The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's 2017 Gala concert is Saturday September 16th at Heinz Hall.  Lang Lang is joined by 14 year old prodigy Maxim Lando to perform Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, along with special arrangements of Saint-Saëns’s Aquarium from The Carnival of Animals, Bernstein’s America from West Side Story, and Tchaikovsky’s Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker.  Music Director Manfred Honeck stopped by the QED Morning Show to talk about the Gala Concert, as well as to recap the orchestra's recently concluded European Festivals Tour.

The full interview of Jim Cunningham with PSO Musicians Rhian Kenny, Bronwyn Banerdt and Charlie Powers.  Standing in front of a fountain in Wiesbaden, Germany, the musicans talk about what they are looking forward to on this tour, along with a run they are organing in September in Pittsburgh.  

Pittsburgh Symphony cellist and former Marine Band member Charlie Powers appears as a soloist with pianist Rodrigo Ojeda in a free concert at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall June 30 with the Pittsburgh Symphony and soloists Katy Shackleton Williams and Ricky Manning. Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries turns up in the middle of a program of mostly American favorites, the Services Salute, John Williams Hymn to the Fallen and Superman March. It’s free but you should first listen to the interview and register online.

Curtis Institute conducting star Maestro Steve Hackman discusses his Mash Up Mix Down concert Wednesday June 14 with Happy Hour at 5 and concert at 6:30pm at Heinz Hall with the Pittsburgh Symphony putting together the Beatles, Dvorak, Justin Timberlake, Samuel Barber, Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven with Henry Purcell, Beethoven, John Legend, Vivaldi, Guns N Roses plus Mozart and the Dave Mathews Band. Time for Three is the special guest. Steve Hackman fills us in on his  return from his Boston Pops debut with four concerts. Has he taken any slings and arrows for mixing Tchaikovsky and Drake? Of course. He loves the audience and the musicians he works with in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra guest pianist Behzod Abduraimov shares his thoughts about the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 which he plays for his Heinz Hall debut. He recalls his journey from Tashkent to Kansas City where he’s lived the last ten years, what it’s like there and in his native Tashkent where he attended the same school as Yefim Bronfman. He talks about his recordings including the  Tchaikovsky with Juraj Valcuha and  a suggestion of what to try when in Tashkent—don’t miss the rice pilaf!

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Music Director Manfred Honeck stopped by the QED Morning Show to talk about this weekend's performances of Mahler's 2nd Symphony.

Cellist Maximilian Hornung makes his debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony in Richard Strauss Don Quixote. Born in Augsburg Germany he has played with the Bavarian Radio Symphony for four years working with Mariss Jansons.