Violinist Joshua Bell among highlights in latest slate of PSO digital concerts
Violinist Joshua Bell among highlights in latest slate of PSO digital concerts
By Tyler Dague
The Pittsburg Post Gazette
April 23, 2021
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra isn’t slowing down. Its latest slate of digital concerts includes world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell, double bassist and jazz vocalist Nicki Parrott and Pinchas Zukerman pulling triple duty — orchestra leader, violist and violinist.
Each concert premieres at 7:30 p.m. and will be available to stream afterward on the PSO’s online platform, Front Row, at pittsburghsymphony.org. Tickets for all concerts are $15.
On Saturday, new visions of memorable works take the stage as PSO music director Manfred Honneck conducts his own new arrangement of Beethoven’s “String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Opus 18, No. 4.” The program also features the PSO premiere of Anna Clyne’s 2020 composition “Stride,” a reimagination of the stride baseline from Beethoven’s “Pathetique.” Themes from Bizet’s “Carmen” also get new treatment in Rodion Shchedrin’s “Carmen Suite,” which gives fresh instrumental colors to the opera’s familiar melodies.
Next is a guest performance from Bell, who will lead the orchestra in Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.” Seasons are the major focus of the evening as the orchestra also plays “Spring” and “Summer” from Piazzolla’s “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires,” which were a highlight of the PSO’s 125th anniversary gala concert.
Chopin’s “Nocturne in B-Flat Minor” is also in the mix in a special, new arrangement for violin, cello ensemble and harp. The concert premieres June 7.
A pops concert, “Gershwin and Friends,” premieres June 28. Parrott joins principal pops conductor Byron Stripling and the orchestra in her PSO debut. The repertoire shines a spotlight on 20th-century American composers George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Isham Jones (“It Had To Be You”).
The next concert features Zukerman leading the orchestra and playing violin and viola. Concerti by Baroque composers Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann bookend the concert. Zukerman ascends the podium to lead the PSO in varied works by Anton Bruckner, Edward Elgar and Benjamin Britten.
Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida, principal oboe, is also featured in a solo “Interlude.” “Pinchas Zukerman: Bow and Baton” premieres July 19.
Maestro Jack Everly, principal pops conductor of the Indianapolis and Baltimore symphony orchestras, joins the PSO for a night of Hollywood favorites on Aug. 23. “Hollywood Hits with Jack Everly” takes audiences through the epic cello portions of the “Game of Thrones” opening, the Henry Mancini classic “Moon River” from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and the theme to “Downton Abbey.”
To read the full article, click here.