Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Cart

Time Out

You have exceeded the time limit and your seats have been released.

anniversary-header

PSO Celebrates Musician Milestones

This week we honor anniversary milestones for our beloved Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra musicians. We have 11 musicians celebrating anniversaries, and Scott Bell, Oboe, will retire after 27 years as a member of the Orchestra. Over the course of this week we are pleased to share with you images to honor them, the work they have done and their role in our community.

scott-bell-1

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Salutes Scott Bell, Oboe, on his Retirement

Scott Bell joined the Pittsburgh Symphony as substitute second oboe in September of 1992 and became a permanent member in September 1993. Over the past several summers, Bell has played with the Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera and the Waterloo Music Festival. Scott Bell is on the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University and Duquesne University. He will retire from the Symphony at the end of August, 2020, after 27 years as a member of the Orchestra.

Can you share a particularly memorable concert or tour?
My favorite concert was playing Ravel’s opera L'enfant et les sortilèges with Lorin Maazel in concert version.  It is a gem of a piece (starts and ends with two oboes by themselves!) that I will probably only have played the one time.

What are your plans after you retire from the PSO? 
My immediate plans are to continue teaching at the new Juilliard campus in Tianjin, China.  After many years of careful planning, the school will open its door to the first class this September.  I’m still keeping my home in Pittsburgh and when I decide to retire for real, this is where I plan to be.  I’m an enthusiastic bridge player (just hit my first Master level) so I plan on doing a lot more of that when I retire.  

What has playing in the PSO taught you that you wish that you could share with others?
Playing in an orchestra is a microcosm of society at large.  We are all part of something much bigger than ourselves and our actions or inactions have great impact on everyone around us.

Any memories from your PSO audition? 
This is my memory of my audition:  I remember walking out on stage and I remember walking off the stage.  I have no clue what happened in between.

All-time favorite piece?
Arnold Schoenberg's Gurrelieder. 

Under-appreciated piece or composer?
Janáček

Scott Bell

Any repertoire still on your wish list?
I’d love to play in the pit for Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos.

Favorite guest artist or conductor to work with?
It has all been great. I loved the Jansons years, the man was born with a musical soul.

Funniest moment at the PSO?
Playing bridge with Sir Georg Solti in the Canary Islands on tour.  I couldn’t believe what I was doing so it was funny to me!  (Georg and I were partners and we won!)

If you weren’t a musician, what would you be doing?
Something in travel.  I’m great at putting vacations together!

What will you miss most about the PSO?
It is actually something very personal.  I’ll miss that feeling of knowing that whatever happened​, I walked out of the concerts knowing I tried my hardest.

Honorees

penny-brill-collage

Penny Anderson Brill

40 years

Penny Brill, a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's viola section since 1980, is perhaps best known for her innovative work with the use of music in health care. In addition to helping to implement and support the Pittsburgh Symphony Music and Wellness program, she advises and provides resources for orchestras and orchestral musicians throughout the country who wish to play in medical settings or work with special needs children, veterans or refugees. She has given a number of workshop presentations at national conferences on how to design and implement programs in cities with extremely varied demographics, needs and music preferences. She will be making many of those design ideas and resources available on her soon-to-be-launched website, Musacor ("Musicians as a Community Resource").

Learn More →

tretick

Stephanie Tretick

40 years

Stephanie Tretick joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra viola section in 1980. A native of Boulder, Colorado, Ms. Tretick began her instrumental studies with the piano, and later took up the violin at the Interlochen Arts Academy. She attended Vassar College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts cum laude, and earned a Master of Music summa cum laude at Indiana University, where she was a fellowship student of Josef Gingold.

Learn More →

joen_vasquez

Joen Vasquez

35 years

Joen Vasquez, the only violist ever to win the "Artists International" competition in New York, recently became the only musician to twice win Pittsburgh's coveted Passamaneck Award. He has performed in recital on the Y series at Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh. Mr. Vasquez comes from a family of six sibling musicians and holds an Master of Arts degree from The Juilliard School where he studied with Margaret Pardee. He has received Diplomas Di Merito and D'Honore from Academia Chigianna where he studied with Bruno Giuranna.

Learn More →

rhian-kenny

Rhian Kenny

30 years

Rhian Kenny joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1990 as Principal Piccolo.  She is active in the PSO's education and outreach programs speaking often to groups throughout the Pittsburgh region. Kenny was born in Benghazi, Libya and grew up in Calgary, Canada, where she began her flute studies at the age of nine. She continued her studies with Timothy Hutchins at McGill University in Montréal where she received a Bachelor's Degree in Music.  Throughout her studies, she won many competitions, including the Concours de l'Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières (1989), Concours de l'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (1988), and the Concours de l'Orchestre symphonique de Québec (1987).

Learn More →

reamer

Andrew Reamer

30 years

Andrew Reamer joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra percussion section in 1989.  He was appointed associate principal percussion in 2003 and principal percussion in 2008. He earned Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Temple University. Reamer has taught at Duquesne University for 25 years and plays jazz with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra colleagues in The White Tie Group.

Learn More →

pandolfi

Philip A. Pandolfi

25 years

Born in Boston and raised in Milwaukee and St. Louis, bassoonist Philip Pandolfi has been a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony since 1995. After undergraduate studies at Indiana University and a Master's degree from Temple University, Philip was selected from over one thousand applicants for the inaugural season of the New World Symphony, in 1988. He spent three seasons in the Miami-based ensemble, performing in the United States, South America and Europe.

Learn More →

dennis-o-boyle

Dennis O'Boyle

20 years

Dennis O'Boyle joined the second violin section of the Pittsburgh Symphony in the fall of 2000 under Music Director Mariss Jansons, and attained the position of Fourth Chair in 2003. In 2011 he was formally appointed Assistant Principal Second Violin after serving the previous three years as acting Assistant Principal. Before arriving in Pittsburgh, Mr. O'Boyle spent three years in Florida as a fellow in Miami Beach's New World Symphony and subsequently as Principal Second Violin of the Florida Orchestra, Tampa Bay.

Learn More →

craig-knox

Craig Knox

15 years

Craig Knox has been Principal Tuba of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since 2005, having previously held positions of Acting Principal Tuba of the San Francisco Symphony, and Principal Tuba of the Sacramento Symphony and the New World Symphony (Miami). He has also performed as a guest artist with many other major American orchestras, including those of Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, and Seattle, and with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande of Geneva, Switzerland. Since 1995, he has spent part of each summer as co-principal tuba of the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson, Wyoming.

Learn More →

stephen-kostyniak

Stephen Kostyniak

15 years

Born in Schenectady, New York, Kostyniak began French horn lessons at age eight. By the time he had graduated from high school he had performed in major music centers in the U.S. and Europe, including the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Tanglewood Music Center, the Kennedy Center and Tschaikovsky Hall in Leningrad. He also performed in Moscow, Prague, Budapest, Copenhagen, Stockholm and throughout Austria and Norway.

Learn More →

jack-howell-collage

Jack Howell

5 years

 A graduate of the University of Northern Colorado, Jack Howell served as principal clarinetist of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, performing with the Santa Fe Opera and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival as well before joining the Pittsburgh Symphony for two one-year stints in 1996-1998. In 2015, his career came full circle when he won the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's principal bass clarinet position. He has been a member of the Duquesne University music faculty since 1996, teaching clarinet and chamber music. He is the author of The Lovely Reed, a how-to book on making split bamboo fly fishing rods.

Learn More →

alexandra-thompson-lee

Alexandra Thompson Lee

5 years

Alexandra Thompson Lee has been a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since the 2014-2015 season. She earned her Bachelors of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Stephen Geber. She was a winner of the Duquesne Young Artist and Pittsburgh Concert Society Young Artist and Major Competitions. Lee is incredibly thankful for the arts community in Pittsburgh that helped nurture her and pave the way for her life in music.

Learn More →