On August 25, the Pittsburgh SO begins a European tour for which Davis was to conduct the first five concerts, as well as the second (August 18) of two pre-tour kick-off performances in Pittsburgh. Leonard Slatkin, music director of the National Symphony (Washington, D.C.) and Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, will fill in for Davis at those concerts: August 25 in Patras (Greece), August 27 and 28 in Dublin, August 29 in Cardiff and August 30 at the BBC Proms in London.
The PSO's remaining concerts — an August 15 pre-tour kick-off in Pittsburgh and four performances in Germany (in Hannover, Dortmund, Cologne and D‹sseldorf) from September 2-5 — will be conducted, as originally announced, by Hans Graf, music director of the Houston Symphony.
Davis will also miss Lyric Opera's season-opening presentation of Turandot — and stepping in to replace him will be his predecessor as the company's music director, Bruno Bartoletti. The production, with sets and costumes by David Hockney and starring Andrea Gruber, Vladimir Galouzine, Patricia Racette and Hao Jiang Tian, will receive six performances from September 16 to October 3.
The company will announce in coming days a replacement conductor for the free "Stars of the Lyric Opera" concert in Millennium Park on September 5.
Information on the Pittsburgh Symphony tour is available at the orchestra's website, www.pittsburghsymphony.org. Information on Lyric Opera of Chicago's upcoming season can be found at www.lyricopera.org.
