The Toronto Symphony Orchestra plans a new initiative to record its concerts and offer them on CD and via download.

Conductor Peter Oundjian announced the recording project at the TSO's annual general meeting on Wednesday.

Maestro Peter Oundjian said audiences will notice more microphones in the TSO's concert hall this season as the orchestra records performances.
(Cylia von Tiedeman/TSO)

"You'll no doubt have noticed the microphones in the hall more frequently this  season, and I am pleased to advise that we'll be creating several compact discs, with the music available for download within a short period of time," he said.

Orchestral music, including selections of Mozart and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, are to be recorded throughout this coming season, according to Mike Forrester, vice-president of marketing and business development at the TSO.

The best selections will be combined into four or five CDs, possibly at the end of the season.

Downloads of some selections could be available as soon as early 2008, he told CBC News on Thursday.

Few record labels seek out deals with symphony orchestras to record their music. Instead, the orchestras around the world are experimenting with ideas such as offering their own downloads or negotiating with existing download services.

"We've looked to our colleagues in the U.S. and the London Symphony to see what they're doing," Forrester said.

The TSO announced that its audience grew by 10 per cent in the 2006-7 season, with strong growth in single-ticket sales.

The Toronto-based symphony performed before 343,405 people during the season, including 106,288 students throughout Ontario.

The TSO also made financial gains, finishing the year with a surplus of $500,000, which will be put toward its accumulated debt.

The TSO development department raised over $4.3 million in donations and has further pledges for the next four years.

The TSO's deficit, accumulated over a decade of financial turmoil, is now $8.9 million, Forrester said.

The foundation has bylaws that allow only a certain percentage of its endowment to go toward TSO operating costs, but the TSO development department raises funds for both the foundation and orchestra operating costs, Forrester said.

"We have a couple of choices," he said. "We can grow our assets in the foundation or pay down the deficit or do some of both…What we've opted to do is some of both."