The Toronto Symphony Orchestra returns to Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie ON during its fifth annual Northern Residency, September 14 – 18, 2009. Conducted by TSO Music Director Peter Oundjian, the orchestra will perform concerts for the public, education concerts for local students, and a wide array of in-school music education programs – reaching, by tour’s end, over 10,000 adults and young people. 
 
The TSO will work closely with the host orchestras in the two cities:  both the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra and the Sault Symphony will present the TSO as part of their subscription series.   An added highlight?  The Sudbury concert will also be the venue for the presentation of one of the Canada Council‘s John Hobday Awards for Arts Administration for 2009 to Roberta Smith, the TSO’s Associate Director, Artistic Administration, Education.  And if that’s not enough, the tour also provides the opportunity for the TSO to share a new publication with school audiences:  an interactive Study Package built around the brand new Ontario provincial music curriculum, featuring the TSO’s DVD recording of Platypus Theatre‘s How the Gimquat Found Her Song, a compact disc of accompanying musical excerpts, and an in-depth Study Guide. These materials were developed by the TSO in partnership with Platypus Theatre and Oz Media, and will be distributed through English language school boards in the Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie catchment areas.
 
You can learn more about all of this by visiting the TSO’s website here.   As well, there’s a Northern Residency Education Podcast here.