Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Tickets

The concert was a wonderful, once in a lifetime event.

It was truly an experience to hear the combined voices of over 2000 singers and the wonderful Pittsburgh Symphony together. Being able to see the close-up video feed while watching in person was also great. Manfred Honeck is so much fun to watch and being able to see his face made it even better. Noah Bendix-Balgley was stunning, can't say more about him. The silence was palpable as he played and given the venue, that was indicative of how talented he is. The Children's Festival Chorus brought an added dimension - beautiful voices! I thought the best poem to music transition was the Langsten Hughes piece. Fanfare for the Common Man was a perfect opening. I'm not much of a fan of Mahler and that was the one piece I could have done without, but I loved the audience sing-along for Sibelius to close. Overall, it was a wonderful concert!

This was our first time to attend an Orchestra event and it was overall quite moving. I thoroughly enjoyed the orchestra and the wonderful choirs, paired with the readings, it was all quite moving. So obvious the talent and hard work that went into the production. I would definitely recommend for people to see it.

Absolutely amazing to hear so many voices massed together for a performance with a world-class symphony! Hopefully it will become an annual event; if that is the case, don't miss it!!

fabulous concert! Orchestra was great and the chorus terrific.

This was a wonderful performance - coordinated beautifully. The organizers did a wonderful job and it was well received by an enthusiastic audience. The spiritual theme was brought out by the speakers (representatives of many religions). Of course, the Pittsburgh Symphony continues to perform brilliantly - the acoustics were just fine. Watching the "big screens" was a welcome touch - enabling the audience to possibly see their family/friends singing in this marvelous event. The children's choir was so refreshing and their performance stood out as they proved their talent. BRAVO

The performance was fabulous. Combine the fantastic Pittsburgh Symphony with over 2,000 voices and you get an incredible evening of musicality. The music selections were excellent with a blend of the simple and beautiful with complex and inspiring. The Children's Festival Chorus was an added treat. The new composition debute was a great success with the choirs clearly enjoying being part of the history of presenting such beautiful music.

This was a most amazing concert! Everything about it was perfect - from the singing to the music and the poetry. We all enjoyed the evening and would definitely attend another event like this one!

Simply the best of the 2012-2013 season! A packed house was treated to a superb concert by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, it's conductor, Manfred Honeck and guest pianist, Denis Matsuev. The evening began with Mussorgsky's “Night on Bald Mountain" where the orchestra showed its high caliber as Honeck pushed it to its limit in this very fast piece. The stage was then reset for Piano Concerto No. 2 by Rachmaninoff, performed by the orchestra and highlighting Russian pianist Denis Matsuev. His play was powerful, very skilled and extremely fast, incredible. After the performance with the orchestra he returned to the stage to play a very powerful solo which brought down the house! The evening's performance was capped off with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra playing Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. Honeck conducted this with no music in front of him, obviously very familiar with the piece and it showed. He and the orchestra were superb bringing a close to an exceptional evening of music. One of the best, if not the best that I have witnessed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra!

The Pittsburgh Symphony opened the evening with an excellent performance of Haydn's Symphony No. 68 in B-flat major. It was 21 minutes of superb strings and woodwinds under the direction of Conductor Leonard Slatkin. At the post-concert discussion Mr. Slatkin stated that he believed that Haydn is not played enough these days, I could not agree more. The next piece was by contemporary composer Mr. Mason Bates, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with Anne Akiko Meyers as violin soloist. While Ms Meyers performance was superb I found the composition to be frenetic, choppy and disjointed. In comparison to Mr. Bates truly excellent composition "Mothership", which was played five days earlier by the Pittsburgh Symphony, I found the concerto to be lacking and not enjoyable. The evening concluded with the performance of Saint-Saens Symphony No.3 in C minor with the organ played by Lawrence Allen. It was a very enjoyable piece, Mr. Slatkin's leadership throughout the evening was superb and, as usual, the PSO was excellent.

Not being a fan of contemporary classical music I was very pleasantly surprised in the performance of Mr. Mason Bates "Mothership" for Orchestra and Electonica. It is a very enjoyable composition as the music pulses back and forth from fast to slow to fast again. It was performed splendidly by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mr. Manfred Honeck. The second part saw the orchestra performing Mozart's Concerto in A major for Clarinet and Orchestra with a solo performance by PSO member Mr. Michael Rusinek on the basset clarinet, an instrument rarely played but the instrument that Mozart wrote the song for. Mr. Ruinek's performance was superb. After an intermission the evening was concluded with Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra played it wonderfully, no surprise there. A very enjoyable evening.

The performance began with the Pittsburgh Symphony under the direction of Conductor Manfred Honeck playing ABBA-MA by Herbert Willi which was the American premiere of the piece followed by Beethoven's Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 61. The ABBA-MA was interesting but seemed a bit repetitive. The Beethoven performance was highlighted by the first Pittsburgh Symphony solo by new Concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley. This performance resulted in a long standing ovation for the symphony and especially for Mr. Bendix-Balgley's solo. Excellent performance. After an intermission the symphony with the backing of the very talented Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, the St. Vincent Schola Gregoriana, F. Murray Abraham, as the speaker and soloists Sari Gruber, Gerhild Romberger, Paul Appleby and John Relyea performed Mozart's Requiem. The combination of the symphony and the Mendelssohn Choir is always superb and this performance was no exception. The soloist were excellent. The Gregorian chants by the St. Vincent contingent added immensely to the incredible atmosphere. Mr. Abraham's readings of a Mozart letter and from the Bible topped off the performance. An incredible evening and one of the best performances by the superb Pittsburgh Symphony that I have attended!

The performance began with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra playing Beethoven's Symphony #1 in C major, Opus 21 then Mozart's Concerto #16 in D major for piano and orchestra. Both of these were performed very well and very enjoyable. This was highlighted by the play of pianist Lars Vogt during the Mozart piece. After a 15 minute intermission the orchestra played Respighi's "The Fountains of Rome" and "The Pines of Rome" . The performance reached an incredible climax with the play of the last movement of "The Pines of Rome", "The Pines of the Appian Way". Two trumpets and four trombones were added in the balcony for this movement resulting in a superb effect. Conductor Manfred Honeck skillfully drove the entire orchestra to a pinnacle of speed and sound in this movement, simply incredible. A phenomenal conclusion to an excellent performance!!!

This performance focused on music from movies. Marvin Hamlisch conducted the orchestra and he was in his usual jovial form. A sizable chorus of college students from a large number of local schools added to many of the numbers. As usual the Pittsburgh Symphony performed superbly. Saxophonist Dave Koz came on stage after the intermission to play with the orchestra and the chorus. He is energetic and excellent on the saxophone. The combination of all of the performers on stage resulted in some great music. The only drawback, in my mind, was that I would have liked for Dave Koz to have performed longer. His time on the stage was limited to approx 45 minutes, more would have added a lot to this performance.

The tremendous Pittsburgh Symphony under the direction of Marvin Hamlisch delivered, as usual, a superb and enjoyable evening of great music. A number of Christmas selections were performed by the symphony alone while for others singers joined in. Singing was Jodi Benson of Disney fame, Gary Mauer from Broadway and Richard Llewellyn Manning a local talent. As usual Mr Hamlisch was engaging and humorous. His interest in the young artist that he is on stage with is tremendous. In addition the sizable and superb Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh added to a number of songs. Their power and range during the performance of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah was chilling. Then on top of all of that Santa sang two songs on stage and two songs highlighted the talents of seven students from the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School. Another high point of the 2 hour and 15 minute long show was the performance by Mr. Manning who is a detective in the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office. He came on stage, in uniform, and sang a very moving rendition of the classic Scottish song "Danny Boy". It was a superb evening of music and entertainment.

As a big fan of the Pittsburgh Symphony I was very disappointed with the performance of Handel's Messiah. The director attempted to convert this classic symphonic piece into a musical play. Instead of the full symphony the music was played by a very abbreveated ensemble in the pit in front of the stage. On stage were the singers/actors who acted out three different time periods in American history. During one act, a current period, there was a scence of police beating what was presented to be an illegal alien to death. Sorry, not what I came to see.

Superb! The quality of the performance was truly exceptional.

The show was great and the entertainers were great. We lucked out that it was a beautiful night with great entertainment.

The Pittsburg Symphony, conducted by Marvin Hamlish, presented an outstanding concert of well chosen musical favorites. Brian Stokes Mitchell was the star of the evening, likable personality, magnificent voice and impressive selections. He more than made up for the shortcomings of Martin Short who used his time on stage to tease the very accomplished Marvin Hamlish and sing a most inappropriate song about the death of Bin Laden, in very poor taste for a gala performance.

Edit Martin Short's performance - it ran about 10 minutes too long, and became boring. Mark Nadler seemed stuck into the middle - there could have been more time allotted for a more comprehensive performance. Brian Stokes-Mitchell: he should have been the solo performer with the Symphony. He is an American original and an American classic. Had he performed the entire show, it would have been OUTSTANDING. GET HIM BACK NEXT YEAR!!