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Music Director Peter Oundjian and
the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
are pleased to announce the 2008.2009
Season. In addition to the already well established and
popular concert series, the 87th season will introduce two new
series for subscribers called Afterworks
and Masterworks Prestige; will
present special performances of Berlioz's
The Damnation of Faust and Mozart's
The Magic Flute in concert; and will include a mini-festival
featuring the music of Bartók and
Richard Strauss. In his fifth year
as Music Director, Peter Oundjian continues the popular Mozart
Festival, Mozart@253 and the New
Creations Festival.
MAJOR INITIATIVES AND HIGHLIGHTS
CARNEGIE HALL CONCERT
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to have been invited
back to the mecca of classical music, the prestigious Carnegie
Hall in New York. In this long-awaited return, the TSO
will appear at Carnegie Hall for the first time since 1998.
On Saturday, October 4, 2008, Maestro Peter Oundjian will lead
the TSO in a dramatic programme featuring Benjamin
Yusupov's Viola Tango Rock Concerto with very special
guest, multi-award-winning violinist Maxim
Vengerov. This piece was conceived with Vengerov in mind.
He will perform the viola, the electric violin, and dance the
tango in this remarkable concerto. The North American première
of Viola Tango Rock Concerto includes
performances on October 1 and 2 in the TSO's home at Roy Thomson
Hall, and October 4 at Carnegie Hall. The evening's programme
also includes Shostakovich's Symphony
No. 11 "The Year 1905".
Porter Airlines, lead
sponsor for this performance in New York, will soon be adding
daily flights to New York from Toronto and also sponsor the
TSO's new Prestige Series, a seven-concert
Masterworks series featuring a
superb lineup of guest artists. Porter Airlines will be the
TSO's Official Airline for the season.
NOTABLE PREMIÈRES
Every year the TSO co-commissions works from prominent contemporary
composers with some of the most prestigious orchestras all over
the globe.
This season, the TSO is collaborating with the
London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Stockholm Philharmonic
Orchestra in a co-commission of Mark-Anthony
Turnage's Mambo, Blues, and Tarantella written for Christian
Tetzlaff, which will be given its North American première
in November in Toronto and Ottawa. In April, as part of the
New Creations Festival, the TSO
will introduce a Canadian première of Jennifer
Higdon's Violin Concerto, which was co-commissioned with
the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony
Orchestra, and the Curtis Institute of Music; the New
Creations Festival will also feature a world première
of Alexina Louie's TSO commission,
a concerto for string quartet and orchestra. Other Canadian
premières include William Bolcom's
Violin Concerto and three pieces by Tan
Dun: The Map, and his concertos for piano and pipa.
RECORDINGS AND DOWNLOADS
This season, the TSO will release its first self-produced commercial
recording on its own TSO Live label.
The recording, entitled "Portraits", is the first
of several planned in 2008, and features Mussorgsky's
Pictures at an Exhibition, and Elgar's
Enigma Variations. These recordings, which will be available
on compact disc at the Roy Thomson Hall Music Store, L'Atelier
Grigorian, and as downloads from a variety of online music retail
outlets accessible by visiting www.tso.ca, were made possible
by special funding from the Canada Council for the Arts as part
of the Supplementary Operating Funds Initiative.
"By producing these recordings, we are
joining the ranks of other major orchestras around the world
in making our music available to a wider audience," said
Music Director Peter Oundjian, who also expressed his pleasure
at being able to realize this important initiative. "I
am delighted with our Orchestra's wonderful performance. I hope
our audience enjoys our new recording, and is able to share
them with other lovers of orchestral music."
GUEST ARTIST HIGHLIGHTS
GUEST CONDUCTORS
A roster of internationally acclaimed maestros will join the
TSO throughout its impressive 08.09 season. TSO Music Director
Peter Oundjian will conduct 33 concerts and is very proud to
welcome returning established maestros as well as bright young
stars of the future.
Conductor Laureate Sir Andrew
Davis (TSO Music Director from 1975 to 1988), the Music
Director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, will conduct two programmes
for the TSO. The first will include Stravinsky's
Symphony in 3 Movements as well as feature Canadian violinist
James Ehnes performing Tchaikovsky's
Violin Concerto. The second concert, featuring renowned
violinist Leonidas Kavakos, will
be centred around Brahms's Violin Concerto.
Günther Herbig,
TSO Music Director from 1988 to 1994, returns to conduct the
rarely performed Mahler's Symphony No.
6.
Renowned American conductor and five-time Grammy
Award-winner (and recipient of more than 60 Grammy nominations),
Leonard Slatkin returns to the
TSO to conduct Brahms's
Symphony No. 1, and the Canadian première of William
Bolcom's Violin Concerto, played by Gil
Shaham.
Numerous Canadian conductors will also lead the
TSO this season. Noel Edison will
conduct Handel's Messiah; Gary Kulesha
will lead his own Cello Concerto
as part of the New Creations Festival;
Bernard Labadie will conduct a concert performance of
Mozart's The Magic Flute; Alain Trudel
will lead the TSO in Mendelssohn's "Reformation"
Symphony No. 5; and rising international star Yannick
Nézet-Séguin returns to lead a programme
of Prokofiev and Ravel.
Conductors making their TSO débuts include
Danish-Italian Giordano Bellincampi,
Nicaragua-born Costa Rican Giancarlo Guerrero,
China's Xian Zhang, American Edwin
Outwater, Hungarian Gregory Vajda,
and Canadians Michelle Mourre and
Joey Pietraroia.
GUEST SOLOISTS
GREAT PERFORMANCES
Blockbuster concerts are planned again this season for Great
Performances. This season, the extraordinary pianist
Lang Lang will perform two contrasting
concertos in one night! Superstar violinists Joshua
Bell and Itzhak Perlman
return, with Mr. Bell playing Barber's
Violin Concerto and Mr. Perlman playing Beethoven's
Violin Concerto. In a concert co-produced with Roy Thomson
Hall, the Silk Road Ensemble will
feature its Artistic Director and cellist Yo-Yo
Ma, in a fascinating musical journey inspired by the
Silk Road that includes both traditional and newly commissioned
works.
BARTÓK/STRAUSS FESTIVAL
TSO favourites, pianist Emanuel Ax and
Canadian diva Measha Brueggergosman,
will take part in the Bartók/Strauss
mini-festival.
GUEST SOLOISTS - VIOLIN
Violinist Midori returns in a programme
of Schumann and Dvorák,
Christian Tetzlaff performs the North American première
of a new work by Mark-Anthony Turnage,
and Pekka Kuusisto returns with
the popular Four Seasons by Vivaldi.
Jacques Israelievitch, TSO Concertmaster for 20 years, returns
for a solo role with the Orchestra, performing Bruch's
Violin Concerto No. 1.
GUEST SOLOISTS - PIANO
Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 2 will
be performed by special guest Yefim Bronfman,
and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3
will be played by the legendary pianist Radu
Lupu.
ARTIST DÉBUTS
GUEST SOLOIST DÉBUTS - VOCAL
Mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer,
tenor Gregory Kunde, and bass Sir
Willard White will all make their TSO débuts in
Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust,
which promises to be a season highlight.
GUEST SOLOIST DÉBUTS
- CELLO
Finnish cellist Anssi Karttunen
will perform the Canadian première of Tan
Dun's The Map (Concerto for Cello, Video, and Orchestra),
and German-born cellist Johannes Moser
will perform Haydn's Cello Concerto in
C Major.
GUEST SOLOIST DÉBUT
- PIANO
Known for an artistic maturity well beyond her years, 20-year-old
pianist Natasha Paremski will perform
Rachmaninoff's demanding Second
Piano Concerto, and critically acclaimed American pianist
Jeremy Denk will perform J.S.
Bach's Piano Concerto No. 1.
CANADIAN ARTISTS
Several Canadian vocalists are making their TSO débuts
this season, including soprano Aline Kutan,
mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy,
tenor Peter Blanchet and baritone
Joshua Hopkins, all of whom will
appear in Mozart's The Magic Flute.
Ms. McHardy will also appear in
Handel's Messiah, in a cast that
features three other debuting Canadians: soprano Gillian
Keith, tenor Frédéric
Antoun, and bass Robert Gleadow.
Another outstanding Canadian making his TSO début is
20-year-old pianist Avan Yu, who
first came to national attention by winning the Canadian Chopin
Competition at the age of 17, after taking first prize at the
Canadian Music Competition in both 2001 and 2002. He will perform
with the visiting Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
in May.
Canadians returning to the TSO include soprano
Karina Gauvin, bass-baritone Nathan
Berg, violinist James Ehnes,
cellist Shauna Rolston, and pianist
Louis Lortie.
TSO PRINCIPALS
Peter Oundjian values the wealth of talent within the Toronto
Symphony Orchestra, featuring them in a number of concerts each
season. Michael Sweeney (Principal
Bassoon), Joaquin Valdepeñas
(Principal Clarinet), Sarah Jeffrey
(Principal Oboe), and Neil Deland
(Principal Horn) will take part in Mozart's
Sinfonia Concertante for Winds, K. 297b during the Mozart@253
Festival. Joaquin Valdepeñas
will also appear with Andrew McCandless
(Principal Trumpet) in a concert in which Valdepeñas
will perform Weber's Concertino for Clarinet
and McCandless will play Hummel's
Trumpet Concerto. Principal Violist Teng
Li will perform Takemitsu's A String
Around Autumn during the New Creations
Festival.
GUEST ORCHESTRAS
Currently in his tenth season as Music Director of the National
Arts Centre Orchestra, Pinchas
Zukerman brings his orchestra back to Toronto as part
of the annual exchange between the NACO and the TSO. Zukerman
will conduct Beethoven's Fifth Symphony,
and conduct and play Mozart's Violin Concerto
No. 3.
The TSO is pleased to welcome the Vancouver
Symphony Orchestra with Music Director Bramwell
Tovey. As part of their tour of Ontario and Quebec, they
will perform an exhilarating and diverse programme ranging from
Debussy to a work by VSO's former
Composer-in-Residence Jeffrey Ryan.
ONTARIO TOURING
The TSO tours Ontario communities to bring a wider
audience live orchestral music of the highest calibre. Before
the main Toronto season begins in September, the TSO, led by
Maestro Alain Trudel, will visit
both Timmins and North Bay for public performances, student
concerts, and a variety of in- school programmes. This four-year
residency touring initiative is supported by the Ontario Trillium
Foundation and the Ontario Arts Council.
MATINEE MASTERWORKS AND
AFTERWORKS
Always striving to engage the public and to meet
its expanding needs, the TSO has designed a new series of concerts
and re-designed one of its old favourites. The modified Matinee
Masterworks on Thursdays will now be performed without
an intermission, making it very practical for those who wish
to get home before the rush hour starts. And the brand-new Afterworks
series on Wednesdays at 6:30pm will be perfect for those who
would rather while away the rush hour surrounded by beautiful
music instead of car fumes!
SERIES AND FESTIVALS
SPECTACULAR OPENING WEEKS
TSO OPENING NIGHT - SEPTEMBER 17.08
The TSO begins its season with Gustav
Mahler's Symphony No. 3 in D Minor. Peter Oundjian will
lead the Women of the Toronto Mendelssohn
Choir and the Toronto Children's
Chorus, as well as the foremost Canadian interpreter
of Mahler, mezzo-soprano Susan Platts
for three opening week performances of this monumental work.
LANG LANG
Following the Mahler Symphony No. 3, Lang
Lang, the sensational Chinese pianist and Artist-in-Residence
for the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympic Games returns to Toronto
after his sold-out dates here in the spring of 2008. He will
be in Toronto for a week-long residency in a series of community
engagements, a recital at Roy Thomson Hall, and two concerts
with the TSO, conducted by Peter Oundjian. In a demonstration
of his versatility and mastery of the piano, he will perform
two very different programmes. In the first concert he will
perform the Canadian première of Tan
Dun's Piano Concerto, and in the second he will explore
two contrasting masterpieces: Tchaikovsky's
Piano Concerto No. 1 and Chopin's
Piano Concerto No. 2.
VENGEROV: VIOLA TANGO ROCK
The TSO's opening weeks will culminate with the North American
première of Israeli composer Benjamin Yusupov's Viola
Tango Rock Conerto, created for one of the world's most
exciting violinists and winner of countless prizes,
Maxim Vengerov.
AIM TRIMARK MOZART@253
FESTIVAL
"The Toronto Symphony Orchestra
wants to mark every anniversary of Mozart's birth and, if they're
going to do it with the mix of careful craft and panache displayed
last night at Roy Thomson Hall, they can do it to the end of
time." - John Terauds, Toronto Star
Since 2005, Peter Oundjian's Mozart
Festival has consistently been an audience favourite!
He will lead two of the three programmes of the Festival, which
will also feature renowned Mozart specialist Robert
Levin on the piano. He will perform two contrasting piano
concertos, No. 24 and No.
20, and will also create his own "Mozart Fantasy",
improvising on the spot using themes provided by the audience.
Other Festival offerings include the famous
"Jupiter" Symphony No. 41, the Overture to
Così fan tutte, and Sinfonia
Concertante for Winds, featuring TSO members Sarah
Jeffrey on oboe, Joaquin Valdepeñas
on clarinet, Neil Deland on horn,
and Michael Sweeney on bassoon.
For the first time in the Mozart
Festival, the TSO presents a concert performance of a
Mozart opera. The Magic Flute will
be led by Canadian conductor and baroque/classical specialist
Bernard Labadie (Music Director
of Les Violons du Roy), and will feature a remarkable cast,
including sopranos Karina Gauvin
(Pamina) and Aline Kutan (Queen
of the Night), baritone Joshua Hopkins
(Papageno), bass-baritone Nathan Berg
(Sprecher), and bass Gary Relyea
(Sarastro), along with the University
of Toronto MacMillan Singers. Sung in German with English
SURTITLESTM.
THE FIFTH ANNUAL NEW
CREATIONS FESTIVAL
While the 07.08 New Creations Festival
is focused on keyboard instruments, in March 2009 the spotlight
will be on strings. The 08.09 New Creations Festival, features
four premières and has a strong Asian theme, with works
by Chinese composer Tan Dun (who
will share the podium with Peter Oundjian in two of the concerts);
Toru Takemitsu, recognized as the
leading Japanese composer of the 20th century; and a TSO commission/world
première by Canadian composer Alexina
Louie.
In the first concert, Oscar-winning composer Tan
Dun will conduct the Canadian première of his
work, The Map (Concerto for Cello, Video
and Orchestra), performed by Anssi
Karttunen. The Concerto is a hypnotic blend of live music
with video that celebrates the fusion of Chinese traditional
music with Western orchestra. Another highlight will be the
haunting viola and orchestra piece A String
Around Autumn, by Toru Takemitsu,
performed by TSO Principal Viola Teng
Li.
The second concert in the series will feature the
prominent Tokyo String Quartet
(with whom Peter Oundjian played First Violin for 14 years),
performing the world première of a new work by Alexina
Louie, a concerto for string quartet and orchestra. The
concert will also feature music of Tan
Dun, including Secret Land for
Twelve Cellos and the Canadian première of his
Pipa Concerto. The pipa, a Chinese
plucked string instrument, will be performed by Wu
Man, an internationally renowned pipa player and the
first artist from China to have appeared at the White House
with Yo-Yo Ma. She was also selected by Ma as the winner of
the City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protégé Prize
in music and communication.
The Festival will close on a high note with another
Canadian première by one of America's most popular living
composers, Jennifer Higdon. Her
Violin Concerto will be performed
by Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary
Hahn, whom Time Magazine
once named "America's Best" young classical musician.
Also on the programme will be the Cello
Concerto by TSO's eminent Composer Advisor, Gary
Kulesha, performed by the Canadian artist Shauna
Rolston.
BARTÓK/STRAUSS
FESTIVAL
"Contemporaries, worlds apart" is how Peter Oundjian
refers to Richard Strauss and Béla
Bartók. In June 2009, Toronto audiences will have
a rare opportunity to sample, compare, and contrast the works
of these two giants. Superstar Canadian soprano and Measha
Brueggergosman will grace the stage, singing Strauss's
hauntingly beautiful Four Last Songs,
and multiple Grammy Award- winner Emanuel
Ax will be joined by his wife, Yoko
Nozaki, in Bartók's Concerto
for Two Pianos and Percussion. The Festival will also
feature Bartók's Dance Suite, Concerto
for Orchestra and Divertimento
for Strings, and Strauss's Burleske
and Suite from Der Rosenkavalier.
THE DAMNATION OF FAUST
Master of French repertoire Charles Dutoit will lead a performance
of Hector Berlioz's stirring The
Damnation of Faust with a stunning cast which includes
American mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer,
American tenor Gregory Kunde, and
legendary bass Sir Willard White,
as well the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
and the Toronto Children's Chorus.
Sung in French with English SURTITLESTM.
SEASONAL CONCERTS
The holiday season begins with A Very
Merry Pops!, a concert of traditional favourites and
beloved classics under the baton of American conductor Jeff
Tyzik. Tenor Tonio DiPaolo
will be joined on stage by a 200-voice choir comprised of the
Mississauga Choral Society and
the Canadian Children's Opera Company.
Toronto's Favourite Messiah
returns again in December with an all-Canadian cast of superb
singers: soprano Gillian Keith, mezzo-soprano Allyson
McHardy, tenor Frédéric
Antoun, and bass Robert Gleadow. The soloists and the
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, which
performed its first Messiah in 1932, will be led by the TMC's
Artistic Director, Noel Edison.
A special family screening of Howard
Blake's The Snowman, accompanied live by the TSO, is
sure to delight young and old. The always entertaining vocal
comedienne Mary Lou Fallis will
lead the audience in a sing-along version of The
12 Days of Christmas, conducted by John
Morris Russell.
TSO POPS CONCERT SERIES
Returning for his 34th consecutive year to the TSO, Erich
Kunzel will conduct two concerts this season. Broadway
Rocks will feature hits from Tommy,
Phantom of the Opera, and Jesus
Christ Superstar. Pops Goes to
the Movies! will revisit beloved themes from Gone
With the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, Goldfinger, Rocky, Harry
Potter, and much more.
A Very Merry Pops! concert
will be followed by Swing! Swing! Swing!,
a jazzy trip back to the era of Big Band. Enduring classics
by Ellington, Porter, and Kern will be performed by multi-talented
singer/actress/composer Ann Hampton Callaway,
and conducted by Jack Everly. No
Pops series would be complete without Last
Night of the Proms, led by British conductor Bramwell
Tovey, and featuring the Toronto
Mendelssohn Choir.
CULTIVATING A NEW AUDIENCE
The TSO is cultivating its next generation of audience
members through its Desjardins Light Classics
Concerts and Desjardins Young People's
Concerts.
Light Classics Concerts
explore the more accessible repertoire of classical music. This
season, music of Mozart, Berlioz, Cherubini, Kodály,
Brahms, and Liszt will inspire new audiences through some of
the greatest classical hits of all time. The New Classical 96.3
FM is the media sponsor for these concerts.
Saturday afternoons will be devoted to introducing
children between the ages of 5 and 12 to the magic of live orchestral
music through concerts that include actors, dancers
and a few special surprises in Young People's Concerts. Join
conductor Tania Miller on a mission to discover what
makes music so special, experience Ravel's
Boléro as you've never heard it before with renowned
percussionist Evelyn Glennie, or
hear the future today with the Toronto
Symphony Youth Orchestra, the launching pad for many
of Canada's future orchestral musicians and soloists.
PARTNERSHIPS
The TSO thanks Roy Thomson Hall for its ongoing
collaboration over the years. The TSO also thanks, CBC Radio
for its long-time affiliation and support through the CBC Radio
Two Live Series, and recordings of TSO performances for national
broadcast. The TSO 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 support.
TSO ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP
Peter Oundjian, Music Director
Sir Andrew Davis, Conductor Laureate
Gary Kulesha, Composer Advisor
NEW CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTRE
The TSO is pleased to announce its new Customer
Service Centre, located at 212 King Street West on the first
floor, across from Roy Thomson Hall. Open during regular business
hours, the Customer Service Centre offers patrons the opportunity
to purchase subscriptions, exchange tickets, make donations,
and buy additional tickets. The TSO's Customer Service staff
can answer any questions in a personal, one-on-one setting.
The TSO is also pleased to announce a special partnership with
the Shaw Festival. Starting Monday, February 4, 2008, the TSO
Customer Service Centre will act as the Toronto box office for
the Shaw Festival for in-person purchases. Special offers to
TSO patrons
will be available, and hotel accommodation at Vintage Hotel
properties in Niagara can be arranged. The TSO Customer Service
Centre will be selling tickets for several other organizations
by spring 2008, with those partnerships to be announced shortly.
2008.2009 SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
A variety of Toronto Symphony Orchestra subscription
packages are available starting at $48. There are no service
charges and GST is included in all prices. For full pricing
schedule, refer to pages 40-42 in the 08.09 season brochure
or visit www.tso.ca
HOW TO ORDER
Early Bird Deadline:
March 8, 2008
Subscription Renewal Deadline:
April 4, 2008
Online:
Visit www.tso.ca
By Phone:
Call the Toronto Symphony Orchestra Subscriber Hotline at 416.598.3375
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
By Fax:
Fax completed order form (page 43 of the subscription brochure)
and credit card payment information to 416.598.9522, 24 hours
a day
By Mail:
Send completed order form (page 43 of the subscription brochure)
with cheque or credit card payment to TSO Customer Service Centre,
212 King Street West, 6th Floor, Toronto, ON M5H 1K5
In Person:
Bring completed order form and payment to the TSO Customer Service
Centre, 212 King Street West, 1st Floor, Toronto (northwest
corner of King and Simcoe Streets), Monday to Friday, 9am to
5pm
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