OTTAWA (Canada) – The National Arts Centre is pleased to announce that Pinchas Zukerman has accepted the positions of Artistic Director of the Young Artists Program and Conductor Emeritus of the NAC Orchestra.  He will begin these appointments in September 2016.

“Canada’s National Arts Centre has benefitted immeasurably from Pinchas Zukerman’s extraordinary leadership in the creation of our internationally renowned music education programs,” said Peter Herrndorf, President and CEO, National Arts Centre. “We are thrilled he will continue to educate and inspire the next generations of artists, as the Artistic Director of the NAC’s Young Artist Program.”

Zukerman who is considered one of the world’s finest violinists and violists, is also a brilliant teacher and mentor, and he has helped countless musicians achieve success over the years. 

 “Pinchas Zukerman has a gift for teaching and inspiring young musicians. During his 16 year tenure as Music Director at the NAC, he not only founded the Summer Music Institute but he also pioneered distance learning by using broadband technology. He is also an internationally renowned performer and conductor and this appointment will mean a continued presence on our stages,” said Christopher Deacon Managing Director, NAC Orchestra.

In 1999, Zukerman founded the NAC Summer Music Institute (SMI),an initiative that has had a profound impact on the development of young performing artists in Canada and around the world.

Three streams of summer study have been offered at the SMI: the Young Artists Program, Conductors Program and the Composers Program. There are over 1000 SMI alumni who are now emerging as soloists and in the ranks of orchestras around the world. Others are taking the podium to conduct their own ensembles; and, SMI-trained composers are creating the music orchestras will play for decades to come.

“Being a teacher provides me with an opportunity to encourage some of the brightest young musical talents in Canada and around the world. I believe that everyone, no matter what age or skill level benefits from experiencing the performing arts,” said Pinchas Zukerman.

Zukerman has championed the development of distance learning initiatives at the NAC. He pioneered broadband masterclasses that allow him to teach students as far away as China from the Hexagon Studio at the NAC, as well as using technology for educational ConneXXions events while on tours.

Music Director, Alexander Shelley welcomes Pinchas Zukerman’s renewed involvement at the NAC saying "I wish to extend my deepest congratulations to Pinchas Zukerman in his new role. I know he will continue to raise the bar of excellence in music education at the NAC, for years to come."

PINCHAS ZUKERMAN BIOGRAPHY

Pinchas Zukerman has remained a phenomenon in the world of music for over four decades. His musical genius, prodigious technique and unwavering artistic standards are a marvel to audiences and critics. Devoted to the next generation of musicians, he has inspired younger artists with his magnetism and passion. His enthusiasm for teaching has resulted in innovative programs in London, New York, China, Israel and Ottawa. The name Pinchas Zukerman is equally respected as violinist, violist, conductor, pedagogue and chamber musician.

Pinchas Zukerman spent 16 seasons as Music Director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra. A devoted and innovative pedagogue, Mr. Zukerman chairs the Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music, where he has pioneered the use of distance-learning technology. In Canada, he has established the NAC Institute for Orchestra Studies and the Summer Music Institute encompassing the Young Artists, Conductors and Composers Programs.

Born in Tel Aviv in 1948, Pinchas Zukerman came to America in 1962 where he studied at The Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian. Pinchas Zukerman's discography contains over 100 titles, and has earned him 2 GRAMMY Awards and 21 nominations.

ABOUT THE NAC ORCHESTRA

The NAC Orchestra was formed at the creation of Canada's National Arts Centre in 1969 and gives over 100 performances a year with world-renowned artists. It is noted for the passion and clarity of its performances and recordings, its groundbreaking teaching and outreach programs, and nurturing of Canadian creativity.

In 2015 Alexander Shelley began his tenure as NAC Orchestra Music Director, following Pinchas Zukerman’s 16 seasons at the helm; other Music Directors have included Mario Bernardi and Trevor Pinnock. In addition to a full series of subscription concerts at the National Arts Centre each season, the Orchestra tours throughout Canada and around the world including Northern Canada (2012), China (2013) and UK (2014).

The NAC Orchestra has made over 40 commercial recordings, including Angela Hewitt’s 2014 Juno Award-winning album of Mozart Piano Concertos.

Many more concerts are freely available through NACmusicbox.ca on the NAC's performing arts education website ArtsAlive.ca. These include many of the 80+ new works commissioned by the NAC Orchestra since its inception, most from Canadian composers. In 2001 it inaugurated the National Arts Centre Awards for Canadian Composers.

In 1999 Pinchas Zukerman founded the NAC Young Artists Program, part of the wider NAC Summer Music Institute, which provides elite training to talented young musicians. Students all over the world are also taught via videoconferencing in the NAC's cutting-edge Hexagon Studio. The Orchestra also created and continues to pioneer education work locally and in indigenous communities across Canada.

 

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Rosemary Thompson,
Director, Communications and Public Affairs

National Arts Centre

613 947-7000 x260

rthompson@nac-cna.ca