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| CATEGORIES ABOUT PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | |
| 1895 establishments | |
| 1910 disestablishments | |
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| music of pittsburgh | |
| musical groups established before 1900 | |
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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, and he is credited with raising the orchestra to an international level in an incredibly short period of time. Since then, the orchestra's existence has been unbroken. Fritz Reiner (1938-48) led the orchestra as Music Director for a decade, imposing his precise technical demands, further elevating the orchestra's reputation. From 1948-52, a series of guest conductors led the orchestra, including such legends as Leonard Bernstein and Leopold Stokowski . William Steinberg (1952-76) then led the orchestra, taking them on a grand tour of Europe and Recording a prolific amount of material. The Virtuoso André Previn (1976-84) followed, bringing the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra a national presence with a Television series on PBS . Lorin Maazel (1984-96) took the orchestra on several international tours, and showed the world that the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra truly belonged ranked among the greats. Mariss Jansons (1996-2004) infused new energy and ideas into the orchestra, readying it for the 21st Century . In addition to their work at Pittsburgh, the five most recent conductors have seen truly international success at a number of the world's other most prestigious orchestras, further demonstrating Pittsburgh's world-class reputation. 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 --sadly, now a parking lot--where many of their most famous recordings were done. In 1971 they moved to Heinz Hall , a move funded by Henry J. Heinz II of the famous H. J. Heinz Company . In 2004 , the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra became the first American orchestra to play for the Pope . Their performance included the powerful Mahler Symphony No. 2 , and in a rare occurrence, the Pope personally requested an Encore at the performance. EXTERNAL LINK |
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