Esprit Orchestra

Esprit Orchestra is Canada's only full-sized orchestra devoted exclusively to performing and promoting new orchestral music. Formed in 1983 by Music Director and Conductor Alex Pauk, this innovative Toronto-based orchestra commissions, performs and promotes Canadian composers through its annual concert Subscription Series. Every season, Alex Pauk and his 75-member orchestra collaborate with outstanding soloists and ensembles to give audiences spine-tingling performances of contemporary classical music in the acoustically acclaimed Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music Telus Centre for Performance and Learning. The Subscription Concert series also features Canadian premieres of music by leading International composers, including Adams, Andriessen, Kurtág, Ligeti, Penderecki, Schnittke, Takemitsu, van der Aa, among many others. Alex Pauk and the orchestra have collaborated with leading soloists and ensembles including Jean Stilwell, Maureen Forrester, Barbara Hannigan, Rivka Golani, Desmond Hoebig, Richard Margison, the Molinari Quartet, Jon Kimura Parker and his brother Jamie, Russell Braun, Elmer Iseler Singers, Marie Berard, Teng Li, André Laplante, Robert Aitken, Duo Turgeon, and NEXUS, among others. In 1985, the orchestra initiated the education and audience development program, Toward a Living Art (TALA). TALA has involved thousands of students in workshops, rehearsals and concerts with conductor Alex Pauk, Esprit musicians, leading soloists and composers. Esprit is a non-profitable charitable organization governed by its volunteer Board of Directors. Esprit receives financial support from The Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, The SOCAN Foundation, BMO Financial Group, The Max Clarkson Family Foundation, The Hal Jackman Foundation, The Mary-Margaret Webb Foundation, The Koerner Foundation, subscribers, individual ticket buyers, individual and corporate donors, and bequests.