Manfred Honeck was born in Austria and studied music at the Academy of Music in Vienna. An accomplished violinist and violist, he spent more than ten years as a member of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. It is this experience that has heavily influenced his conducting and has helped give it a distinctive stamp. After several highly successful guest appearances leading the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, he was appointed its ninth Music Director and began his tenure at the start of the 2008/2009 season. Only two years later his contract was extended until 2016. After performances at Carnegie Hall and a much-celebrated tour of European musical capitals in 2010, Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra returned to Europe again in August and September 2011 for appearances at the major music festivals such as Rheingau Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Grafenegg Festival, Musikfest Berlin, Beethovenfest Bonn, Lucerne Festival, the London Proms and concerts in Paris and Vilnius, Lithuania. Manfred Honeck's successful work in Pittsburgh is captured on CD by the audiophile Japanese label Exton. So far, Mahler's Symphonies Nos. 1, 3 and 4, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben have been released to critical acclaim.

read more...

"[Manfred Honeck's] interpretations hark back to a time when the rules were fewer and the colours brighter. His Mahler Five steered clear of the sleep-inducing modern fixations with orchestral homogeneity and tastefulness and instead jumped right off the deep end."

Igor Toronyi-Lalic, The ArtsDesk

"Going through a musical score with Mr. Honeck is like visiting a tourist attraction with an expert local guide. He constantly points out things that have been long forgotten or interprets them in a way that seems utterly appropriate."

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sep 26th 2008

"Honeck's was a sensational performance, so overflowing with joy in nature in the first movement, earthy and loving in the second movement. Everything felt right to the 'nth' degree because Honeck's interpretation comes from his passionate devotion to Mahler's music and his thorough internalization of composer Richard Wagner's advice in his book "On Conducting." Wagner wrote that the primary responsibility of a conductor is to find the true "melos" of the music. He meant that when the conductor understood how to make all the music sing -- not just the tunes -- that he would find the right tempo and the soul of the music. "

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Sep 27th 2008

"Manfred Honeck is a graceful, darting presence on the podium. His interpretations do not open new vistas, particularly, but the detail, intelligence and energy he brings to his craft are striking. Honeck evoked an especially wide range of textures from the strings, who played with eager, even grateful, enthusiasm [...] and one felt the zeal of their response to this charismatic artist, who first learned his craft as a violinist in the Vienna Philharmonic. Honeck's beat is detailed and expressive when necessary, but even more important, he doesn't conduct what doesn't need conducting."

The Washington Post

"Honeck's carefully gauged dynamics covered the full range from the softest pianissimos to thunderous orchestral exclamations, without ever sounding strident or overpowering. The Austrian conductor eschews celebrity in favour of purposeful, scholarly music making. His dedication to the musical text resulted in a freshly minted traversal of Bruckner's sound world, in which many inner voicings had newfound clarity and presence. [...] Under Honeck's inspired direction, the symphony unfolded in one long, unbroken musical arc in which passion and reverence, flowing lyricism and fiery perorations were given equal weight. The conductor's crisp tempos sustained momentum from the mysterious string tremolos that open the symphony to the stirring brass chorale one hour later. Honeck vividly conveyed the spiritual ecstasy of the mournful Adagio. Luminous strings and mellow horns produced a warm, glowing aural palette. In the Scherzo, Honeck achieved the perfect synthesis of insistent rhythmic impetus and Viennese lilt… Bruckner's paean to the glory of God was richly served. "

Lawrence Budman, Sun-Sentinel