Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) (Montréal Symphony Orchestra) is a symphony orchestra based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, with Montréal's Place des Arts as its home. There have been a number of organizations with this name, including one formed in 1897, which lasted ten years, and another formed in 1930, which lasted eleven. The current ensemble, however, traces its roots back to 1934, when wilfrid pelletier formed an ensemble called Les Concerts Symphoniques. It changed to its current name in 1954. ...show more

Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) (Montréal Symphony Orchestra) is a symphony orchestra based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, with Montréal's Place des Arts as its home. There have been a number of organizations with this name, including one formed in 1897, which lasted ten years, and another formed in 1930, which lasted eleven. The current ensemble, however, traces its roots back to 1934, when wilfrid pelletier formed an ensemble called Les Concerts Symphoniques. It changed to its current name in 1954.

In the early 1960s, when the Orchestra was preparing to move to new facilities at Place des Arts, patron and prominent Montréal philanthropist, John Wilson McConnell, purchased the Laub-Petschnikoff Stradivarius violin of 1727 for Calvin Sieb, the Symphony's concertmaster. Though it began touring and recording modestly in the 1960s and early 1970s under the batons of a young Zubin Mehta and Franz-Paul Decker, the MSO became a household name under the directorship of Charles Dutoit, who became music director in 1977 after the brief tenure and jolting departure of Rafael Fruhbeck De Burgos. Dutoit struck up a friendship with a producer at London/Decca records named Ray Minshull, and a twenty-year collaboration was born. Throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s, Dutoit and the MSO released many well-received recordings and embarked on tours of North America, Europe, Asia, and South America.

Most notable among this vast discography are the recordings of the French repertoire, especially the music of Maurice Ravel. In recent years, the MSO has fallen on tough times. The London/Decca recordings ceased in the late 1990s as the entire recording industry was turned upside-down, and the international tours dried up soon afterward. Then, in 2002, the MSO suffered the abrupt resignation of Charles Dutoit as music director. ...show less