“Gustavo Gimeno was in Toronto on Wednesday to introduce the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s 2020-21 season, his first as music director,” writes John Terauds in Thursday’s (2/6) Toronto Star (Canada). “The Spanish-born conductor will open the season Sept. 23 with Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 [and] rising star Canadian mezzo soprano Emily D’Angelo [in] arias from Mozart’s ‘La clemenza di Tito.’ … Composer and conductor Samy Moussa has been named the TSO’s first artist-in-residence. His dramatic, two-and-half-minute ‘Crimson’ from 2015 will serve as the season-opening fanfare…. Gimeno is expanding the number of relaxed concerts, which can accommodate people with different listening abilities. He is opening the doors to invite people to sit in on four lunchtime rehearsals. The TSO will mentor three young local composers,” Adam Scime, Bekah Simms, and Roydon Tse, who will be mentored by RBC Affiliate Composer Emilie LeBel in a new NextGen Composers initiative. The orchestra will perform Beethoven-inspired contemporary works by Unsuk Chin and Barbara Croall; concertmaster Jonathan Crow will lead an all-J.S. Bach program; and there will be a late-night performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Living composers represented in 2020-21 will include Hans Abrahamsen, Philip Glass, Jennifer Higdon, Nicole Lizée, Wynton Marsalis, and Steve Reich.
Change font size
