Orchestra Toronto on Tour
For more than half a century, Orchestra Toronto has been one of the most beloved and essential community ensembles in Canada — with over 80 players, it's also the country's largest. Comprising a fleet of talented musicians who pay a small fee to rehearse and perform, the orchestra takes on great compositions from both the classical and popular repertoires, playing everything from Brahms, Smetana, and Rossini to The Beatles and Duke Ellington.
Established in 1954, Orchestra Toronto's long road to becoming the institution it is today began when it kicked off as the Bennington Heights Community Orchestra and featured just 55 members. The first director was Assen Kresteff, followed two years later by Albert Aylward, who had previously played in the Toronto Symphony for 25 years.
In 1964, former St. Catharines Symphony conductor Milton Barnes took the reins. The group expanded throughout the 1960s, starting a junior string ensemble that played on weekends; numerous members from the orchestra performed with this National Youth Orchestra. In 1967, the group incorporated as the East York Symphony. Growing to more than 60 members, they continued to thrive as Orval Reis, conductor of the University of Toronto Orchestra, took over.
The organization saw a diversity of talented conductors in the ‘70s, exposing members to new styles and techniques. In the ‘80s, the orchestra was mostly conducted by David Ford, who had been the head of music at North Toronto Collegiate. As conductor, Ford brought in a number of big names that garnered the orchestra recognition at the national level.
Douglas Stanford took over in 1991, going on to conduct the group for 21 years. In 1993, the orchestra played for the Canada CIS Foundation, serenading an audience that included former Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev. In the 1995-96 season, the ensemble partnered with the Royal Conservatory of Music to help young musicians gain orchestral experience. In 1998, they underwent yet another name change. They had finally become Orchestra Toronto.
Dr. Errol Gay took over in the 2002-03 season after conducting orchestras in New York, Texas, and North Carolina; he also had been the conductor and chorus master of the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. Gay retired in 2010. A number of conductors followed, with Michael Newnham stepping up in the 2017-18 season, beginning with a concert of light classics called America the Beautiful.
Great choices from Verdi and Wagner. Karoline Podolak was superb. Highlights were the Ride of the Valkyries, the Bell Song from Lakme and a rousing rendition of Libiamo for which baritone James Westman and tenor and Scott Rumble joined Miss Podolak.
Good seats, great music and really nice staff there. Might go there again for the last concert of the series in June
The concert was beautifully presented and made us feel the magic of the holiday season.
Dynamic conductor, pitch perfect orchestra, really enjoyed the performance
A great experience, good for all ages. Very affordable too!
Very dramatic and entertaining. Many moments had yhe crowd literally jumping in surprise.
In my last review of the Dvorak Cello Concerto concert, I had noted the perceived improvement in the orchestra's playing, lending for a most wonderful and rich experience of this concerto. As for this ambitious undertaking of Mahler's Third, the opening commenced at a moderate dynamic where I personally prefer my recordings to sound more "aggressive"; otherwise, the orchestra could definitely get loud where called for. While the strings' intonation and internal timing seemed to be in good order, there were points of struggle in the coordination between sections, in one case as though the conductor intended to execute an ambitious phrasing. The playing was otherwise reasonable throughout. By the fourth movement, the playing was largely clean and steady unto the point that I found myself quite pleased and impressed with the maintained cohesiveness and impetus which did better justice to this movement. As usual, I can recommend this orchestra as a gateway to the classical concert experience, and will be looking forward to their next season.
Hugely talented musicians and conductor, bringing intensity and emotion to their performance.
That was the 7th show of Orchestra Toronto I’ve attended and am not feeling board. Every time new experience and peaceful performs.
This is my first concert season and third time attending an Orchestra Toronto concert. My past reviews commended the volunteer orchestra for their execution of this repertoire, but noted issues with timing and particularly string section intonation and synchronization in difficult passages, such perhaps expectedly not up to the level of upper student or professional orchestras within Toronto. At least to my ears, the woodwinds had always been commendable, though synchronization between the instrument sections or rhythmic or phrasing coherence could sometimes struggle, hindering the enjoyment of the music for those with expectations built upon many high-level recordings. These issues were first noticed with the Brahms Symphony No. 4 concert, but by the time of the Debussy "La Mer"concert, I noticed some improvements and likewise in last Sunday's concert. The playing in the first piece sounded clean. Paul Hindemith's "Symphonic Metamorphosis"presented a challenging repertoire revealing struggles in some sections, but was otherwise impressively executed. As a side note, volume levels from the third row were moderate, perhaps not as loud as a full-sized orchestra like the TSO whose dynamic range could sometimes be excellent, but enough to have comfortable dynamic peaks and at times present excellent texture. It was with the Dvorak Cello Concerto that I was particularly impressed and was glad to have gotten the rich musical experience I had hoped for. It took a few minutes for my ears to adjust to the actual live tone of a cello when used to listening to recordings, but after that, phrases flowed with excellently engaging dialogue with the orchestra which was able to present exquisitely rich and coherent textures which I felt did an excellent justice to expressing the emotions contained in the work. Despite my critical listening style, this orchestra was able to create an unforgettable experience with timbres and expressive moments I now yearn to be able to relive through recordings. Overall, with each performance and the improvements therein, I am increasingly recommending this orchestra as a viable option for hearing certain desired repertoire. I can also recommend the acoustics of George Weston Recital Hall as being capable of delivering great clarity provided that you sit amid the first few rows lest reflections from the ceiling reflectors detract from the sound.