Manfred Honeck is about to embark on his seventeenth season as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Through successful tours and outstanding recordings, he and the orchestra have garnered a brilliant reputation worldwide with successful tours and outstanding recordings. The native Austrian began his musical training at the University of Music in Vienna and, as a member of the Artis Quartet, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, gained essential experience for his profound, searching interpretations. In Vienna, Manfred Honeck was assistant to Claudio Abbado and leader of the Jeunesse Orchestra. During his time as first Kapellmeister at the Zurich Opera, he received the European Conductor’s Prize in 1993. He held further positions with the MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig, the Norwegian National Opera, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Czech Philharmonic. From 2000 to 2006, he was the chief conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and from 2007 to 2011 he was general music director of the Stuttgart State Opera. His time in Pittsburgh began in 2008; in 2023 he was appointed honorary conductor by the Bamberg Symphony.