@pghsymphony I reported on this quite a while back, but since the 2014 season was officially announced today I am reposting it:

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is going back to Carnegie Hall in 2014 but in different fashion than it has before.

Instead of being solely presented by the famed venue, the PSO will be a part of a partnership with an acclaimed new series called "Spring for Music." It is an independent festival created to "celebrate and exhibit the quality and creativity of North American orchestras," with an emphasis on the affordable at $25 a ticket. The New Yorker hailed "Spring for Music" as "fresh at every turn," and The New York Times stated that it gives "power to the listener."

Music director Manfred Honeck and the PSO will close the festival on May 10, 2014, with a concert including Mozart's "Requiem."

The appearance will be the 71st for the PSO at Carnegie Hall and the second with Mr. Honeck (the first was in February 2010). The orchestra debuted there in February 1907 with Emil Paur conducting.

@pghsymphony The New York Philharmonic just released its next season and this one caught my eye: Guess Honeck really did impress to be invited back so soon. 

ALL-DVOŘÁK PROGRAM WITH MANFRED HONECK AND ANNE-SOPHIE
MUTTER
Avery Fisher Hall
Tuesday, December 10, 2013, 7:30 p.m.
Manfred Honeck, conductor
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin
DVOŘÁK Carnival Overture
DVOŘÁK Violin Concerto
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 9, From the New World

Since I have been classical music critic here I have watched the Pittsburgh Opera grow and grow as an organization. Key among that is the fantastic development of its professional training program, the Resident Artists. When I first came here it was really under the bar, although before I came, in Tito Capobianco's tenure, it had some fantastic successes in Marianne Cornetti and Rolando Villazon.

But under Mark Weinstein and  especially Christopher Hahn, it improved. And since Chris has been general director the quality of both the singers and what the Opera offers them has been remarkable. Our excellent feature writer, Mackenzie Carpenter, captured this in a great feature in today's paper. Please take a look and also view the video. And if you can, see, and hear, the young singers production this weekend:

"Il Matrimonio Segreto," or "The Secret Marriage," a light, amusing 18th-century opera buffa by Domenico Cimarosa, which will be performed by the resident artists at Pittsburgh School for the Creative and Performing Arts theater, starting Thursday and running through Feb. 3.