And for the past two nights, we've been traveling with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on their European tour.

WQED FM station manager and OnQ contributor Jim Cunningham accompanied the symphony and took a video camera along so that he could cover the tour for OnQ.

And now Jim's final report from Amsterdam, the Netherlands and London, England.

I'm Jim Cunningham with the Pittsburgh Symphony in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Amsterdam is one of the prettiest cities in Europe with more canals than Venice.

Amsterdam has thousands of buildings dating back to the 16th century.

It's one of the busiest cultural capitals in the world, with bicycles and trams and plenty of nightlife.

The Pittsburgh Symphony has been here several times before performing at the renowned Concert Gebouw Concert Hall.

It's where Mariss Jansons will become music director after he leaves the Pittsburgh Symphony next year.

Among the city's other popular attractions, the Anne Frank Museum.

Orchestra members went there shortly after arriving.

They saw Anne's diary and the bookcase leading to the secret hiding place where Anne and her family hid from the Nazis.

Principal Piccolo Rhian Kenny, brought her daughters, Lindus and Carrius on the tour.

They're good girls, you know.

They travel very well and I practice a little bit.

I rest a little bit and.

And we try to see a little bit.

And we met some little girls in Austria.

And so we had a play date and yesterday we saw the Anne Frank Museum.

And so we're doing a little bit.

Some symphony members toured the famous Van Gogh Museum.

Principal oboe Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida says Amsterdam is a great museum town.

I was able to walk over to the Van Gogh Museum, or Van Gogh, as they say here.

The exhibit was called Vincent's Choices, and it showed not just his works, but works by Rembrandt and Gauguin and Monet and people through history who influenced his his.

And they would show a landscape from Rembrandt and then a landscape of his.

It was remarkable.

Amsterdam may be a great place for history buffs, but it's also a great music city.

Among those traveling with the symphony, Mellon Financial Corporation Chairman and CEO Marty McGuinn.

You know, Mellon's been sponsoring the symphony and working with our communities and the arts for more than 100 years, so this is not something we try to do just when the times are especially attractive.

It's a long term commitment for us, just as our business and our clients are.

So yes, we're we're tightening our belt these days, but we're also doing many of the things that we think are important for our communities as well as for our clients.

The night of the Pittsburgh Symphony performance an unexpected treat for concert goers.

Dutch accordionists playing Bach.

But it was the Pittsburgh Symphonys Schubert and Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth encore that brought the audience to their feet.

Dr.

Joel Freid is the artistic manager of the Concert Gebouw.

He's been at Pittsburgh Symphony fan since he spent two years with the Pittsburgh Opera under Tito Capablanca.

It's a very special evening.

Mariss has taken what was already a very fine orchestra and developed it even further, and the two pieces went together beautifully.

Of course, we all know that he has something very special to say about Shostakovich, but he also has a wonderful way with the Schubert Unfinished Symphony.

And you can tell that he has a wonderful relationship with the musicians.

They really hang on every gesture.

Principal timpanist Tim Adams says he enjoys performing in the Concert Gebouw A larger space, larger stage, the orchestra's more spread out.

I think you had to work harder playing Concert Gebouw then having played three concerts in Musikverein Wien which almost felt like home after one dress rehearsal, so they both very different.

Musikverein Wien is intimate and Concert Gebouw seems a little more vast.

Oh, I love playing in the Concert Gebouw.

and great audience.

Great hall, great acoustic, great tradition, great ambiance and atmosphere to play in and it's just always a pleasure to play there and acoustically it's memorable.

From Amsterdam, the Pittsburgh Symphony packed up their instruments and traveled west across the North Sea to London.

In a few minutes, we'll be showing you a video highlighting the safety information on board this Airbus to London.

They played the Barbican Hall for the grand finale of their European tour.

Barbican center is the home of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Mariss Jansons is a favorite in this town.

The London Orchestra once tried to hire him as their music director.

Mariss declined the offer and nowadays the orchestras just happy he performs here.

The Pittsburgh Symphony performed one concert with an encore of Massnets ballet music for El Cid.

Everyone wanted to tell Mariss what they enjoyed about the concert, including his former manager Jessica Ford.

It was the highlight of my professional career, working with a man who has such authority, who has such warmth, who cares for his orchestra, who cares for his public, and is so totally professional and at the service of the music at the same time.

I haven't met anybody like him.

And after tonight's concert, I don't think in a sense you feel that you'll never hear a concert as good as that ever again in your life until you hear the next Mariss Jansons concert.

Well, it was really outstanding.

I mean, it's exactly what we've come to expect of Mariss here.

And the orchestra played fantastically.

The the Shostakovich particularly was so incredibly powerful and wonderfully controlled and overpowering emotionally, I think.

And the orchestra plays really brilliantly.

For Pittsburgh Symphony managing director Gideon Toeplitz, the end of the 2003 European tour was bittersweet.

My last two, my last concerts of my last two, I have seen this orchestra go from being a good orchestra to being a great orchestra, and they are now a real superb orchestra in any standard, in any place.

And I just hope that everybody in Pittsburgh continues to appreciate it, because this is a a pleasure that should continue to be a pleasure.

And Jim tells us that Gideon Toeplitz last day as managing director of the symphony was this past Friday, and there's no word yet on his future plans.

As for future tours, orchestra members will be headed back to Europe in August for two weeks, where they will perform in music festivals in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and England.

And remember, you can hear the Pittsburgh Symphony on WQED FM 89.3 every Tuesday night at 7:00 and Sunday afternoons at 2.