The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will take its online audience to Heinz Hall, The Andy Warhol Museum and Fallingwater for the next episode of its fall digital series, “Front Row: The PSO Virtual Experience.”

“Originators and Disrupters (Part 1)” will premieres at 7:30 p.m. Friday, with guest concertmaster and leader Alexi Kenney.

The program “marries the genius of Ludwig van Beethoven, a group of pioneering Pittsburgh artists from an array of disciplines, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in three exceptional locations. As an homage to this year’s 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, Part 1 is an immersion in Beethoven, looking at his boundary-pushing early and middle periods. The music draws from his amazing wealth of string repertoire and also highlights some of his wind and brass chamber music,” according to a release.

The “Front Row” series, which debuted Oct. 19 and includes a sensory friendly holiday offering, features music performed by ensembles of the orchestra and special guests, along with behind-the-scenes interviews and features that “bridge the musical journey that is guided by the episode’s particular theme,” the release said.

Episodes, recorded at locations throughout the region, are available free to the public at pittsburghsymphony.org. They also are available for free on demand for Comcast’s Xfinity customers in the Pittsburgh region. Each program is available for viewing for six months following the premiere.

Adaptation and innovation

“The necessity of moving to a digital environment because of the pandemic and the restrictions that have resulted have changed how we can present music at this time, including not having our Music Director Manfred Honeck in person or live audiences at Heinz Hall,” said Melia Tourangeau, PSO president and CEO. “And so, we have adapted, innovated and responded by performing and creating music in new ways and with technology that clearly show the vital relationship that this orchestra has with our community.

“It is a particular thrill to have our new Principal Pops Conductor Byron Stripling both conduct and perform on this series,” she said.

Subsequent episodes will include:

• Originators and Disrupters (Part 2), 7:30 p.m. Nov. 27

With Kenney again in the role of guest concertmaster and leader, the program brings musicians together with contemporary American composers Libby Larsen, Gary Schocker and Charles Rochester Young, and a Beethoven orchestration by Honeck, in a salute to Pittsburgh path-makers who defied their times and boundaries: environmentalist/writer Rachel Carson, choreographer Martha Graham, sculptor Thaddeus Mosley, television creator Fred Rogers and artist Andy Warhol.

• Finding Your Song, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 4

With Stripling as a featured artist and conductor, the episode is an in-depth look at diverse artists from varied music, dance and visual arts backgrounds and eras, with both music icons and emerging artists who have found their “song”— and how the city of Pittsburgh and PSO have influenced them.

With locations including Heinz Hall, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, The Andy Warhol Museum and Pittsburgh’s Hill District, the program includes the works of composers Gabriela Lena Frank, recipient of the 25th Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities; Hannah Ishizaki, a Pittsburgh native and current student at the Juilliard School of Music; and Jorge Montilla, a product of Venezuela’s “El Sistema” publicly financed music education system.

• Tapestry of Light: A Holiday Celebration, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 18

The sensory friendly program, suitable for all ages, journeys from Heinz Hall to sacred spaces across Pittsburgh and to Vienna, Austria, for a visit with Honeck. It celebrates music, faiths, traditions, peace and light with old favorites and new surprises.

Performers include members of the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School.

This will be PSO’s second holiday sensory friendly concert and the first one presented virtually. Adaptions include a shortened length; special print-at-home art by artist Emily Marko; and supportive materials and resources created in conjunction with community partners.

• For the People (Part 1), 7:30 p.m. Jan. 22, and For the People (Part 2), 7:30 p.m. Jan 29

Works by five female composers — Jennifer Higdon, Libby Larsen, Jessie Montgomery, Florence Price and Joan Tower — form the foundation for an all-American program highlighting the unique American soundscape and the cultural and musical forces of openness, possibilities, challenges and opportunities.

The composers’ diverse works, written in the past 100 years, are brought together with music that honors the distinctly American inventions of ragtime, jazz and the blues — including Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” juxtaposed with Tower’s “Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman.”

Andrés Franco will conduct, with Kenney as guest concertmaster and leader. “For the People” was recorded live at Heinz Hall and at Washington Penn Plastics Hangar at the Washington County Airport.

“Front Row” was created in partnership with Flying Scooter Productions, a Pittsburgh-based creative agency and film studio, with support from BNY Mellon, PNC, UPMC Health Plan, Comcast and Highmark.

Details: pittsburghsymphony.org

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