It’s been three years since Jeanne Lamon retired as music director of Toronto’s illustrious Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. The new kahuna is Elisa Citterio, a hot-shot Italian violinist who makes her debut this week as the orchestra’s director with A Joyous Welcome, an appropriately titled program that not only opens Tafelmusik’s 2017-18 season, but ushers in a new era as well. Not entirely comfortable conversing in English, Citterio answered our questions by e-mail.

When you were brought in as a guest conductor last year, did you feel it was a sort of audition for the job of Tafelmusik’s new music director?

At that time I knew about the search process and that there were a few candidates being tried out. Everyone at Tafelmusik welcomed me so kindly that I almost forgot that I was doing an audition.

The news release announcing your hiring heralded a “new era” for Tafelmusik. What will the new era entail?

For the precise reason that Tafelmusik is so well-rooted, it’s natural to expect changes. We have a wonderful team and we can build on what they have achieved under the excellent guidance of former director Jeanne Lamon. I am looking forward to creating more educational possibilities for children, to attracting a wider variety of people to our concerts, to commissioning new works by Canadian composers, to trying some experimental programs and to touring in Europe, especially Italy.