This major international tour represents an exciting bookend to an extraordinary year for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, a year that featured GRAMMY and JUNO awards, record single ticket and subscription revenue, and record revenue from sponsorships and individual donors.

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's Asia-Pacific Tour will include eight concerts in the following cities:

- Seongnam, South Korea

- Daejeon, South Korea

- Beijing, China

- Shanghai, China

- Guangzhou, China (Sister City to Vancouver, in the Sister Province to British Columbia)

- The Special Administrative Region of Macau

This tour will mark the first time a Canadian symphony orchestra will perform at the prestigious Beijing Music Festival. Past invitees to this festival include the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestra de Paris, Kirov Orchestra, and the Tokyo Philharmonic. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra will also be the first Canadian symphony orchestra to perform in China in thirty years (the Toronto Symphony Orchestra toured China in 1978).

VSO Music Director Bramwell Tovey will conduct all concerts. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is also very happy to have as its very special guest, internationally-renowned, GRAMMY Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn. Concert repertoire will include Shostakovich Symphony No.5; Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet Suite; Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique; Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto; and Canadian composer and former VSO Composer-in-Residence Jeffrey Ryan's The Linearity of Light. In addition to the main concert performances, the VSO will present numerous educational activities during the tour featuring members of the orchestra and Maestro Tovey. A highlight of these activities will be a concert for children and families in Beijing, featuring the entire orchestra in a performance of light and popular classics, conducted and hosted by Maestro Tovey, and preceded by the VSO's much-loved Instrument Fair, which allows children to play real orchestral instruments and compose music with the help of Vancouver Symphony Orchestra musicians.

International orchestral tours are important for a variety of reasons. They bring significant attention to the orchestra's home city, province and country; assist in establishing long-lasting business relationships in each tour country for sponsors and funders; raise the civic, national and international profile of the orchestra and its city; raise the artistic level and capacity of the orchestra; and improve the orchestra's ability to attract and retain top talent.

"We are delighted to be able to undertake this historic tour," said Vancouver Symphony Orchestra President & CEO Jeff Alexander. "I would like to applaud the Governments of Canada and British Columbia and our corporate sponsors for their vision and generosity in supporting this important cultural milestone." -- www.vancouversymphony.ca