Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Pablo Heras-Casado enjoys an unusually varied and broad-ranging career, encompassing the great symphonic and operatic repertoire, historically informed performances, and contemporary scores. A musical character best reflected by the quality of his long-term relationships nurtured with prestigious orchestras around the world. 

In great demand as guest conductor, Heras-Casado regularly appears in Europe with Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Münchner Philharmoniker, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Filarmonica della Scala, NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan and many others. He maintains a strong relationship with SWR Symphonieorchester, including projects for Festspielhaus Baden-Baden as well as further afield in Germany. 

In North America he is regularly invited by the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. He has also conducted the Berliner and Wiener Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Berlin, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, Orchestre de Paris, London Symphony and The Mariinsky orchestras. Heras-Casado was Principal Conductor of Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York between 2011 and 2017, regularly performing together at Carnegie Hall and recording for harmonia mundi. 

His recent opera projects include Mozart’s Don Giovanni at La Scala, a regular relation with Wiener Staatsoper with Concentus Musicus Wien, presenting Monteverdi’s operatic trilogy of L’Incoronazione di Poppea and L’Orfeo, concluding with Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria in 2023. That same summer, he makes his debut as guest conductor at Bayreuther Festspiele, conducting Wagner’s Parsifal. As Principal Guest Conductor of Teatro Real in Madrid, he recently completed a highly successful Ring Cycle across four consecutive seasons. He has also previously appeared at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Deutsche Oper in Berlin, The Metropolitan Opera in New York, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Festspiel Baden-Baden. 

He enjoys a fruitful, long-term collaboration with Freiburger Barockorchester, featuring extensive touring and recording projects. In 2023, they tour and record together Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Previously they appeared at Mostly Mozart Festival New York, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, BBC Proms and Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In summer 2022, he commences a new partnership with Anima Eterna Brugge conducting and recording Bruckner’s Symphony no.7 on historical instruments and appearing at Grafenegg, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Ravello festivals, as well as later performances in Besançon and Bruges. 

An extensive discography for harmonia mundi includes Schumann’s complete symphonies with Münchener Philharmoniker, released in June 2022, and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring alongside Péter Eötvös Alhambra, with Orchestre de Paris and Isabelle Faust, a work he co-commissioned for the Granada Festival, for which he was Music Director between 2017 and 2019. He also recorded a series of albums celebrating Beethoven’s 250th anniversary in 2020 with Freiburger Barockorchester and featuring Kristian Bezuidenhout, Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Alexander Melnikov. 

A developing series entitled ‘Die Neue Romantik’ also features music by Mendelssohn, Schubert and Schumann. Other releases on the label include the music of Manuel de Falla (Mahler Chamber Orchestra), Debussy (Philharmonia Orchestra) and Bartók (Münchner Philharmoniker) as well as DVD releases of Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer at Teatro Real and Monteverdi’s Selva morale e spirituale with Balthasar-Neumann-Chor & Ensemble. A recipient of numerous awards, including two Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, two Diapason d’Or, and a Latin Grammy, he also recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Decca and Sony Classical. 

A dedicated educator, Heras-Casado makes a personal commitment to work with young musicians all over the world, regularly leading youth ensembles and projects, such as the Karajan Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker, Juilliard School of Music Orchestra and Juilliard415 ensemble, RCO Young, Escuela de Música Reina Sofia, Fundación Barenboim-Said, Orquesta Joven de Andalucía, Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra and Gustav Mahler Academy. 

2021 Artist of the Year at the International Classic Music Awards, and Musical America’s 2014 Conductor of the Year, Heras-Casado holds the Medalla de Honor of the Rodriguez Acosta Foundation, Medalla de Andalucia 2019 and this region’s Ambassador Award. He is Honorary Ambassador and recipient of the Golden Medal of Merit by the Council of Granada, as well as Honorary Citizen of the Province of Granada, his hometown. In 2018 he is granted the title Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic. 

Highly committed to the Spanish charity Ayuda en Acción as a Global Ambassador, Heras-Casado supports and promotes the charity’s work internationally and conducts an annual charity concert at Teatro Real in Madrid. 

The course of Maximilian Hornung's career so far is as extraordinary as the musician himself. He received wide ranging experience at the highest level at a very young age. His career began with extensive studies in Zurich and Berlin with the renowned professors Eldar Issakadze, Thomas Grossenbacher and David Geringas. As a dedicated chamber musician, he won the renowned ARD Music Competition with the Tecchler Trio in 2007, of which he was a member until 2011. At the age of just 23 he was promoted to the highly coveted position of principal cellist of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Maximilian Hornung spent four short but significant years in this top orchestra before deciding to focus on his career as a soloist and chamber musician. This was undoubtedly the right decision, borne out by the impressive musicality, instinctive awareness of style and extraordinary maturity that the cellist has displayed on concert podiums throughout the last few years. "Everything done perfectly" commented Crescendo Magazine, amongst others.

Today, Maximilian Hornung regularly performs as a soloist with such renowned orchestras as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Czech Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Bamberg Symphony under conductors such as Daniel Harding, Yannick Nézét-Séguin, Mariss Jansons, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Semyon Bychkov, Bernard Haitink, Manfred Honeck, Antonello Manacorda, Mario Venzago, Jonathan Nott, Kristjan Järvi, Andrew Manze, Krzysztof Urbański and Robin Ticciati. His chamber music partners include Anne-Sophie Mutter, Antje Weithaas, Hélène Grimaud, Daniil Trifonov, Christian Tetzlaff, Lisa Batiashvili, François Leleux, Yefim Bronfman, Herbert Schuch, Lars Vogt, Jörg Widmann and Tabea Zimmermann. He has performed with the Arcanto Quartett and the Cuarteto Casals and has been invited to perform at festivals including Schwetzingen, Salzburg, Schwelsig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rheingau, Lucerne, Verbier, Ravinia and Hong Kong. He has appeared in concert halls such as the philharmonic halls of Berlin, Cologne and Essen as well as the Vienna Musikverein, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and London's Wigmore Hall.

In the 2016/17 season, Maximilian Hornung made his first appearances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Verdi Orchestra Milan, NFM Symphony Orchestra Wroclaw and NDR Radiophilharmonie Hanover. As a chamber musician, he gave his celebrated debut at the Wigmore Hall and performed Schubert's Trout Quintet with Anne-Sophie Mutter and Daniil Trifonov at the Salzburg Festival and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden before recording the project for Deutsche Grammophon.

Highlights of the 2017/18 season include debuts with the MDR Symphony Orchestra under Kristjan Järvi, Orchestre National de France under Semyon
Bychkov, Tapiola Sinfonietta under Mario Venzago and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding. Maximilian Hornung will also return to the Bern Symphony Orchestra under Mario Venzago, Florida Orchestra under Michael Francis, Kammerakademie Potsdam under Antonello Manacorda and Münchener Kammerorchester under John Storgårds. In September 2018 he will become Artistic Director of the VivaCello Festival Liestal.

His wide-ranging discography is impressive, not only due to his relatively young age, and includes solo concertos as well as recordings with prominent chamber musicians. He received the ECHO Klassik Prize for his first album (Sony 2011) – for which he was designated as Young Artist of the Year – as well as for his recording of Dvořák's Cello Concerto with the Bamberg Symphony under the direction of Sebastian Tewinkel the following year (Sony 2012). Further recordings have included Richard Strauss' major cello works with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink (Sony 2014), Joseph Haydn's cello concertos with the Kammerakademie Potsdam under Antonello Manacorda (Sony 2015), and further recordings for Genuin, Linn Records, NEOS, Bridge Records and CPO. Maximilian Hornung is supported and sponsored by the Anne-Sophie Mutter Circle of Friends Foundation and Borletti-Buitoni Trust London.