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≈ 1 hour · No intermission
Since its debut in 1969, the National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra has been praised for the passion and clarity of its performances, its visionary educational programs, and its prominent role in nurturing Canadian creativity. Under the leadership of Music Director Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra reflects the fabric and values of Canada, reaching and representing the diverse communities we live in with daring programming, powerful storytelling, inspiring artistry, and innovative partnerships.
Alexander Shelley began his tenure as Music Director in 2015, following Pinchas Zukerman’s 16 seasons at the helm. Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and former Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra (2009–2017), he has been in demand around the world, conducting the Rotterdam Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Stockholm Philharmonic, among others, and maintains a regular relationship with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and the German National Youth Orchestra.
Each season, the NAC Orchestra features world-class artists such as the newly appointed Artist-in-Residence James Ehnes, Angela Hewitt, Joshua Bell, Xian Zhang, Gabriela Montero, Stewart Goodyear, Jan Lisiecki, and Principal Guest Conductor John Storgårds. As one of the most accessible, inclusive, and collaborative orchestras in the world, the NAC Orchestra uses music as a universal language to communicate the deepest of human emotions and connect people through shared experiences.
Recently appointed Music Director of the Toledo Symphony (USA), conductor Alain Trudel has been praised for his “immense talent as conductor, musician and performer” (La Presse). He is Principal Youth and Family Conductor of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Music Director of l’Orchestre Symphonique de Laval, and Principal Guest conductor of the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra. Trudel was also the CBC Radio Orchestra conductor, taking the orchestra to new heights of artistic quality, as well as public and critical acclaim.
Trudel has conducted every major orchestra in Canada as well as orchestras in the UK, USA, Sweden, Brazil, Italy, Russia, Japan, Hong-Kong, Malaysia and Latin America. Trudel made his Opera de Montréal debut in 2009 in Mozart’s Magic Flute and conducted the live recording of their 30th anniversary gala. He has been a regular guest since and in March 2017 he conducted to great acclaim (“The entire audience was on its feet for another standing ovation, with concertgoers shouting “wow” and “bravo.” Rolling Stone Magazine, “The Wall Triumphs in Montréal.” Le Figaro, Paris) the world premiere operatic version of “The Wall”. Trudel will also lead the american premiere at the Cincinnati Opera in July 2018.
Always committed to upcoming generations of musicians, Trudel has served as Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra from 2014 to 2012 and has regularly been invited to conduct the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. From 2011 to 2015 Trudel was Professor and conductor of the orchestra and opera orchestra at the University of Western and is now guest professor for orchestra and opera at the University of Ottawa.
First known to the public as “the Jascha Heifetz of the trombone” (Le monde de la musique), Alain Trudel has been a guest soloist with orchestras worldwide including the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Hong-Kong Philharmonic, Austrian Radio Orchestra, Festival Musica Strasbourg (France), Klangbogen Festival (Vienna), Akiyoshidai and Hamamatsu festival (Japan). Alain is also a respected composer with performances across America and in Asia.
Alain Trudel was the first Canadian to be a Yamaha international artist, and is the recipient of numerous awards including the Virginia Parker, the Charles Cros Prize (France), the Opus prize and the Heinz Unger Award. He has been named Ambassador of Canadian Music by the Canadian Music Centre and received a Queen’s Jubilee Medal in 2012.
OrKidstra is an Ottawa-based social development program, which gives children from under-served areas the opportunity to learn life skills – such as teamwork, commitment and responsibility – through the joys and challenges of singing and playing music together.
OrKidstra’s mission is to empower kids and build community through music. OrKidstra accomplishes this mission by providing children from under-privileged communities with free instruments and lessons, giving them the chance to reach for success through music.
The program began in 2007 with 27 children and the passionate belief in the transformative power of music. It has since grown to include over 700 children, ages 5-18, from 42 cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and has become a world-class example of why music is called the universal language.
In high-demand for their energy and musicianship, OrKidstra has performed on the JUNO awards broadcast, on Parliament Hill as part of the Canada Day 150 Celebrations and many more. The charity is grateful to have the support of two OrKidstra Ambassadors: acclaimed pianist Angela Hewitt, C.C., O.B.E, and Alexander Shelley, Music Director NAC Orchestra.
After a life-transforming youth orchestra experience, Tina went on to study at the world-renowned Guildhall School of Music in London, England, and then played principal flute in the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra for four seasons. After a sabbatical at the Banff Centre for the Arts, she moved to Ottawa, where she played with all the established orchestras and festivals including the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival.
In 1999, in partnership with her husband Gary McMillen, she opened The Leading Note music store, now recognized as Canada’s print music specialist – and a hub of the classical music scene in Ottawa. Learn more at www.leadingnote.com
In 2007, motivated by her passionate belief in the transformative power of youth music, Tina visited Venezuela to research El Sistema. Soon afterward, she and co-founders Gary McMillen and Margaret Tobolowska (former NACO cellist) founded OrKidstra.
As Executive & Artistic Director of OrKidstra, Tina has received the Peace Award (2011), the Leading Women/Leading Girls, Building Communities Award (2012), the Canadian Institute for Child Health Leadership Award (2012) and is recognized as a “Kickass Canadian.” In 2017, the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, awarded Tina Fedeski the Meritorious Service Medal for creating the OrKidstra program.
The Svitanok Ukrainian Dance Society strives towards professionalism in the training, performance, instruction, renewal, and promotion of Ukrainian character dance as a viable and developing art form on the Canadian dance scene. It was established in 1991 by Kateryna Shepertycka, Maria Shepertycka, and Yurij Ostapyk.
The Ottawa School of Ukrainian Dance and the Svitanok Ukrainian Dance Ensemble together form the Svitanok Ukrainian Dance Society.
Nikita Kamblé-Bagal is an Ottawa based Kathak dancer who has been training under the guidance of her guru Saveeta Sharma, artistic director of Upasana the Spirit of Dance, since 2007. She is the recipient of the city of Ottawa Spirit of the Capital Youth Award for Arts and Culture in 2017. She accomplished her Ranga Pravesh, a Kathak graduation, in August 2017 at the Harold Shenkman Hall, which consisted in a two hour solo debut performance. She is currently studying at the University of Ottawa and continues to train with her guru in light of pursuing a career in dance.
Born and raised in Ottawa, Paul spent his formative years along the mighty Rideau River in East End Overbrook. His work over four decades in Canadian theatre has taken him from the East Coast to the West and many places in between. He has played a range of characters from Prospero, to Shylock and King Lear, to a Dragon named Dudley, and an opera-singing worm named Signor Uno Verissimo. Here in Ottawa, he has been fortunate enough over the years to work many times at the NAC: he got to join the marvellous 2015/16 English Theatre Ensemble and play Benoit in The December Man, Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, and Dick Cheney in Stuff Happens; he has also appeared in NAC productions of The “Vaudevilles” of Chekhov, Hamlet, The Winter’s Tale, The Secret Garden, 7 Stories, Cyrano, Happy Days, The Dreamland, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, and with the NAC Orchestra in Beethoven Lives Upstairs.
Across town at the Great Canadian Theatre Company he has played in The Children’s Republic, The Drawer Boy, Heroes, Plan B, No Great Mischief, Better Living, The Collected Works of Billy The Kid, Our Country’s Good and Relative Good, to name a few. Paul recently played at Montreal’s Centaur Theatre in the part of Mr. Pendleton in the acclaimed production of Choir Boy. In December 2021, Paul will appear in Daisy over at GCTC as they resume the Covid-interrupted production of Sean Devine’s play about the infamous TV advertisement that helped Lyndon Johnson wrest the 1964 election from Barry Goldwater.
Back in 2019 Paul released a collection of original songs that is available on CD and various online platforms.
Laurie began her stage management career with English Theatre and Jean Roberts’s company at the National Arts Centre. Since then she has been honoured to work with NAC English Theatre, NAC Indigenous Theatre, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and NAC Presents (now Popular Music and Variety). Laurie has been Production Stage Manager for the Shaw Festival and Theatre Calgary, and Stage Manager for, amongst others, Arts Club Theatre Company, The Globe Theatre, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Mirvish Productions, Stratford Festival, Great Canadian Theatre Company, Grand Theatre, Theatre New Brunswick, and Neptune Theatre.