Orchestre symphonique de Montréal

Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM; informally, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra) is a symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts, which opened on September 7, 2011. There have been a number of organizations with this name, including one formed in 1897, which lasted ten years, and another formed in 1930, which lasted eleven. The current ensemble, however, traces its roots back to 1934; Wilfrid Pelletier formed an ensemble called Les Concerts Symphoniques which gave its first concert on 14 January 1935 under conductor Rosario Bourdon. The Orchestra acquired its current name in 1954. In the early 1960s, when the Orchestra was preparing to move to new facilities at Place des Arts, patron and prominent Montreal philanthropist, John Wilson McConnell, purchased the Laub-Petschnikoff Stradivarius violin of 1727 for Calvin Sieb, the Symphony's concertmaster.