Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's 2023-24 season to celebrate 'Power of NOW'

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s 128th season will include programs across diverse genres, from rock ’n’ roll, soul and R&B to the Great American Songbook, holiday favorites and movie themes.

Kicking off in September, it also will include new and returning guest conductors and soloists, new recordings, the Pittsburgh debuts of five artists and the performances of 11 premieres and commissions.

“Music at its heart is really about life: our shared experiences of disappointments and triumphs, of the pain of darkness and the hopefulness of light, of our deep connections with one another,” said PSO Music Director Manfred Honeck. “To me, music is the most dynamic form of art with an unforgettable connection between the orchestra and the audience that unfolds in real time with intensity and excitement.”

The program for the opening weekend reflects themes embodied in “the power of NOW,” a slogan for the season, said Melia Tourangeau, the symphony’s president and CEO.

The symphony will play the Mexican composer and music educator Gabriela Ortiz’s “Kauyumari,” a commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic created to reflect the orchestra’s return to the stage after the pandemic.

“A lot of musicians, composers and soloists we’re bringing in are really reflective of our community and the world right now,” Tourangeau said. “The newer pieces and commissions are by living composers, and what they’re saying is a reflection of what’s happening in our world. It’s one of the most diverse programs the orchestra has presented in a number of years, and it’s a real gift to our community.”

Also on the schedule is the premiere of “Yizkor,” a PSO commission from Israeli composer Boris Pigovat.

“It will be our commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the Tree of Life tragedy,” Tourangeau said, remembering the 2018 shooting at the Squirrel Hill synagogue that killed 11 people and wounded six.

Past and present

Tying past to present will be an April 2024 program featuring a commissioned work by Canadian composer and conductor Samy Moussa.

“We’ll be recording his work and pairing it with Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8. It will be old world and new world together, and I think that will be a great pairing,” Tourangeau said.

May 2024 highlights will include the Pittsburgh premiere of a Wynton Marsalis violin concerto, featuring soloist Nicola Benedetti.

June 2024 will see the premiere of Michael Daugherty’s Double Concerto for Oboe and Horn, a PSO commission.

“The next weekend, we’ll be bringing back a piece by him that we commissioned for our 125th anniversary called ‘Fifteen: Symphonic Fantasy on the Art of Andy Warhol,’ ” Tourangeau said. “We’ll be recording that piece along with Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird’ piece.”

PSO also will partner with local arts organizations, including a collaboration with the Pittsburgh CLO for a special concert version of “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama will join the orchestra for Sergei Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

Honeck will conduct the 10 BNY Mellon Grand Classics concert weekends.

“It’s amazing that we’ll be in our 17th season with Manfred,” Tourangeau said. “It’s really unusual to have a music director’s tenure be as long as Manfred’s has been, and for the chemistry between him and the orchestra to be at such a high point and to continue growing is a very special relationship.”

Byron Stripling returns for his third season as principal pops conductor.

“He has an incredible relationship with the orchestra as well, and we look forward to continuing to grow that relationship,” Tourangeau said.

“The 2023-24 pops season will bring us all together for music that you might already love, and plenty of cool new music and artists for you to discover and experience,” Stripling said.

The symphony’s annual signature gala will take place Sept. 23. The “NOW is the Time Gala” will feature soprano Renée Fleming performing with the Honeck-led orchestra.

“The sense of urgency for ‘NOW’ is, come back to Heinz Hall and come back to Downtown and be a community together again. That’s what we’re here for,” Tourangeau said.

Subscriptions to BNY Mellon Grand Classics are available now, and subscriptions to PNC Pops will be available in early March.

For information, including the complete season schedule, call 412-392-4900 or visit pittsburghsymphony.org.