The first Canadian to be named director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra since Sir Ernest MacMillan retired in 1956 is Peter Oundjian, 46, a former violinist turned conductor. The TSO announced his appointment at an elegantly staged media conference on January 16 at Roy Thomson Hall.

Oundjian, named music director designate for the 2003-4 season, will take over the post full time in the 2004-5 season. Although Toronto-born, he left that city at age five for England, where he received most of his education. After completing his studies at the Royal College of Music, he moved on to study at The Juilliard School in New York at the urging of Pinchas Zukerman, currently music director of the National Arts Orchestra in Ottawa.

The former violinist – he spent 16 years as the first violin with the New York-based Tokyo Quartet – studied with such famous teachers as Itzhak Perlman, Dorothy DeLay and Ivan Galmian.

A repetitive stress injury (focal dystonia) forced him to give up the violin. He turned to conducting and has made considerable strides in his new field. He served as artistic director of the Caramoor International Music Festival in New York, music director of the Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam and principal guest conductor of the Colorado Symphony. He currently teaches at the Yale School of Music and makes his home with his school teacher wife and two children in Connecticut.

The appointment of Oundjian as music director to the TSO comes after the orchestra's painful two years without anyone holding the post. Its conductor laureate, Sir Andrew Davis, filled in as adviser during a period when the TSO suffered many setbacks, among them coming close to financial ruin. It is no secret that Toronto's landmark orchestra has undergone very tough times. These probably started before a 1999 musicians’ strike. This long, drawn-out event undermined audience support and trust, and led to great revenue loss.

These days the TSO's fortunes look much brighter and Oundjian appears to be just the kind of conductor needed to bring the audiences back to its concerts. Lively and personable, he rose to the top of the list of 100 candidates for the post. He agreed to a four-year contract, long enough to give the orchestra stability.

The search committee included three members from the orchestra. On the day of the official announcement, Jacques Israelievitch, first violin and concert master of the TSO, told Lancette that a condition for the final choice from a shortlist of five candidates was that the successful candidate needed at least two of the three votes from the musicians. "It is a very positive step," he said of the appointment, "and we look forward to wonderful music making."

"Peter had something that nobody else had, the ability to connect with the community," said TSO president and CEO Andrew Shaw during the very festive gathering, just before introducing Oundjian to the august group of music critics, board members, and who-is-who in the music community. "It's just in his bones, and that was it for me because we all know how detached the TSO had become from most of Toronto."

Unlike Yukka-Pekka Saraste, his Finnish predecessor who thought little of Toronto and even less of North America, Oundjian seems to like the place. "Toronto is one of the most vibrant cities in the world," he stated during his short speech to the assembled dignitaries at Roy Thomson Hall. That is just the kind of talk Torontonians like to hear. He said that the TSO must reach out and increase its presence in the community. "I am delighted to be a catalyst for this."