♦ PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
♦ Liszt’s Dante Symphony
Heinz Hall
April 19, 8:00pm
April 21, 2:30pm
The Mendelssohn Choir and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra present the Pittsburgh premiere of Franz Liszt’s rarely-performed Dante Symphony. Liszt interprets Dante’s Divine Comedy through music, as he takes us through the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.
♦ PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
♦ Beethoven Symphony No. 9
Heinz Hall
April 26, 8:00pm
April 27, 7:30pm
April 28, 2:30pm
It should be on everyone’s bucket list to hear in concert: containing the famous “ode to joy”, this powerful symphonic and choral masterpiece is an emotional and life-affirming experience. Experience the grandeur of Beethoven 9, and celebrate the 200th anniversary of the premiere, which took place in May 1824 in Vienna.
Plus – selections from Bruckner will make fine use of the stunning voices of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, and you’ll hear a new work by Canadian conductor and composer: Samy Moussa.
♦ PITTSBURGH OPERA
♦ The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson
Byham Theater
April 27, 8:00PM
April 30, 7:00PM
May 4, 7:30PM
May 5, 3:00PM
Pittsburgh’s Unsung Heroine Who Taught America to Sing
In 1943, the National Negro Opera Company is set to perform on a floating barge to evade racially-segregated venues. But when bad weather threatens—pushing the performance to a segregated performance hall—visionary impressaria Mary Cardwell Dawson must find a way forward.
Mary Cardwell Dawson’s dream to provide access for African Americans to perform on stages for all audiences changed the future of opera. Having founded the longest-running, all-Black opera company here in Pittsburgh and organizing opera guilds in the country’s biggest cities, Mary Cardwell Dawson would go on to train hundreds of African American youth to sing.
Written by Mark Twain Award-winning playwright and librettist Sandra Seaton, The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson celebrates the remarkable founder of Pittsburgh’s historic and groundbreaking National Negro Opera Company. This play with music includes selections from Carmen as well as original music by award-winning Kennedy Center Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon.
♦ BACH CHOIR OF PITTSBURGH
♦ A Satire: Carmina Burana Africana
New Hazlett Theater
6 Allegheny Square East, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
April 26, 7:30PM
April 27, 4:00PM
This collection of mostly bawdy, irreverent and satirical medieval poetry includes the Latin, German and French vernacular. The songs and poems were written by Goliards, clergy (mostly students) who satirized the Catholic Church. Featuring the WVU African Drum Ensemble, an African American dance troupe, Chanel Holt, soprano, and David Hughey, baritone.
♦ CITY THEATRE
♦ Andy Warhol In Iran
1800 Bingham Street
Pittsburgh, PA
April 20 – May 12
In 1976, celebrity artist Andy Warhol traveled to Iran to take Polaroid pictures of the Shah’s wife. This imagined experience of an encounter with a young Iranian radical is a fiery, thought-provoking drama about art, revolution, and discovering a world beyond yourself.