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The Toronto Symphony Orchestra
and Music Director Peter Oundjian
are thrilled to announce their 2007.2008
Season of powerful symphonic works and the world's most
popular classics. Leading the TSO
into their 86th year, his fourth as Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Music Director, Oundjian will conduct thirteen weeks of concerts
in a variety of series including Masterworks, Light Classics,
the Dvorák Signature Series, Casual Concerts, the Matinee
Series, Young People's Concerts, a three-week festival of Russian
and American music, his annual Mozart@252 Festival, and the
Fourth Annual New Creations Festival.
In 07.08, the TSO
will host internationally renowned conductors, soloists, and
the hottest young musicians of the next generation. "2007.2008
is a very special year for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra with
a remarkable lineup of artists from today's classical music
world," remarked Maestro Oundjian. "Emanuel
Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Evgeny Kissin, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter,
Itzhak Perlman, and Mstislav Rostropovich
are but a few of the giants who will share the stage with the
TSO. It is also an honour to salute
previous TSO decades on the podium
as my illustrious predecessors Jukka-Pekka
Saraste, Günther Herbig
and Sir Andrew Davis return as
distinguished guest conductors. It is a privilege to carry on
their legacies as music directors of the TSO."
TSO 2007.2008 SEASON ARTIST
HIGHLIGHTS
GUEST CONDUCTORS
- Conductors gracing the Roy Thomson Hall stage during the
TSO 07.08 Season include three
decades of TSO music directors,
internationally acclaimed maestros and rising podium stars!
- Conductor Laureate Sir Andrew Davis,
TSO music director from 1975-1988 and current music
director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, will conduct two concerts
featuring Grammy Award-winning virtuoso pianist Evgeny
Kissin in October and TSO
principal clarinet Joaquin Valdepeñas
in March.
- Steeped in the German classical tradition, Günther
Herbig, TSO music director from 1988-1994, will conduct
Schubert's Symphony No. 9 in C "Great".
- After a five-year absence, TSO
music director from 1994-2001 and current music director of
the Oslo Philharmonic, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
makes a much-anticipated return! Maestro Saraste will conduct
Mahler's last completed score,
Symphony No. 9, and the Canadian
premiere of a work by fellow Finn Magnus
Lindberg commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic specifically
to accompany Mahler's Ninth.
- The TSO is exceedingly honoured
to welcome Mstislav Rostropovich
and his miraculous spirit to the podium! Considered one of
history's greatest cellists and ambassadors of classical music,
Mstislav Rostropovich - or "Slava" - holds more
than 40 honourary degrees and over 130 major awards, musical
and humanitarian, from 30 nations. He has recorded virtually
the entire cello repertoire and inspired many of this century's
finest composers to create works especially for him including
Shostakovich whose Symphony
No. 1 in F Minor he will conduct along with Tchaikovsky's
Symphony No. 6 in B Minor "Pathétique".
- Electricity will be the idée
fixe as the dynamic Charles Dutoit
leads the highly-charged French string-wielding Capuçon
brothers, violinist Renaud and
cellist Gautier in their TSO
debut with Brahms's Double Concerto
for Violin and Cello. Their unabashed virtuosity will
only be rivaled by Dutoit's expert direction of Symphonie
Fantastique, Berlioz's semi-autobiographical work from
his love-struck youth.
- Giants of man and music will merge as Itzhak
Perlman, a superstar by every standard, will conduct
Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor
and Mozart's Symphony No. 25 in G Minor,
K. 183. Doubling as a violin virtuoso, Perlman will
be joined by principal oboe Sarah Jeffrey
for J.S. Bach's Concerto for Violin
and Oboe.
- Dutch triple-sensation Reinbert deLeeuw,
internationally known as a conductor, composer, and keyboard
player, is the perfect choice to share the podium with Peter
Oundjian in two concerts in the Fourth Annual New Creations
Festival celebrating the 100th anniversary of Olivier
Messiaen's birth and contemporary keyboard works.
- Favourite maestros also return! Skyrocketing Yannick
Nézet-Séguin will conduct two TSO
concerts. The 31-year old Montrealer was recently appointed
to follow Russian super-maestro Valery Gergiev as principal
conductor for the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Nézet-Séguin's
first concert is part of the Dvorak Signature Series; his
second features an all-Brahms programme with pianist Stephen
Kovacevich making his TSO
debut with his powerful interpretation of the Romantic master's
music. Also returning are Bach-expert Helmuth
Rilling; Danish conductor Thomas
Dausgaard; and BBC Philharmonic principal conductor
Gianandrea Noseda, whose zesty
performance last year in Toronto drew raves.
- Making their TSO debuts in
the Light Classics Series are associate conductor for the
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under Michael Tilson Thomas,
James Gaffigan; and Canadian-born,
Trinidad-raised music director of Orchestre National Bordeaux
Aquitaine, Kwamé Ryan.
Returning to conduct the Light Classics is another Canadian,
35-year old Toronto-born Charles Olivieri-Munroe,
praised for his interpretation of Slavic repertoire, in a
programme of Dvorák and Smetana.
GUEST SOLOISTS
International heavyweights and the new generation of classical
stars come together in the TSO's
07.08 season. Guest artists joining the TSO
include twenty pianists, seven violinists, one violist, four
cellists, twenty-four vocal soloists, an accordionist, organist,
and player of the rarely-heard ondes martenot (Martenot waves),
an electronic instrument invented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot.
DEBUT ARTISTS
The TSO is thrilled to welcome
an exciting array of artists in their TSO
debuts including 24-year old American cellist Alisa
Weilerstein; 26-year-old pianist Jonathan
Biss representing the third generation in a family of
musicians; 34-year old Argentinean pianist Ingrid
Fliter, recipient of the prestigious Gilmore Artists
Award; 16-year old Korean piano prodigy Ji
Yong, who made his debut with the New York Philharmonic
at the age of ten; 24-year old Chinese pianist Yundi
Li, who won Warsaw's illustrious International Frédérick
Chopin Piano Competition; and the phenomenal French-born Renaud
and Gautier Capuçon, brothers
whose rapport on stage has been called 'uncanny'.
TSO PRINCIPALS
This year the TSO will offer audiences
the opportunity to become better acquainted with their orchestral
players as soloists. TSO principals
featured in the 07.08 Season are:
- Concertmaster Jacques Israelievitch
with Joan Tower's Violin Concerto
- Principal violist Teng Li in
Bartók's Viola Concerto,
completed three weeks before the composer's death
- Principal double bass Jeffrey Beecher
in Mozart@252
- Principal oboe Sarah Jeffrey
performing J.S. Bach's playful
Concerto for Violin and Oboe
- Principal clarinet Joaquin Valdepeñas
with Copland's Clarinet Concerto,
originally written for the late-Benny Goodman
- Principal French horn Neil Deland
playing Richard Strauss's Horn Concerto
No. 1 in E-Flat, inspired by Strauss's horn-playing
father
- Principal trumpet Andrew McCandless
with one of the most important trumpet pieces of the 20th
century, Jolivet's Concertino for Trumpet,
Piano and Strings
GUEST ARTISTS - PIANO
Favourite pianists also return for the 07.08 Season including
35-year old Evgeny Kissin, hailed
by The Independent, UK as "the
greatest pianist of his generation," with Brahms's
Piano Concerto No. 1. Jon Kimura Parker will play Rachmaninoff's
hauntingly melodic Piano Concerto No.
2. The prolific Garrick Ohlsson
will perform Mozart's Piano Concerto No.
27, K. 595, the composer's final piano concerto. A major
force in Europe, US-born Stephen Kovacevich
will perform Brahms's Piano Concerto No.
2. Four Beethoven piano concertos will be heard including
the serenely contemplative Piano Concerto
No. 4 in G performed by the multi-award-winning Emanuel
Ax. Anton Kuerti's refined brilliance will grace the
resplendent Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat
"Emperor".
GUEST ARTISTS - STRINGS
The late-Yehudi Menuhin called violin virtuoso Vadim
Repin "the most perfect violinist" he had ever
heard. Repin is the first string soloist in the 07.08 Season
with Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2.
Also performing Prokofiev, this time his Sinfonia
Concertante, will be Italian cellist Enrico
Dindo. Dutch violinist Janine Jansen,
the iTunes chart-topper who performed Shostakovich last June,
returns with Britten's Violin Concerto,
his wartime plea for peace. On the bill from Brandon, Manitoba,
the phenomenal James Ehnes will
play both violin and viola for a British-themed evening of works
by Walton, Vaughan Williams and Elgar.
GUEST ARTISTS - VOCAL
07.08 features several major symphonic works for vocal soloists
and chorus including Orff's Carmina Burana,
the season opener, and J.S. Bach's St.
John Passion, a TSO collaboration
with the Toronto International Bach Festival and Maestro Helmuth
Rilling, featuring six soloists including University
of Toronto graduates, sopranos Agnes Zsigovics
and Laura Albino, and the University
of Toronto MacMillan Singers. Certain to be a season
highlight, the fearless soprano Barbara
Hannigan who The New York Times
called a "demonic presence", will sing Rimbaud's seductive
poetry in Britten's Les Illuminations.
Audiences may recall Hannigan's breathtaking performance of
Dutilleux's Correspondences in
the 2005 inaugural New Creations Festival.
GUEST ORCHESTRAS
The TSO will welcome two visiting
orchestras to Roy Thomson Hall for a musical exchange. As artistic
advisor and principal guest conductor of the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra, Maestro Oundjian will bring this
fine orchestra to Toronto and the TSO
to Detroit's Max M. Fisher Music Center next season. Under Maestro
Oundjian, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert will feature
pianist Anton Kuerti and a programme
of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and composer
Joan Tower, who celebrates her
70th birthday in 2008. Pinchas Zukerman
and the National Arts Centre Orchestra
return in 2007 with the work of acclaimed Toronto composer Alexina
Louie and 19-year old wunderkind pianist Yuja
Wang who will perform Grieg's Piano
Concerto in A Minor in her TSO
debut. Likewise, for its third straight year, the TSO
will perform in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre.
TSO 2007.2008 SEASON SERIES
AND FESTIVALS
TSO OPENING NIGHT - SEPTEMBER
19.07
Opening night will be hot as the TSO
presents two riotously popular and rhythmically pulsating works,
Orff's Carmina Burana and Ravel's
Bolero! It is impossible to deny the universal appeal
of Bolero and its reputation as
a symbol of passion. Similarly, Carmina
Burana explores themes of love, lust, and the pleasures
of drinking which are conveniently camouflaged by Latin and
old German texts! At its largest, Carmina Burana employs a chorus
of 200 voices, an orchestra of 100, a children's choir of 50,
and three soloists. On September 19, the TSO
will rise to the challenge performing it with The
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Canadian
Children's Opera Chorus, countertenor Daniel
Taylor, baritone Hugh Russell,
and soprano Simona Saturová
whose magical performance so captivated audiences in last autumn's
Mozart Mass in C Minor that she was immediately invited to open
the 07.08 Season! Opening night will be one of three 07.08 concerts
broadcast live nationally on CBC Radio Two as part of the CBC
Radio Two Live Series.
AIM TRIMARK MOZART@252 FESTIVAL
- GENIUS AT EVERY AGE!
Spending time with the music of Mozart is a wonderful way to
start a new year. Since the sold-out Mozart@250 Festival, TSO
audiences couldn't agree more! Two years later, the late-great
composer's popularity continues and so does the TSO's
annual celebration of his works. Led by Maestro Oundjian, Mozart@252
Festival comprises three concerts offering a variety of his
most beloved symphonies, arias and piano concertos including
Symphonies No. 35 in D, K. 385 "Haffner",
No. 36 in C, K. 425 "Linz" and No. 40 in G Minor,
K. 550.
Also in Mozart@252 Festival is the seldom-encountered
aria Per questa bella mano for
bass and double bass performed by Samoan bass-baritone Jonathan
Lemalu and TSO principal
double bass Jeffrey Beecher, plus
a selection of popular arias sung by Canadian soprano Karina
Gauvin. TSO principals will
also perform the sole festival chamber piece, Mozart's
Quintet for Piano and Winds, K. 452 with 34-year old
Argentinean pianist Ingrid Fliter,
one of two rising talents making their TSO
debuts in Mozart@252 Festival. Known for her vivacious temperament
and colossal technique, Fliter will also perform Mozart's
Piano Concerto No. 23, K. 488. Dazzling 16-year old Korean
prodigy Ji Yong will perform Piano
Concerto No.12, K. 414.
DVORAK SIGNATURE SERIES
The music of Antonín Dvorák,
the man behind the crowning piece of the cello repertoire, anchors
this year's TSO Signature Series.
The TSO welcomes two exciting young
conductors of the highest caliber: Stéphane
Denève for the thoroughly Bohemian Symphony
No. 8 in G, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin
for the joyously pastoral Symphony No.
6 in D. Maestro Oundjian will conduct the Cello
Concerto performed by the 24-year old American Alisa
Weilerstein in her TSO debut.
The series also features Mozart's aptly-named Symphony
No. 38 in D, K. 504 "Prague", and a work by
Dvorak's compatriot Czech composer Bohuslav
Martinu whose Concerto for 2 String
Orchestras, Piano and Timpani will feature Toronto's
own Andrew Burashko. Tchaikovsky,
Dvorak's contemporary, will be represented by his heartfelt
Piano Concerto No. 1 played by
24-year old Chinese pianist Yundi Li
in his TSO debut. Of note is the
Canadian premiere of French composer Guillaume
Connesson's Symphonic Dances, a three-way commission
between Denève's Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Miami's
New World Symphony and the TSO.
THE FOURTH ANNUAL NEW CREATIONS
FESTIVAL
"Messiaen is the greatest colourist
of the twentieth century." - Peter Oundjian
Born in December 1908, composer and pedagogue Olivier
Messiaen was one of the most pivotal figures in 20th
century music. The Fourth Annual New Creations Festival celebrates
the 100th anniversary of Messiaen's birth with three concerts
showcasing his works. Messiaen found inspiration in religion
and music in the songs of birds. Audiences can listen for at
least 40 different birdsongs in Couleurs
de la cité céleste, Oiseaux Exotiques.
The TSO will also perform Trois
petites liturgies de la Présence Divine for female
chorus and orchestra, and the ten-movement large-scale orchestral
work Turangalîla Symphony,
premiered in 1949 by Leonard Bernstein and the Boston Symphony
Orchestra. For these works, the TSO
welcomes the technically astounding Marc-André
Hamelin and renowned Messiaen exponent Peter
Serkin.
A keyboard-lovers heaven, the New Creations Festival
will also showcase new works by a variety of composers for the
piano, harpsichord, accordion, organ, and the rarely-heard ondes
martenot. These include Malcolm Forsyth's
Accordion Concerto performed by Quartetto Gelato-member
Alexander Sevastian; Philip Glass's Harpsichord
Concerto performed by Anthony Newman;
and Jeffrey Ryan's Concerto for Piano
Trio and Orchestra, a joint commission with the Vancouver
Symphony Orchestra performed by the Toronto-based Gryphon
Trio. Jacques Hétu
will return for his third festival with Concerto
for Organ performed by Cathedral of Notre-Dame's organist
Olivier Latry on Roy Thomson Hall's
impressive Canadian-built Gabriel Kney pipe organ.
And the TSO is thrilled
to present the Canadian premiere of Esa-Pekka
Salonen's Piano Concerto written for the sensational
Yefim Bronfman who will perform
the work in Toronto. A new creation indeed, Bronfman gave its
world premiere with the New York Philharmonic just one week
ago on February 1!
SEASONAL CONCERTS
The TSO continues their sold-out
seasonal programming with a concert conceived by Windsor Symphony
music director John Morris Russell
featuring Charles Dickens's A Christmas
Carol narrated by Scott Coopwood
with music by Michael Runyan, and
a Christmas sing-along with the Canadian
Children's Opera Chorus. By popular demand, the TSO
will continue the recent tradition of hosting special 'extended
intermissions' where kids can decorate cookies and participate
in other festive activities.
In 07.08, the TSO
returns to Handel's original version
for Toronto's Favourite Messiah!
Baroque music expert Maestro Nicholas
Kraemer will conduct five performances of the magnificently
stirring and relentlessly catchy 265-year-old oratorio from
the harpsichord keyboard. Since their first performance of Messiah
in 1949, the TSO has captured the
hearts of over 350,000 fans. The tradition continues with The
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and soloists soprano Suzie
LeBlanc, mezzo-soprano Laura Pudwell,
tenor Michael Schade, and baritone
Stephen Morscheck.
TSO POPS CONCERTS SERIES
Pulling out all the stops, the TSO
offers another fantastic season of Pops! Grammy Award-winning
"Prince of Pops", Maestro Erich
Kunzel, celebrates his 33rd straight year conducting
the TSO with two unforgettable
concerts. First up is Symphonic Pops Spectacular
including marches, overtures and anthems from Verdi,
John Williams, David Foster and more! Raindrops on roses
and whiskers on kittens, Christmas with the von
Trapp Children and Erich Kunzel
will be one of your favourite things! The TSO
welcomes the great-grandchildren of Captain Georg von Trapp
for an unforgettable holiday concert.
The Pops Concerts Series continues with tributes
to two icons featuring vocalists Judy
McLane and Steve Lippia.
Gershwin Galore features favourite
hits from the man who conquered Broadway and the concert hall,
Rhapsody in Blue, Someone to Watch Over
Me and Porgy and Bess. Ol'
Blue Eyes is remembered in Celebrate Sinatra,
an evening jam-packed with timeless standards including Come
Fly With Me, New York, New York and That's
Life.
And what would a year of Pops be without the grand
finale Last Night of the Proms!
The engaging Bramwell Tovey, music
director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, will lead the
TSO in the jovial flag-waving songs
Rule Britannia, Jerusalem and Land
of Hope and Glory. (For pops-loving snowbirds, the TSO
has created a special fall-spring Pops series.)
DESJARDINS YOUNG PEOPLE'S
CONCERTS SERIES
The TSO's Young People's Concerts
Series, created for audiences ages 5 -12, has introduced generations
of children to classical music and the wonders of a live symphony
concert, a connection that lasts a lifetime. The 07.08 series
offers five affordable outings to spark young musical imaginations.
From the author of Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory, Roald Dahl's feisty
Little Red Riding Hood is a hilarious
twist on the classic tale performed by the actors and puppeteers
of Calgary's Dandi Productions
with music by Paul Patterson.
Family-concert conductor and composer par excellence,
Rob Kapilow's knack for engaging
listeners of all ages has earned him the title of the "pied
piper of classical music". In And
Furthermore They Bite!, Kapilow will bring the bumblebee
to flight and Saint-Saëns's Carnival
of the Animals to life!
An alien plot grips Roy Thomson Hall in Orchestra
From Planet X featuring Magic Circle
Mime Company! The future of earth music hangs in the
balance in a concert that is out of this world.
The talents of the Toronto
Symphony Youth Orchestra will be showcased in Musical
Heroes with conductor Alain Trudel.
The TSO is throwing
a birthday party for Glenn Gould and kids of all ages are invited!
Happy 75th Birthday Glenn Gould
celebrates the life of the late-legendary pianist who was born
in September 1932 and made his debut with the TSO
at 14 years old.
GREAT PERFORMANCES
Hailed as some of the most talented artists in the world, ever,
the TSO welcomes violinist Anne-Sophie
Mutter, pianist Lang Lang,
and cellist Yo-Yo Ma for three
blockbuster concerts!
The spellbinding multiple Grammy Award-winning
German über-star Anne-Sophie Mutter
will travel to 13 countries in 2007 including this rare Canadian
appearance with the TSO and Maestro
Oundjian. Visually and technically mesmerizing, Mutter
will perform Brahms's Violin Concerto,
one of the largest and most challenging works in the solo violin
repertoire. "She played like a goddess when she first hit
the headlines at 13, and she plays like one still."
- Andante
Virtuoso pianist Lang Lang
has been compared to "a cat with eleven fingers".
Part Mozart, part MTV, he has attracted a new generation of
classical music fans. One of the supreme talents to emerge in
years, Lang Lang will perform Beethoven's
youthful Piano Concerto No. 1 with
Maestro Oundjian. Always the showman,
Lang Lang will wrap audiences around his dazzlingly dexterous
fingers!
Two cello greats, one performing and one conducting,
unite on stage for one monumental concert. Yo-Yo
Ma will perform Shostakovich's
Cello Concerto No. 1 under the baton of Mstislav
Rostropovich, to whom the concerto was dedicated by the
composer.
TSO COMPOSER ADVISOR
AND COMPOSER AFFILIATES
"At the TSO,
we embrace our role as innovators."
- Peter Oundjian
One of Canada's most active composers and conductors,
Gary Kulesha is the TSO's
composer advisor. A new music specialist, Kulesha advises Maestro
Oundjian on the selection and preparation of contemporary works.
As a conductor he has premiered hundreds of pieces and his own
Fireworks and Procession will be
featured in the 2007 New Creations Festival. The
True Colour of the Sky, premiered by the TSO
under Jukka-Pekka Saraste in 2000, will also be performed in
07.08 alongside Mahler and Britten.
Shaping the future of Canadian music, Peter Oundjian
and the TSO appointed two young
Composer Affiliates in 2006: Abigail Richardson
and Andrew Staniland. Richardson
studied with Chan Ka Nin, Gary Kulesha and Allan Gordon Bell
and in addition to the TSO, has
had works commissioned by the Vancouver and Victoria symphonies,
Radio France, Tapestry New Opera Works and New Music Concerts.
In May 2007, the TSO will present
the world premiere of her new work. Between 2002 - 2006, Andrew
Staniland won six prizes in the SOCAN young composers competition
and among others. Staniland's TSO
commission, entitled Gaia, will
receive its world premiere this March in the 2007 New Creations
Festival.
ONGOING PARTNERSHIPS
The TSO wishes to thank CBC Radio
for their ongoing support with the CBC Radio Two Live Series
and recordings of TSO performances
for national broadcast. The TSO
also acknowledges the Government of Canada through the Canada
Council for the Arts, The Government of Ontario through the
Ontario Arts Council, The Ontario Trillium Foundation, and the
City of Toronto for their ongoing support.
TSO ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP
Peter Oundjian, Music Director
Sir Andrew Davis, Conductor Laureate
Gary Kulesha, Composer Advisor
TSO 2007.2008 SUBSCRIPTION
INFORMATION
A variety of Toronto Symphony Orchestra subscription packages
are available starting at $73. There are no service charges
and GST is included in all prices. For full pricing schedule,
refer to pages 40-42 in the 07.08 season brochure or visit www.TSO.ca
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