Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO)
Orchestra
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra with Bramwell Tovey in 2009
Founded	1919
Concert hall	Orpheum
Music director	Bramwell Tovey
Website	www.vancouversymphony.ca

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The VSO performs at the Orpheum, which has been the orchestra's permanent home since 1977. With an annual operating budget of $13.5 million, it is the third largest symphony orchestra in Canada and the largest performing arts organization in Western Canada. It performs 140 concerts per season. The VSO broadcasts annually on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 2008, The VSO's recording of the Korngold, Barber, and Walton violin concerti, featuring Canadian violinist James Ehnes won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra, and a Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year.

The VSO was founded by the Vancouver Symphony Society in 1919, largely through the efforts of arts patron Elisabeth (Mrs B.T.) Rogers. A previous unrelated orchestra had operated under the name of the "Vancouver Symphony Orchestra", which was formed in 1897 by Adolf Gregory and lasted for only one season. The first conductor of the current VSO was Henry Green, with F.L. Beecher as its president and Rogers as its vice-president. The orchestra performed for two seasons before financial strains and the disappearance of Green forced the orchestra to suspend activities in 1921. Performances resumed in 1930.

Performances were held at the Georgia Auditorium from the 1940s, until 1959, when the Orchestra moved its performances to the new Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

The VSO also served as the Vancouver Opera company's orchestra during the 1960s and 1970s, until creation of the separate Vancouver Opera Orchestra in 1977. During the late 1960s and 1970s, the orchestra often appeared in joint concerts with the Vancouver Woodwind Quintet.