Pittsburgh Symphony Music Director Designate Manfred Honeck Welcomes Leonard Slatkin As Principle PSO Guest Conductor; NSO May Follow Model

"Music Director Designate Manfred Honeck [of Austria] and the [Pittburgh Symphony Orchestra] today announced the appointment of Leonard Slatkin as the new Principal Guest Conductor effective September 1, 2008. His initial contract will be for three years, and he will conduct a minimum of three weeks per season to include a combination of Mellon Grand Classics subscription weeks, special projects, domestic tours, and other activities. He will also establish an annual Conducting Institute similar to the one he founded in Washington. Slatkin’s many years as music director of the St. Louis Symphony, Washington’s National Symphony, and the BBC Symphony have enabled him to develop an extensive repertoire, which he brings to the benefit of the PSO as Principal Guest Conductor. His unique track record in contemporary American music also complements Music Director Designate Manfred Honeck’s depth and expertise in the core German repertoire, in which the PSO’s heritage is so deeply rooted....

Music Director Designate Manfred Honeck is also pleased to announce that, in continuing with the Pittsburgh Symphony’s on-going commitment to living composers, there will be three giants from the composing world taking the role of Composer of the Year for the next three seasons. In 2007-08, John Corigliano will join the Orchestra for four weeks, and the world premiere of his Percussion Concerto, written for Evelyn Glennie, will be performed in February 2008 under the direction of Marin Alsop. In the 2008-09 season, John Adams will be the PSO’s Composer of the Year. In the 2009-2010 season the position will be held by Richard Danielpour.

The PSO began its Composer of the Year program in 2001, in an effort to bring audiences and living composers closer together. By focusing on a different composer each season, Pittsburgh audiences are able to build a level of familiarity with the work of living composers whose work they might otherwise encounter only once or twice. Past Composers of the Year have included Rodion Shchedrin, Krzyzstof Penderecki, Michael Hersch, Christopher Rouse, Jennifer Higdon, and Christopher Theofanidis.

Manfred Honeck was appointed the Music Director Designate of the Pittsburgh Symphony in January 2007. He begins his tenure with the PSO in September 2008."

Press Release Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra June 15, 2007
















Manfred Honeck, above, is slated to be the next Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. The National Symphony Orchestra, earlier, failed to secure the principal services of another Central European Master Conductor, Ivan Fisher.

Photo credit: (c) Toshiyuk via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.com. With thanks.