Houston Symphony Music Director Juraj Valcuha returns to conduct the Richard Strauss "Ein Heldenleben," A hero's Life, which reveals the autobiography of the composer complete with his thoughts on music critics but does it end with a triumph? Not exactly.  It is a giant piece and 45 minutes of delightful music. Maestro Valcuha tells Jim Cunningham in his dressing room after rehearsal on Thursday evening that he has already given the world premiere of the "Liberty Bell" by Julia Wolfe, co-commissioned with Pittsburgh and Houston. The composer will take a bow on stage this weekend. She uses lots of bells in the augmented percussion section. Juraj Valcuha has renewed his Houston contract through 2027 and he is still getting to know the city. Rodeo is on the plan for next year and after leaving Pittsburgh, he'll conduct "A Hero's Life" at Jones Hall at Thanksgiving. He is just back from conducting the Debussy opera "Pelléas and Melisande" in Switzerland for one month working with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande - famous for hundreds of recordings with Ernest Ansermet. He's a nature lover and he hopes he can enjoy the great outdoors a bit with many dates on his calendar. Pittsburgh is a favorite stop with his grandfather having lived here. He's visited Grandads' final resting place in Pittsburgh and looks forward to more concerts.

Just as he left the stage Thursday afternoon at Heinz Hall, Pablo Fernandez talked with Jim Cunningham about his Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No. 1 with Juraj Valcuha and the Pittsburgh Symphony. They've worked together with great success in Paris, he loves working with the Pittsburgh, and remembers well his debut with John Williams in December of 2023. He's been playing the Saint-Saens since he was very young and of course he plays "The Swan" from the Carnival of the Animals as an encore often. He's enjoying this trip and his wife is along for the journey this time. A new recording is on the way and life is good. He had to head off to rehearse for the Saturday Pittsburgh 360 concert where he plays two chamber music masterpieces with members of the orchestra and the audience on stage.

Pianist Helene Grimaud talks with Jim Cunningham about her wide-ranging tour with the Gershwin Piano Concerto marking its 100th anniversary. She recorded it live with David Zinman two decades ago and is delighted to return to it in Pittsburgh, Houston, Washington DC and opening the new era in Cincinnati with Christian Macelaru. She's recently driven across the country from her California home to return to a place in Westchester, New York. A new recording is on the way. She has loved her many concerts with Pittsburgh including tour programs where she brought along her own tuner and Steinway.  In Europe the distances are not too far, so hiring the truck and piano mover is more practical than in the States. In Pittsburgh, she is delighted to play the 24 year old concert grand while the new instrument is smoothing out its freshness.

Domingo Hindoyan makes his Heinz Hall debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony on November 7th and 9th leading "Alegria" by Roberto Sierra, the Gershwin Piano Concerto in F with Helene Grimaud as soloist and the Cesar Franck D minor Symphony. Maestro Hindoyan talks about his family growing up in Venezuela and playing the violin in the youth orchestra which is part of the highly successful training program El Systema. He discusses his new post at LA Opera, his music making in England and much more in this conversation with Jim Cunningham in the conductor's dressing room recorded on Thursday November 6 , 2025.

She loves being the champion of the new in classical music. Leila Josefowicz, violinist with an Avery Fisher Career Prize and a Macarthur Genius Award, hasn’t found being anointed brainy to be a detriment to her social life or connecting with listeners. She joins Dalia Stasevska for the new Saturday Sessions concert on Saturday October 18, 2025 at Heinz Hall and Friday and Sunday for the Stravinsky Violin Concerto. The Stravinsky requires full concentration with it’s tricky rhythms and furious storms of notes complete with a chord considered briefly unplayable. Drinking Earl Grey tea and wearing a Steelers sweater in the conductor’s dressing room, she spoke with Jim Cunningham about her friendship with  composer John Adams, recent recordings, and what is needed to bring off music of our time.

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Associate Conductor Jacob Joyce joined Jim Cunningham on the QED Morning Show to discuss the Orchestra's first Saturday Session of the season. These concerts bring you iconic classical repertoire in a more guided, approachable way. Jacob hosts from the stage, sharing insights and stories as the music comes to life. Jacob explained what people can expect at this Saturday's session which includes Caroline Shaw's "The Observatory" and Stravinsky's Violin Concerto.

Leaving on a jet plane finds Dalia Stasevska wearing a Metallica t shirt but arriving at Heinz Hall for her Pittsburgh Symphony debut without her luggage. She was projecting teen spirit during this conversation with Jim Cunningham in the guest conductor’s dressing room - after all, her husband plays in a metal band. Metallica worked with the Berlin Philharmonic and both the Symphony Orchestra and metal bands make a mighty roar. She described her efforts for the city of Kiev and Ukraine, the country of her birth, before moving to Finland where she learned music in a distinguished tradition. Now she leads the Lahti Orchestra in Finland and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London. She’s opened and closed the Last Night of the Proms and has a career on the trajectory of a rocket. Dalia explained that her parents are artists, hippies and named her for the flower the Dahlia. She loves the music of Caroline Shaw which she will dig into this weekend in "The Observatory" along with Sibelius Sixth and his greatest hit Finlandia. Finlandia always touches her heart as does the playing of Leila Josefowicz who has Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto in the concerts October 17th and 19th with the special Saturday Sessions event on the 18th where Jacob Joyce joins Maestra to break it down for the audience.

Francesco Piemontesi returns to Heinz Hall to perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with Robin Ticciati conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He spoke with WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham about the piece, working with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, what he has upcoming in his performance schedule and much more.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Music Critic Jeremy Reynolds stopped by our broadcast location to talk to Jim Cunningham about his immediate post-concert thoughts on the season opening concert by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

During intermission of WQED-FM's live broadcast of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on September 26, 2025, WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham spoke with Music Director Manfred Honeck, soloist Alexi Kenney about his performance of the Sibelius Violin Concerto, and composer Christopher Theofanidis, whose "Rainbow Body" opened the concert.

WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham spoke with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Assistant Conductor Jacob Joyce about the pre-concert talk he held with composer Christopher Theofanidis. Jacob also talked about the November 2025 concert by the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra, in which he is the Artistic Director. Jim also spoke with violinist Karin Hoppo, a member of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra. She played in the lobby prior to the PSO concert and talked about her experience being in PYSO. Finally, Jim spoke with PSO VP of Artistic Planning Mary Persin who gave an overview of the upcoming season.

WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham spoke with Jeremy Reynolds, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Classical Music Critic, after the Friday June 13, 2025 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concert. Jeremy gave his quick review of the concert - he loved the 2nd movement of the Shostakovich and thought Beatrice Rana brought impressive energy to the Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1. He also gives a sneak peak of some upcoming stories he has in the works.

During intermission of our live broadcast of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on Friday June 13, 2025, WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham spoke with Music Director Manfred Honeck about the Shostakovich Symphony No. 10; the world premiere of Lera Auerbach's "Frozen Dreams;" and his summer plans. He then spoke with guest pianist Beatrice Rana about the Mendelssohn Piano Concert she just finished playing. She told Jim the encore was a piano arrangement from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker; playing at the BBC Proms this summer; and she even signed a copy of our latest LP. Jim also spoke with Lera Auerbach - the composer of "Frozen Dreams." She talked about the idea of the piece; her connection to Austria; this being her first time in Pittsburgh even though her music has been performed here before; and the horrific story of her grandfather being taken by the KGB. On a happier note, she talked about the piece she is working on next.

Prior to Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concert on Friday June 13, 2025, WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham spoke with PSO Violist Stephanie Tretick, who is retiring after 45 years with the orchestra. She talks about her musical journey; memories of the PSO over the years; and how she'll miss visiting hardware stores in different countries on the orchestra tours. Jim also spoke with PSO Principal Tuba Craig Knox, who is celebrating his 20th year with the orchestra. He talks about his moments in the Shostakovich Symphony No. 10; the recording process this weekend; and his plans to visit Scotland over the summer.

Chopin Piano Competition winning pianist Bruce Liu makes his debut at Heinz Hall Friday June 6 and Sunday June 8th with a 360 concert on the 7th playing the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3. He sat down in the Grand Lobby at Heinz Hall after the dress rehearsal with Jim Cunningham to talk about the delights of the Beethoven Third. Beethoven was already experiencing hearing trouble playing the Third from memory at the premiere and giving cues that suggested he could not hear the orchestra clearly and the next year 1803 wrote his Heiligenstadt Testament. Bruce describes the challenge and atmosphere of the 2021 Chopin Piano Concerto which he won with his unconventional style. Bruce is appearing at the BBC Proms this summer playing the Tchaikovsky Second Concerto and he hopes for a few moments of quiet to think about his latest music repertoire additions. Bruce speaks about recording a recital in one of the Chopin homes in Paris at the Place Vendome available from DG+ and his CD "Waves" with an all French program. He loves Pittsburgh and working with Manfred Honeck. He got the call to replace Alice Sara Ott just a few days ago when he was playing Prokofiev in Vancouver and just a few days before that he was playing Chopin with Yuraj Valcuha in Houston. Yuraj had told him how much he enjoys Pittsburgh. Bruce tells his story from age 8 in Paris to Montreal and says at age 28 he doesn’t mind when airline personnel confuse him with the martial arts film star Bruce Lee.

Pittsburgh Symphony Guest Conductor Giancarlo Guerrero speaks in the conductor’s dressing room about the program of May 30th through June 1st, which features "Sprout" by Sean Shepherd, the Khachaturian Violin Concerto with Nemanja Radulovic, and the Brahms Fourth Symphony. He tells Jim Cunningham he is delighted to return and thrilled to see Jeremy Black as Concertmaster of the Grant Park Orchestra which he will lead as Music Director for the first time this summer. Maestro Guerrero talks about his enthusiasm for living composers and winning eight Grammy awards championing their music. His work with women composers has been especially successful as Jennifer Higdon mentioned in a recent interview while in town for Pittsburgh Opera. Giancarlo loves country music and has worked with some of the biggest Nashville stars in Music City but he is on to Sarasota with a new hall and Florida sunshine.

Nemanja Radulovic makes his Pittsburgh debut playing the Khachaturian Violin Concerto with Guest Conductor Giancarlo Guerrero May 30th and 31st plus a matinee on June 1st at Heinz Hall. The Serbian born violin virtuoso talks with Jim Cunningham in the grand lobby about his music study in Serbia, Serbian history, his love of Bach and his two Bach CDs, plus his Khachaturian and Rimsky Korsakoff CD. He discusses his two ensembles which he founded - "Double Sens"  and "The Devil’s Trills," his easy rapport with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Giancarlo Guerrero, and provides Serbian and French pronunciation tips.

Pittsburgh Symphony guest conductor Yuraj Valcuha made his American debut at Heinz Hall and has become a favorite appearing here many times including this weekend and next season. In this conversation in the conductor’s dressing room surrounded by the portraits of previous music directors, he spoke of how much he enjoys his visits and his family ties to Pittsburgh referencing the historical marker next to Heinz Hall commemorating Czech Slovak history that took place in Pittsburgh. He discusses his program this weekend including the Emperor Concerto by Beethoven with Yefim Bronfman, music inspired by Alice in Wonderland - the Mad Tea Party by Unsuk Chin, Stravinsky’s Fairy’s Kiss and a Cinderella suite from the Prokofiev ballet which has never been done here. He told Jim Cunningham he loves the Grand Waltz and the Clock striking midnight. Maestro Valcuha discusses his work in Houston and the success of his first seasons at Jones Hall. Every concert goes out live with internet video around the globe. He has not been to the rodeo yet but he will visit what is one of the largest gatherings of livestock anywhere in the world and  he loves the Museum of Fine Arts and the musical life in Houston along with special affection for Pittsburgh.

Vikingur Olafsson speaks with Jim Cunningham in the Heinz Hall Fourth Floor rehearsal Room about his work with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony playing Brahms First Concerto. He spoke about his path to playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations around the globe more than 88 times, being called the Icelandic Glenn Gould, loving the Musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since hearing them in Berlin where he performed with Maestro Honeck last year, his extensive radio and tv work, "From Afar" - his cd recorded on both an upright piano and a grand, the Icelandic cuisine curiosity of fermented shark and the liquor known as Black Death. He’s visited the Warhol and Fallingwater and he said he learned to love the US at Juilliard and could not have been more delighted to visit Pittsburgh.

After our live broadcast, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Principal Cello, Anne Martindale Williams, spoke with WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham about the concert; the PSO Disrupt Concert that took place the night before; and how her daughter has changed from playing the cello to practicing medicine. Jim was also visited by Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra President and CEO Melia Tourangeau, who gave a review of the concert; upcoming events she is looking forward to; meeting a musician who was on the PSO's State Department tour from the 1960's; and how she values the relationship between the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and WQED-FM.