The musicians of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra took their seats at Roy Thomson Hall on Wednesday for a performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony. Then a stage door swung open, and out walked the conductor.
He was not a world-renowned maestro or even a trained musician. The man who walked out, wearing a crisp white shirt and taking the podium, was Mandle Cheung, a 78-year-old technology executive who had paid the Toronto Symphony nearly $400,000 to lead it for one night.
Cheung, a lifelong fan of classical music who played in a harmonica band in high school and has dabbled in conducting, persuaded the orchestra to allow him to act out his long-held dream of leading a top ensemble.
“I had watched the videos and heard the recordings,” Cheung, the chairman and chief executive of ComputerTalk Technology in Toronto, said in an interview. “I had seen the magic of the guy standing in front of the orchestra with a stick. So I said, ‘Why can’t I do it, too?’”
He added: “I can afford to do it, that’s the main thing. So when it came across my mind, I said, ‘Hey, maybe I should give it a try.’”
The leaders of the Toronto Symphony obliged, over the objections of some musicians, who argued that the 102-year-old ensemble should not be in the business of turning over its podium to amateurs. The orchestra, like many arts organizations, has been grappling with rising costs. Ticket sales cover only about 38 percent of the orchestra’s annual budget of about $33 million; the rest comes through philanthropy, grants and other sources.
Mark Williams, the Toronto Symphony’s chief executive, said the concert was part of the orchestra’s efforts to diversify its revenues. The engagement was not part of the regular subscription season, he noted: It was presented (but not performed) by Mandle Philharmonic, an orchestra founded in 2018 by Cheung that he also leads.
“We’re going to explore appropriate ways to drive revenue,” Williams said, “and to continually bring the spotlight back to the relevance of what we do.”
Cheung is not the first amateur conductor to create a stir. His work has some parallels to Gilbert E. Kaplan, a financial publisher who embarked on a second career as a globe-trotting maestro. Kaplan had one piece in his repertoire — also Mahler’s “Resurrection” — which he performed with renowned ensembles, including the London Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic. He sometimes drew opposition from musicians, including during a contentious appearance in 2008 with the New York Philharmonic.
In Toronto, the orchestra’s members were divided about Cheung’s appearance. Some musicians expressed concern about an amateur leading the challenging “Resurrection,” which is written for a full orchestra, chorus and two vocal soloists, and runs about 90 minutes. (The Amadeus Choir performed with the Toronto Symphony on Wednesday.)
Bridget Hunt, a violinist in the orchestra who is chair of the artistic advisory committee, praised Cheung’s support of cultural groups and musicians in Canada. But she said that it was challenging to follow him, even after several rehearsals.
“It’s hard when you have someone on the podium that doesn’t have the experience,” she said. “My colleagues were tremendous in that we all came together. At one point, I thought, ‘This is like a giant quartet, or a giant chamber ensemble.’ We listened to each other. The experience brought us all together, because we knew it was up to us to get this done.”
She added that the financial benefit to the orchestra “needs to reflect the amount of effort put into mounting something like this.”
The cellist Lucia Ticho, who is chair of the Toronto Symphony’s orchestra committee, said the musicians should have been given a voice in deciding to engage Cheung and in selecting the repertoire.
“If we were involved these discussions,” she said, “we would never have agreed to the Mahler.”
Cheung said he understood the musicians’ concerns.
“These are great musicians, and they work really hard all their life to become a player in a professional symphony orchestra,” he said. “And then somebody who’s not a recognized conductor just walks in and writes you a check and starts conducting you.”
Cheung spent several months preparing for the concert, holding more than 10 rehearsals with his orchestra, the Mandle Philharmonic. At his first rehearsal with the Toronto Symphony last week, he said he told the players: “I’m going to spend the next five minutes trying to earn your confidence that I can do it.”
In the interview, he said, “It was something I had to prove to them.”
Cheung covered the costs of the concert, which he said included the orchestra’s fee of about $337,000; a rental fee for Roy Thomson Hall of about $45,000; and soloist fees of about $15,000.
After the performance, Cheung and the orchestra received a standing ovation. He said he was grateful for the opportunity.
“Now that I’ve conducted in Toronto, maybe that can be sort of like a credential for approaching American orchestras, European orchestras, to see if we can work with them,” he said. “That would be nice.”
Javier C. Hernández is a Times reporter who covers classical music, opera and dance in New York City and beyond.
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