Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra cellist Michael Lipman performs a sound check for an outdoor concert on September 13, 2020 at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s mobile stage in a parking lot. Photo by Alexandra Wimley/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“In Pittsburgh, trumpets are sounding once more,” writes Jeremy Reynolds in Monday’s (9/14) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “After a six-month hiatus, members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Opera have returned to the stage—not at Heinz Hall or the Benedum Center, but at a new, mobile outdoor stage purchased during the COVID-19 pandemic by Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Sunday’s was the first installment of the ballet’s Open Air Series, with the stage planted in the parking lot of the company’s Strip District location. The evening kicked off with the Pittsburgh Cello Quartet, which comprises four of the symphony’s cellists, performing music by Saint-Saëns, Bach and Carlos Gardel…. The invitation-only event … drew a crowd of around 50…. Four members of the PSO’s brass section delivered a smattering of Renaissance music…. Pittsburgh Opera provided a pair of singers [performing arias]…. There have been ad hoc performances in various parks in neighborhoods around the city…. Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s Open Air Series represents one possible avenue; drive-in theaters, like City Theatre’s new outdoor space at Hazelwood Green, are another. Members of the PSO also performed at Hazelwood Green on Sunday and will do so again Wednesday evening.”
