Toronto Symphony Orchestra

Among Canadian orchestras, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra frequently earns recognition as one of the foremost ensembles. Its extensive discography includes numerous releases issued on leading international labels based beyond Canada.

Conductor Frank Welsman launched an ensemble in 1906 under the name Toronto Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, which became the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1908. Early performances took place at Massey Music Hall in Toronto, drawing composer-performers such as Rachmaninov and Elgar; the latter conducted his oratorio The Dream of Gerontius with the group in 1911. World War I reduced membership, leading to disbandment following the 1918 armistice. Local musicians and conductor Luigi von Kunits established a new Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1922; initially titled the New Symphony Orchestra, it delivered its debut concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The ensemble reclaimed the Toronto Symphony Orchestra designation in 1927 and initiated weekly national broadcasts two years afterward on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation network, transmissions that persist today on the Symphony Hall program alongside appearances by other orchestras. Upon von Kunits’s death in 1931, native Canadian Ernest MacMillan assumed leadership, holding the post until 1956 and remaining the longest-serving conductor to date. Under MacMillan the orchestra produced its earliest recordings, among them a version of Holst’s The Planets released on the RCA label.

Walter Süsskind took over from MacMillan in 1956 and programmed avant-garde figures such as Luciano Berio ahead of many peers. In 1965 Seiji Ozawa, then aged 30, became music director. International tours to England and France in 1966 and to Japan in 1969 generated widespread attention for both the orchestra and the rising conductor. Karel Ancerl succeeded to the post in 1969, directing acclaimed Beethoven and Brahms festivals in 1970 and 1971. After Ancerl’s death in 1973, several interim conductors served until Andrew Davis’s appointment as music director in 1975. Davis guided the ensemble on repeated tours and oversaw notable recordings, including a Columbia Records release featuring Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen Suite and Taras Bulba. The orchestra has presented its concerts at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto since 1982.

Its recordings have appeared regularly on prominent international labels such as Angel, Sony Classical, and, throughout much of the 2010s, Chandos. Following Davis’s departure in 1988, Gunther Herbig held the position for five years. Jukka-Pekka Saraste assumed the music directorship in 1994 and remained until the close of the 2001-2002 season, during which the Finlandia label issued the orchestra’s album of excerpts from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Ballet and Suite from The Love for Three Oranges. Peter Oundjian served as music director from 2004 to 2018, leading the ensemble through financial difficulties. Gustavo Gimeno succeeded him in 2020; despite a performance hiatus during the 2020-2021 pandemic period, Gimeno’s contract was extended through 2030, and he conducted the orchestra in a 2024 Harmonia Mundi recording of Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphonie.