The VSO announces plans for two tours in the 2008/2009 Season

Vancouver, BC - The VSO is proud to announce plans for both an international tour and a domestic tour in the 2008/2009 Season. The international tour in October 2008 will take the orchestra to China, South Korea, and the Special Administrative Region of Macau. In April/May of 2009, the orchestra will travel to eastern Canada, with concerts in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City.

The VSO's planned tour to Asia in October of 2008 will showcase the orchestra in concerts conducted by Music Director Bramwell Tovey, and featuring internationally renowned violinist Hilary Hahn. The tour itinerary will see the orchestra performing concerts in Seoul/Seongnam, Macau, Guangzhou (Vancouver's Sister City in BC's Sister Province), Beijing, Shanghai, and Suzhou (Victoria's Sister City).

The Asia-Pacific Tour will mark two important milestones for the VSO and Canadian orchestras in general: the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra will be the first Canadian orchestra ever to perform at the prestigious Beijing Music Festival (past invitees include the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, the Kirov Orchestra, and Orchestra de Paris), and the VSO will be the first Canadian orchestra to perform in China in thirty years (the Toronto Symphony toured China in 1978).

The Asia-Pacific Tour will include many educational activities by members of the orchestra, and Maestro Tovey, an important pillar of the VSO's mission. The tour is being planned around the invitation to the Beijing Music Festival, by International Management Group (IMG). The Beijing Music Festival will be the first major cultural event in China following the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games - and of course, the Olympic torch will be handed by Beijing to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Tour repertoire will include Canadian composer Jeffrey Ryan's The Linearity of Light; Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto (performed by Hilary Hahn); Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique; and Shostakovich's Symphony No.5.

The VSO gratefully acknowledges the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General for its recently announced community gaming grant of $250,000 supporting the Asia-Pacific Tour, as well as support received from the Canada Council for the Arts through its Supplemental Operating Funds Initiative.

The eastern Canadian Tour is planned around an invitation from the National Arts Centre in Ottawa as part of their BC Scene, a celebration of the arts and cultural scene in British Columbia. The tour will take the orchestra to Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal. Maestro Tovey will conduct all four concerts, which will also feature young Vancouver pianist Avan Yu.

In Montreal and Ottawa, the orchestra will perform Debussy's Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun; Jeffrey Ryan's The Linearity of Light; Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (performed by Avan Yu); Stravinsky's Petrouchka. In Toronto and Quebec City, the orchestra will perform Shostakovich's Symphony No.5 on the second half of the program, replacing the Stravinsky work.

"Tours are important to symphony orchestras for a variety of reasons," said VSO President & CEO Jeff Alexander. "They bring significant attention to the home country, province and city; they assist in establishing long-lasting business relationships in each tour country for tour sponsors and funders; they raise the artistic level and capacity of the orchestra, and of course the national and international profile of the orchestra as well. We are delighted to be able to plan these tours, and look forward to an exciting series of concerts for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra on the national and international stage."

For further information, and to request interviews with Jeff Alexander or Bramwell Tovey, please contact Stephanie Fung as above.

-VSO-

Stephanie Fung
Public Relations Associate

Assistant to Jeff Alexander, President & CEO

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

601 Smithe Street, Vancouver, V6B 5G1

Tel: 604.684.9100 x266; Fax: 604.684.9264