Manfred Honeck

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Manfred Honeck, born on 17 September 1958 in Nenzing, Austria, is a renowned conductor and the music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO). He grew up in a large family; one of his brothers, Rainer Honeck, is the concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic. He started as a violinist, studied in Vienna, and later played viola. Honeck performed with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra before turning to conducting.

He began conducting as an assistant to Claudio Abbado with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and founded the Vienna Jeunesse Orchestra in 1987. He conducted regularly at the Zurich Opera House in the early 1990s and won the European Conductor’s Award in 1993. Honeck served as Music Director of the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo and held posts with the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Oslo Philharmonic. He led the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 2000 to 2006 and was Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic during two periods. He has also been artistic director of the International Concerts Wolfegg in Germany for many years.

From 2007 to 2011, Honeck was the General Music Director of the Staatsoper Stuttgart. In 2023 he was named Honorary Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony. His long relationship with the PSO began as a guest conductor in 2006; he became music director for the 2008–2009 season and has extended his contract several times, most recently through 2027–2028.

Honeck’s work with the PSO has been released on Exton and Reference labels, including four SACDs. Some recordings were Grammy-nominated, and in 2018 he and the PSO won the Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance for Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony and Barber’s Adagio for Strings, with an additional Best Engineered Album award for the same recording.

He holds honorary titles and degrees, including honorary professorships and four honorary doctorates. He lives in Altach, Austria, with his wife Christiane and their six children. Honeck is a Roman Catholic and is known for praying before performances.