Photo: Jag Gundu/Toronto Symphony Orchestra

Year in review: How the TSO celebrated Canadian music in 2017

Whew. What a year!

In 2017, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra marked Canada 150 with a celebration of Canada’s diverse musical landscape called Canada Mosaic.

Here are some highlights:

• We commissioned 54 new Canadian works, spanning from an adorable animated film about a beaver named Kit to a triple concerto for concertmasters of TSO, OSM and NACO, to 40 short works called “Sesquies.”
• We celebrated Canadian diversity with works like Adizokan, Mychael Danna’s Suite from the Life of Pi, Tanya Tagaq’s Qiksaaktuq, and Vincent Ho’s Rejuvenation: A Taoist Journey.
• We recorded over 40 performances, including 26 on 4K video. To date, these recordings have been streamed online over 7 million times.
• We launched an innovative e-learning platform in English and French to help teachers use Canadian music in the classroom. Students can watch TSO performance and toggle between 13 camera angles to follow melodies as they are passed between the different sections of the orchestra.
• We partnered with over 40 orchestras from every province and two territories to have these new works performed multiple times from coast to coast to coast.
• We launched an online interactive “O Canada” in 12 different languages.

And here’s what the press had to say:

• “I was short of breath, too, and ecstatic” – New Yorker
• “The symphony isn’t just for your grandparents – it is cooler than you think.” – Vice
• “… a surprisingly rare chance to recognize Canadian composers” – Globe and Mail
• “Such repeat performances are crucial for contemporary compositions, whose success comes not through bursts of popularity, as with pop songs, but via longevity – which isn’t a given. ” – National Post

TSO Canada Mosaic is a Canada 150 Signature Initiative, and is funded in part by the Government in Canada.

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