NAC Orchestra

2020-02-26 20:00 2020-02-27 22:00 60 Canada/Eastern 🎟 NAC: Marvellous Mozart

https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/21708

Qigang Chen is a musical chameleon whose compositions are filled with echoes of his youth in China, alongside vivid textures inspired by later life in France. His incandescent composition for string orchestra, L’éloignement, is filled with beautiful expressions of traditional Chinese folk music, suggesting the loneliness of his years in confinement for “ideological reeducation” during China’s Cultural Revolution. Prepare for fireworks when guest soloist George Li...

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Southam Hall,1 Elgin Street,Ottawa,Canada
February 26 - 27, 2020
This event has passed
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George Li © Simon Fowler
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Xian Zhang © B. Ealovega
Music Classical music Masterworks Piano
  • Qigang Chen L’éloignement
  • WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major
  • WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Symphony No. 41 in C major, “Jupiter”
  • ≈ 2 hours · With intermission
1-georgeli-pianist5-photocreditsimonfowler
George Li © Simon Fowler
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Xian Zhang © B. Ealovega

Qigang Chen is a musical chameleon whose compositions are filled with echoes of his youth in China, alongside vivid textures inspired by later life in France. His incandescent composition for string orchestra, L’éloignement, is filled with beautiful expressions of traditional Chinese folk music, suggesting the loneliness of his years in confinement for “ideological reeducation” during China’s Cultural Revolution.

Prepare for fireworks when guest soloist George Li performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, one of the composer’s most passionate and expressive works, and one of his first concerti to include a relatively new instrument called the “clarinet.” Praised by The Washington Post for his “staggering technical prowess” and “sense of depth and command,” George Li exudes an effortless grace and maturity at the piano far beyond his years.

Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 was his last and longest, and evidence that his prowess as a composer never waned. Nicknamed for the majestic passages that conjure the thunderbolts of Roman god Jupiter, Symphony No. 41 is filled with pure and fiery passion that rightly places it among the greatest symphonies of all time.

Guest conductor Xian Zhang makes her welcome return to the podium of Southam Hall to lead the NAC Orchestra in this blending of great musical minds.

Artists

  • 229-xian-zhang-credit-b-ealovega
    Conductor Xian Zhang
  • georgeli-pianist5-credit-simon-fowler
    piano George Li
  • bio-orchestra
    Featuring National Arts Centre Orchestra
  • qigang-chen-web
    composer, L’Éloignement Qigang Chen