About
Manfred Honeck (born 17 September 1958, in Nenzing) is an Austrian conductor and the Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since the 2008/2009 season. In 2018, he was named Artist of the Year by the International Classical Music Awards. On January 28, 2018, Honeck and the PSO were awarded the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance for their recording of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 and Barber’s Adagio for Strings. The recording won a second Grammy for Best Engineered Album (Mark Donahue, engineer).
Beginning as a violinist, Honeck received his musical training at the Academy of Music in Vienna, and later played the viola. He was later a musician in the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. His early work as a conductor included a period as assistant to Claudio Abbado with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (Youth Orchestra). In 1987, Honeck founded the Vienna Jeunesse Orchestra.
