Beethoven was born here I am hearing, very faintly, a french horn practicing in a nearby room for tonight’s final concert of the Pittsburgh Symphony’s 2013 European Festivals Tour. Yesterday began with a tour of the Beethovenhaus with Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Music Critic Elizabeth Bloom. Liz is a Harvard grad, a percussionist, and she spent last […]

Beethoven monument There are 12 museums or memorial sites to Ludwig van Beethoven in five countries. He slept more places than Queen Elizabeth and he moved more often than anyone can imagine – terrorizing his housekeepers at every stop. Polite guests always, the Pittsburgh Symphony returned to Beethoven’s namsake festival in the city where he […]

Serways salad bar The trip to Lucerne from Frankfurt was sunny and smooth. Even the rest stop operated by Serways was a delight with its terrific salad bar, outdoor and indoor café, shopping for beer steins, a wide selection of Ritter Sport candy bars, magazines and newspapers, beer, and a clean wash zimmer with admittance […]

Finish line at the Alte Oper Alte Oper, Frankfurt At the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, The Pittsburgh Symphony found themselves at the finish line of a footrace benefiting AIDS research with a special effort for children. As in Pittsburgh’s Great Race, citizens of all ages huffed and puffed the last few steps. The finish line […]

The Pittsburgh Symphony swooped into Düsseldorf from Paris on Saturday afternoon. This is where the pioneering electronica art-rock band Kraftwerk lives Tonhalle . Robert Schumann is memorialized in the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel and the lobby of the Tonhalle. The call to return to your seats at the end of intermission is a phrase […]

Pleyel piano Composer Ignaz Pleyel is immortalized in Paris by the theater that bears his name. His piano company still exists with a showroom next to the Salle Pleyel, where the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has performed three years in a row. A white art deco instrument was in the window. The Pittsburgh Symphony arrived Friday […]

Bride by the Seine The Île Saint-Louis is the island in the middle of Paris where you find Notre Dame Cathedral, and just across the Seine is the Saint-Chappelle with its wonderful windows. It provides the general look of Heinz Chapel in Pittsburgh. The sky was clear and blue for a wedding. A photographer helped the […]

Champs-Élysées in Paris The Pittsburgh Symphony flew via Austrian Air to Paris in a clear blue sky with the good feeling of having made a great debut in Bucharest. Tubist Craig Knox wrote in a Facebook post of a meeting of low brass players who shared stories of the pre-Romanian-Revolution times while also sharing several […]

Yuja Wang/PSO webcast The Pittsburgh Symphony made its debut in Bucharest at the Enescu Festival to a full house of more than 4,000 and thousands more watching on live national TV, listening on Romanian radio, or streaming the concert online. The Sala Palatului was built on command of Nikolai Ceaucescu for meetings of his communist […]

Anne-Sophie Mutter live in HD The Pittsburgh arrived in Berlin blitzschnell and departed less than 24 hours later for Bucharest after opening the Berlin Festival with Anne-Sophie Mutter playing Lutoslawski’s “Chain 2” preceded by Janacek’s “Suite for Strings”, and on the second half, “Ein Heldenleben” by Richard Strauss. I loved having a chance to interview […]