Gustavo Gimeno
Music Director, Toronto Symphony Orchestra
March 1, 2022
Bio
343 Words
Gustavo Gimeno’s tenure as the 10th Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra began in 2020/21. Since his appointment, he has reinvigorated the artistic profile of the Orchestra, engaged with musicians and audiences alike, and brought performances of familiar works as well as some of today’s freshest sounds. In leading the TSO through the pandemic and into this vibrant 100th-anniversary celebration, he has overseen renewed community engagement, and sown the seeds for an ambitious program of commissioning new works from emerging and established composers.
During the 2022/23 season, Gimeno and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra continue to celebrate the Orchestra’s Centennial with major symphonic works including Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, Prokofiev’s Suite from Romeo and Juliet, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. Gimeno will share the stage with, among other soloists, Yo-Yo Ma, Yuja Wang, Yefim Bronfman, and Jean-Guihen Queyras. He and the Orchestra will also embark on the first tour of their partnership, including a concert at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, a return visit to Carnegie Hall, and the Orchestra’s début at Chicago’s Symphony Center.
This season, Gimeno and the TSO will make their first commercial recording, memorializing Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie, with pianist Marc-André Hamelin and ondes Martenot player Nathalie Forget, for the Harmonia Mundi label. This builds on Gimeno’s relationship with the label, for whom he has recorded Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Stravinsky’s ballets The Firebird and Apollon musagète with Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg.
Gimeno has held the position of Music Director with Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg since 2015, and will become Music Director of Teatro Real in Madrid in 2025/26—he currently serves as their Music Director Designate. As an opera conductor, he has conducted at great houses such as the Liceu Opera Barcelona; Opernhaus Zürich; Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Valencia; and Teatro Real, Madrid. He is also much sought-after as a symphonic guest conductor worldwide: débuts in 2022/23 include Staatskapelle Berlin and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Gimeno is also regularly reinvited to the Royal Concertgebouworkest, and touring projects have included concerts as far afield as Japan and Taiwan.
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