HISTORICAL NOTES
The OSM is an artistic organization of international calibre that seeks to present the world's repertoire of symphonic music and concert artists of international stature to the broadest possible audience. The OSM plays a social and institutional role, investing in the development of every form of symphonic and classical music in its own milieu. The OSM is a professionnal organization that encourages innovation and excellence.
Founded in 1934 by a group of devoted music lovers, with the backing of the Québec Government, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is one of the major cultural organizations of the city whose name it bears with pride.
The music directors who have contributed to its growth and success are Wilfrid Pelletier, a Montrealer by birth and conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York who became the first Artistic Director of the OSM; Désiré Defauw; Igor Markevitch; Zubin Mehta, who guided the OSM from 1961 to 1967, bringing increased prestige to the Orchestra through European tours; Franz-Paul Decker; Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos; Charles Dutoit, from 1977 to 2002, with whom the OSM assumed an important place on the international stage; and, since September 2006, Kent Nagano.
The excellence of the OSM has been demonstrated in the course of over 40 national and international tours. The Orchestra has toured in Asia nine times, visiting Japan on eight of those, and has toured Europe on ten occasions and South America twice. The OSM has also performed at the Hollywood Bowl, as well as the Ravinia and Tanglewood festivals. Moreover, from 1982 to 2004 the Orchestra has been an almost annual visitor to Carnegie Hall, where it played to packed houses. The March 8, 2008 concert marked the Orchestra’s Carnegie Hall debut under Maestro Nagano, and they embarked on a multi-city tour of Japan and South Korea in April of that same year. Their April 2009 European tour marked the Orchestra’s first multi-city tour of the continent in 10 years.
In 2006 the OSM offered a concert at the Paris Théâtre du Châtelet, its first international concert with Kent Nagano. In April 2007 the Orchestra completed its first coast-to-coast Canadian tour, placed under the direction of Kent Nagano. In September 2008, Maestro Nagano and 7 musicians visited several villages in Nunavik in Northern Quebec performing Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat narrated in local dialect.
The OSM has produced 95 recordings with Decca, EMI, Philips, CBC Records, and recently, two recordings with Analekta, earning 48 national and international awards, including two Grammys.
| Review several OSM Great Moments |
 |
Top of page