Dinner and a Show

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, in collaboration with local restaurants, is bringing back a classic date-night combination: a dinner and a show.

Since the beginning of March, the orchestra has been replicating concert experiences through Front Row: At-Home Dinner and A Show, offering Pittsburghers a seat to a series of live-streamed shows paired with a multi-course meal from one of the city’s beloved restaurants.

“Music and food are a pitch-perfect pairing: they bring people together, are deeply enjoyable, and are a great way to connect,” said Julie Goetz, Director of Communications for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO). “With the partnerships, we’re meeting our patrons where they are at home, in addition to amplifying the restaurant community.”

Restaurant partners were chosen partly based on natural pairings between the composers and cuisine, Goetz explains. For example, their first collaborator, Apteka, an Eastern-European eatery, was matched with and inspired by Béla Bartók's Romanian Folk Dance. Goetz also says they picked eateries with geographic diversity in mind, to benefit both the restaurant community and their audience.

“The objective wasn’t necessarily to match the music – but to be inspired by it and to relate to it. We were happy to give the chefs flexibility with the pricing and menus, and we think they’ve been imaginative... and have created delicious dishes,” Goetz says.

Their second restaurant partner, Oak Hill Post in Brookline, prepared three courses to match the “larger-than-life American attitude” of the PSO’s American Traditions program.

Last week, Vivo Kitchen in Sewickley took inspiration from the orchestra’s Ultraviolinistics program, composing a three-course meal – both the concert and menu are available through April 16 – of blistered shishito peppers with sea salt, braised short ribs with roasted potatoes, and whole candied oranges. The pepper dish reflected the clean structures overlaid with heat and complexity of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony, while the short ribs took on composer Fritz Kreisler’s Praeludium and Allegro, showcasing how “skill can make the modest appear extraordinary." Candied oranges preserved winter excellence, as heard in the Winter movement of Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

For their upcoming dinner and show pairing, the PSO has partnered with Morcilla to bring a multi-sensory Spanish experience. The program, titled Carmen & Beethoven, will pair with a smattering of tapas from the restaurant: marinated manzanilla olives, Marcona almonds, marinated vegetable escabeche, queso en aceite, bread, and a chef’s selection of salami. The menu and concert will both be available until April 30.

“Both food and music are emotional and soulful experiences, and both provide necessary sustenance,” says Goetz. “We hope everyone will taste the love that’s in the food and hear the love that’s in the music.”

To purchase tickets to the Music + Food pairings, go online. Menus are available for order directly from the restaurant.