The Toronto Symphony Orchestra celebrates the 2025/26 season with a visit from classical superstar Lang Lang, and a gala event. The concert and gala take place on September 24, with TSO patrons invited to enhance their experience with a post-concert dinner with Lang Lang, Gustavo Gimeno and other musicians, and the opportunity to support the orchestra.
The program includes Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, with Lang Lang performing alongside the TSO in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor”. It’s a crowd pleasing selection that will appeal to both novice and long time classical music lovers.
The festive spin to the day includes more than the gala or concert. Earlier in the day, a special education of Morning with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (MTSO), the TSO’s Open Rehearsal series will see 300 Toronto high school students attend the professional orchestral rehearsal. After experiencing Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto conducted by Gustavo Gimeno, there will be a Q&A with Lang Lang moderated by TSO Barrett Principal Education Conductor & Community Ambassador Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser.
“September is always full of excitement and energy at the start of another Toronto Symphony Orchestra season,” said Mark Williams, the TSO’s Beck Family CEO, in a statement.
“But, this September is especially exciting as we welcome Lang Lang, one of the world’s greatest pianists, to Toronto for an exceptional performance with your TSO. Music lovers get to experience Lang Lang’s artistry at our Gala, and at the morning rehearsal, we are also welcoming 300 students to Roy Thomson Hall for a special look at the dedication and mastery that goes into making an unforgettable concert. It’s moments like this — the sharing of music across generations — that really stick with me. It’s what the TSO has done for over 100 years. It’s joyful. It’s moving. And it’s what makes serving this community through music such a powerful reminder of our connection with Toronto.”
The TSO hosted Lang Lang for a two-week residency in 2011 where he performed all of the piano concerti written by Beethoven — the first time he had done so in such a short time frame, starting with No. 1 on November 9, and ending with No. 15 on November 19.
Lang Lang
Lang Lang was born in Shenyang, China into a family where both parents were musicians — but he didn’t know it as a young child. Both had been diverted from their careers to work in rice fields during the Cultural Revolution, which took place in Maoist China between 1966 and 1976. It was watching an episode of the American cartoon Tom & Jerry (“The Cat Concerto”) which featured Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 that would pique his interest in classical music at the age of two, in 1984.
He started lessons at the age of three, and performed his first public recital at five. Despite some ups and downs in his early learning — he was once expelled from a piano studio for his lack of talent — Lang went on to study at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. After prize wins both in Asia and in Europe, at age 14, he became the featured soloist for the China National Symphony’s first concert.
In 1997, he moved with his father to the US to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. His quick rise to stardom on the concert stage was marked by both his technical virtuosity and his crowd-pleasing stage persona.
He’s performed with most of the world’s prominent orchestras, and on its most renowned stages, and became the first Chinese pianist to sign with prestigious Deutsche Grammphon records in 2003.
Details
Tickets are going quickly for the event.
- Find more details and tickets for the gala event, which includes a gala reception, concert ticket, and gala dinner post-concert [HERE].
- Find single tickets [HERE].
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