La Scala Philharmonic to play in Toronto in Toscanini anniversary tour

La Scala Philharmonic, the resident orchestra of Milan's famed opera house Teatro alla Scala, will play in Toronto this October as part of a North American tour.

Itwill bethe Roy Thomson Hall debut of the orchestral ensemble, created in 1982 under conductor Claudio Abbado.

The North American tour is a tribute to Arturo Toscanini, the musician and conductor who organized the first international tour of an Italian orchestra.

Toscanini took the La Scala Orchestra, a predecessor to the modern-day philharmonic,on a 16-week, 59-city North American tour, including a stop at Toronto's Massey Hall in 1921.

Riccardo Chailly will conduct the orchestra in Toronto. Dynamic maestro Riccardo Muti stepped down in 2005 amid conflict over the artistic direction of the philharmonic.

The orchestra, celebrating its 25th anniversary, appears in Toronto Oct. 20 with Canadian tenor Ben Heppner. The program has yet to be announced.

The touropens Oct. 6, with performances in Ann Arbor, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington and then moves to New York City with a concert near Ground Zero.

The concert was proposed by Milan Mayor Letizia Moratti during a visit to New York as a gesture of solidarity with the city, La Scala Philharmonic spokesman Paolo Besana said.

It is being organized this year to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Toscanini's death in New York City in 1957.