on the sceneToronto Symphony Orchestra Celebrates 100 years at New York Metropolis’s Carnegie HallNolan BryantMarch 5, 2023

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra takes New York, Feb. 12 & 13, New York

To New York they went, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, as a part of their celebratory 12 months marking the one hundredth anniversary of the beloved establishment. It was a return of kinds for the orchestra to the storied Carnegie Corridor – a stage they’ve graced because the early Nineteen Sixties (and most not too long ago in 2011).

For the TSO’s music director Maestro Gustavo Gimeno, the efficiency on Feb. 13 marked his Carnegie Corridor debut. With him from Toronto got here a program that served as a pleasant nod to the previous, current and way forward for the TSO. He opened the night with Canadian composer Samy Moussa’s Symphony No. 2, which the corporate commissioned and premiered final spring, then adopted it with Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole that includes the dynamic Spanish violin prodigy Maria Duenas. Following intermission was the timeless and really beautiful suite of Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet assembled by the Maestro Gimeno himself which rounded out the night. Waves of applause and a pair of encores adopted.

The night time earlier than the efficiency, on the Higher East Facet of Manhattan, the residence of Canada’s Ambassador and Everlasting Consultant to the United Nations, Bob Rae and his spouse Arlene Perly Rae, offered the backdrop for a cocktail reception to rejoice the TSO’s time in New York. The Honourable Bob Rae was a becoming host – he’s been long-esteemed by each the group and the TSO’s patrons for serving to to stabilize the orchestra again in 2001 when the chief director resigned somewhat instantly leaving the place in disarray. There within the room, alongside the aforementioned Duenas, Moussa and Maestro Gimeno, who have been the night’s friends of honour, was broadcast legend Tom Clark (with spouse Janey Reid), who was introduced simply days earlier than the reception as Canada’s subsequent consul-general in New York. There too have been members of the TSO’s devoted board of administrators, chief amongst them Catherine Beck, who presently serves as chair (and whose household have been long-time, massively beneficiant supporters of the TSO, amongst different causes). Current gen-next TSO board addition Michael Lockhart was there too, as have been fellow cultural champions Reena Bhatt of New York, a director at Alchemy Capital Planning who serves on the Nationwide Arts Centre board and Ian M.H. Joseph, president of Paradigm Capital and chair of the Shaw Competition’s board. André Frenette, Deputy Consul Normal of Canada in New York, was out, and there in fact was Mark Williams, CEO of the TSO.