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Tribute to Mario Bernardi 1930 – 2013
November 3, 2015As the founding conductor of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra in 1969, Mario Bernardi helped realize the vision of a national centre for the performing arts in Canada. Under his leadership, the Orchestra flourished artistically, touring and recording widely. Notable among his…
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Sounds of Jazz Age: NAC Orchestra’s Roaring 20s Festival
October 19, 2015For five unforgettable nights (Oct-8-17), Music Director, Alexander Shelley and the NAC Orchestra brought the sounds of Jazz Age “Storytelling music” to the stage. Featuring the music of Elgar, Cole Porter, Sibelius, Weill, Gershwin, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Ravel, and even Charlie Chaplin,…
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Welcoming a new maestro to the podium: Alexander Shelley begins his tenure
October 13, 2015It’s like visiting an old friend. That’s how Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra’s new Music Director, describes the joy we feel when we listen to live classical music. “There’s nothing that compares with revisiting pieces you know and love, and the enjoyment of having them performed…
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Generous donors and sponsors celebrate record-breaking NAC Gala
September 22, 2015On Saturday, September 19, the 2015 National Arts Centre Gala featured world renowned pianist Lang Lang and the NAC Orchestra – under the leadership of its new Music Director Alexander Shelley – raising a record-breaking $1,005,000 in support of the NAC’s National Youth and Education Trust…
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Anticipating Opening Night with the NAC Orchestra
September 15, 2015The National Arts Centre Orchestra’s musicians have been practicing for weeks in the lead-up to the opening night of the season, and to Alexander Shelley’s inaugural beginning as Music Director. Now as the final hours tick-on, and last minute adjustments to phrasing and colour have been…
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Celebrating Oscar Peterson’s 90th birthday
July 29, 2015Come and wish Oscar Peterson, one of the world’s greatest jazz musicians “Happy Birthday” on Saturday, August 15 at 1:00 p.m. The National Arts Centre will be hosting a jazz concert by the Clayton Connell quartet beside the statue of Oscar Peterson on the corner of Elgin St. and Albert St.…
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Passing on a passion for music for years to come
July 13, 2015Claire Watson Fisher grew up in a music-loving family. Her father was instrumental in the founding of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in 1934. Her mother never missed a Saturday broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera from New York City. “Claire and I were often taken to concerts where our love…
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The WolfGANG Sessions: Music with a wild side
July 2, 2015The Mercury Lounge is a jewel of a nightclub in Ottawa's Byward Market. It's high ceilings, exposed brick walls and tall windows make it an elegant setting for live music and dancing into the wee hours of the night. It is not a place one would expect to hear classical music and that's what…
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Memories of the Maestro
June 23, 2015In this, Pinchas Zukerman’s ultimate season, we asked some of those closest to him at the NAC to share a special memory of the man who brought us so much enjoyment over the years. Here’s what they had to say: “For me, every occasion I hear Pinchas perform, it's a special gift. I've also…
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Institute for Orchestral Studies: Pinchas Zukerman’s “brainchild” an investment in young musicians
June 23, 2015Sean Hawthorne, cellist and apprentice with the NAC’s Institute for Orchestral Studies (IOS), feels his anticipation grow. He knows that in a moment, NAC Orchestra Music Director Pinchas Zukerman will play Max Bruch’s First Violin Concerto. “Hearing him play the Bruch Concerto every night…
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A Golden era: Pinchas Zukerman and the National Arts Centre Orchestra
June 15, 2015When Pinchas Zukerman became Music Director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in 1999, a heady mixture of surprise and delight swept across Canada. As one of the finest violinists and violists of his generation — of any generation — Maestro Zukerman could have chosen another orchestra…
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A Harmonic Storm: Daniel Lanois with the NAC Orchestra
May 1, 2015In June 2013 Daniel Lanois visited the National Arts Centre to receive the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement. Two years later Lanois is once again backstage at the NAC's Southam Hall - this time as a performer. "It's nice to experience this beautiful edifice…
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Hip-hop in Baker Lake, Nunavut
April 22, 2015The Music Alive Program: Nunavut funded a hip-hop week in Baker Lake from March 9 to March 12. Nelson Tagoona, who performed at the NAC’s Northern Scene a couple of years ago, taught eight workshops on a style he’s credited with inventing— an entirely new category of music called throat-…
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Nicholas Atkinson interviews Alexander Shelley
March 24, 2015The NACOcast, a classical music podcast produced by the National Arts Centre, regularly rates in the top five classical music podcasts on iTunes. Hosted by Nicholas Atkinson, Principal Tuba of the NAC Orchestra, the series explores the broad world of orchestral music and its great…
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The NAC Orchestra Rideau Lakes Brass Quintet at Stonehenge
October 29, 2014The NAC Orchestra Rideau Lakes Brass Quintet gave a 20 minute chamber music recital at Stonehenge, one of the wonders of the world and the best-known prehistoric monument in Europe. In October 1914, young Canadian Soldiers packed up and stepped onto ocean liners to cross the Atlantic.…
