Manfred Honeck’s contract as music director with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has been extended through 2033. The historic renewal would make him the longest-serving music director in the symphony’s 131-year history.
On Wednesday, the PSO announced Honeck’s contract had been renewed for six years, through its 2032-2033 season, which would mark 25 years with the symphony. The PSO named the acclaimed Austrian conductor its ninth music director beginning with the 2008-2009 season.
“From the very beginning of his tenure, Manfred Honeck has inspired this orchestra, our audiences and our city through an extraordinary devotion to music and an artistic passion that has made an enduring mark on our history,” said Melia Tourangeau, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, in a news release.
Tourangeau described Honeck’s relationship with the symphony’s musicians as “one of profound trust and musical connection.”
Honeck’s collaborations with the PSO have earned 12 Grammy nominations and three wins over the last decade. With Honeck, the symphony launched its critically acclaimed Pittsburgh Live! Recording series with record label Reference Recordings, resulting in multiple Grammy nominations.
“When music is played well,” said Honeck in the same release, “there is a sense that it is the most necessary and urgent thing there is: needed by the audience, crucial from the source of its creation. With the musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony, I feel this imperative in each performance.”
Honeck has also led the PSO on regular European tours and during its most recent return to Carnegie Hall last December. During his tenure, he’s been awarded numerous honorary degrees, including locally from Carnegie Mellon University and Duquesne University.
According to the PSO’s 990 form, Honeck made $918,800 in 2024.
Honeck and the PSO will close out their 2025/2026 season during the two-week America250 Festival, which begins on Friday.