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Big Noise Scotland: music making that fosters confidence and pride
October 22, 2014In 2008 Scotland became home to the UK’s first Big Noise Orchestra. Big Noise is an orchestra programme that uses music making to foster confidence, teamwork and pride in the children taking part – and across the wider community. An orchestra is by its nature a cooperative structure. Any…
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Looking ahead to the UK Tour
October 20, 2014Soon the NAC Orchestra will be on their way to the United Kingdom. During final rehearsals, some musicians took a few moments to speak about what aspects of the UK Tour they are most looking forward to. For viola player Paul Casey the luxury of spending extra time with the repertoire is…
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The NAC Orchestra’s U.K. Tour: Following in their footsteps
October 15, 2014This week the National Arts Centre Orchestra kicks off its tour to the United Kingdom, where it will perform five concerts to commemorate the start of the First World War. One of them will be in the historic Salisbury Cathedral, a few steps from Salisbury Plain where Canadian troops first…
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Storytelling through music with composer Abigail Richardson
August 21, 2014Kids are a big part of every NAC Orchestra tour. In preparation for its October 2014 tour to the United Kingdom commemorating the outbreak of the First World War, the Orchestra asked Canadian composer Abigail Richardson to work with students from Ottawa’s Colonel By Secondary School to help…
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UK Tour: Young trio to perform with NAC Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic...
July 9, 2014The NAC’s Summer Music Institute, co-founded by Music Director Pinchas Zukerman, has become a world-renowned magnet for the best young classical musicians. Students come from across Canada and around the world to train with a renowned international faculty. This summer, three young…
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NAC Orchestra UK Tour: Remembrance, performance and education
March 31, 2014Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, under the baton of its renowned Music Director Pinchas Zukerman, will undertake a performance and education tour of the United Kingdom in October 2014 to commemorate the First World War Centenary. The First World War is particularly significant to…
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UK Tour: Feet on the Ground, Remembering 1914
March 31, 2014In his beautiful composition A Ballad of Canada, the late Canadian composer Malcolm Forsyth remembered John McCrae and his infamous 1915 poem, In Flanders Fields. McCrae composed the poem in the field, his surgeon’s kit bloodied and his heart broken after seeing a school friend die in…
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From far and wide: NAC Foundation CEO Jayne Watson on UK Tour...
March 27, 2014Q: What role does the National Arts Centre Foundation play in planning the UK Tour? The Foundation supports the National Arts Centre's priorities, artistic and otherwise. In this case, we've helped find private funding to make the UK Tour possible. The NAC Orchestra would not be able to…
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A vivacious musical greeting: an interview with composer John Estacio
November 15, 2011Music is often described as a conversation between the listener and the performer. However, it is the composer who has written the script. In this interview, NAC Award Composer John Estacio speaks about the composition process and his newly commissioned work for the National Arts Centre…