Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal

Founded in 1934 as the Concerts symphoniques de Montréal, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Montreal Symphony Orchestra) began its current reputation for excellence in 1950 when a guest appearance by Otto Klemperer inspired the orchestra in critically lauded performances of Beethoven. Changing to its current name in 1954, the ensemble received a further inspiring jolt during the 1956-57 season when the Ukrainian Igor Markevitch came to conduct the first Canadian performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Markevitch was appointed the OSM’s music director in 1957, and under his leadership the orchestra began to commission new Canadian works on an annual basis, while itself becoming a fully professional ensemble. Markevitch was succeeded in 1960 by rising young Indian conductor Zubin Mehta, who took the orchestra on its first foreign tour in 1962. The OSM also made its first recordings under Mehta and his successor (from 1967) Franz-Paul Decker. But it was under the directorship of Charles Dutoit (1977-2002) that the OSM finally secured international acclaim with award-winning, glowing recordings of, among other works, Holst’s The Planets and music by Ravel and Debussy. The orchestra remained a world-leading ensemble under the artistic direction of Kent Nagano (2006-20), and since 2022, has been under the directorship of the dynamic Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare.