The Montreal Symphony Orchestra (french: Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, or OSM) is a Canadian
symphony orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...
based in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. The orchestra’s home is the
Montreal Symphony House
The Montreal Symphony House (french: Maison symphonique de Montréal) is a concert hall in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Symphony House is located at the corner of De Maisonneuve Boulevard, de Maisonneuve Boulevard West and Saint Urbain S ...
at
Place des Arts
Place may refer to:
Geography
* Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population
** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government
* "Place", a type of street or road name
** Often ...
. It is the only orchestra in the world that possesses an
octobass
The octobass is an extremely large and rare bowed string instrument that was first built around 1850 in Paris by the French luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (1798–1875). It has three strings and is essentially a larger version of the double bas ...
.
History
Several orchestras were precursor ensembles to the current OSM. One such orchestra was formed in 1897, which lasted ten years, and another was established in 1930, which lasted eleven. The current orchestra directly traces its roots back to 1934, when
Wilfrid Pelletier
Joseph Louis Wilfrid Pelletier (sometimes spelled Wilfred), (20 June 1896 – 9 April 1982) was a Canadian conductor, pianist, composer, and arts administrator. He was instrumental in establishing the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, serving ...
formed an ensemble called Les Concerts Symphoniques. This ensemble gave its first concert January 14, 1935, under conductor
Rosario Bourdon
Joseph Charles Rosario Bourdon (March 6, 1885 – April 24, 1961) was a French Canadian cellist, violinist, conductor, arranger and composer. He was a child prodigy skilled with many musical instruments. Bourdon worked much of his life for ...
. The orchestra acquired its current name in 1954. In the early 1960s, as the Orchestra was preparing to move to new facilities at Place des Arts, patron and prominent Montreal philanthropist,
John Wilson McConnell
John Wilson McConnell (July 1, 1877 – November 6, 1963) was a Canadian sugar refiner, newspaper publisher, humanitarian and philanthropist in Quebec, Canada.
Early life
J.W. McConnell was born to a farming family in the Muskoka region of Ont ...
, purchased the 1727 ''
Laub-Petschnikoff Stradivarius'' violin for Calvin Sieb, the Symphony's concertmaster.
The orchestra has begun touring and some recording in the 1960s and early 1970s, during the tenures of
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Mehta's father was the foun ...
and
Franz-Paul Decker
Franz-Paul Decker (June 26, 1923 – May 19, 2014) was a German-born conductor.
Life
Decker was born in Cologne, Germany, where he studied at the Hochschule für Musik with Philip Jarnach and Eugen Papst. He made his conducting debut at the ...
. During the music directorship of
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (born Rafael Frühbeck; 15 September 1933 – 11 June 2014) was a Spanish conductor and composer. Frühbeck was born in Burgos, Spain to a family of German ancestry. He first took up conducting while on military serv ...
(1975-1976) the OSM received its first invitation to perform at
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
. However, Frühbeck de Burgos had rejected the composition ''Fleuves'' by
Gilles Tremblay, which Tremblay had composed for tour performances by the OSM. In addition, Frühbeck de Burgos was quoted in print in ''La Presse'' as expressing public criticism of selected OSM musicians. The ensuing controversy led to Frühbeck de Burgos' resignation. (When Frühbeck de Burgos returned as a guest conductor in 2002, he apologised for his earlier behaviour.)
Because of the conducting dates that opened up after Frühbeck de Burgos' departure, one of the slots fell to
Charles Dutoit
Charles Édouard Dutoit (born 7 October 1936) is a Swiss conductor. He is currently the principal guest conductor for the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia and co-director of thMISA Festival in Shanghai In 2017, he became the 103rd recipient of th ...
. Dutoit subsequently became music director of the OSM in 1977. Dutoit had struck a friendship with the London/Decca records producer Ray Minshull, which led to a twenty-year recording partnership with Decca/London. During this period, Dutoit and the OSM released many recordings and embarked on tours of North America, Europe, Asia, and South America. Most notable among this discography are the recordings of the French repertoire, especially the music of
Maurice Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
, as well as works of Stravinsky and Debussy. The OSM and Charles Dutoit have various awards for their recordings, including the Grand Prix du Président de la République (France) and the Prix mondial du Disque de Montreux. The OSM won
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
awards in 1996 for its recording of
Hector Berlioz
In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...
' ''
Les Troyens
''Les Troyens'' (; in English: ''The Trojans'') is a French grand opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself from Virgil's epic poem the ''Aeneid''; the score was composed between 1856 and 1858. ''Les Tro ...
'' and in 2000 for
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
and
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...
piano concerti with
Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich (; Eastern Catalan: ɾʒəˈɾik born 5 June 1941) is an Argentine classical concert pianist. She is widely considered to be one of the greatest pianists of all time.
Early life and education
Argerich was born in Buenos Ai ...
on
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
. It has additionally won a number of
Juno Award
The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...
s and
Felix Awards
Felix may refer to:
* Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name
Places
* Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen
* Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...
. The London/Decca recordings ceased in the late 1990s, because of market changes in classical recording industry was turned upside-down.
In 1998, the OSM musicians took industrial action, which lasted three weeks and was resolved largely due to the personal relationship between Dutoit and
Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard (; born December 22, 1938) is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat and retired politician.
Minister for two years in the Mulroney cabinet, Bouchard then led the emerging Bloc Québécois and became Leader of the Opposition in the House ...
, then the premier of
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
. In 2002, Dutoit abruptly resigned as music director, following a long-simmering dispute between Dutoit and the OSM musicians. Dutoit did not return to the OSM as a guest conductor until 2016.
Following the departure of Dutoit,
Jacques Lacombe served as principal guest conductor of the OSM, from 2002 to 2006. In March 2003, the orchestra announced the appointment
Kent Nagano
Kent George Nagano GOQ, MSM (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator. Since 2015, he has been Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and was Music Director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 20 ...
as its new music director, starting in 2006. He gave his first concert in Montreal as music director-designate March 30, 2005. Later in 2005, the OSM's musicians took industrial action, where this work stoppage lasted five months, ending shortly before Nagano's first scheduled concerts. With the OSM, Nagano has conducted commercial recordings for such labels as ECM New Series and Analekta. In June 2017, the OSM announced that Nagano is to stand down from as its music director at the close of his current contract, at the end of the 2019–2020 season. Nagano concluded his OSM music directorship at the close of the 2019-2020 season, with the scheduled final concerts of his tenure curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2018, the orchestra toured several Cree and Inuit communities in
Nord-du-Québec
Nord-du-Québec (; en, Northern Quebec) is the largest, but the least populous, of the seventeen administrative regions of Quebec, Canada. With nearly of land area, and very extensive lakes and rivers, it covers much of the Labrador Peninsu ...
to perform ''Chaakapesh: The Trickster's Quest'', an indigenous opera by
Tomson Highway
Tomson Highway (born 6 December 1951) is an Indigenous Canadian playwright, novelist, and children's author. He is best known for his plays ''The Rez Sisters'' and ''Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing'', both of which won the Dora Mavor Moore ...
and
Matthew Ricketts
Matthew Oliver Ricketts (April 3, 1858 – January 3, 1917) was an American politician and physician. He was the first African-American member of the Nebraska Legislature, where he served two terms in the Nebraska House of Representatives (th ...
. The tour was documented by
Roger Frappier Roger Frappier (born April 14, 1945) is a Canadian producer, director, editor, actor, and screenwriter.
Biography
Roger Frappier worked in all areas of the film business, from film critic to television commercial director to director/ producer of t ...
and Justin Kingsley in the 2019 documentary film ''
Chaakapesh
''Chaakapesh'' is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Roger Frappier and Justin Kingsley and released in 2019. The film documents a 2018 tour by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra to perform ''Chaakapesh: The Trickster’s Quest'', an indigenous- ...
''.
In 2018,
Rafael Payare
Rafael Payare (born 23 February 1980) is a Venezuelan conductor.
Background
Born in Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela, Payare's parents were Trina Torres de Payare, an elementary school teacher, and Juan R. Payare, a cartographer for the city. He began ...
first guest-conducted the OSM. He returned as guest conductor in 2019. In January 2021, the OSM announced the appointment of Payare as its next music director, effective with the 2022-2023 season, with an initial contract of 5 seasons. He held the title of music director-designate in the 2021-2022 season.
Music directors and leaders
*
Wilfrid Pelletier
Joseph Louis Wilfrid Pelletier (sometimes spelled Wilfred), (20 June 1896 – 9 April 1982) was a Canadian conductor, pianist, composer, and arts administrator. He was instrumental in establishing the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, serving ...
(1935–1940)
*
Désiré Defauw
Désiré Defauw (5 September 1885, Ghent, Belgium – 25 July 1960, Gary, Indiana, United States) was a Belgian conductor and violinist.
During World War I he became a refugee, working in London where in 1917 he appeared at the Wigmore Hal ...
(1941–1952)
*
Otto Klemperer
Otto Nossan Klemperer (14 May 18856 July 1973) was a 20th-century conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the US, Hungary and finally Britain. His early career was in opera houses, but he was later better known as a concer ...
(1950–1953; Artistic Advisor)
*
Igor Markevitch
Igor Borisovich Markevitch (russian: Игорь Борисович Маркевич, ''Igor Borisovich Markevich'', uk, Ігор Борисович Маркевич, ''Ihor Borysovych Markevych''; 27 July 1912 – 7 March 1983) was a Russian- ...
(1957–1961)
*
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Mehta's father was the foun ...
(1961–1967)
*
Franz-Paul Decker
Franz-Paul Decker (June 26, 1923 – May 19, 2014) was a German-born conductor.
Life
Decker was born in Cologne, Germany, where he studied at the Hochschule für Musik with Philip Jarnach and Eugen Papst. He made his conducting debut at the ...
(1967–1975)
*
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (born Rafael Frühbeck; 15 September 1933 – 11 June 2014) was a Spanish conductor and composer. Frühbeck was born in Burgos, Spain to a family of German ancestry. He first took up conducting while on military serv ...
(1975–1976)
*
Charles Dutoit
Charles Édouard Dutoit (born 7 October 1936) is a Swiss conductor. He is currently the principal guest conductor for the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia and co-director of thMISA Festival in Shanghai In 2017, he became the 103rd recipient of th ...
(1977–2002)
*
Kent Nagano
Kent George Nagano GOQ, MSM (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator. Since 2015, he has been Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and was Music Director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 20 ...
(2006–2020)
*
Rafael Payare
Rafael Payare (born 23 February 1980) is a Venezuelan conductor.
Background
Born in Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela, Payare's parents were Trina Torres de Payare, an elementary school teacher, and Juan R. Payare, a cartographer for the city. He began ...
(2022–present)
See also
*
List of symphony orchestras
This is a list of symphony orchestras that includes orchestras with established notability. A list of youth orchestras can be found at List of youth orchestras.
Africa
Democratic Republic of the Congo
*Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste
Egypt
* ...
*
Canadian classical music
In Canada, classical music includes a range of musical styles rooted in the traditions of Western or European classical music that European settlers brought to the country from the 17th century and onwards. As well, it includes musical styles bro ...
*
Culture of Quebec
The culture of Quebec emerged over the last few hundred years, resulting predominantly from the shared history of the French-speaking North American majority in Quebec. Québécois culture, as a whole, constitutes all distinctive traits – spiri ...
*
List of Quebec musicians
This is a list of singers, bands, composers and other musicians from the province of Quebec.
Blues
* Garou – also pop
* Okoumé – also néo-trad, rock and electronica
* Roxanne Potvin – singer, guitarist
* David Wilcox
Chanson
* ...
*
Music of Quebec
Like many cosmopolitan cities, Quebec is a home for all genres of music. From folk music to hip hop music, hip hop, music has always played an important role in Quebecer culture. In the 1920s and '30s singer/songwriter La Bolduc, Madam Bolduc pe ...
*
St. Lawrence Choir
*
John Zirbel
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Seco ...
References
External links
Orchestre symphonique de Montreal official website
{{Authority control
Canadian orchestras
Musical groups established in 1934
Musical groups from Montreal
Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year – Large Ensemble or Soloist(s) with Large Ensemble Accompaniment winners
Tourist attractions in Montreal
Arts organizations established in 1934
1934 establishments in Quebec
Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year – Solo or Chamber Ensemble winners
Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year – Vocal or Choral Performance winners
Félix Award winners