The TSO is committed to innovative programming and showcases a roster of distinguished guest artists and conductors. Throughout its history, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra has welcomed some of the greatest international artists, including Martha Argerich, Maxim Vengerov, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Evgeny Kissin, Kathleen Battle, Jessye Norman, Karen Kain, Maureen Forrester, Lang Lang (in his first week-long residency program in North America), and actor Christopher Plummer.
The Kindred Spirits Orchestra performs a wide range of compositions by Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Handel, Tchaikovsky, Haydn, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Chopin, and many others. Ardent supporter of contemporary music, the Kindred Spirits Orchestra created, also in 2011, Markham Contemporary Music Festival, an annual event that has brought to life great pieces of the 20th century by Lutoslavsky, Stravisnky, Philip Glass, Honegger as well as by illustrious Canadian composers such as Garry Kulesha, Brian Current, Larysa Kuzmenko, Daniel Friedman, Kevin Lau, and Constantine Caravassilis.