Payare and OSM Featured in Financial Times Ahead of Edinburgh International Festival Performances
A Financial Times feature on Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Scenes from The Song of Hiawatha is out now ahead of Rafael Payare and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal’s performances of the piece at the Edinburgh International Festival on August 19 (with an additional program at the festival on August 20). “I had heard about the piece, but...
Summer Highlights
Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony will be a cornerstone of Rafael Payare’s performances with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Montreal Symphony Orchestra/OSM) this summer, in Quebec and on tour. They perform three programs at Quebec’s Festival de Lanaudière in July and August, with the first program featuring the Shostakovich along with Beethoven’s Egmont Overture and Gabriela Ortiz’s...
San Diego Symphony & Rafael Payare announce release of Shostakovich Symphony No. 7 on Delos
Marking their first recording with Delos/Outhere Music (OH Music), the San Diego Symphony (SDSO) and Music and Artistic Director Rafael Payare announce the release of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7, “Leningrad,” recorded live in May 2025 in the recently renovated Jacobs Music Center and representing the first release to highlight the enhanced acoustics of the celebrated...
Contract Renewed with OSM Through 2032
Canada’s Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Montreal Symphony Orchestra/OSM) has just announced the renewal of Music and Artistic Director Rafael Payare’s contract for a five-year term through the 2031–32 season. 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,...
Payare & OSM Announce 60th and 61st Tours
From August 15 to 29, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal will undertake its 60th international tour; less than two months later, the OSM will land in California to commence its 61st. After South Korea, Europe, and the United States, these will be the OSM’s fifth and sixth tours under the baton of Rafael Payare. Says...
Payare and OSM Reveal 2026/27 Season
The 2026/27 season marks Rafael Payare’s fifth as Music Director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. They will open OSM’s 93rd season in grand style with the expressive power of Mahler, continuing the cycle begun in 2022. The opening concert on September 16 and 17 will bring together Das klagende Lied (Song of Lamentation), an early...
Payare Featured in Preludium Magazine Ahead of Concertgebouw Orchestra Debut
Rafael Payare is Preludium magazine’s February 2026 cover story ahead of his debut leading the Concertgebouw Orchestra this week. The feature highlights Payare’s musical journey, beginning with his early years as a musician in Venezuela to his rise as leading conductor and music director of both San Diego Symphony and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Says...
San Diego Symphony and Payare Announce 2026/27 Season
Next season the San Diego Symphony brings 19 programs of orchestral monuments, guest soloists’s show-stopping performances, and an exploration of a world of music of shimmering color and intoxicating rhythms—all designed to share deeply human storytelling through sound. Programming features 13 symphonies, 15 concertos and five solo features, and 15 works new to the San...
