About Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Now in its 128th season, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is credited with a rich history of engaging the world’s finest conductors and musicians and demonstrates a genuine commitment to the Pittsburgh region and its citizens. Known for its artistic excellence for more than a century, the Pittsburgh Symphony has been led by its worldwide acclaimed Music Director Manfred Honeck since 2008; past music directors have included Fritz Reiner (1938- 1948), William Steinberg (1952-1976), André Previn (1976-1984), Lorin Maazel (1984-1996) and Mariss Jansons (1997-2004). The Orchestra has always been at the forefront of championing new works, including recent commissions by Mason Bates, Stacy Garrop, James MacMillan, Wynton Marsalis, Jessie Montgomery and Julia Wolfe, in addition to performing the premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1 “Jeremiah” in 1944 and John Adams’ “Short Ride in a Fast Machine” in 1986.The two-time 2018 GRAMMY® Award-winning orchestra has a long and illustrious history in the areas of recordings and live radio broadcasts. Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra have received multiple GRAMMY® nominations for Best Orchestral Performance, taking home the award in 2018 for their recording of Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio. As early as 1936, the Pittsburgh Symphony has been broadcast on the radio. The orchestra has received increased attention since 1982 through national network radio broadcasts on Public Radio International, produced by Classical WQED-FM 89.3, made possible by the musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Lauded as the Pittsburgh region’s international cultural ambassador, the orchestra began regular touring in 1896 and has embarked on scores of domestic and international tours. In the summer of 2022, Music Director Manfred Honeck led the orchestra on an extensive and highly acclaimed tour of Europe, celebrating 75 years of international touring for the Orchestra.
In 2020, the Pittsburgh Symphony welcomed Principal Pops Conductor, Byron Stripling, only the second person in that role in the Orchestra’s history, following Marvin Hamlisch. A conductor, trumpet virtuoso, singer, and actor, Stripling has been a featured soloist with pops orchestras across the country. He has performed with jazz notables from the Count Basie Orchestra and the bands of Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, Lionel Hampton, and more. Since his first concert as Principal Pops Conductor (an online performance in October 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic), he has continued to lead many Pops concerts and Learning & Engagement programs such as Fiddlesticks and Schooltime.
About Moon Doh, Associate Conductor
A recipient of the Takaya Urakawa Foundation Grant awarded to promising young musicians, Moon Doh is associate conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, appointed by Music Director Manfred Honeck in 2021. In this role, he has conducted subscription, education, family and movie concerts as well as sold-out performances with artists such as Sting. An active community builder, he has presented Beethoven’s string quartets in various libraries across Pittsburgh, held Discovery and Drinks talks in different breweries, and led children’s concerts in diverse venues including the MuseumLab in collaboration with Mo Willems.
As the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Flora Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, Germany prior to his Pittsburgh appointment, he initiated the orchestra’s first ever live stream concerts that reached an unprecedented number of audiences across the globe over three seasons. He not only led exciting subscription concerts but also worked closely with music pedagogues in order to give young people a chance to learn and experience orchestral music in a meaningful way.
In recent years, Moon has worked with many orchestras across Europe: WDR Funkhausorchester, Duisburger Philharmoniker, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, and Bergische Symphoniker, Dortmunder Philharmoniker in Germany, Romanian Chamber Orchestra in Romania, Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra in Spain, Sinfonietta Cracovia in Poland, and Pleven Philharmonic in Bulgaria to name a few. Moon's latest collaborations in the US include debuts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Symphoria.
Born in South Korea, Moon spent much of his childhood in the Philippines, Russia, and the United States. At the age of nine, he began cello and piano studies in Russia and has since performed with various youth and student orchestras across the globe. As a passionate advocate for young rising artists, he led concerts with the All-State Orchestra of Hessen in Germany. In addition, he was also the conductor of the Under-16 Orchestra of Tonhalle Düsseldorf and regularly coached the Youth Orchestra of Essen.
A staunch believer in empowering others, Moon has actively worked with asylum seekers in Hungary, children in underserved areas of Bangladesh, and inmates in Baltimore as the president of a student organization while completing his B.A. in International Relations and Economics from Johns Hopkins University. He currently sits on the Board of Violence Prevention Network USA, an organization that helps people at risk of radicalization.
Moon studied orchestral conducting at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf in Germany. Prior to his conducting studies, he received a B.A. in music composition from Sahmyook University in South Korea. Moon has participated in renowned music festivals such as Accademia Chigiana in Italy and Bartók Festival in Hungary. His mentors include Manfred Honeck, Rüdiger Bohn, Cristian Măcelaru, Peter Eötvös, and Jorma Panula.
Photo credit: George Lange.