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Manfred Honeck has firmly established himself as one of the world’s leading conductors, whose distinctive and revelatory interpretations receive great international acclaim. He has entered his 16th season as Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, where his contract runs through the 2027-2028 season. Celebrated at home and abroad, he and the orchestra continue to serve as cultural ambassadors for the city of Pittsburgh. Guest appearances include Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, as well as the major venues of Europe and leading festivals such as the BBC Proms, Salzburg Festival, Musikfest Berlin, Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, and Grafenegg Festival. 

Manfred Honeck's successful work in Pittsburgh is being extensively documented by recordings on the Reference Recordings label, featuring works by Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Shostakovich, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and others. They have received a multitude of outstanding reviews and awards, including many GRAMMY® nominations, and he and the orchestra won the GRAMMY® for "Best Orchestral Performance" in 2018. The most recent recording, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 and Schulhoff's Five Pieces, was released in July 2023 to great critical acclaim.

Born in Austria, Manfred Honeck completed his musical training at the University of Music in Vienna. His many years of experience as a member of the viola section in the Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna State Opera Orchestra have had a lasting influence on his work as a conductor, and his art of interpretation is based on his determination to venture deep beneath the surface of the music. He began his conducting career as assistant to Claudio Abbado and as director of the Vienna Jeunesse Orchestra.  Subsequently, he was engaged by the Zurich Opera House, where he was awarded the European Conducting Prize in 1993. He has since served as one of three principal conductors of the MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig, as Music Director of the Norwegian National Opera, Principal Guest Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and Chief Conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm. In November 2023, he was appointed Honorary Conductor by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, following decades of close collaboration. 

Manfred Honeck also has a strong profile as opera conductor. In his four seasons as General Music Director of the Staatsoper Stuttgart, he conducted premieres of operas by Berlioz, Mozart, Poulenc, Strauss, Verdi, and Wagner. He has also appeared as guest at leading houses such as Semperoper Dresden, Komische Oper Berlin, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Royal Opera of Copenhagen, and the Salzburg Festival. In 2020, Beethoven’s anniversary year, he conducted a new staging of Fidelio (1806 version) at the Theater an der Wien. In autumn 2022, he made his much-acclaimed debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, leading a revival of Mozart’s Idomeneo. Beyond the podium, Manfred Honeck has designed a series of symphonic suites, including Janáček’s Jenůfa, Strauss’s Elektra, Dvořák’s Rusalka as well as Puccini's Turandot which he regularly performs around the globe. The most recent arrangement, of Strauss’s Salome, was premiered by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in June 2023.

As a guest conductor, Manfred Honeck has worked with all leading international orchestras, including Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Accademia di Santa Cecilia Rome and the Vienna Philharmonic. In the United States, he has conducted all major US orchestras, including New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony. He has also been Artistic Director of the International Concerts Wolfegg in Germany for almost thirty years.

In 2023-2024, in Pittsburgh Manfred Honeck will conduct ten wide-ranging programmes and several special projects, including all four of the season’s world premieres and commissions. He will also return to the Chicago Symphony and New York Philharmonic, amongst others and, being renowned for his Bruckner interpretions, place a special focus on this composer's anniversary in 2024. 

Manfred Honeck holds honorary doctorates from several universities in the United States and was awarded the honorary title of Professor by the Austrian Federal President. In 2018, the jury of the International Classical Music Awards declared him "Artist of the Year".

Beatrice Rana has been shaking the international classical music world, arousing admiration and interest from concert presenters, conductors, critics and audiences internationally.

Beatrice performs at the world’s most esteemed concert halls and festivals including the Berlin Philharmonie, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Barbican Centre, Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall and Royal Festival Hall in London, Philharmonie de Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Musikverein, KKL Lucerne, Cologne Philharmonie, Munich’s Gasteig, Prinzregententheater and Herkulessaal, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle, Liederhalle Stuttgart, Tonhalle Zurich, Philharmonie de Luxembourg, Milan’s Società dei Concerti, BBC Proms, Ferrara Musica, Verbier Festival, Rheingau Festival, Bad Kissinger Sommer, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Lugano’s LAC, Stresa Festival, La Roque d’Anthéron Festival, Rencontres Musicales d’Evian, Bucarest Enescu Festival, Mostly Mozart, Boston’s Symphony Hall and  Celebrity Series, Gilmore Keyboard Festival, Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Hall and Hollywood Bowl, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center.

She collaborates with conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Antonio Pappano, Manfred Honeck, Klaus Mäkelä, Gianandrea Noseda, Jaap van Zweden, Lahav Shani, Jakub Hrusa, Gustavo Gimeno, Fabio Luisi, Riccardo Chailly, Paavo Järvi, Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov, Vladimir Jurowski, Dima Slobodeniouk, Karina Canellakis, James Gaffigan, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Susanna Mälkki and Zubin Mehta. 

Betarice is the guest of such orchestras as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Bayerische Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Orchestre de Paris, Wiener Symphoniker, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, London Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI, Filarmonica della Scala, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchester, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, or the St Petersburg Philharmonic. 

In the 2023/24 season, Beatrice will be touring in Europe with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Antonio Pappano, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, She will debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Cleveland Orchestra with Lahav Shani and will return to the New York Philharmonic with Manfred Honeck.

Beatrice Rana records exclusively for Warner Classics. In 2015, her first album featuring Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.2 and Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 with Antonio Pappano and the Accademia Nazionale Santa Cecilia di Roma received international acclaim including the prestigious Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s Choice and BBC Music Magazine’s Newcomer of the Year  Award. The year 2017 will remain a milestone in her career with the release of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. The recording was praised by reviewers worldwide and was crowned by two major awards: “Young Artist of the Year” at the Gramophone Awards and “Discovery of the year” at the Edison Awards. In June 2018, she was chosen as Female Artist of the Year at the Classic BRIT Awards at the Royal Albert Hall for her recording of the Bach. Beatrice also recorded Bernstein Symphony No.2 ‘Age of Anxiety’ as part of Antonio Pappano’s recording of the composer’s complete symphonies, which also garnered her high critical acclaim. Her latest solo album was released in October 2019, featuringworks by Stravinsky and Ravel and was awarded several top prizes incuding Diapason d’Or de l’Année and Choc de l’Année Classica in France. A Chopin album was released in September 2021 and also received many awards. In 2023 Beatrice presented her 5th album featuring Clara and Robert Schumann’s concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

In 2017, Beatrice started her own chamber music festival « Classiche Forme » in her native town of Lecce, Puglia. The festival has become one of Italy’s major summer events. She also became artistic director of the Orchestra Filarmonica di Benevento in 2020.

In June 2013, Beatrice Rana won Silver (2nd Prize) and the Audience Award at the prestigious Van Cliburn competition. She had attracted international attention at 18, winning 1st Prize and all special prizes at the Montreal International Competition in 2011. A recipient of an impressive number of first prizes in national and international piano competitions, such as “Muzio Clementi” Competition, “International Piano Competition of the Republic of San Marino” and “Bang&Olufsen PianoRAMA Competition”.  Born to a family of musicians in 1993, Beatrice Rana made her debuts as a soloist with orchestra at the age of 9, performing Bach Concerto in F minor. Beatrice began her musical studies at four and achieved her Piano Degree under the guidance of Benedetto Lupo at the Nino Rota Conservatory of Music in Monopoli, where she also studied composition with Marco della Sciucca. She then studied with Arie Vardi in Hannover and again with Benedetto Lupo at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. She is based in Rome.

Audiences and critics alike have praised The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh’s programming, saying, “EXCEPTIONAL and MEMORABLE… I’m still talking about it,” “One of the finest music events I have ever attended,” and “the Mendelssohn never ceases to amaze me… This city should be proud of its choir” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). 

Critically acclaimed as one of the finest choruses in the country, MCP is the “voice of the greater Pittsburgh region” — whether premiering a choral work composed by Stewart Copeland of The Police at a rock venue, or performing Mozart with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Unlike other professional arts organizations, MCP is proudly comprised of mostly amateur singers with professional-caliber talent, whose day jobs vary from postal clerk to physician to casino card dealer. MCP singers give generously of their talent, passion, and commitment to share the magic of live music with the widest possible audience, within Heinz Hall and throughout the community. 

For more than a century, MCP has proudly partnered with the PSO as its “chorus of choice,” bringing the joys of symphonic choral music to tens of thousands of people each year. MCP has performed under the batons of world-renowned conductors, including Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Michael Tilson Thomas, Claudio Abbado, Mstislav Rostropovich, Leonard Slatkin, Charles Dutoit, André Previn, Sir Neville Marriner, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Helmuth Rilling, Ingo Metzmacher, Richard Hickox, Zdenek Mácal, and Manfred Honeck.

MCP embraces its long legacy of performances, recordings, and commissions that reimagine choral music for today’s audiences and bring bold, unique programming to the Pittsburgh region, such as the recent world premieres of Satan’s Fall by the Police’s Stewart Copeland and The Times They Are A-Changin’ by composer and conductor Steve Hackman. Under the leadership of its new Robert Page Music Director Daniel Singer, MCP looks forward to continuing its tradition of excellence while seeking innovative ways to encourage broader community participation in MCP as singers and as members of the audience. 

MCP fosters the next generation of choral singers and audience members through its educational program, the Junior Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh (JMCP). Founded in 1986, JMCP is the region’s premier high school choral training and performance program. Annually, JMCP attracts singers from more than a dozen school districts, providing youth with a challenging musical environment in which to develop their skills and encouraging them to be lifelong participants in the arts.

Recognized for her unique artistic curiosity in world-class performances spanning the music of Claudio Monteverdi and Johann Adolph Hasse through to Missy Mazzoli and George Benjamin, American Lauren Snouffer is celebrated as one of the most versatile and respected sopranos on the international stage.

During the current season, Lauren Snouffer makes her debut at the Opernhaus Zürich in a new production by David Marton of Pergolesi’s L’Olimpiade conducted by Ottavio Dantone as well as role debuts as Ilia in Idomeneo at the Opernhaus Zürich conducted by Giovanni Antonini and Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.  Her calendar also includes Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula with Trinity Wall Street, Gluck’s Orfeo with Tulsa Opera, and Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves at Houston Grand Opera directed by Tom Morris under the baton of Nicole Paiement.  She was engaged for performances with Austin Opera, Cleveland Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and with the San Francisco Symphony for Michael Tilson Thomas’ final concerts as Music Director.

Operatic performances on leading international stages have fortified the soprano’s place as one of the eminent interpreters of contemporary music; she sang the title role of Berg’s Lulu in a new production at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago conducted by Pedro-Pablo Prudencio and directed by Mariame Clément, and returned to Houston Grand Opera for the world premieres of The Phoenix by composer Tarik O’Regan and librettist John Caird and The House Without a Christmas Tree by Ricky Ian Gordon and Royce Vavrek.  Other appearances included Handel’s Serse for the Internationale Händel-Festspiele Karlsruhe directed by Max Emanuel Cencic and conducted by Georg Petrou and the role of Magnolia Hawks in Francesca Zambello’s production of Show Boat for The Glimmerglass Festival. 

Lauren Snouffer’s concert schedule has yielded collaborations with many of the world’s most distinguished conductors and orchestras including numerous performances with Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra, Cristian Măcelaru and the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Krzysztof Urbański and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Edo de Waart and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Bernard Labadie and Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Markus Stenz and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, with Patrick Dupré Quigley and the San Francisco Symphony, Harry Christophers of the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston, and with Marin Alsop and the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo.

Past seasons include Houston Grand Opera performances of Le nozze di Figaro conducted by Harry Bicket in a production by Michael Grandage as well as presentations of Carousel, Show Boat, The Rape of Lucretia, and L’italiana in Algeri; Lyric Opera of Chicago performances of Rusalka, La clemenza di Tito, and a new production of Orphée et Eurydice directed and choreographed by John Neumeier under the baton of Harry Bicket; a Seattle Opera debut as La Comtesse Adèle in Rossini’s Le comte Ory conducted by Giacomo Sagripanti; Die Zauberflöte at Seattle Opera and Lyric Opera of Kansas City; a new Christopher Alden production of Handel’s Aci, Galatea, e Polifemo with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra under the baton of Nicholas McGegan, and Max Emanuel Cencic’s new production of Hasse’s Siroe at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, with additional performances in Budapest and Vienna. 

Closely associated with George Benjamin’s Written on Skin, Lauren Snouffer has sung under the composer’s baton at the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music and with the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse and Opera Philadelphia.  She has performed Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, presented the world premiere of Andrew Norman’s A Trip to the Moon with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and joined Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic in the title role of HK Gruber’s Gloria – A Pig Tale in a production staged by Doug Fitch.

An impactful discography includes Hasse’s Siroe and Handel’s Ottone with George Petrou for Decca, Gottschalk’s Requiem for the Living with Vladimir Lande on Novona Records, Grantham’s La cancíon desesperada conducted by Craig Hella Johnson on Harmonia Mundi, and Feldman’s The Rothko Chapel with Steven Schick for ECM.

An alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Lauren Snouffer was graduated from Rice University and The Juilliard School.

Bass-baritone Dashon Burton has established a vibrant career in opera, recital, and with orchestra.  In key elements of his repertoire  — Bach’s  Passions and the B minor Mass, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven 9, the Brahms Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Mozart’s Requiem – Dashon is a frequent guest with the major orchestras of the United States, Europe, and Japan.

In the 2019/20 season, he performed these works and others with the Minnesota and National Arts Centre Orchestras, the St. Louis Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.  A frequent guest of the Cleveland Orchestra, he sang Michael Tilson Thomas’ Rilke Songs there,  led by the composer.  In the fall of 2019, Dashon sang the world premiere of Caroline Shaw’s The Listeners (a part written by Shaw specifically for Burton), with the Philharmonia Baroque and Nicholas McGegan.

Opera engagements have included Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte in Dijon and Paris and Jupiter in Rameau’s Castor et Pollux with Les Talens Lyriques;  Strauss’ Salome at the Salzburg Festival (led by Franz Welser-Möst in a production by Romeo Castellucci), and Peter Sellars’s production of Claude Vivier’s Kopernikus, un ritual de mort at Paris’ Théatre de la Ville.

Burton continued as a Resident Artist in the 2019/2020 season with San Francisco Performances, and sang recitals throughout the US, including a program based on works from his album Songs and Struggles of Redemption;  We Shall Overcome,  singled out by The New York Times as “profoundly moving…a beautiful and lovable disc.” Dashon is an original member of the groundbreaking vocal ensemble, Roomful of Teeth, with whom he won a Grammy for their recording of Caroline Shaw’s Pulitzer-Prizewinning Partita for 8 Voices.  In March of 2021, Burton won his second Grammy, this time for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for Dame Ethyl Smyth’s The Prison with The Experiential Orchestra on Chandos.