The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1906, the TSO gave regular concerts at Massey Hall until 1982, and since then has performed at Roy Thomson Hall. The TSO also manages the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra (TSYO). The TSO's most recent music director was Peter Oundjian, from 2004 to 2018. Sir Andrew Davis, conductor laureate of the TSO, has most recently served as the orchestra's interim artistic director. Gustavo Gimeno is music director of the TSO, since the 2020–2021 season.[1]
Then-music director Peter Oundjian posing with the TSO at Roy Thomson Hall before a concert in January 2012Peter Oundjian conducting the TSO at Roy Thomson Hall in June 2014
The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923 with 58 musicians. The first conductor was Luigi von Kunits, and that season there were twenty concerts, as well as a performance at a spring festival.[2]
In the summer of 1924, the symphony performed at the Canadian National Exhibition. Shortly thereafter, the TSO began holding children's concerts.[2] The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. In 1929, the TSO made its radio debut with a one-hour broadcast on CBC Radio from the Arcadian Court of Simpson's department store.[2]
After von Kunits' death in 1931, conductor and composer Ernest MacMillan served as music director for 25 years.[2] The orchestra had made headlines for its hiring practices in 1951, when it declined to renew the contracts of musicians, thereafter known as the Symphony Six, who had been denied entry to the United States on suspicion of communist activities, during the McCarthy Era.
Andrew Davis was the TSO's music director from 1975 to 1988. The TSO subsequently granted Davis the title of conductor laureate.[3]
The orchestra had financial and audience size problems during the 1990s, and in 1992, TSO musicians accepted a 16% pay cut because of a threat of bankruptcy to the orchestra, with a promise from management to make up the loss in subsequent contract negotiations. By 1999, this pay restoration had not happened, which led to an 11-week musicians' strike that autumn.[4] Relations between the musicians and management deteriorated, and the music director at the time, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, offered to serve as mediator in the situation. In addition, there was a lack of public sympathy to the orchestra musicians' situation.[5] By 2001, the TSO had debt of $7 million (Canadian), and both executive director Ed Smith and music director Saraste had left the ensemble.[6]
Peter Oundjian was appointed as music director in January 2003 and became music director with the 2004–2005 season.[7] The 2005 documentary film Five Days in September: The Rebirth of an Orchestra (Canada, 2005) recorded the first days of the TSO's inaugural season with Oundjian as its new music director.[8] His most recent TSO contract extension was through the 2017-2018 season.[9] He concluded his TSO tenure at the close of the 2017-2018 season and was given the title of conductor emeritus.[10] With Oundjian, the TSO made commercial recordings for its own TSO Live label and for such labels as Chandos.[11][12]
By the 2006–2007 season, the subscriber base had increased to about 25,000, and the audience average capacity also increased to 84%.[13] In November 2008, the orchestra reported its third consecutive year of budget surpluses, with average audience attendance of 88% (excluding concerts for schoolchildren), although the orchestra still retains overall debt of $8.9 million (Canadian).[14]
In April 2015, controversy ensued after the TSO cancelled the appearance of Valentina Lisitsa, citing Twitter postings by her in relation to the conflict in Ukraine which were seen as conducive to 'public incitement of hatred' under the Criminal Code of Canada.[15]
In January 2017, the TSO announced its participation in the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Canada, with a cross-country celebration of Canadian music and musicians to involve 40 orchestras and as many as 60 new commissions called "Canada Mosaic" and funded by the Canadian government.[16][17]
In May 2017, the TSO announced the return of Davis to the orchestra as its interim artistic director, beginning with the 2018-2019 season, for a period of two seasons.[18] In April 2018, the TSO announced the appointment of Matthew Loden as its next chief executive officer (CEO), effective July 2018.[19]
In February 2018, Gustavo Gimeno first guest-conducted the TSO. On the basis of this appearance, the TSO announced the appointment of Gimeno as its next music director, effective with the 2020-2021 season, with an initial contract of 5 years.[20]
In July 2020, the TSO announced the cancellation of its originally scheduled 2020-2021 concert season, with plans to be announced for replacement concerts on a smaller scale in various Toronto venues, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] In July 2021, the TSO announced that Matthew Loden is to stand down as its CEO, effective 22 September 2021.[22] In January 2022, the TSO announced the appointment of Mark Williams as its next chief executive officer, effective April 2022.[23] In November 2022, the TSO announced the extension of Gimeno's contract as its music director through 2030.[24]
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its primary performance venue is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood. Jader Bignamini is the current music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, with Jeff Tyzik as Principal Pops Conductor, Enrico Lopez-Yañez as Principal Pops Conductor Designate, and Na'Zir McFadden as assistant conductor. Leonard Slatkin, the previous music director, is the orchestra's current music director laureate. Neeme Järvi, music director from 1990 to 2005, is the orchestra's current music director emeritus.
Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a Finnish conductor and violinist.
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) is a Scottish orchestra, based in Glasgow. It is one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has played an important part in Scotland’s musical life, including performing at the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament building in 2004.
The Oslo Philharmonic (Oslo-Filharmonien) is a Norwegian symphony orchestra based in Oslo, Norway. The orchestra traces its roots to the Philharmonic Society founded in 1847 and the Christiania Musical Association co-founded by Edvard Grieg in 1871, and was established in its current form in 1919. Since 1977, it has had its home in the Oslo Concert Hall. The orchestra gives an average of sixty to seventy symphonic concerts annually, the majority of which are broadcast nationally on the radio. The Oslo Philharmonic entered into a close collaboration with the newly established national broadcasting company, the NRK, in 1934. Its current chief conductor is Klaus Mäkelä.
Peter Oundjian is a Canadian-American violinist and conductor.
In Canada, classical music includes a range of musical styles rooted in the traditions of Western or European classical music that European settlers brought to the country from the 17th century and onwards. As well, it includes musical styles brought by other ethnic communities from the 19th century and onwards, such as Indian classical music and Chinese classical music. Since Canada's emergence as a nation in 1867, the country has produced its own composers, musicians and ensembles. As well, it has developed a music infrastructure that includes training institutions, conservatories, performance halls, and a public radio broadcaster, CBC, which programs a moderate amount of Classical music. There is a high level of public interest in classical music and education.
Sir Andrew Frank Davis was an English conductor. He was the long-time chief conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He was music director at the Glyndebourne Festival from 1988 to 2000, and especially known for conducting the traditional Last Night of The Proms, including Last Night speeches. He was music director and principal conductor of the Lyric Opera of Chicago from 2000 to the 2020/21 season.
The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a Finnish broadcast orchestra based in Helsinki, and the orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). The orchestra primarily gives concerts at the Helsinki Music Centre. Primary funding comes from television licence fees from the Finnish population.
The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra based in Helsinki, Finland. Founded in 1882 by Robert Kajanus, the Philharmonic Orchestra was the first permanent orchestra in the Nordic countries. Today, its primary concert venue is the Helsinki Music Centre; the current chief conductor is Jukka-Pekka Saraste, who has held his post since the start of the 2023-24 season..
Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist. He is currently music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is scheduled to become Music and Artistic Director of the New York Philharmonic in 2026.
Alain Trudel is a Canadian conductor, trombonist and composer.
The Colorado Symphony is an American symphony orchestra located in Denver, Colorado. Established in 1989 as the successor to the Denver Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Symphony performs in Boettcher Concert Hall, located in the Denver Performing Arts center, and throughout the Front Range, presenting education and outreach programs, as well as Masterworks, Pops, Holiday, Family, and the Inside the Score and Symphony on the Rocks series.
The Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra (TSYO) is a high-level orchestral training programme for musicians aged 22 and under, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. TSYO alumni are found in most major performing organizations in Canada, and many have embarked on solo and chamber music careers worldwide. The TSYO is led by the TSO's RBC Resident Conductor, Simon Rivard, and coached by TSO musicians Shane Kim (Violin), Peter Seminovs (Violin), Theresa Rudolph (Viola), Joseph Johnson (Cello), Paul Rogers, Miles Jaques (Woodwinds), Nicholas Hartman (Brass), and Joseph Kelly (Percussion). Previous conductors include Alain Trudel, who conducted the orchestra from 2004 to 2012, and Shalom Bard.
The Symphony Six were a group of Canadian musicians under contract to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) who were denied entry to the United States for a concert tour in November 1951. Coming at the height of the McCarthy era in the US, the six musicians – Ruth Budd, Dirk Keetbaas, William Kuinka, Abe Mannheim, John Moskalyk, and Steven Staryk – were denied visas on the suspicion of being involved in communist activities. The TSO sent other musicians in their place and completed its tour. The six musicians resumed playing with the orchestra upon its return to Canada.
The Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, abbreviated to OPL, is a symphony orchestra based in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. The orchestra formerly performed at the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg and the Conservatoire de Luxembourg. Its current home is the Philharmonie Luxembourg, a large concert hall opened in 2005 in the Kirchberg quarter in the northeast of the city.
Ludwig Paul Maria "Luigi" von Kunits was a Canadian conductor, composer, violinist, and pedagogue. Born in Austria, he studied at the Vienna Conservatory. He later moved to Canada where he was the founding conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1922.
Robert Graham Manson was a British-born musician.
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) was a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario that was active during the first two decades of the 20th century under the leadership of conductor and pianist Frank Welsman. It was the first professional orchestra that existed for any notable length in the city of Toronto. After 13 seasons of performance, the orchestra folded in 1918 because of problems related to World War I. The current Toronto Symphony Orchestra is unrelated to this one.
The Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Opera is a Norwegian orchestra based in Trondheim, Norway. Its principal concert venue is the Olavshallen. The orchestra is organised as a trust and receives public assistance from the Norwegian government, Trøndelag county and the municipality of Trondheim.
Gustavo Gimeno is a Spanish conductor. He is currently chief conductor of the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
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