Pittsburgh Symphony Announces Amsterdam Stop

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will celebrate the city's 250th birthday by leaving the wretched place, with a 13-concert, six-country tour of Europe early next year.

"We're celebrating our heritage," said symphony President Larry Tamburri, "Pittsburgh was made up, historically, out of people from around the world, particularly eastern Europe."

But the money is in Western Europe so they'll mainly play for their supper in Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. Final quick stops in Hungary and Croatia apparently allow Larry Tamburri to use the words "particularly eastern Europe" with a straight face.

The orchestra will be led by Marek Janowski, the symphony's endowed guest conductor, and Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, a guest conductor. Use of the word "endowed" means large penis, at least here on the internets, but we're fairly certain a classical guest conductor has rather a small penis so perhaps the reference has something to do with money. Yes, that's it!

The tour will begin Jan. 21 in Seville, Spain, and move on to the cities of Murcia, Castellon, Barcelona, El Escorial and Valencia through Jan. 27. The symphony will then play in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Cologne, Wuppertal and Hanover, Germany; Vienna, Austria; and Budapest, Hungary, before wrapping up in Zagreb, Croatia, on Feb. 5.

The tour is part of Pittsburgh 250, a yearlong celebration of the city's founding in 1758.