The Maazel Years
1984-1996

Long acknowledged to be one of America's great orchestras, the PSO developed an unrivaled international following during its years under Lorin Maazel. The Orchestra gained further stature as Maazel led tours of Europe, Asia, and the Americas, added first-rank players to vital positions, and programmed season-long retrospectives that appealed to audiences and critics alike.

Lorin Maazel

Following Previn's departure in 1984, Maazel agreed to act as Music Consultant while the Orchestra sought a permanent Music Director. He was offered and accepted that position in 1988, having already dazzled the world and won the hearts of the players in the course of numerous guest appearances and three acclaimed tours.

The Pittsburgh Symphony sounds glorious, with the same ultra-smooth surface that Maazel once produced in Cleveland. - Los Angeles Times

Whether in old-Vienna or Steel-City Pittsburgh: Superb music is made with Lorin Maazel. - Alles/Wien, Vienna

For Maazel, the journey back to Pittsburgh was a homecoming. His family settled here while he was still a young child so he could continue to study vith his conducting teacher, Vladimir Bakaleinikov, who had become Associate Conductor of the PSO in 1939.

Lorin Maazel, Age 8

Maazel later joined the Orchestra as a violinist and apprentice conductor while studying at the University of Pittsburgh. His career soon took him to Europe where in 1960 he became the first American invited to direct at the Bayreuth Festival. He went on to become Music Director of the Deutsche Oper, The Cleveland Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, and the Vienna Opera before returning to Pittsburgh. In 1993 he assumed an additional music directorship, as artistic head of the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio in Munich.

The musical legacy of Maazel's artistic leadership is an Orchestra built upon the multifaceted talents of virtuosic players. For years to come, the high artistic standards inspired by this greatest of living American conductors will be upheld within the Orchestra.

Also under Maestro Maazel's direction, the PSO commissioned several works to showcase principal players. The first was the Benjamin Lees Hom Concerto, which premiered on May 14,1992 and was performed later that year on the PSO's European tour by William Caballero. Four commissions followed: Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra for Nancy Goeres, Leonardo Balada's Music for Oboe and Orchestra for Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida, Rodion Shchedrin's Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra for George Vosburgh, Roberto Sierra's Evocaciones and Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, and David Stock's Violin Concerto for Andrés Cárdenes.

Maazel studies the score of Steel Symphony with composer Leonardo Balada, head of composing studies at Carnegie Mellon University.

The Orchestra has produced many fine compact discs with Maazel, among them a complete cycle devoted to the works of Sibelius. The PSO won a Grammy award for its 1992 recording with Yo-Yo Ma of works for cello and orchestra.

Beginning in 1990, Maazel gave audiences the chance to gain a deeper appreciation of some of the world's great composers with seasonal retrospectives featuring Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky. During the 1994-95 season, Maazel placed American works in the spotlight by including one American composition in each of 24 concert programs. For the latter the PSO was awarded the ASCAP/John Edwards Award for Commitment to American Music by the American Symphony Orchestra League.