PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA TO PERFORM AT EAST LIBERTY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Concert begins 7 p.m., Saturday, June 2, features PSO musicians Jennifer Orchard, Marylène Gingras-Roy as soloists PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) performs its fifth annual Community Engagement Concert at East Liberty Presbyterian Church at 7 p.m., Saturday, June 2. Resident Conductor Lawrence Loh leads the orchestra in the concert that will feature PSO [...]

May 15
 

PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BRINGS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CONCERT TO HILL DISTRICT

May 31 concert at Kaufmann Center features PSO musicians Jennifer Orchard, Marylène Gingras-Roy as soloists PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) returns to the Hill District for a fifth annual Community Engagement Concert at 7 p.m., Thursday, May 31, at the Kaufmann Center, 1825 Centre Ave. Resident Conductor Lawrence Loh leads the orchestra in [...]

May 15
 

An American tasked to hear Parisian Musical Joy

It seems an almost insurmountable task to record every idea experienced attending a concert, especially when the goal is to transcribe the impressions and later fully bring them to written fruition. Several hurdles have to be overcome including timeliness and precision. Hearing, seeing and experiencing the music must be recorded in real time, yet writing [...]

May 14
 

Come for the Music, Stay for the Intrigue

I always have the best adventures on symphony nights. I usually don’t provide a play-by-play recap of my shenanigans, but last Friday night needs to be an exception. Weekend Deux of the Paris Festival began with an elegant wine tasting event, during which I met up with my fellow blogger and new wine tasting buddy, [...]

May 11
 

Deconstructing Claude

It was ‘The Pursuit of Beauty’ that directed my path to the steps of Heinz Hall on my quest to discover that emotion in the form of music, though nobody ever knew exactly how many forms of beauty really exist, nor how many I was in pursuit thereof. I took a few friends for they [...]

May 8
 

All the Impressionism You Can Handle

 “Works of art make rules but rules do not make works of art.” Claude Debussy sagely opined the above, while engaging in some fabulous rule-making (and breaking) of his own.  Debussy was clearly a man who was anti-establishment before it was cool to be anti-establishment.  Though he chafed at the “Impressionist” label that some critics [...]

May 4
 

Magic of Paris Dons a Three Cornered Hat

In my last post I forgot to mention how much I really enjoyed the PSO’s rendition of Three-Cornered Hat Suites Nos. 1 & 2 by Manuel de Falla. One of my favorite suites, and to hear it live was a personal treat! I also wanted to post a few more photos I took at Heinz [...]

May 3
 

CIRQUE DE LA SYMPHONIE VISITS HEINZ HALL FOR ONE DAY ONLY!

Performance at 8 p.m., Saturday, May 12 PITTSBURGH –  Aerial flyers, acrobats, contortionists, dancers, jugglers, balancers, and strongmen performing feats of daring will all be seen on the Heinz Hall stage while the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) performs favorites from Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns and Khachaturian. The PSO, led by Resident Conductor Lawrence Loh, presents “Cirque de [...]

May 3
 

Paris Festival: The City of Light

I was unable to attend the concerts last weekend, but a friend of mine, French horn player with the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra was gracious enough to write her thoughts on the concert… By Kristen Miller The set of April 27-29 concerts given by the Pittsburgh Symphony was the much-anticipated musical opening to the Pittsburgh [...]

Apr 30
 

City of lights hewn before my ears

Conductor Gianandrea Noseda introduced the Respighi “La Boutique fantasque” this evening with his usual flair. Some conductors don’t take the opportunity to talk to the audience, yet it’s often a very entertaining way to connect the music with the audience. His assertion was that perhaps this piece was 50% by Respighi and 50% by Rossini, [...]

Apr 30