Lang Lang, Perlman to perform with Toronto Symphony

Chinese pianist Lang Lang and great violinist Itzhak Perlman will perform with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as part of its 2008-2009 season.

Lang Lang, whose concerts in Toronto this spring sold out, will participate in a week-long residency with the TSOthat will include several community engagements, according to TSO music director Peter Oundjian, who on Monday released details of the coming season.

Among Lang Lang's performances will be the Canadian premiere of Tan Dun's Piano Concerto with the TSO.

Perlman appears as part of the TSO's Great Performances series, open to subscribers only, which also features American violinist Joshua Bell and Yo-Yo Ma performing with the Silk Road Ensemble.

The season also marks the TSO's return to Carnegie Hall performing there for the first time in 10 years and the first recording on the its own label, TSO Live.

The TSOcontinues with a thrustto play more music by contemporary composers that Oundjian describes as a "juggling act.

"We're pushing the envelope as far as we believe is wise," he said. "If we make a mistake, it is expensive."

Expensive in the sense that concert halls can empty out if audiences aren't hearing something they can identify with, he said.

"You have to give context to it," he said, using as an example a concert of Mahler's 9th Symphony, which will be conducted by Finnish superstar conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste in February.

Saraste has paired the Mahler with a work written to set up the 9th Symphony, Seht die Sonne by contemporary composer Magnus Lindberg.

"We can't just throw it out at the beginning and have everyone thinking, 'I'm glad that's over,'" Oundjian said. "It has to become part of our canon and then we can inspire real interest in it."

TSO works with other orchestra

In the spirit of advancing opportunities for contemporary composers, the TSO has commissioned works in co-operation with other international orchestras.

With the London Philharmonic and the Stockholm Philharmonic, it has commissioned a work from British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage for German violinist Christian Tetzlaff. Mambo, Blues and Tarantella will premiere in Canada in November, with performances in Toronto and Ottawa.

The annual New Creations Festival will introduce the Canadian premiere of Violin Concerto by U.S. composer Jennifer Higdon, commissioned in co-operation with the Baltimore Symphony.

The New Creations Festival in March 2009 focuses on string compositions, with a strong Asian theme.

Among the highlights:

• Tan Dun will conduct the Canadian premiere of his work The Map for cello, video and orchestra.
• Canadian premiere of A String Around Autumn by Japan's Toru Takmitsu.
• The return of the Tokyo Spring Quartet, where Oundjian played first violin for 14 years.
• A new Cello Concert by TSO composer Gary Kulesha.

The TSO mixes this thrust toward new music with some crowd pleasers, including its Mozart Festival, a Bartok/Strauss Festival and a performance of The Damnation of Faust conducted by Charles Dutoit,with a cast including Susanne Mentzer and Gregory Kunde.

Guest conductors in the season include Andrew Davis, music director of Lyrica Opera of Chicago, former TSO music director Gunther Herbig and Canadian Yannick Nzet-Seguin.

Ticket sales up

Oundjian says the TSO has seen subscription sales rise by six per cent and also seen a boost in single-ticket sales.

It is building on the subscription success with two new series Afterworks, to begin at 6.30 p.m. ET to catch busy commuters, and Masterworks Prestige, seven concerts featuringstars such as violinist Midori and Natasha Paremski on piano.

It also is adjusting the timing of its Wednesday afternoon subscription series to allow music lovers to get out the door before high Toronto traffic times.

The TSO's first self-produced commercial recording will be called Portraits, and feature Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Elgar's Enigma Variations.

Oundjian will conduct at Carnegie Hall on Oct. 4, when the TSO will play Benjamin Yusupov's Viola Tango Rock and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11 The Year 1905.