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Taking flight: Scene festivals
January 20, 2015The NAC’s biennial Scene festivals showcase hundreds of established and emerging artists from different regions of Canada. It began with Atlantic Scene in 2003, followed by Alberta Scene (2005), Quebec Scene (2007), BC Scene (2009), Prairie Scene (2011), Northern Scene (2013) and the…
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A violin’s personality: Timothy Chooi and his 1729 Guarneri del Gesù
January 19, 2015When musicians perform they become one with their instrument. For violinists, the bow is an extension of their arm, and the sound communicates their emotions and interpretation of the score. While training at the National Arts Centre's Summer Music Institute, Timothy Chooi (age 20) took…
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Xavier Forget and the “art” of presenting Canada’s most talented Francophone artists
January 17, 2015Xavier Forget, Associate Producer of French Programming – NAC Presents Q. It’s said that NAC Presents “shines a spotlight today on the music stars of tomorrow.” Seven of the top ten winners at the 2014 ADISQ awards gala—Quebec’s Grammys—had recently performed in the NAC Presents series. Do…
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From the ground up: NAC Dance, catalyst of creation
January 17, 2015NAC Dance is proud to present Canadian work. But it also has a long history of co-producing with Canadian dance artists and actively partnering in the creation and development of new work. “Co-producing allows the NAC to be one of a series of important organizations around the world in the…
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La fabuleuse errance de Pierre-Guy B.
January 14, 2015* This text is only available in French par Josianne Desloges, journaliste au Soleil Ce texte est préalablement paru en septembre dernier dans le Cahier Cinq, le numéro d’automne 2014 des Cahiers du Théâtre français. Je ne connaissais pas Pierre Guy Blanchard et, même maintenant,…
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Ce qui nous relie? Creating. Trying. testing.
January 6, 2015The young participants are deep into the creative theatre process. Creating, trying, testing their presence on stage by performing simple, fun and original actions. This involvement gives place to wonderful things. Cassandra performs a lyrical dance. Aurel laughs out loud when evoquing his…
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Dark and friendly: Christopher Millard on why he loves bassoon
January 6, 2015Q & A with Christopher Millard, Principal Bassoon, NAC Orchestra A Bassoon Concerto – since WHEN does a bassoon get up and solo as frontman to an entire orchestra and audience, please? Not often. We are usually content to sit amongst our more flamboyant woodwind colleagues, trying to…
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Standing Out: Paul Wells on conductor John Storgårds
January 5, 2015Audiences could be forgiven if guest conductors start to blur together after a while. For the space of two hours (or so it seems to us from our seat in the auditorium), our beloved NAC Orchestra is in the hands of a visitor from afar who, as often as not, doesn’t say a word and spends most…
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Creating the conditions for joy
December 19, 2014If you were to try to describe unbridled human joy to a newcomer on planet Earth, pointing directly at Kyle during Elizabeth Simpson’s Music Circle class would make an easy visual. Kyle sits in the standard public high school chair, one leg tucked under another, and beams as Liz Simpson…
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CBC Television: Historic Salisbury concert to air on Christmas day
December 19, 2014On Christmas Day, Canadians are invited to watch the extraordinary performance of the National Arts Centre Orchestra on CBC Television from Salisbury Cathedral to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. The haunting beauty of one of the United Kingdom’s…
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A Tale of Childhood Discovery
December 16, 2014When Alice enters the surreal looking-glass world, she moves in a dreamlike game of chess where logical reasoning and adult thinking rarely deliver the outcome she expects. For the NAC’s English Theatre ensemble, a big part of rehearsals for Alice Through the Looking-Glass was…
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Crystal Pite and the world stage
December 15, 2014In a NAC Dance Podcast interview with Cathy Levy in 2009 at the time of her show Dark Matters, the acclaimed Vancouver dancer-choreographer Crystal Pite spoke about her first time coming to the NAC. It was 25 years ago, and she was then a dancer with Ballet British Columbia. “All I…
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Why a late blooming arts lover is supporting the NAC
December 12, 2014Lawyer Michael Segal admits he wasn’t much of an arts lover in his youth. “I grew up with sports,” he says. “It was my wife, Hedy, who studied music and introduced me to the performing arts.” And so, Michael didn’t know what to expect when Hedy took him to his first ballet at the NAC many…
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How music builds community
December 11, 2014In 2006 the National Arts Centre began sending musicians into schools in rural and remote communities in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Developed in consultation with local boards of education, and using NAC-created teaching resources based on classical music composers, the Music Alive…
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Singing Messiah: Keeping it fresh, with help from Woody Woodpecker
December 11, 2014I have the great pleasure to prepare the chorus for the National Arts Centre Orchestra's production of Handel's Messiah, an event I have enjoyed for over 27 years. My job is to keep the chorus on their toes, rehearsing the movements in a variety of tempi, articulation and dynamics. Add…
