TORONTO (CelebrityAccess) – The Toronto Symphony Orchestra announced the appointment of noted Spanish conductor Gustavo Gimeno as the organization’s 11th Music Director.
Gimeno’s deal with the TSO will see him serve a five-year term in the role of Music Director, and is set to begin in the 2020/21 season.
He succeeds Peter Oundjian, who was named TSO Conductor Emeritus in June 2018 after a 14-year tenure as Music Director.
Sir Andrew Davis is serving as TSO Interim Artistic Director until the end of the 2019/20 season, when he will continue his long relationship with the Orchestra, returning to the TSO podium regularly, the organization said.
Gustavo Gimeno began his international conducting career in 2012 as assistant to Mariss Jansons, while Gimeno was a member of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. As a protégé of Bernard Haitink and Claudio Abbado, Gimeno has gone on to conduct orchestras in Europe, North America, and Japan, and most recently served as Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg in 2015.
He made his Canadian début with the TSO this past February with a concert program featuring music by Beethoven, Ligeti, and Dvořák.
“I am so proud to become the Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra,” said Gimeno. “From our very first encounter, I connected with the Orchestra’s sound, their cultivated playing and flexibility, and immediately felt at home, both musically and personally. I greatly admire the TSO’s dual commitment to presenting the core repertoire while also introducing new composers and concert formats in a uniquely Canadian way. I look forward to sharing our musical stories with our loyal audiences everywhere.”
