Conductor Rafael Payare tours Europe and California with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal this summer and fall; contract renewed through 2032

“Payare carefully planted the hero’s churning obsession into Berlioz’s seething textures, giving a brooding energy that tied the whole sprawling work together.”
– The Times on OSM’s recent release of Symphonie fantastique

(April 2026) — Canada’s Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Montreal Symphony Orchestra/OSM) has just announced the renewal of Music Director Rafael Payare’s contract for a five-year term through the 2031–32 season. In conjunction with the renewal, Payare’s title will also become Music and Artistic Director, a change that reflects the conductor’s desire to shape the future of the OSM beyond programming and his presence on the podium. Renowned as “a conductor of considerable grace and considerable swagger, making the two go unusually yet inexorably together” (Los Angeles Times), Payare will devote 14 to 16 weeks each season to the Montreal orchestra. The OSM places a strong emphasis on international tours, studio recordings, and broadcasts, and Payare’s tenure has already resulted in four albums on the Pentatone label and four international tours since 2022 – in South Korea, the U.S., and twice in Europe – with a fifth and a sixth scheduled for coming months. The conductor looks forward to taking the podium this summer for an additional European tour (Aug 19–28), followed by a tour to California in the fall (Oct 25–29). Payare comments:

“To lead the OSM on its 60th international tour, within major European festivals, marks a deeply meaningful milestone – a moment to reflect on the Orchestra’s extraordinary journey while bringing our sound to places where musical tradition feels almost tangible. As we continue with the 61st tour on the West Coast of the United States, particularly in San Diego, the experience becomes more personal, where different parts of my musical life come together. These tours bring Canadian composers and soloists into dialogue with the international repertoire, fulfilling our mission to share Montréal’s unique musical voice with audiences around the world.”

OSM President and Chief Executive Officer Mélanie La Couture adds:

“It is pure joy to see the relationship between Rafael and the Orchestra continue so seamlessly. Since his first moment on the podium, a symbiotic connection was established with the musicians. His conducting style, both rigorous and radiant, reflects his deep respect for the members of the Orchestra. Owing to the strength of his artistic vision, he excels in steering the Orchestra to new heights. His community engagement energizes the OSM’s profile and makes the Orchestra more accessible and open. Rafael’s vision is now an integral part of the OSM’s DNA, to our immense delight.”

OSM contract renewal

Since being appointed by a unanimous vote as the OSM’s 9th Music Director in 2021, Payare has consolidated the ensemble’s place at the forefront of major North American orchestras while reaffirming its role as a cultural institution firmly rooted in the Montreal, Quebec and Canadian communities. He elaborates:

“The love and connection I share with the orchestra’s musicians, just like the warm reception I continue to receive from the Montreal community, make me blessed to carry forward this wonderful relationship with the OSM.  My family and I have made Montreal our home out of love for this cultural and gastronomical metropolis, and we are proud to be Montrealers. Since my appointment, I have pursued cycles devoted to the works of Mahler and Shostakovich, while also giving pride of place to Québécois, Canadian and Latin American works and artists. In recording, I enjoyed the opportunity of delving into the post-Romantic Germanic repertoire and returning to the sources of the OSM with the French repertoire, notably Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and Ravel’s ballet Daphnis et Chloé. So many beautiful programs have been achieved since 2022, which makes me even more eager for what we can build together in the future.”

The renewal of Payare’s contract also heralds a continued commitment to education and the community. A pillar of the OSM’s mission since 1934, education holds particular significance for the conductor, shaped both by his roots in El Sistema and by his commitment to training emerging Quebec and Canadian musicians. Fulfilling a long-held dream, Payare created the Programme El Sistema OSM to enable young people from Montréal-Nord to learn orchestral music completely free of charge. Other educational initiatives include masterclasses, collaborations with the conservatory network, the OSM Competition, and the Orchestral Immersion project, all with the fundamental goal of supporting the next generation of musicians. Likewise, community engagement initiatives include free or low-cost concerts, school matinees that accommodate over 30,000 young people annually, and large-scale concerts in parks.

Summer and fall tours to Europe and California

Payare leads the OSM on its 60th international tour this summer, with destinations in Scotland, Poland, Denmark, and Germany. Performing at the Edinburgh International Festival for only the third time since 1976, the orchestra presents two programs, starting with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s monumental cantata trilogy, The Song of Hiawatha, marking the work’s first Festival performance. Soloists are Nigerian American soprano Francesca Chiejina, Scottish tenor Nicky Spence, and British baritone Christopher Maltman. Inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem, The Song of Hiawatha – though seldom performed now – became a sensation in the early 20th century, regularly selling out the Royal Albert Hall. London-based oboist and researcher Uchenna Ngwe, a specialist in Black British classical music, will introduce the work’s history (Aug 19).

The OSM’s second Edinburgh program features two new vocal works paying tribute to Canada’s Indigenous peoples by Canadian composers Ana Sokolović and Ian Cusson. Sung by Indigenous sopranos Emma Pennell and Elisabeth St-Gelais respectively, the pieces are set to libretti by Indigenous poets Michelle Sylliboy and Natasha Kanapé Fontaine. Also on the program is Gabriela Ortiz’s recent Grammy-winning Dzonot cello concerto, an evocation of the subterranean rivers, caves and stunning wildlife of Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula, with dedicatee Alisa Weilerstein as soloist. Richard Strauss’s tone poem Ein Heldenleben completes the program (Aug 20).

The tour continues with two concerts in Warsaw featuring Canadian pianist Kevin Chen – second prize winner in the most recent Chopin Competition – and American pianist Eric Lu, who won first prize in the same competition. Chen performs Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto, bookended by Penderecki’s Sinfonietta No. 1 for strings, in tribute to the late composer who was present when OSM last performed in Poland in 2018 with then-Music Director Kent Nagano, and Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony. The next night, Lu is featured in Chopin’s First Piano Concerto, on a program with Debussy’s L’Isle joyeuse and Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben (Aug 23 & 24).

From Warsaw, the tour proceeds to Denmark – where Payare won first prize in the Malko Competition for Young Conductors in 2012 – for another milestone: the first time OSM has ever performed in that country. Both the Denmark program and the final concert of the tour in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie reprise the Debussy and Strauss works along with Weilerstein’s performance of Ortiz’s Dzonot (Aug 26 & 28).

Just a few months later, Payare leads the OSM on its 61st international tour, this time in California. Performing as guests of the San Francisco Symphony (Oct 25) and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Oct 27) for the first time in 37 years, the OSM is joined by violinist Leonidas Kavakos for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major in the former city and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor in the latter. Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 is also on both programs, and in Los Angeles the orchestra adds Elysium by Montreal composer Samy Moussa. Finally, Payare takes the OSM to his other home territory of San Diego, where they reprise Samy Moussa’s Elysium and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Kavakos, as well as performing Stravinsky’s complete Firebird ballet (Oct 29).

Rafael Payare and OSM: 60th and 61st international tours

Europe
Aug 19
Edinburgh, Scotland
Usher Hall
Francesca Chiejina, soprano
Nicky Spence, tenor
Christopher Maltman, baritone
Edinburgh Festival Chorus (James Grossmith, chorus director)
COLERIDGE-TAYLOR: The Song of Hiawatha

Aug 20
Edinburgh, Scotland
Usher Hall
Emma Pennell, Elisabeth St-Gelais, sopranos
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Ana SOKOLOVIĆ (text by Michelle Sylliboy): You can die properly now
Ian CUSSON (text by Natasha Kanapé-Fontaine): Un cri s’élève en moi
Gabriela ORTIZ: Dzonot
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40

Aug 23
Warsaw, Poland
National Philharmonic
Kevin Chen, piano
PENDERECKI: Sinfonietta No. 1 for Strings
CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 21
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 10, Op. 93

Aug 24
Warsaw, Poland
National Philharmonic
Eric Lu, piano
DEBUSSY: L’Isle joyeuse
CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 11
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40

Aug 26
Aarhus, Denmark
Musikhuset
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
DEBUSSY: L’Isle joyeuse
Gabriela ORTIZ: Dzonot
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40

Aug 28
Hamburg, Germany
Elbphilharmonie
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
DEBUSSY: L’Isle joyeuse
Gabriela ORTIZ: Dzonot
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40

California
Oct 25
San Francisco, CA
Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall
Leonidas Kavakos, violin
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35
SHOSTAKOVICH, Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93

Oct 27
Los Angeles, CA
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Leonidas Kavakos, violin
Samy MOUSSA: Elysium
MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
SHOSTAKOVICH, Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93

Oct 29
San Diego, CA
Jacobs Music Center
Leonidas Kavakos, violin
Samy MOUSSA: Elysium
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird (full ballet)