Pittsburgh Symphony 'Disrupt' series upends typical concert experience

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will disrupt audience expectations of a typical night at the symphony with a new event series.

“PSO Disrupt” will include pre- and post-concert activities and themed beverages, along with a classical music experience including commentary, visual projections and custom lighting.

The first installment, titled “Persist,” will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday in downtown Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall.

PSO assistant conductor Jacob Joyce will provide insights as the symphony plays Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10, under the baton of Jader Bignamini, music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Prior to entering the auditorium, attendees will be able to contribute to a visual art piece from the Carnegie Museum of Art; take selfies at a station stocked with themed props, letters and costumes; and join a scavenger hunt for clues and trivia about Shostakovich and the Josef Stalin-era Soviet Union, in which the featured work was written.

And they’ll be able to carry their beverages into the concert hall.

The aim is to engage regular symphony- goers in a new way and to attract new audience members intrigued by the more casual concept, Joyce said.

A second installment, titled “Riot,” is set for 7:30 p.m. May 20 and will feature Igor Stravinsky’s work for ballet and orchestra “The Rite of Spring.” Internationally known guest conductor Pablo Heras-Casado was the 2021 Artist of the Year at the International Classic Music Awards and Musical America’s 2014 Conductor of the Year.

“My hope is to get as many new people as possible listening to Shostakovich, Stravinsky and classical music,” Joyce said. “I hope people who are intimidated by the standard concert hall environment will be motivated to come.

“It’s my firm belief that new classical music lovers are out there, we just haven’t necessary reached them or presented concerts in a way that welcomes everyone to the concert hall.”

The musical pieces, already in the symphony’s season repertoire, were chosen for having been controversial when they debuted.

“They’re both pieces that are illuminated substantially for the listener with a little bit of historical, political and social context,” said Joyce, who will provide commentary during musical pauses in the one-hour program.

“I’ll talk about what’s going on and give insights into what people might be inclined to listen for,” he said. “The goal is not to be lecture-y in any way but for a guided listening experience, especially for people who are not super-familiar with going to our subscription classical concerts.”

As a Soviet-era Russian composer, Shostakovich and his works were under constant scrutiny from the Communist government and its party-controlled media, which demanded that artists support Communist ideology in their works.

“Shostakovich took a long break from writing symphonies from the mid-1940s, until he wrote this piece in 1953 after Stalin’s death,” Joyce said.

Joyce said his remarks will focus on messages that might be coded into the music and how one might approach writing a symphony in a meaningful, expressive way while under the constant fear of being censored.

The Stravinsky program is named for the riot that broke out at its 1913 Paris premiere, fueled by an audience upset at the dissonance of the score, twittering sounds from the woodwinds and the jerky movements of the dancers.

“We’ll be looking at what Stravinsky is doing to make it so jarring and modernist,” Joyce said. “I also want to emphasize that while people rioted at the premiere, it’s one of the most famous and widely performed pieces that we have in classical music.”

Tickets for the “Disrupt” programs, starting at $25, are available by calling 412-392-4900 or online at pittsburghsymphony.org.