For today’s NACO Lunch Break, Elizabeth Simpson (NACO Second Horn) is joined by her friend Thalia Navas to perform an arrangement of the duet Di Si Felice Inesto from Rossini's The Barber of Seville.
Thalia won the NAC Orchestra Bursary Competition in 2019 and studies bassoon at the Juilliard School of Music in New York.
Having lived in Ottawa most of her life, Elizabeth is thrilled to be part of an Orchestra she has admired for many years.
Elizabeth has been the Second horn player since 2011, and has performed regularly in the horn section since 1986.
Elizabeth attained a Bachelor of Music in Education from the University of Ottawa and a Masters in Music Performance from Indiana University. She studied with many renowned players including Daniel Gress, Philip Farkas, Meir Rimon, Michael Hatfield, and Arnold Jacobs. While studying, Elizabeth received the Ottawa Music Festival Senior Scholarship in 1983, and the NACO Bursary in 1984.
Elizabeth was a founding member of the Bel Canto Wind Quintet, which ran a successful concert series in Ottawa for eleven years. This chamber ensemble also toured in Ontario and Quebec, and was often heard on CBC Radio, Radio Canada and in the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival.
Elizabeth is also a member of the Capital Brass Works. This entertaining thirteen member brass and percussion ensemble performed on its own self run concert series in Ottawa, toured in Ontario and has recorded three CD’s to date.
Elizabeth has enjoyed teaching for many institutions in Ottawa including the University of Ottawa, Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy, and Canterbury School of the Arts.
In 2013, Elizabeth Simpson co-created the NAC’s Music Circle, a music program for children, teens and adults with special needs. This program introduces orchestral instruments and the joy of live music, through workshops and a sensory friendly concert.
Elizabeth has worked with students at the OCDSB, CHEO, and the Lotus Centre, and with adults in the LIFE programs.
Bassoonist Thalia Navas, originally from Ottawa, Canada, is currently earning a bachelor’s degree at The Juilliard School where she is a student of Kim Laskowski. In 2019, Thalia won the National Arts Centre Bursary Competition and was invited to solo with the NAC Orchestra during their Christmas Fanfair concert. She has also appeared as a soloist with the Little Orchestra Society. This past summer, Thalia attended the Hidden Valley Festival of Winds, a two week invitational in Carmel Valley, CA. In the summer of 2019 she toured Spain and Canada as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Additionally, Thalia was a participant in the 2019 New York String Orchestra Seminar where she performed two concerts in Carnegie Hall under the baton of Jaime Laredo. She has also been selected as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center where she will attend in 2022. Thalia was a semifinalist in the Montreal Symphony Orchestra competition in 2020 and received an honourable mention in the 2021 Meg Quigley Vivaldi Symposium. Her past teachers include Joann Simpson, and Christopher Millard of the National Arts Centre Orchestra.