Born in Valencia, the 40-something conductor Gustavo Gimeno is cruising to the heights of his profession. In demand as a guest artist in top international concert halls and opera houses, he has served as music director with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg since 2015, adding the Toronto Symphony Orchestra to his portfolio in 2020, with the Teatro Real in Madrid to follow in 2025. This concert in Ottawa is part of his first tour with the Canadians, which by the bye celebrates the institution’s centennial of innovation and adventure. The program includes the second symphony of the internationally decorated, European-based Canadian composer Samy Moussa—at 20 minutes, no pro forma contemporary curtain raiser. Also on offer: a suite assembled by Gimeno himself from Sergei Prokofiev’s swooning Romeo and Juliet. But for sheer bliss, it will be hard to beat Édouard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, graced by the 20-year-old fiddle phenomenon María Dueñas, who has lion tamers in the press eating out of her hand. —Matthew Gurewitsch