Toronto Symphony Orchestra

The top Canadian Orchestra is going through turbulent times. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra had to cancel the first eleven weeks of its current season because the musicians went on a strike. They didn't resume their work before mid-December, when their salaries were raised by a third. While the orchestra is still in a recovery phase, they are already preparing for a trip to Europe. Between February 28 and March 8, they will be playing in Stuttgart, Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, Budapest, and Vienna. The Canadian musicians took their last tour to Europe with German conductor Guenther Herbig in 1991, when Herbig was their music director. This time, the orchestra is coming with new musical leadership. Finnish conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste took over the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1994. Saraste's position in Canada is full of challenges -- he has to lend a high profile to his orchestra, both in Canada and abroad, while satisfying many different tastes, as Georg Hirsch reports.

[ Home - English ] [ Home - Deutsch ]