@ the Symphony

Emanuel Ax plays the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Chopin with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Friday March 10 and Saturday March 12 at 2:30 at Heinz Hall. Jim Cunningham joined Mr. Ax to talk about Chopin, the love of his life George Sand, Ax’s long association with the composer including the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, recording the concerto twice with Eugene Ormandy and Sir Charles Mackerras plus doing crosswords, a new cd on the way from Yo Yo Ma and much more in this interview recorded after rehearsal at Heinz Hall.

Conductor Dima Slobodeniouk, born in Moscow and  a long time resident of Finland where he conducted and recorded with the Lahti Symphony makes his debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony this weekend. In this conversation with Jim Cunningham he speaks about the war in Ukraine and adding music by Valentin Silvestrov, the Prayer for Ukraine, played on the anniversary of entering year two of the conflict.

Pianist Paul Lewis joins Sir Mark Elder and the Pittsburgh Symphony to make his Heinz Hall debut with Mozart’s 12th Concerto in A January 20 and 22, 2023. He describes the delights of the Mozart with Jim Cunningham in his second floor dressing room following the Thursday rehearsal. Paul became a Commander of the British Empire in 2016. He has no opinion at all about Prince Harry’s criticism of the Royal Family. Paul greatly admires his teacher Alfred Brendel, talks about his years in Liverpool, his latest recordings of Brahms and Schubert for Harmonia Mundi, first impressions of Pittsburgh and where contemporary music turns up in his repertoire which has won the highest praise for Brahms, Beethoven, Liszt, Haydn and Schubert.

Conductor Peter Oundjian and violinist Alina Ibragimova provide the roadmap for the Prokofiev First Violin Concerto which they perform with the Pittsburgh Symphony January 13th and 15th. Peter chooses a few high points in his 14 years as Music Director of the Toronto Symphony and fills Jim Cunningham in on his family ties to Eric Idle of Monty Python. He also shares his love of Ralph Vaughan Williams and the Thomas Tallis Fantasy having recorded the composer in Toronto. Alina remembers being in Pittsburgh on March 11, 2020 just hours from her debut when the music world went on hiatus. Both are glad to have survived the pandemic and feel optimistic about the future of classical music.

Daniel Meyer conducts 8 Pittsburgh Symphony Holiday Pops concerts through Sunday the 18^th of December with the Mendelssohn Choir, Santa and Blaine Alden Krauss who stars in Hamilton on Broadway plus dancers from the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater who perform highlights from the Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. Maestro Meyer has the rundown of the event for Jim Cunningham and what he is up to with the Erie Philharmonic and the Westmoreland Symphony.

Berlin born pianist Martin Helmchen makes his debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck playing the Schumann Concerto December 2 at Heinz Hall. He talks with Jim Cunningham in the upstairs dressing room about his earlier work with Manfred Honeck, the Schumann Concerto which he recorded a number of years ago and how his interpretation has changed, Robert Schumann the romantic figure in music, Germany and the US in the World Cup, and the progress in unification of the East and West in Germany.

Nikki Porter, Head of Staff and Minister of Music at Eastminster Presbyterian Church, leads the Unity Choir in “Lift Every Voice and Sing” – Saturday October 22 at Heinz Hall with the Pittsburgh Symphony. She tells her story to Jim Cunningham and suggests the spirit will move you downtown on Saturday evening.   Kellen Gray conducts the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for the fourth Lift Every Voice concert!  After more than two years, back together in Heinz Hall to experience music’s power to bring us forward. Kendra Ross and Garfield Lemonius host this one-night-only celebration of dynamic contemporary artists, including the world premiere of As I Please, a multimedia work by composer Kathryn Bostic, filmmaker Njaimeh Njie, and writer Jessica Lanay, commissioned by the PSO.

Josh Jones, alumnus of the Paul J. Ross Fellowship program, makes his PSO solo debut performing Vivaldi’s Concerto for Piccolo on marimba, Jasiri X makes his solo debut performing the Academy and Grammy Award-winning “Glory” from the movie Selma, Jessie Montgomery’s Strum for String Orchestra musically animates the mural “Playing the Cosmic Strings” by local artists Mikael Owunna and Marques Redd.

WQED-FM’s Jim Cunningham speaks with violinist Augustin Hadelich after he performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra during our live broadcast on October 14, 2022.

Pittsburgh Symphony Pops presents “The Sounds of New Orleans” September 30th through October 2nd at Heinz Hall. Principal Conductor Byron Stripling stopped by the QED Morning Show to tell Jim Cunningham all about the concerts this weekend.

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra President and CEO Melia Tourangeau recognizes and honors Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Associate Concertmaster Mark Huggins, who is retiring from the orchestra at the end of September. From the PSO Opening Night concert on Friday September 23, 2022.

Violinist Joshua Bell tells Jim Cunningham the Tchaikovsky Concerto never gets old having recorded it as a teenager with several re- recordings since and a previous performance with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck. He estimates 1000 times he’s played the Tchaikovsky and he always hears something new. Joshua thinks the classical music scene is in good shape and will never decline in spite of the pandemic and concern about audiences returning. He’s just back from a tour with the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields to Brazil and other stops in South America plus visits to Italian concert halls where the vibrancy of classical music was strong. Pittsburgh and his thirty years of music making here is always a highlight he suggests in the dressing room conversation after rehearsal on Friday afternoon before the Saturday gala.

Emanuel Ax sat down with Jim Cunningham on Saturday afternoon after the live broadcast of opening night Friday June 17 to talk about Mozart’s 20th concerto, Chopin for an encore, his long association with the Pittsburgh Symphony, friendship with Andre Previn, the war in Ukraine and it’s effect on Lviv where Emanuel Ax was born, his recent Beethoven Trios cd Beethoven for Three with Yo Yo Ma and Leonidas Kavakos, and the answer to the question are there too many good musicians today– recorded upstairs at Heinz Hall in the rehearsal room on the fourth floor with help from Adam Kilburn engineer and videographer.