Orchestras Canada

Three of Orchestras Canada members are presenting short festivals this month, within the context of their regular seasons.

In Ottawa, the National Arts Centre Orchestra (led by Music Director Pinchas Zukerman) is presenting a pair of performances, April 19 and 20, of all six of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. The concerts feature NACO principal players, augmented by trumpeter Andrew McCandless and harpsichordist-for-the-occasion, John Kimura Parker. As well, both programs will feature a pre-concert performance by organist Thomas Annand – and we suspect Bach’s music will be on the agenda there, too.

Meanwhile in Halifax, Symphony Nova Scotia’s 29th season wraps up with a three-concert French Festival, April 18-22. The festival includes a Musically Speaking program, starring SNS Concertmaster Robert Uchida and Halifax pianist Peter Allen in sonatas by Debussy and Ravel, as well as Massenet’s famous “Meditation” from Thaïs; a pair of large-orchestra concerts, led by SNS Music Director Bernhard Gueller, and including such repertoire as Ravel’s Bolero, Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto no. 2, Fauré’s Requiem, and Saint-Saëns’ massive Organ Symphony. For these last two programs, over 70 professional orchestral musicians will be onstage at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium – a first in Halifax since the early 1980s.

And the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony is presenting a short festival celebrating the life and work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The festival, running April 18 to 22, includes a pair of orchestral concerts led by KWS Music Director Edwin Outwater (with an array of soloists and guest artists), a special screening of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus with a post-event talk back with a renowned musicologist, and what’s promised to be “some extra fun in the lobby at all three Mozart concerts.”

Pinchas Zukerman, the National Arts Centre Orchestra’s music director since 1999, announced earlier this week that he will be stepping down from the role in August, 2015.  Speaking about Maestro Zukerman’s decision, Peter Herrndorf (the NAC’s President and CEO) said, “The NAC has benefitted immeasurably from his leadership on the podium, his artistry as a soloist and his deep commitment to music education. Pinchas Zukerman has made a profound contribution to the musical life of Canada and the world and has served as a transformational figure at the National Arts Centre. He will be greatly missed.”

Vancouver’s Musicfest has just announced the appointment of Matthew Baird as its new program director, succeeding George Laverock. Baird is well-known to Canadian orchestras through his many years of work at the CBC.

Orchestra News notes, with sadness, the passing of violinist and violist Eleanora Turovsky, founding concertmaster of I Musici de Montréal, a 12-year member of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and a well-known teacher at the Université de Montréal.

Last week, the National Arts Centre Orchestra live-streamed its 2012-13 season launch – and by all accounts, it was a stellar affair. The season marks Pinchas Zukerman’s 14th as music director – and it’s action packed! Highlights include a Beethoven festival, a tour of northern Canada, two world premieres by Peter Paul Koprowski and Ana Sokolovic, an all-Strauss program, presented in partnership with Montreal’s L’Orchestre Métropolitain (and led by that orchestra’s popular Maestro, Yannick Nézet-Séguin), chamber concerts, children’s concerts, pops performances, solo recitals, and a pair of guest orchestras: Les Violons du Roy and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. For more information, please visit nac-cna.ca.

It’s been two years since the passing of French-Canadian composer and educator Jacques Hétu – and the National Arts Centre Orchestra is marking the occasion with a two-concert celebration of his work, February 8 and 9, and an exhibition chronicling his life and career, on display in the foyer of Southam Hall, February 7 to 17. Admission to both concerts is free, but tickets must be obtained in person at the NAC box office.

Hétu requires little to no introduction to Canadian orchestras: his catalogue includes some 80 works, including symphonies, opera, choral and chamber music, and concertos for numerous instruments. NACO’s programs this February include an orchestral concert on February 8, led by music director Pinchas Zukerman, and featuring soloists Alain Trudel (trombone) and Nathalie Paulin (soprano). The major work on the program is Hétu’s Symphony No. 3, originally commissioned by the CBC for the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra. The concert on February 9 features chamber music by Hétu and his teachers, performed by leading players from NACO in assorted configurations.

For more information about the celebration, please visit nac-cna.ca.

There’s also a robust section devoted to Jacques Hétu on the NAC’s Music Timeline on-line feature, which you can access here.

The National Arts Centre has announced application deadlines and program details for this year’s Summer Music Institute. The programs take place in the month of June, are designed for outstanding instrumentalists (pre-college and senior level – strings, winds and piano) and conductors. A remarkable Canadian and international faculty has been assembled – and generous scholarship support is available. For more information about the program for instrumentalists, please visit nac-cna.ca.

For more information about the conducting programming (led by Kenneth Kiesler and Pinchas Zukerman, and featuring the Orchestre de la francophonie and the National Arts Centre Orchestra), please visit nac-cna.ca. (English)

The application deadline is February 6, 2012.

Meanwhile, the National Arts Centre has reported that its 15th annual National Arts Centre Gala netted $­­­­621,000, funds that will go to the National Arts Centre’s National Youth and Education Trust. The sold­out event (which included a concert and an on­-stage, post­-concert dinner) featured Sarah McLachlan, her band, the National Arts Centre Orchestra (augmented by five young musicians who are members of the NAC’s Institute for Orchestral Studies) and music director Pinchas Zukerman. An A-­list of politicians and personalities took part, and the Honorary Chair for the event was Laureen Harper.

“Thousands of young Canadian artists and audience members will benefit from the funds raised at the National Arts Centre Gala. The proceeds from the Gala support young artist training programs, as well as arts education resources like the NAC’s award-winning website ArtsAlive.ca. I want to thank all our wonderful Orchestra musicians and Conductor Pinchas Zukerman who donated their talent, our valued presenting sponsor SunLife Financial, and the sold-­out audience who enjoyed Sarah McLachlan’s artistry at the Gala. We have officially kicked ­off Ottawa’s social season with style!” said Jayne Watson, CEO, NAC Foundation.

The National Arts Centre Orchestra, led by its music director Pinchas Zukerman, is presenting a four-concert Russian Festival from September 27 to October 6. The concerts feature an expanded string section, a double-tasking Zukerman (who will be conducting and performing as violin soloist), and four Russian-born pianists personally selected by the Maestro: Kirill Gerstein (September 27), Behzod Abduraimov (September 30), Olga Kern (October 5), and Georgy Tchaidze (October 6).

Repertoire to be performed at the Festival includes classics of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Tchaikovsky’s perennially popular Piano Concerto No. 1, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2, Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, and Piano Concerto No. 1 by Shostakovich. We’re particularly pumped for the October 5 performance of Prokofiev’s film score for Alexander Nevsky, featuring chorus, orchestra and mezzo-soprano.

The National Arts Centre has announced the renewal of Maestro Pinchas Zukerman’s contract as the NAC Orchestra’s Music Director for four more years, to August 31, 2015.  The decision to renew Mr. Zukerman’s contract was unanimously approved by the National Arts Centre Board of Trustees, on the recommendation of NAC President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Herrndorf.  In a statement Mr. Herrndorf said, “Pinchas Zukerman’s gift of music has delighted audiences across Canada and internationally. For more than a decade the National Arts Centre has benefitted from his leadership on the podium, his extraordinary artistry as a soloist, and his deep commitment to music education. We are thrilled this relationship will continue.”

Congratulations to Bernard Labadie, music director of Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Quebec, who will make his debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra this weekend in Bach‘s St. Matthew Passion.  He will not be the only Canadian on stage, either:  celebrated contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux will be one of the six soloists for these performances.