Toronto Symphony Orchestra Sets 11 Concerts for February

In February, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra presents 11 concerts with programmes and formats that range from the Beethoven and Bronfman starting after work at 6:30pm to the Orchestra Olympics, from Mahler and the visiting Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, to the great romance of Casablanca.

It's the Year of the Horse! The TSO is pleased to be presenting their first special Chinese New Year concert, modeled on the New York Philharmonic programme. Long Yu, Chief Conductor of the China Philharmonic and Music Director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, will lead the TSO in traditional Chinese and western orchestral music, featuring Chinese piano virtuoso Yuja Wang, Taiwanese-American violinist Cho-Liang Lin and Shanghai-born cellist Jian Wang. Highlights of the programme include Li Huanzhi's Spring Festival Overture, Mao Yuan's New Year's Greeting, Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Tan Dun's The Triple Resurrection.

The TSO's Year of the Horse programme includes a rare special appearance by the internationally acclaimed and Grammy-nominated Chinese vocal artist, Song Zuying. The most famous Canadian in China, the always engaging Dashan (Mark Rowswell), will host the evening. (February 3, 2014)

The Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra (TSYO), under the baton of RBC Resident Conductor Shalom Bard, will perform Brahms's Academic Festival Overture, Jeffrey Ryan's The Linearity of Light and Dvo?ák's Symphony No. 7, in the acoustically superb George Weston Recital Hall at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. (February 8, 2014)

Back at Roy Thomson Hall, the TSO is thrilled to be hosting the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) and Music Director Kent Nagano as they perform Mahler's 7th Symphony, kaleidoscopic evocation of night, mystery, and love. Symphony No. 7 offers a gallery of tone paintings that range in mood from forceful and march-like, to playfully lyrical and amorous. (February 12, 2014)

Just in time for Valentine's Day, the TSO will perform Max Steiner's glorious score live while the sublimely romantic film Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, is viewed on the big screen. Almost 71 years to the date the film was originally released, Casablanca is still widely admired and endures as a prime example of the golden age of Hollywood. TSO Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke will lead the Orchestra in the challenging task of accompanying a film live. The original surround sound! (February 14-15, 2014)

TSO Concertmaster Jonathan Crow has everything it takes to scale the Mount Everest of music for violin-Beethoven's Violin Concerto. Critics originally panned Beethoven's only completed violin concerto, but the work is now recognized as one of the greatest violin concertos ever written. Jonathan Crow will perform the concerto twice under the baton of Thomas Dausgaard as part of a Masterworks programme, and a third time for the enlightening What Makes it Great series with conductor and host Rob Kapilow. What Makes it Great will examine Beethoven's Violin Concerto through an engaging conversation between the audience and orchestra, followed by a performance of the piece in full. (February 19-20, 2014 with Dausgaard and February 21, 2014 with Kapilow)

As Canadian athletes participate in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the instruments of the Orchestra are also in training for an Olympic-inspired Young People's Concert. >From the ceremonial introduction to the low-note limbo, from the fast-note dash to the marathon, the TSO will be competing at the prestigious Orchestra Games with an eye towards the podium! The afternoon programme will include John Williams's Olympic Fanfare and Theme, Rossini's Overture to William Tell, Waldteufel's Skaters' Waltz, Josef Strauss' Jockey Polka, Jared Miller's 2010 Traffic Jam for Orchestra, Lavallée's O Canada, and Gregory Smith's The Orchestra Games, an exploration of the personalities of various instruments which Smith will be narrating. May the best instrument win! (February 22, 2014)

February concludes with an Afterworks Concert featuring Beethoven's Piano Concertos No. 2 and No. 4, conducted by TSO Music Director Peter Oundjian and performed by powerhouse pianist, Yefim Bronfman. Avoid rush hour with a 6:30pm start time and enjoy free hors d'oeuvres from Quinn's Steakhouse & Irish Bar in the hall before the concert, which is performed without intermission. (February 26, 2014)

TSO ticket line: 416.598.3375 Chinese hotline: 416.593.0688 Online: TSO.CA All concerts at Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. unless otherwise noted All artists, programmes, dates, prices, and chats are subject to change without notice.

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