VANCOUVER - Vancouver's Olympic organizers issued an apology to the city's symphony orchestra after controversy broke out over the music for the opening ceremonies of the Winter Games in February.

John Furlong, chief executive officer of organizer VANOC, called Vancouver Symphony Orchestra conductor Bramwell Tovey to personally apologize and VANOC issued a news release late Saturday night that publicly apologized to the orchestra for putting it in an "untenable" position.

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra had been asked to record music for the opening ceremonies, but VANOC didn't invite the VSO to participate in the actual Feb. 12 show, instead planning to use a stand-in conductor and musicians to mime the performance.

It all raised the ugly spectre of Beijing's opening ceremonies in 2008, where a cute young girl lip-synched the recorded singing of a less pretty girl.

Mr. Tovey, in an interview with The Globe and Mail on Friday, compared VANOC's original plan to mime the music with Ben Johnson's drug-fuelled gold medal in 1988 at the Seoul Summer Games.

On Saturday night, VANOC issued a news release to "clarify" the situation. It said it regretted that the "complex technical requirements" of the ceremonies put the VSO in a "difficult position," an "untenable position."

VANOC noted the VSO's other "prominent" Olympic contributions: the orchestra has recorded the national anthems of the 98 countries set to attend the Games and is participating in the Cultural Olympiad.

Mr. Tovey wished "every success" to VANOC in the same news release. The VSO did not press for an apology, Mr. Tovey said Sunday in an interview by e-mail.

"VANOC's apology was sincere and impressive," Mr. Tovey wrote.

"John Furlong rang me and expressed genuine regret at the predicament the VSO were presented with. It's a timely reminder to the television industry that the public does not tolerate artists miming."

Like VANOC, Mr. Tovey has sought to quell the furor of the past several days.

"Now it's time to forgive and forget and look forward to the Games in the most beautiful city in North America," Mr. Tovey wrote.

VANOC did not return telephone calls for comment on Sunday.