Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
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The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is one of the major orchestras in the United States. It is based at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Cultural District.
The orchestra was founded by the Pittsburgh Arts Society in 1895, and played its first concert the following year. Its first conductor was Frederic Archer, who brought in a number of players from the Boston Symphony Orchestra to strengthen the new ensemble.
Archer left in 1898 to be replaced by Victor Herbert, who took the orchestra on several tours and greatly increased the orchestra's presence. Herbert was replaced by Emil Paur in 1904. The orchestra attracted a number of prominent guest conductors in these early years, including Edward Elgar and Richard Strauss, but had to be disbanded in 1910 due to financial difficulties.
It was 1926 before the orchestra was resurrected with its members rehearsing for no fee, and each contributing money to make a new season the following year possible. The orchestra's leader, Elias Breeskin, was also its conductor for the first few years. In 1930, Antonio Modarelli was brought in as conductor. In 1937, Otto Klemperer was brought in to reorganise the orchestra, quickly raising the orchestra to an international level.
Since then, the orchestra has experienced ongoing growth and development, including building a substantial endowment fund. Fritz Reiner (1938-48) led the orchestra as Music Director for a decade, imposing his precise technical demands while also triggering substantial turnover in personnel (exacerbated by the World War II military draft). He also made a number of important recordings of a wide range of repertory, including music by Mozart, Strauss, and Bartók. From 1948-52, a series of guest conductors led the orchestra, including Leonard Bernstein and Leopold Stokowski.
William Steinberg (1952-76) then became the orchestra's Music Director, taking them on a tour of Europe and recording a great deal of repertory. André Previn (1976-84) succeeded Steinberg and brought the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to a national audience with a PBS television series. Lorin Maazel, a Pittsburgh native, then took over the position (1984-96). He took the orchestra on several international tours. Mariss Jansons (1996-2004) infused new energy and ideas into the orchestra, readying it for the 21st Century.
Currently, Sir Andrew Davis (2005-) serves as Artistic Advisor, and Marvin Hamlisch serves as Principal Pops Conductor (1995-).
After playing concerts in its earliest form at Carnegie Music Hall, the orchestra moved to the Syria Mosque, where many of their recordings were done. The Mosque proved to be a very unsuitable venue for the orchestra as it held far more seats than could reasonably be filled for orchestral concerts; it was also acoustically quite unsatisfactory. In 1971 they moved to the newly-renovated Penn Theater, a move funded by H. J. Heinz II of the H. J. Heinz Company. To honor his involvement the building was renamed Heinz Hall.
In 2004, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Gilbert Levine became the first American orchestra to play for the Pope. Their performance included the Mahler Symphony No. 2, and in a rare occurrence, the Pope personally requested an encore at the performance.