PSO's Music Director Manfred Honeck Leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Now thru 2/22

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Music Director Manfred Honeck returns to Boston to lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra tonight, February 20-22, 2014 in a program featuring peerless German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. Honeck's conducting debut with the Boston Symphony was in November 2005.

Following the successful European Festivals tour that brought the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to five countries earlier this season, Maestro Honeck's U.S. conducting schedule also included his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in November, followed by his second appearance with the New York Philharmonic on December 10. On May 10, 2014, The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will return to Carnegie Hall for the final performance of the Spring for Music festival.

For the Boston concerts, Honeck will lead Mutter in two works by Dvo?ák: the composer's Violin Concerto, originally conceived for Brahms' friend, the great Joseph Joachim, but never performed by him; and the "Romance" for violin and orchestra, which began life as the slow movement of the composer's F minor string quartet. Honeck will also turn his attention to Beethoven's groundbreaking "Eroica" symphony, inspired by Napoleon's rise to power. Honeck and Mutter have a long, collaborative history of creating music together. Mutter was a featured soloist on the Pittsburgh Symphony's most recent European tour in August and September 2013 and her latest CD, "Dvo?ák," was recorded with the Berliner Philharmoniker under the direction of Honeck.

More information about or tickets for this concert can be found at bso.org.

Manfred Honeck was appointed the ninth music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in January 2007, and began his tenure at the start of the 2008-2009 season. After a first extension in 2009, his contract was extended for the second time in February 2012, now through the 2019-2020 season. Honeck was born in Austria and studied music at the Academy of Music in Vienna. An accomplished violinist and violist, he spent more than 10 years as a member of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. He began his career as conductor of Vienna's Jeunesse Orchestra, which he co-founded, and as assistant to Claudio Abbado at the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra in Vienna. In 2010, Honeck was awarded an honorary doctorate from St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa. Apart from his numerous tasks as conductor, he has been artistic director of the "International Concerts Wolfegg" in Germany for more than 15 years. Honeck served as principal guest conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008 to 2011, a position he has resumed for another three years at the beginning of the 2013-2014 season. As a guest conductor, Honeck has worked with major orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic and in the United States with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra Washington and Boston Symphony Orchestra. Honeck's latest CD with the Pittsburgh Symphony-"Strauss"-was issued by Reference Recordings in November 2013.

For more than 35 years, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter has sustained a career of exceptional musicianship with an unwavering commitment to the future of classical music. Since her international debut at the Lucerne Festival in 1976, followed by a solo appearance with Herbert von Karajan at the Salzburg Whitsun Concerts, Mutter has performed in all the major concert halls of Europe, Asia and North and South America. In addition to performing and recording the established masterpieces of the violin repertoire, Mutter champions 20th- and 21st-century violin repertoire for both orchestral and chamber music settings. She also devotes her time to numerous charity projects and supports the development of young, exceptionally talented musicians. In 2013, Mutter performs in Asia, Europe and North America. The world premiere of Currier's Ringtone Variations for violin and double bass, a work commissioned by The Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation, provides the prelude for a tour of Asia with the Mutter Virtuosi. That ensemble, under the musical direction of Mutter herself, consists of 14 of the foundation's current and former scholarship students. Additional highlights throughout the year include a concert in Warsaw in celebration of Lutos?awski's 100th birthday and a recital in Carnegie Hall on the 25th anniversary of Mutter's debut there. Her honors include the Atlantic Council's Distinguished Artistic Leadership Award, European St. Ulrich's Prize, Brahms Prize, ERich Fromm Prize, Gustav Adolf Prize, Cristóbal Gabarrón Foundation's International Scenic Arts Award, International Ernst von Siemens Music Prize and Leipzig Mendelssohn Award, as well as an honorary doctorate from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim.

Note: Maestro Manfred Honeck is available for interviews in advance of his appearances in Boston. Please contact Pascal Nadon, Pascal Nadon Communications, at 646-234-7088 or pascal@pascalnadon.com to make arrangements.

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