OTTAWA (Canada) – Drama and passion abound on February 10-11 when acclaimed Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki shares the stage with National Arts Centre Orchestra’s Music Director, Alexander Shelley in “Brahms Requiem,” a concert featuring radiant music by Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann.  

These Air Canada Ovation Series performances will open with Brahms’ deeply personal, intimate and tragic Nänie, Op. 82. The work was inspired by Friedrich von Schiller’s poem Nänie (a word derived from naenia, a Roman funeral song) and explores the transience of beauty and divine indifference of human suffering. This profound choral masterpiece will feature the Ottawa Choral Society, Ottawa Festival Chorus, Cantata Singers of Ottawa, Ewashko Singers and Capital Chamber Choir.

Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 will follow; its soaring lyricism and romantic passion will be expertly performed by soloist Jan Lisiecki. He has been described by BBC Music Magazine as"...perhaps the most 'complete' pianist of his age..." and recently released his recording of Schumann’s complete works for Piano and Orchestra on the Deutsche Gammophon label to great acclaim. This will be his first collaboration with conductor Alexander Shelley. Lisiecki replaces Alice Sara Ott, who has withdrawn from these concerts due to a hand injury.

The performance will come to a close with Brahms’ uplifting A German Requiem, Op.45 that will feature Soprano Jessica Rivera and Baritone James Westman.  As Alexander Shelley notes “…Beauty is what Brahms brought to his life-affirming and almost humanistic German Requiem.”

Alexander Shelley and Jean-Jacques Van Vlasselaer will hold a bilingual pre-concert talk at 7:00 p.m. February 10 -11 where the audience can ask questions directly to artists. Air Canada, will be giving away a pair of tickets for a National Arts Centre Orchestra concert during this event.

Don’t miss these exhilarating performances, February 10-11 at the National Arts Centre. Tickets start at $25 and available online at Nac-cna.ca. The Friends of NACO will also hold a silent auction in the NAC lobby prior to these performances.

ABOUT THE NAC ORCHESTRA

In September 2015 Alexander Shelley began his tenure as Music Director with the National Arts Centre’s Orchestra. Shelley has an unwavering reputation as one of Europe’s leading young conductors, notably as Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and most recently as the Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Formed in 1969 at the opening of Canada's National Arts Centre, the NAC Orchestra gives over 100 performances a year with renowned artists including Itzhak Perlman, Renée Fleming, James Ehnes, Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma. It is noted for the passion and clarity of its performances and recordings, its ground-breaking teaching and outreach programs, and nurturing of Canadian creativity.

Since its inception the Orchestra has commissioned 80 works, mostly from Canadian composers. In 2001 it inaugurated the National Arts Centre Awards for Canadian Composers and the recipients thus far have been Denys Bouliane, John Estacio, Peter Paul Koprowski, Gary Kulesha, Alexina Louie and Ana Sokolović.

Previous NAC Orchestra Music Directors include Pinchas Zukerman, Mario Bernardi and Trevor Pinnock. The 2015-16 season features Principal Guest Conductor John Storgårds , Alain Trudel as Principal Youth and Family Conductor and Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly completing the strong artistic team.

In addition to a full series of subscription concerts at the National Arts Centre each season, tours are undertaken to regions throughout Canada and around the world, most recently to China (2013) and the UK (2014). The latter commemorated the start of the First World War and explored themes of remembrance and healing through music in over 50 education and performance events. Following the footsteps of Canadian troops 100 years ago, it showcased the brilliant work of Canadian composers and the NAC Orchestra's musicians, both as performers and as educators, and received standing ovations in packed halls throughout the UK.

In 1999, Pinchas Zukerman founded the NAC Young Artists Program, part of the wider NAC Summer Music Institute, which provides elite training to talented young musicians. Students all over the world are also taught via videoconferencing in the NAC's cutting-edge Hexagon Studio. The Orchestra also created and continues to pioneer education work locally and in indigenous communities in northern Canada.

The NAC Orchestra has made over 40 commercial recordings, including Angela Hewitt’s 2014 Juno Award-winning album of Mozart Piano Concertos conducted by Hannu Lintu. Many more concerts are freely available through NACmusicbox.ca on the NAC's performing arts education website ArtsAlive.ca. These include many of the 100 new Canadian works commissioned by the NAC Orchestra in its 45 year history.

TO BOOK AN INTERVIEW, PLEASE CONTACT:

Andrea Ruttan

Communications Officer, NAC Orchestra
National Arts Centre
(613) 947-7000, ext. 335
Andrea.Ruttan@nac-cna.ca