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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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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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Creative insights
March 13, 2015Attending pre-rehearsal chats and open rehearsals are one of the many benefits donors receive when they support performance, creation and learning across Canada through the National Arts Centre Foundation. Recently, on two separate occasions, composer Mark Neikrug and theatre director…
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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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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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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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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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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…
