Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Manfred Honeck is widely regarded as one of the world's leading conductors, celebrated for his distinctive and revelatory interpretations that have garnered international acclaim. As Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, where he is now in his 19th season, he continues to shape the orchestra’s artistic identity with a deep sense of purpose and passion. His tenure, recently extended through the 2032–2033 season, has seen the orchestra flourish artistically while strengthening its role as a cultural ambassador for the city of Pittsburgh. Celebrated at home and abroad, the orchestra has appeared at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, as well as at major venues throughout Europe and prestigious festivals such as the BBC Proms, Salzburg Festival, Musikfest Berlin, Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, and Grafenegg Festival.

Manfred Honeck's acclaimed Pittsburgh tenure is reflected in an extensive discography on the Reference Recordings label, featuring works by Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Shostakovich, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and others. These recordings have received widespread critical acclaim and multiple GRAMMY® nominations, including a win for "Best Orchestral Performance" in 2018. In August 2025, he and the orchestra released Requiem: Mozart’s Death in Words and Music, an original concept reimagining a funeral mass for Mozart, combining the composer’s Requiem with Gregorian chant, poetry, and other choral works by Mozart. 

Born in Austria, Manfred Honeck completed his musical training at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. His years as a violist with the Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna State Opera Orchestra have had a lasting influence on his work as a conductor, and his approach to interpretation is rooted in a desire to venture deep beneath the surface of the music. He began his conducting career as an 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 2023, he was appointed Honorary Conductor by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, following decades of close collaboration.  

Manfred Honeck also enjoys a distinguished profile as an 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 a guest conductor at major institutions such as Semperoper Dresden, Komische Oper Berlin, the 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 created 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, based on Strauss's Arabella, received its premiere with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 2025.

As a guest conductor, Manfred Honeck appears regularly with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra London, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. In the United States, he has conducted many of the nation’s most distinguished ensembles. He has also been Artistic Director of the International Wolfegg Concerts in Germany for over three decades. 

In summer 2026, he returns to the Salzburg Festival to conduct Ariadne auf Naxos with the Vienna Philharmonic. He will also lead the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on a European festival tour, with appearances in Salzburg, Lucerne, Amsterdam, Hamburg, and at the opening concert of the season at the Vienna Konzerthaus. In the 2026/27 season, he will commemorate the 200th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s death with special programs and a new commission from Jüri Reinvere, to be presented worldwide.

Manfred Honeck holds honorary doctorates from several universities in the United States and has been 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." In 2026, he received the Julio Kilenyi Medal from the American Bruckner Society, an honor bestowed on distinguished interpreters of Bruckner.

Simona Šaturová was born in Bratislava (Slovakia) and received her first violin lessons at the early age of five. She studied singing at the Bratislava Conservatory and attended various master classes, most notably with Romanian soprano Ileana Cotrubas. Today, Simona Šaturová is internationally sought-after for both operatic and concert repertoire, and works together with many renowned conductors and orchestras.

The soprano has given guest performances in New York, Dallas, Oslo, Toronto, Istanbul, at the Salzburg Festival, Tanglewood Festival, the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene, in Japan, Israel, Venezuela, at the Festival Internazionale di Musica e Arte Sacra Roma, the Lucerne Festival, the Vienna Spring Festival and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. Conductors with whom she has worked include Christoph Eschenbach, Charles Dutoit, Herbert Blomstedt, Adam Fischer, Iván Fischer, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir Neville Marriner, Sylvain Cambreling, Jiří Bělohlávek, Manfred Honeck, Tomáš Netopil, Kent Nagano, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Christopher Hogwood, Philippe Herreweghe and Helmuth Rilling. Since her last-minute engagement as Ilia (Idomeneo) at the Théatre de la Monnaie in Brussels in 2010, Simona Šaturová has regularly returned to this house, performing roles such as Violetta Valéry (La traviata), Sandrina (La finta giardiniera), Servilia (La clemenza di Tito), as Gilda (Rigoletto), Ismene (Mitridate) and, last season, as Lucio Cinna in Mozarts Lucio Silla.

Since her highly-acclaimed success as Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), she has also formed a close connection to the Aalto Theatre in Essen and the Semperoper in Dresden has also closely connected her with the Aalto Theatre and the Semperoper. In addition to numerous performances at Prague's National Theatre, Simona Šaturová has also performed on stage at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Opera Frankfurt, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Opéra de Monte Carlo, Theater an der Wien and Megaron Concert Hall in Athens. Her repertoire also includes the roles of Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Adina (L'elisir d'amore), Elettra (Idomeneo), Giulietta (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) and Adele (Die Fledermaus). Of particular interest in the 2019/20 season is her return to the Théatre de la Monnaie for the new production of Mozart's Da Ponte operas, where she will sing both Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) and Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro).

Simona Šaturová has deservedly made a name for herself internationally as a concert and oratorio singer. Highlights of recent years include appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, mdr Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Tonkünstlerorchester Wien and the Czech Philharmonic. She began the new season in Cologne with Bruckner's Te Deum and Mahler's 4th Symphony on the occasion of Cristian Macelaru's inaugural concerts as new WDR chief conductor Cristian Macelaru Dvoráks te deum and the 4th Mahler, followed by Exsultate, jubilate under Leopold Hager in Porto. She will sing Beethoven's Christus am Ölberge in Prague and various concerts with his 9th Symphony, as well as Missa solemnis with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Simona Šaturová has also featured on CD recordings for the Supraphon, hänssler classic, Classico, Carus Verlag and Sony/BMG labels. In 2009, Orfeo released her first solo recording with the NDR Radiophilharmonie under the title Haydn Arias, labelled 'Editor's Choice' by Gramophone Magazine. In 2014, her solo recording Decade with arias by Mozart and Mysliveček was released, followed by Martinu's opera Ariane in 2016 and, in April 2018, her latest CD with Antonín Dvorák's Moravian Duets (Supraphon). At the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Simona Šaturová was awarded the 'Förderpreis der Walter und Charlotte Hamel-Stiftung' (Advancement Prize of the Walter and Charlotte Hamel Foundation).

Hailed by the San Francisco Sentinel as “the Carmen of this Generation” after her debut with the San Francisco Opera, Kate Aldrich has performed the title role in Bizet’s opera to much critical acclaim in such theaters as the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Metropolitan Opera, Opernhaus Zürich and Arena di Verona. Commanding a wide repertoire which also includes the title role in La Cenerentola, Adalgisa in Norma, Charlotte in Werther and Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, Aldrich has performed in other leading theaters throughout the world, including the Gran Teatre de Liceu in Barcelona, Teatro Colon de Buenos Aires, Staatsoper Hamburg, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Regio di Torino, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Theatre du Capitole de Toulouse, L’Opera de Marseille, l’Opera de Montpellier, L’Opera de Montreal, and Teatro Sao Carlos in Lisbon, as well as at the Salzburg Festival and Rossini Festival in Pesaro.

Ms. Aldrich’s engagement’s for the 2016/17 season included Giulietta in Les contes d’Hoffmann at the Opera National de Paris and Los Angeles Opera, the title role in Carmen at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Semperoper Dresden, and in Tokyo under Charles Dutoit, Charlotte in Werther in San Juan, and her debut as Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. In the 2017/18 season, she will sing Joan of Arc in The Maid of Orleans with Odyssey Opera, Carmen at the Hawaii Opera Theatre, Verdi’s Requiem with the Pittsburgh Symphony, a concert with the Zürich Chamber Orchestra, and opera galas with the Orchestre National de France and at the Avenches Opera Festival in Switzerland.

Aldrich’s engagements for the 2015/16 season included Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust with Opera de Lyon, Arden Scott in Great Scott at the San Diego Opera, Rosmira in Handel’s Partenope in Paris, Amsterdam and Madrid, Carmen at the Verbier and Llangollen Festivals, and Statira in Spontini’s Olympie at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with the Cercle de l’Harmonie, conducted by Jeromie Rohrer. In the 2014/15 season, she sang the title role in Carmen with Opera de Lyon and the Vancouver Opera, later appearing in the same role at Choregies d’Orange opposite Jonas Kaufmann. She also sang Idamante in Idomeneo re di Creta with Opera de Lyon and Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena with Opera de Toulon and the Bolshoi. In the 2013/14 season, Aldrich sang Adalgisa in Norma at the Metropolitan Opera, Leonore in a new production of La Favorite at the Theatre du Capitole de Toulouse, and Carmen at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opernhaus Zurich, and in Seoul and Beijing.

Aldrich’s highlights from the 2012/13 season included her debut at the Opera National de Paris as Nicklausse/The Muse in Les contes d’Hoffmann, her debut in Zurich and Seoul as the title role in Carmen, and her debut with the Royal Concertgebeouw Orchestra in Amsterdam in Frank Martin’s Golgotha. She also sang Sesto in La clemenza di Tito with the Opera Municipal de Marseille and starred in the concert performances of Massenet’s Le Mage at the Massenet Festival in St. Etienne, a work that had not been performed in over 100 years. In 2012, Aldrich also made her debut at the Teatro Real de Madrid as Sesto, returned to the Teatro Regio in Torino as Adalgisa in Norma, and sang her first Romeo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi at the Caramoor Festival under Will Crutchfield.

In 2000, Kate Aldrich made her professional debut at l’Arena di Verona as Preziosilla in La forza del destino. She was soon thereafter chosen by legendary director Franco Zeffirelli to sing the role of Amneris in a new production of Aida, which was performed on the 200th anniversary of Verdi’s death in his hometown of Busseto, Italy. Aldrich then developed her repertoire with performances as the title role in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and Staatsoper Hamburg, Sesto in La clemenza di Tito in Prague, and Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri at the Teatro Sao Carlos in Lisbon. She made her Carnegie Hall debut with the Opera Orchestra of New York as Frederic in a concert performance of Mignon and sang her first Charlotte in Werther opposite Roberto Alagna at the Teatro Regio in Torino, later repeating the role in Japan with Opera de Lyon. Aldrich returned to Torino as Orsini in Lucrezia Borgia and debuted at the Washington National Opera in the same role. She then made her debuts with both the San Diego Opera and Teatro Massimo in Palermo as Elisabetta I in Maria Stuarda.

Aldrich made her debut at the Salzburg Festival as Ascanio in Benvenuto Cellini, at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and at the Pesaro Festival in the title role of Rossini’s Zelmira. Her first appearances at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona also marked her debut as Nerone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea. Aldrich has also starred in revivals of such less performed works as Mariotte’s Salome with l’Opera de Montpellier and Massenet’s Don Quichotte at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and in Tokyo. She appeared as Adriano in the Deutsche Oper Berlin’s new production of Wagner’s Rienzi and was also heard in the title role of Ernest Reyer’s rarely performed Salammbo in Marseille.

On the concert platform, Aldrich has performed Das Lied von der Erde with the Bologna Symphony and Eine Florentinische Tragoedie with the San Francisco Symphony, both under the direction of James Conlon. She has performed Eine Florentinische Tragoedie and Ravel’s Sheherazade with l’Opera de Montpellier and Stravinsky’s La Pulcinella and Debussy’s Le Martyre de Saint Sebastian with the Orchestra National de Radio France, under the baton of Daniele Gatti. Aldrich has also performed both the soprano and alto solo parts of La Petite Messe Solenelle at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro and the Washington National Opera, respectively.

Several of Aldrich’s performances have been issued on DVD, including Benvenuto Cellini, La Favorite, Norma, Zelmira, Don Quichotte and Rienzi, as well as Werther opposite Roberto Alagna at the Teatro Regio di Torino. Ms. Aldrich has recorded Antoine Mariotte’s Salomeon CD with l’Opera de Montpellier, as well as Massenet’s Le Mage at the Massenet Festival in St. Etienne, France.

The South Korean-born 2016 Operalia winner, the tenor Keon-woo (Konu) Kim began his musical education at the age of 6, playing piano and violin. He studied voice at the Kyung-hee University in Seoul and finished his studies as a bachelor of voice music, master of musicology. During the study he served 2 years at the Korea Military Academy Band. He continued his education at the Korea National Opera Academy. He is now living near Frankfurt, Germany. Studying in Korea National Opera academy, he made ​​his professional opera debut at the Seoul Art Center as Giudice in "Un Ballo in Maschera". Since then he has been participating in several Opera productions for one as Pong in "Turandot" in the Seoul Art Center. In October 2015, he debuted at the Korea national opera in the leading role Nadir in 'Les Pecheurs de Perles’ and in 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia' in Landestheater Rudolstadt, Germany in February 2016. He also made his debut at Carnegie Hall, NYC in 2016. He recently won the 1st prize in one of the most prestiguous singing competitions in the World: Operalia 2016 in Mexico. Before this Keon-woo already won several competitions in his native country, such as the Korea National Opera Competition. And he was also a laureate of the International Opera singing competition of Marmande (France) in 2014 as well as the Concorso Internazionale di Canto lirico "G.B.Rubini"(Italy), Grandi Voci (Austria), International Moniuszko Vocal Competition (Poland), Concorso Internazionale di Canto lirico “Zandonai”(Italy) and Concorso Internazionale di Canto "Marcelo Giordani" (Italy). He also recently proved that he is a rising newcomer, by recieving a Second Prize in 2016 Seoul International Music Competition (Korea), and by his First prizes in 2015 Montreal International Music Competition (Canada) and the Manhattan International Music Competition (USA).

Young czech Bass Jan Martiník was born in 1983 in Ostrava where he studied on Janáček Conservatory and on the University of Ostrava with Eliška Pappová. 2003 he won the International Singing Competition Antonín Dvořák in Karlovy Varý in the category Junior and was also rewarded with the second prize in the category "Lied". Jan Martiník is laureate of the International Competition Jelena Obraztsova, where he won the special prize for the best Tchajkovsky romance. 2007 he was finalist in Placido Domingo´s Competition "Operalia" and in 2009 in Cardiff Singer of the World, where he won the category "Song".

While studying at the university he appeared in roles at the NDM Ostrava, including Pistola (Falstaff), Leporello (Don Giovanni) and Truffaldino (Ariadne auf Naxos). At the National Theatre Prague he sung roles including Masetto (Don Giovanni), Larkens and José Castro (La fanciulla del West), Leporello (Don Giovanni).​

After attending the Accademia Rossiniana in Pesaro Jan performed Don Prudenzio (Il viaggio a Reims). 2008 appeared as Dottore Grenvil (La traviata). at Theater Erfurt, gave a recital in the Prague Spring Festival and sang the bass part in Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Collegium 1704 in Brno. In Theater Kosice he sung the role of Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte.

From 2008 to 2011 Jan Martiník was a member of Komische Oper Berlin, where he sung roles including Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Colline (La bohème), Surin (Pique Dame) and Nachtwächter (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg). In Volksoper Vienna he sung Betto (Gianni Schicchi), 1.Nazarener (Salome) as well as Zuniga in Carmen. In the Theater Novosibirsk he appeared in 2012 singing the Bass Part of Verdi Requiem.

Since 2012/13 Jan Martiník is a member of Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin, where he performes roles including Colline (La Bohéme), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Pistola (Falstaff)

In concerts the young Bass was working with Czech Philharmonic Orchestera, BBC Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, BBC Proms Orchestra, Brimingham Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the King´s Consort and the Collegium 1704 under conductors like Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Metha, Fabio Luisi. ​

For DECCA he has recorded the Biblical Songs and the Requiem of A. Dvořák with Czech Philharmonics. The DVD with G. Donizettis Requiem with Collegium 1704 has been released 2017 as well as Martinus Gilgameh Epos with Czech Phiharmonics.

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.