The Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra (TSYO) is a high-level orchestral

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

 training programme for musicians aged 22 and under, based in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. TSYO alumni are found in most major performing organization in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, and many have embarked on solo and chamber music careers worldwide. Alain Trudel

Alain Trudel

Alain Trudel is a Canadian musician, composer and conductor. He began his career playing the trombone, but has more recently turned to conducting....

 has conducted the orchestra since 2004.

Founded in 1974 by Victor Feldbrill

Victor Feldbrill

Victor Feldbrill, OC, O.Ont, FRHCM, is a Canadian conductor and violinist.He attended Harbord Collegiate Institute at an early age....

, the TSYO has had a close partnership with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra

Toronto Symphony Orchestra

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO...

 for over 30 years. A collaborative on-stage performance named "Side-by-Side" is held annually at Roy Thomson Hall

Roy Thomson Hall

Roy Thomson Hall is a concert hall located at 60 Simcoe Street in Toronto, Ontario. It is the home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Opened in 1982, its circular architectural design exhibits a sloping and curvilinear glass exterior. It was designed by Canadian...

. Additionally, all TSYO members are encouraged to compete in an annual concerto competition. The prize of this competition is the opportunity to perform a solo with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Through their affiliation with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the TYSO has worked with world-renowned guest artists and conductors. Guests include Midori

Midori Goto

is a Japanese American violinist. She made her debut at the age of 11 in a last-minute change of programming during a concert highlighting young performers by the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. When she was 21, she formed the philanthropic group Midori and Friends to help bring music to...

, Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...

, Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...

, Emmanuel Pahud

Emmanuel Pahud

Emmanuel Pahud is a Swiss flute player.He was born in Geneva, Switzerland. His father is of French and Swiss background and his mother is French. The Berlin-based flutist is most known for his baroque and classical flute repertory....

, Richard Stolzman, Jukka-Pekka Saraste

Jukka-Pekka Saraste

Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a Finnish conductor and violinist.Saraste was trained as a violinist. He later studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy with Jorma Panula, in the same class as Esa-Pekka Salonen and Osmo Vänskä...

, Gunther Herbig

Günther Herbig

Günther Herbig is a German conductor.Born in Ústí nad Labem, Czechoslovakia, Herbig studied conducting at the Franz Liszt Academy in Weimar in 1951 with Hermann Abendroth. He later was a student of Hermann Scherchen, Arvid Jansons, and Herbert von Karajan...

, and Sir Andrew Davis.

The youth orchestra has toured extensively within Canada and abroad. In 1999, the TSYO represented Canada at the Banff

Banff, Alberta

Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise....

 International Festival of Youth Orchestras. Other tour destinations have included the Canadian Arctic, Texas, Massachusetts, California, Japan and Europe.

The repertoire for the 2010-2011 season included Excerpts from the Nutcracker Suite (played with the TSO), The Three Cornered Hat Suite No. 2 , Romeo and Juliet Overture, Dvorak

Antonín Dvorák

Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...

's New World Symphony, Mozart's Symphony # 31 (Paris), Gershwin

George Gershwin

George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...

's American in Paris and Copland

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...

's Excerpts from Old American Songs. The winner of that season's open call for works was Tristan Capacchione with his piece for orchestra "Distant Lands", premiered at a TSYO concert in April 2011.

External links

• TSYO information at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
  Toronto Symphony Orchestra
  The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO...
  
  's site
• Tristan Capacchione's site