Manfred Honeck is one of the world’s leading conductors. His distinctive and revelatory interpretations receive great international acclaim. He completes his 14th season as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 2023/24. His contract, which has been extended several times, runs until 2027/28.
He and the orchestra appear regularly at the major music venues of Europe and at international festivals such as the BBC Proms, the Beethovenfest Bonn, the Lucerne Festival and the Salzburg Festival. Their successful collaboration is documented on numerous recordings, which have been awarded notable prizes, among them a Grammy Award.
The Austrian-born musician was a member of the Vienna Philharmonic (viola), before beginning his conducting career as assistant to Claudio Abbado in Vienna. He went on to become principal conductor at the Zurich Opera. He won the European Conducting Prize for his work in Switzerland.
Following positions with the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, he was general music director of Stuttgart State Opera from 2007 to 2011. He has also been artistic director of the International Wolfegg Concerts in Germany for many years.
As a guest conductor he has worked with all the leading international orchestras, including the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. In the US he has conducted the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Cleveland and the Philadelphia Orchestras and the Symphony Orchestras of Chicago, Boston and San Francisco.
Manfred Honeck has received honorary doctorates from several US universities, and has been awarded the professional title of Professor by the Austrian Federal President.
