From TOLEDO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Toledo Symphony, a member of the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts, announced today (9-12-23) that Music Director Alain Trudel’s contract has been extended through the 2025/2026 season. The TSO also announced that frequent guest conductor Steven Jarvi has been named Principal Pops Conductor for the 2023/2024 season.
As the Toledo Symphony begins its 80th anniversary season this week, the organization is thrilled to share that the option to extend Alain Trudel’s contract as music director has been exercised through the 2025/2026 performance season which will be Trudel’s 8th season with the Toledo Symphony.
“I have often said that the TSO is not just an orchestra in Toledo, but truly Toledo’s Orchestra,” says Alain Trudel. “I am thrilled to continue to be on the podium not only for this milestone anniversary season, but for seasons to come. The Toledo Symphony and TAPA are my Toledo family. I feel truly at home when I am here.”
“Alain Trudel is a confidant, a friend, a thoughtful and caring leader, and a visionary thinker,” says Zak Vassar, President & CEO of the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts. “We are so fortunate to work alongside him and to have him on our stage. I look forward to working with Alain on several exciting projects in the seasons ahead!”
Trudel has conducted well over 150 performances of the Toledo Symphony during his tenure including major Masterworks programs with renowned soloists including Yo-Yo Ma, Augustin Hadelich, André Watts, Jon Nakamatsu, Olga Kern (returning in January 2024), and so many more. He also performs with the orchestra in surrounding communities near and far such as Rossford, Sylvania, Greenville, Findlay, Tiffin, Napoleon and more. He leads the orchestra’s annual performance of Handel’s Messiah (December 3) at the Rosary Cathedral and Toledo Ballet’s annual production of The Nutcracker at the Stranahan Theater (December 9-10).
[RELATED: Alain Trudel is ready to swing into his fifth year at the helm of the Toledo Symphony]
“I am particularly excited about this season,” says Trudel. “After a few years of having to limit the number of musicians on stage, it is going to feel really good to get back to the major repertoire such as Rite of Spring, The Planets, and of course we have some Mahler thrown in there for good measure! Plus, we have a world premiere to celebrate Toledo’s position in the path of totality of the solar eclipse next spring. We might be celebrating our 80th birthday, but we are also celebrating our community.”
Alain Trudel comes from a musical family. His mother was a cabaret singer, and his father was a jazz drummer. When Alain started playing in a brass band at 12, he spent his youth going from jam session to jam session. He has played with jazz giants such as Herbie Hancock, Henry Mancini and Branford Marsalis and recorded the best-selling Jazz Quartet album Jericho’s Legacy on the Naxos label. Alain Trudel was named Artistic Director of the Toledo Jazz Orchestra for the 22/23 season and will continue in that role for the 23/24 season.
In addition to Alain’s contract extension, the Toledo Symphony has named Steven Jarvi as principal pops conductor. A Michigan native, Jarvi has been praised for his “uncommonly expressive and detailed” performances by the Miami Herald and described as an “eloquent and decisive” conductor by The Wall Street Journal. He currently serves as the Music Director of the Dearborn Symphony and is former Resident Conductor of the St. Louis Symphony.
“I’ve been guest conducting the Toledo Symphony for a number of years and have always enjoyed every aspect of the work,” says Jarvi. “From the fantastic players to the wonderful audiences and staff, I’m so pleased we are making our relationship formal and are performing together more frequently.”
Jarvi won the Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Award while the Associate Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony, and previously served as the Conducting Fellow with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, an Associate Conductor for New York City Opera at Lincoln Center, and the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Conductor with the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center.
“Naming Steven Jarvi as Principal Pops Conductor just made sense,” says Merwin Siu, Principal Second Violin and Artistic Administrator of the Toledo Symphony. “He’s easy to work with, a great communicator, and his presence on the podium is confident and poised while also being fun.”
Steven Jarvi will conduct most performances on the KeyBank Pops series, a number of holiday neighborhood concerts, and special events including Guster (September 20), Simply the Best: The Music of Tina Turner (September 30), Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in Concert (May 4), and more.
“Education and outreach are some of my favorite aspects of what we will be doing together as a group, but I certainly can’t downplay how much I’m looking forward to the absolute fun of our Pops performances,” says Jarvi. “My face always aches from smiling so much because I’m having so much fun.”
Among TAPA’s 2023/2024 Season Highlights:
- American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Branford Marsalis performs with both the Toledo Symphony (Saturday, September 16) and Toledo Jazz Orchestra (Thursday, September 14) to open the season.
- Toledo Symphony celebrates its 80th season with a concert paying tribute to TSO’s first performance featuring works by Brahms, Mozart, Ravel, and contemporary composer Samuel Adler. Pianist Nicholas McCarthy performs Ravel’s Piano Concerto for Left Hand.
- Toledo Ballet will perform its 83rd presentation of The Nutcracker, the longest-running annual production in the nation. Spring 2024 will showcase Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet The Sleeping Beauty.
- Gustav Holst’s The Planets returns to the Peristyle complemented by a world premiere orchestral composition celebrating Toledo’s path in the full solar eclipse.
- TSO performs Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, and Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony.
- Award winning pianist Olga Kern returns to the TSO in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto.
- Spoken word artist and activist Aaron Dworkin narrates An American Rhapsody.
The Rita Barbour Kern Masterworks series will feature 12 performances on either Friday or Saturday evening at 8 p.m.
The KeyBank Pops Series will feature six performances including two on Friday evenings and four on Saturday evenings. The concert start time for the KeyBank Pops series returns to 8 p.m.
The Andersons Inc. Charitable Foundation Family Series will include three performances, one Thursday evening performance and two weekend matinees.
The Hartmann Bogan Jazz Series will feature five performances including two Thursday and three Saturday evening performances.
For full program information regarding the 2023/2024 season, visit artstoledo.com.
