OSM to make Japan and South Korea tour in April 2008

First OSM international tour with

its music director

Kent Nagano

8 concerts in Japan and South Korea

Montreal, February 26, 2008 - The Orchestre symphonique de Montrˆ©al will be undertaking an international tour for the first time with Kent Nagano, visiting Japan and South Korea from April 10 to 19, 2008. The Orchestra will present three different programs at eight concerts in the following five cities: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Shizuoka in Japan, and Seoul in South Korea. In Tokyo, the OSM will give three concerts in three different halls.

These concerts are of very special importance, marking as they do the first international tour of the OSM under the direction of its new music director, Kent Nagano. After an acclaimed visit to Thˆ©ˆ¢tre du Chˆ¢telet in Paris in the spring of 2006, a Canadian tour in 2007 and an upcoming appearance at Carnegie Hall in New York (March 8, 2008), the OSM will be finding itself once again on familiar terrain, this being the ninth Asian tour in its history.

The Orchestra's first concert in Japan was held in Osaka, in 1970, with Franz-Paul Decker. In 1989, the OSM under the direction of Charles Dutoit performed for the first time in Seoul, South Korea. The last tour of Asia by the Orchestra took place in 1999, when the OSM and Charles Dutoit gave concerts in 10 Japanese cities. Since 1962 the Orchestre symphonique de Montrˆ©al has carried out 37 tours around the world.

This international tour of the OSM with Kent Nagano is sponsored by Air Canada. Air Canada is proud to be helping showcase Canadian talent abroad.

The tour is also made possible by support from Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, Quˆ©bec's Ministˆ®re des Affaires municipales et des Rˆ©gions and Conseil des arts et des lettres, and the City of Montreal. The year 2008 marks the 80th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and Japan.

From Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier in Place des Arts, located in the very heart of the city, the OSM radiates outward across Quˆ©bec and Canada, bringing the world's repertoire of symphonic music to the widest possible audience. Through its international tours and its recordings, the Montreal orchestra is an ambassador for the city and for music, promoting the influence of culture as well as artistic exchanges.

The tour itinerary is reproduced below, preceded by details of the three scheduled programs.

Program 1: Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique
Wagner, Tristan und Isolde, excerpts

Ravel, Bolˆ©ro

Program 2: Debussy, Prˆ©lude ˆÝ l'aprˆ®s-midi d'un faune

Debussy, La Mer

Strauss, Eine Alpensinfonie

Program 3: Debussy, La Mer

Mozart, Violin Concerto No. 3 (Ye-Eun Choi, violin)

Strauss, Eine Alpensinfonie

Itinˆ©rary :

April 10 :
Tokyo, Musashino Civic
Cultural Hall
Program 1

April 11:
Osaka, Festival Hall
Program 2

April 12:
Nagoya, Aichi Perfectural Art
Theatre
Program 1

April 13:
Tokyo, Suntory Hal
Programm 2

April 15:
Shizuoka, Granship
Program 1

April 16:
Tokyo, Tokyo Opera City
Program 1

April 18:
Sˆ©oul, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts
Program 1

April 19:
Sˆ©oul, Sejong Center for the Performing
Program 3

Source : Orchestre symphonique de Montrˆ©al
Information : Lucie Paquin, Head of Media Relations
(514) 840-7414 or (514) 608-7414
lpaquin@osm.ca

¬© 2003-2008 Orchestre symphonique de Montrˆ©al
260, boul. de Maisonneuve Ouest, Montrˆ©al (Quˆ©bec) H2X 1Y9
Service ˆÝ la clientˆ®le et billetterie - Tˆ©l.: (514) 842-9951

Administration - Tˆ©l.: (514) 842-3402