Alice Sara Ott in Recital -- the third Great Performers concert of the NAC’s 2011-2012 season – features rising star pianist Alice Sara Ott. Alice Sara Ott in Recital is at 8 p.m. in Southam Hall on Tuesday March 20, 2012.

The program includes:
MOZART Nine Variations on a Minuet in D major by J.P. Duport, K. 573
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2
CHOPIN Valses Brillantes, Op. 34
CHOPIN Waltzes, Op. 64
LISZT  Transcendental Etudes No. 11 and No. 12
LISZT  Rigoletto-Paraphrase

 Renowned German-Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott replaces Yundi – who unfortunately had to cancel his appearance -- in this Great Performers concert. This is Ms. Ott’s Canadian debut. At the age of 23, Ms. Ott has been praised for her “powerful and exceptional technique” and gained critical acclaim for her splendid performances at major concert halls worldwide. At the age of 13, she was hailed ‘Most Promising Artist’ at the Hamamatsu International Piano Academy Competition, and two years later she went on to take the top prize at the Silvio Bengalli International Piano Competition; she was the youngest contestant.

Alice Sara Ott is already considered one of the best interpreters of Chopin alive today. In November 2010, Ms Ott stepped in to replace superstar pianist Lang Lang for a concert at London’s Barbican Centre. Tim Ashley, writing in The Guardian (London) said, “Liszt’s Concerto plays fast and loose with form … the soloist, replacing Lang Lang at short notice, was Alice Sara Ott, who gave the kind of gawp-inducing bravura performance of which legends are made. The heft of her playing contrasts with the elegance of her platform manner…”

“… she bestrides the keyboard, and plays with a weight of resonance and authority which belies her years and her slender frame. There’s beauty, and mischief too, in her playing, which rings out with a freedom, fluidity, and lack of contrivance which is entirely refreshing”
Hilary Finch, The Times (London), November 2010

 “Ott has demonstrated her command of the delicate intimacies and melodious melancholy of Chopin on this year’s recording of the Complete Waltzes…”
The Independent (London), October 2010

“Her performance of the Transcendental Etudes literally tore the audience from their seats.”
Basler Zeitung, May 2008

“What the young virtuoso succeeded in achieving here can only be described as phenomenal! Her technique and precision is little short of a miracle … exquisite and magical!”
Reutlinger Nachrichten, March 2008

Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2, No. 3 is a sonata written for solo piano, composed in 1796. It is dedicated to Franz Joseph Haydn. The sonata was written three years prior to Beethoven’s widely known Pathétique Sonata in C minor. This work is the weightiest of the three Opus 2 sonatas and is often referred to as Beethoven's first virtuosic piano sonata.

The waltz has never lost its original attraction for pianists, either in public or in private. Their rhythmic verve, wealth of melody, and power to evoke well-defined moods and recreate the atmosphere of excitement, nostalgia, or languor has exercised an irresistible fascination upon generations of music-lovers. Chopin’s waltzes are different from earlier Viennese waltzes in that they were not designed for dancing but for concert performance, usually in the salons of the aristocracy. They are sophisticated works in which, behind the glitter and glamour, deeper and often melancholy feelings are hiding. During the lifetime of Frederick Chopin (1810-1849), the waltz became very popular, both as a dance and as salon music. Chopin started writing waltzes in 1824, when he was fourteen, and continued until the year of his death. He took special pains over the structure and continuity, and the organic principle of developing variations lies behind most of them.

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher. He was renowned for his virtuosic skill -- indeed, he was considered by some to be the greatest pianist of all time. As a composer, Liszt represented the “New German School”. He left behind an extensive body of work in which he influenced his contemporaries and anticipated some 20th-century ideas and trends. The Transcendental Etudes are a series of twelve compositions for solo piano written in 1826, revised in 1837, and published in 1852. Transcendental Etude No. 11 in D-flat is a study in harmonies, broken chords played in quick succession, full octave jumps, chromatic harmonies, and chord variations. Transcendental Etude No. 12 in B flat minor is a study in tremolos but contains many other difficulties, such as wide jumps and fast chromatic scales, and it requires a very gentle and soft touch in the beginning. The piece gradually builds up to a powerful climax.

When Liszt wrote piano transcriptions based on the themes of other composers, he ameliorated them, modifying the melody, bass and occasionally the harmonies. As in the Rigoletto-Paraphrase (1859), Liszt’s transcriptions yielded results that were often more inventive than what Liszt or the original composer could have achieved alone. Here, he fashioned a substantial concert piece after thematic material from one of the most dramatic moments in Giuseppe Verdi’s 1851 opera, Rigoletto. In the famous final-act quartet “Bella figlia dell’amore”, Verdi’s music depicts innocence and deceit, treachery and disappointment. Liszt deftly manipulates these themes to encompass a range of emotions, as well as the melodic richness of Verdi’s music. Liszt’s wrote a showpiece well suited to the piano’s sonorities and expressive range -- the colors are brilliant throughout, and the ending is virtuosic.

ALICE SARA OTT BIOGRAPHY
At 23, German-Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott has gained critical acclaim for her performances at major concert halls worldwide. Recent concerts have seen Alice Sara Ott perform with the Münchner Philharmoniker, London Symphony and Tokyo Symphony orchestras, San Francisco Symphony, Wiener Symphoniker, Bamberger Symphoniker, as well as the Philharmonia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, and Royal Scottish National orchestras. Alice has also toured with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding, and she made her BBC Proms debut with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Sakari Oramo in August 2011.

Orchestral debuts this season include concerts with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Euskadi Symphony Orchestra, Essen Philharmonic Orchestra and Tonkünstler Orchester, as well as returning to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Sinfonieorchester and Danish National Symphony Orchestra. In summer 2012, Alice tours Japan with the hr-Sinfonieorchester and Paavo Järvi, and will embark on a major European recital tour of venues in Paris, London, Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Nürnberg, Brussels, Zaragossa, and Bilbao. In addition to her solo activities, Alice is a keen chamber musician, appearing at festivals such as Heimbach, Moritzburg, Davos, and Schwetzingen, alongside artists such as Lars Vogt, Gustav Rivinius, Tadjana Masurenko, Peter Sadlo, and Jan Vogler. Ms Ott appears frequently in recital at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. She made her debut at the Lucerne Festival in autumn 2010 and in summer 2012 she makes her first appearance at the Verbier Festival.

Alice has recorded exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon since 2008, with her highly successful debut recording of Liszt’s 12 Études d’exécution transcendante quickly followed by a second album of the complete waltzes of Frédéric Chopin. This second release entered both the German and the U.S. Classical iTunes charts at Number 1. Alice’s debut orchestral recording featuring Piano Concertos by Tchaikovsky and Liszt (with the Münchner Philharmoniker and Thomas Hengelbrock) was named ‘Editor’s Choice’ in both International Piano and Classic FM Magazine. Her recent recording of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas was released in August 2011. Alice was awarded the prize for ‘Young Artist of the Year’ at the Klassik Echo Awards for her Chopin recording in October 2010. Alice Sara Ott currently resides in Munich.

Alice Sara Ott in Recital will be performed in Southam Hall of the National Arts Centre on Tuesday March 20, 2012 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20.45, $31.21, $42.51, $49.50, $53.81, $64.57, and $75.33, for adults and $11.73, $17.11, $22.76, $26.25, $28.41, $33.79, and $39.17 for students (upon presentation of a valid student ID card). Tickets are available at the NAC Box Office (in person) and through Ticketmaster (with surcharges) at 613-755-1111; Ticketmaster may also be accessed through the NAC’s website www.nac-cna.ca.

Subject to availability, full-time students (aged 13-29) with valid Trinity Live Rush™ membership (free registration at www.liverush.ca) may buy up to 2 tickets per performance at the discount price of $12 per ticket. Tickets are available online (www.nac-cna.ca) or at the NAC box office from 10 a.m. on the day before the performance until 6 p.m. on the day of the show or 2 hours before a matinee. Groups of 10 or more save 15% to 20% off regular ticket prices to all NAC Music, Theatre and Dance performances; to reserve your seats, call 613-947-7000, ext. 634 or e-mail grp@nac-cna.ca.

Discover the new NACmusicbox TIMELINE: 200 orchestral works, 80 Canadian compositions,
1 interactive TIMELINE that provides a visual representation of our rare online archival collection and encourages the exploration of music connections. The NACmusicbox TIMELINE has been specifically designed to showcase the works of Canadian composers within the history of orchestral music and offers cross-curricular content with classroom-ready activities and lesson plans developed by teachers for teachers. Visit NACmusicbox.ca today.
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We also thank our partner CBC Radio 2 for generously providing broadcast-quality recordings of the NAC Orchestra’s archival performances.

For additional information, visit the NAC website at www.nac-cna.ca

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Information:  
Gerald Morris
Communications Officer, NAC Music
613-947-7000, ext. 335  
[e-mail]  gerald.morris@nac-cna.ca