Celebratory tour “send off” concert

May 8, 2019
Southam Hall 1 Elgin Street Ottawa Canada
Music Classical music Masterworks
  • Approx. 1 hour  and  15 minutes
Performance options Start time Language Availability
Wednesday, May 8, 2019 10:00 am bilingual Seats available

This concert will be particularly special, as it will be our celebratory “send off” concert before Alexander Shelley and the NAC Orchestra head off on their 50th Anniversary European tour! Both in the lobby and on stage you will see and hear about the NAC Orchestra’s rich history of touring and their exciting plans for the upcoming tour.  Please join us after the concert for some cake with the orchestra as we toast them bon voyage!

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Brahms’s admiration of Beethoven was so great, that he toiled over his first symphony for 14 years before releasing it and daring to step out from under the shadow of success and popularity of his predecessor.  Unburdened, Brahms went on to write his second in only one summer at his lakeside retreat in Portschach, Austria.

Light and airy, Brahms described his melodies as flowing “so freely that one must be careful not to trample them.” Once described as “all rippling streams, blue sky, sunshine, and cool green shadows” Brahms’s Pastoral Symphony delights audiences with a beautiful, musical emotional experience.  

Dvořák's famous “New World” Symphony plays like a musical postcard from his 1893 sojourn in America. Inspired by the expansive, young nation, the symphony is dreamlike and spacious. Yearning melodies become layered with brooding melancholy, both overtaken at times by erupting waves of energy and exhilaration.  In the exquisite English horn solo in the slow movement, one hears the influence which American folk music and spirituals must have had on the composer.  

Music. Food. Wine. Friends. 
A Perfect Way to Enjoy it All.

5:30 PM    Pre-concert 5 à 7 with music in the Southam Hall Lobby, OPEN TO ALL whether or not you attend the concert. Enjoy cocktails and tapas, available for purchase. All tapas are prepared by the NAC culinary team drawing inspiration from individual Casual Fridays concerts for an original and authentic flair. You can purchase tapas tickets onsite the night of the concert at a price of $8 per tapa. Tapas Tickets can also be purchased in advance through your my NAC Account or at the box office (4 tapas tickets for $30). Tickets are valid for any Casual Fridays performance during the 2018/19 season.

7 PM    NAC Orchestra concert. Each invited, guest concert host connects with the artists on stage to discover more about them and the music. Side screens give the audience a chance to get up close and personal with the evenings performers.

8:30 PM    Post-concert party in the Main Foyer, OPEN TO ALL whether or not you attended the concert. Mix and mingle with fellow music lovers and NAC Orchestra musicians and have a piece of cake in celebration of their European Tour!

Artists

  • dscf9130-curtis-perry-2-cropped
    Conductor Alexander Shelley
  • camera director Ian Cameron
  • stage manager Tobi Hunt McCoy

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Learning and engagement at Canada’s National Arts Centre is made possible through the support of many generous individuals and organizations from across the country. Arts Alive is generously supported by the Azrieli Foundation, the Government of Nunavut, Canadian North, Calm Air, The River Philip Foundation, The Turnbull Family Community Building Foundation, and The Thomas Sill Foundation. Thank you also to Grant and Alice Burton, Canada Life, A Donor-Advised Fund at the Community Foundation of Ottawa, Friends of the NAC Orchestra, Donors to the NAC Foundation's Future Fund, The Janice and Earle O’Born Fund for Artistic Excellence, and the donors and sponsors of the NAC’s National Youth and Education Trust, the primary resource for youth and education funding at the National Arts Centre.