Alumnus Travis Harrison shares his most memorable experiences at the SMI – Part 1

We are thrilled to report that SMI alumnus Travis Harrison (2009, 2011 & 2012) recently landed a position with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra!  In this three-part interview, Travis talks about his experience at the SMI, finding balance in his practice routine and preparing for orchestra…

NACOcast reprise: Maestro Mario Bernardi remembered (2006 Interview)

The National Arts Centre mourns the loss of Maestro Mario Bernardi, the founding conductor of the NAC Orchestra. Maestro Bernardi passed away peacefully in Toronto on June 2. In this episode of the NACOcast we pay tribute to the great music director by reprising a previous edition of the…

The National Arts Centre mourns the loss of Maestro Mario Bernardi

The National Arts Centre (NAC) mourns the loss of Maestro Mario Bernardi, the founding conductor of the NAC Orchestra. Maestro Bernardi passed away peacefully in Toronto on Sunday morning. The NAC lowered its flag in Ottawa to half-mast to pay tribute to the man who moved to the nation’s…

Behind the scenes of the GGPAA Gala

Countdown to the Rite of Spring-Part 5 of 5

Le Massacre du printemps Newspapers called it ‘Le Massacre du printemps.’ Diaghilev’s satisfied comment was, ‘Exactly what I wanted.’ A Jealous Lover Diaghilev did not accompany the Ballets Russes when the company embarked on its South American tour in the fall of 1913, which was preceded…

Honouring the Maestro: Conductor Mario Bernardi to receive permanent recognition at the...

It’s not the sort of place you expect to see members of the NAC Orchestra. But the Wind Quintet was at Villa Colombo, a retirement residence, that day for a very special reason. They were there to visit Mario Bernardi, the founding conductor of the NAC Orchestra, and perform a concert in…

A new set for the 2013 GGPAA Gala

Interview with Jean Pierre Lefebvre

Contest winner conducts the NAC Orchestra

Countdown to the Rite of Spring-Part 4 of 5

Aggressively Anti-Balletic Vaslav Nijinsky will live on as the first modernist choreographer and one of the greatest dancers of the twentieth century. In his twenties he made a series of ballets that, as Joan Acocella notes in The New Yorker: “…challenged academic dance as Picasso, around…

Melody Johnson Talks About Miss Caledonia

Interview with composer Ana Sokolovic

Small islands, big questions: Birds With Skymirrors May 24-25

Lemi Ponifasio’s Birds With Skymirrors is a multi-layered, multi-media production, a series of highly stylized, sometimes hauntingly beautiful, images that create a mystical world onstage. Birds With Skymirrors is a radical composition in dance, ceremony, poetry, and chant that is also a…

Countdown to the Rite of Spring-Part 3 of 5

The Premiere The premiere performance of The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps) took place on Thursday, May 29, 1913 at Paris’s newly-opened Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. The program that night also included Les Sylphides, Le Spectre de la Rose and Polovtsian Dances. A Modernist Affair…

Playoffs at the NAC

The NAC Orchestra and Orchestre Métropolitain performed together on stage while the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens battled on the ice in game 5 of the playoffs. NAC Orchestra musician Marjolaine Fournier interviews conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin between periods to check in on player…