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City Lights
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Pittsburgh—Heinz Hall
May 5
5:30–10:15 p.m.

Penn State Night at the Pittsburgh Symphony will feature a pre-concert “Penn State Insiders” program and special reception. Part of the Mellon Grand Classics series, the symphony will perform Gershwin’s An American in Paris conducted by Principal Guest Conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier. The performance will include everything from jazz to taxi horns for a unique American take on the “City of Light.” Ticket prices range from $50-$80 for the symphony concert, the special program, and reception. Alumni Association members and their guests have a discounted fee. Register here.

Connect with fellow Pittsburgh area alumni and friends with this special evening of music and music appreciation. Admission fee is determined by ticket location: $60 and $50 for members of the Penn State Alumni Association and their guests. For all others, admission is $10 more per seating area.

Tentative Schedule

Concert Details
An American In Paris
Conductor: Yan Pascal Tortelier
Piano: Jean-Philippe Collard
Baritone: Randall Scarlata
Choir: Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh; Betsy Burleigh, director
Solos:
Arthur Honegger, Pacific 231
Christopher Theofanidis, The Here and Now
Maurice Ravel, Piano Concerto for the Left Hand

About the Conductor
Principal Guest Conductor, Yan Pascal Tortelier leads Gershwin's An American in Paris with everything from jazz to taxi horns for a unique American take on the “City of Light,” plus Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. Tortelier is part of the Pittsburgh’s Symphony bold and innovative artistic leadership team.

Born into an intensely musical family, son of the late Paul Tortelier, he studied piano and violin from the age of four and at 14 won first prize for violin at the Paris Conservatoire. Following general musical studies with Nadia Boulanger, Tortelier studied conducting with Franco Ferrara in Siena. Since then, Tortelier's career has included engagements with leading orchestras throughout Europe, North America, Japan, and Australia.

In recognition of his outstanding work as chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic between 1992 and 2003, Tortelier has been given the title of the Conductor Laureate and continues working with the orchestra regularly.

Tortelier’s orchestration of Ravel's Piano Trio was premiered in 1992 and the following year received great critical acclaim at a highly successful London Proms performance with the BBC Philharmonic. A few seasons ago, it was premiered at the Prague Spring Festival, and in San Francisco, Tokyo, and Melbourne. The work is available on CD as part of Tortelier's Debussy/Ravel cycle.

During recent seasons, Tortelier has worked with such orchestras as the London Symphony, Philharmonia and London Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala Milan, Radio Filharmonische Orkest Holland, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Recent and future guest conducting engagements include return visits to the Pittsburgh, Dallas, San Francisco, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony and London Symphony orchestras as well as Orchestre National de France and the Orchestre de Paris. Last season, Tortelier began the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.