♦ PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
♦ LOTTA WENNӒKOSKI: Flounce
♦ POULENC: Double Piano Concerto
♦ SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 2
Heinz Hall
JAN 16 FRI 7:30 PM
JAN 18 SUN 2:30 PM
Notes: Mischievous, lyrical, and full of surprises, Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos dazzles with classical elegance and jazz-inspired flair. Featured soloists Lucas and Arthur Jussen are social media stars known for their high-energy performances and expressive interpretations. Sibelius’s Second Symphony, with its sweeping melodies and powerful brass chorales, evokes the natural beauty of Finland and remains one of his most celebrated works.
♦ BRAHMS: Academic Festival Overture
♦ DVOŘÁK: Violin Concerto
♦ BARTÓK: Concerto for Orchestra
Heinz Hall
JAN 23 FRI 7:30 PM
JAN 25 SUN 2:30 PM
Notes: Immersed in the musical traditions of the composer’s homeland, Dvořák’s Violin Concerto delights in spicy folk-like elements full of character, nimbleness, and lyrical drama – and we’re in for a treat with violinist Josef Spaček, who has emerged as one of the leading violinists of his generation. Bartók’s dazzling, thrilling, and immensely popular concerto is a virtuosic tour-de-force for the entire orchestra.
♦ CITY THEATRE
♦ Malcolm X & Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem
1300 Bingham Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15203
Sat, Jan 17 – Sun, Feb 8, 2026
Notes: By Jonathan Norton
Directed by Dexter J. Singleton
Before they were icons, they were two young men washing dishes in Harlem. It’s 1943 and Foxy (soon to be Redd Foxx) befriends fellow dishwater Little, better known, many years later, as Malcolm X. Through a summer of heartbreak, uprisings, and leftovers, the two shape each other into the legends they are known to be through a revolutionary mix of humor and heart. A Co-World Premiere produced by TheatreSquared, City Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, and Dallas Theater Center.
♦ PITTSBURGH OPERA
♦ Curlew River
Calvary Episcopal Church in Shadyside
Music by Benjamin Britten
Libretto by William Plomer •
JANUARY 24, 27, 30, FEB. 1, 2026
Notes: A woman driven mad by the mystery of her lost son learns of her boy’s unfortunate fate from a chance encounter with a Ferryman while crossing a river. Based on the Japanese Noh play Sumidigawa River, Curlew River retells this story as a Christian parable. Written in the style of monastic plain song and laden with musical symbolism, this piece artfully melds theatrical simplicity with ecumenical grandeur. In keeping with these themes and this opera’s history, Curlew River will be staged at Calvary Episcopal Church in Shadyside.
Antony Walker conducts; Dana Kinney directs.
♦ PITTSBURGH SPEAKERS SERIES
♦ Doris Kearns Goodwin
Heinz Hall
Wed January 28, 2026 at 8:00 pm
Notes:
Doris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian renowned for in-depth explorations of US presidents and pivotal historical events. Her books include Team of Rivals on Abraham Lincoln and No Ordinary Time on Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. A sought-after commentator, Goodwin is often called upon to provide historical context for current day events.
Goodwin’s eight critically acclaimed and bestselling books include the Carnegie Medal winner The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism and Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Goodwin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in History for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II. Her most recent book, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, weaves together biography, memoir, and history, the book takes readers on the emotional journey Doris and her husband, Dick Goodwin, embarked upon in the last years of his life as they delved into more than 300 boxes of letters, diaries, documents, and memorabilia that Dick had saved for more than fifty years.
Goodwin’s career was inspired when, as a 24-year-old graduate student, she was selected to join the White House Fellows, one of America’s most prestigious programs for leadership and public service. She worked with President Lyndon Johnson in the White House and later assisted him in the writing of his memoirs. Goodwin graduated magna cum laude from Colby College earned a PhD in government from Harvard University, where she taught government, including a course on the American presidency. She was the first woman to enter the Boston Red Sox locker room and is a devoted fan of the team.