Gustavo Gimeno
(c) Marco Borggreve

Music Director Gustavo Gimeno’s first overseas tour with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra runs from January 27 to February 9, 2026, and marks the orchestra’s début in Spain and Luxembourg, and return to the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Austria.

TSO aims at bringing Canadian music, music-making, and spirit to Western Europe as part of a 14-day tour spanning eight cities in six countries.

The initial leg comprises an extended visit to Spain – marking the first time the TSO has ever travelled there -. The first stop is the capital city of Madrid. The orchestra will perform two different programs over two nights at the Auditorio Nacional de Música (Jan 27 and 28), which is just a few kilometres away from the Teatro Real, where Gimeno will be in his first season as Music Director. From there, the TSO will travel to Zaragoza, a nexus of history and architecture, to appear in one of Spain’s most impressive halls, the Auditorio – Palacio de Congresos de Zaragoza (Jan 29). The Spanish portion of the tour then concludes in the cultural hub of Barcelona with a performance at the beautiful Palau de la Música Catalana (Jan 30).

After a brief pause, the orchestra begins the second leg of its tour, performing in Luxembourg for the very first time, at the Philharmonie Luxembourg (Feb 2), home of Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg where Gimeno will have recently concluded his decade-long tenure as Music Director.

The next day, the TSO will visit the Netherlands, with a return to Amsterdam and the legendary stage of The Concertgebouw (Feb 3), which is well known to Gimeno who began his musical journey as a percussionist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2001. Hamburg is the next stop, and though the orchestra has toured to Germany’s second-largest city before, this occasion marks the TSO’s début at the famed Elbphilharmonie (Feb 5). From there, the orchestra heads to Antwerp, Belgium, and its newly renovated De Singel arts centre (Feb 6) before bringing the tour to a close with a return appearance in Vienna, Austria, at the Wiener Konzerthaus (Feb 9).

The orchestral works include recent compositions by two Canadian composers: Kelly-Marie Murphy, and Rufus Wainwright.

Anna Prohaska, Christina Landshamer, Bruce Liu, and Patricia Kopatchinskaja are the soloists on this tour.