thomas Newell, both former members of the Boston Symphony.
Manfred Honeck was appointed the ninth music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in January 2007 and began his tenure at the start of the 2008-09 season. After a first extension in 2009, his contract was extended for the second time in February 2012, now through the 2019-20 season. Following their successful European Tour in 2010 and the European Festival Tour 2011 with appearances at the major music festivals, such as BBC Proms, Lucerne, Grafenegg, Rheingau, Schleswig-Holstein or Musikfest Berlin, Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will return to Europe in October-November 2012.
This year’s tour will take them to Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Luxembourg, and Cologne, Frankfurt and Stuttgart in Germany. During a weeklong residency at the Musikverein in Vienna, the orchestra will perform four concerts. Honeck’s successful work in Pittsburgh is captured on CD by the Japanese label Exton. So far, Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and Richard Strauss’ “Ein Heldenleben” have been released to critical acclaim. Their recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 won a 2012 International Classical Music Award. Honeck was born in Austria and studied music at the Academy of Music in Vienna. An accomplished violinist and violist, he spent more than ten years as a member of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. It is this experience that has heavily influenced his conducting and has helped give it a distinctive stamp.
-WVU-
CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu
or
Ramesh Santanam, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
412.392.4827, Rsantanam@pittsburghsymphony.org
Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.