This upcoming season, Gustavo Gimeno and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra will be celebrating the TSO’s 100th anniversary with an array of outstanding programs, events and artists that pay homage to the orchestra’s rich past while at the same time launching a new chapter in the history of the TSO. The season program will feature many grand showpieces of the past – e.g. the TSO’s 100th performance of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique –, complementing core repertoire by contemporary creations including five newly commissioned Celebration Preludes and works by the TSO’s NextGen Composers.
Before the official start of the anniversary season, Gustavo Gimeno and four of his predecessors will all take to the podium on April 9 in a Music Directors’ Special Homecoming concert marking the beginning of the 15-month-long celebration.
Over the course of the 22/23 season, Gustavo Gimeno will lead ten Masterworks programs, including an all-Spanish program (March 29–April 2), two programs with renowned pianist Yuja Wang (October & June), and his own compilation of the Suite from Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet (February). In addition, he leads a Gala event starring Yo-Yo Ma (November), the TSO’s annual holiday performances of Handel’s Messiah (December), and the TSO’s first Relaxed Performance for neurodiverse, adult patrons with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 (March).
In February 2023, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra will also embark on its first tour with Gustavo Gimeno. This North American tour includes a return visit to New York City, the TSO’s annual orchestra exchange with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and marks the Orchestra’s début at Chicago’s Symphony Center.
The new season will also see the continuation of Gustavo Gimeno’s successful initiatives to support the next generation of Canadian and international talent, such as Explore the Score sessions where emerging composers have an opportunity to hear their works played and rehearsed by a professional orchestra; Women in Musical Leadership, a program designed by lead partner Tapestry Opera to develop the next generation of female and non-binary conductors; and the NextGen Composers program, which gives early-career composers the opportunity to have a short piece performed in concert by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
“I cannot fully express my delight and honour to be celebrating such an auspicious anniversary with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and our incredible Toronto community,” says Gustavo Gimeno. “We are doubly thrilled that in 2022/23 we not only celebrate a landmark event in our history, but also our first complete season of concerts in over two years.”
2022/23 season subscriptions are available April 8. Single tickets will be released in late summer 2022.
More information: www.tso.ca