After a few months of uncertainty, NACO is thrilled to be back and to return safely to the stage as a full ensemble. Over the next few weeks, the Orchestra will livestream—for the first time in its history—concerts directly from Southam Hall. NACO Live will feature contemporary classics and hidden gems, and highlight the brilliance of our guest soloists from CBC’s 30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30, 2020 edition.

“These concerts will celebrate the genuine diversity that is alive and flourishing in classical music, they amplify composers from historically excluded communities, and showcase the next generation of Canadian performers. It will also bring to the fore trailblazing Canadian composers of the recent past and of today,” says Alexander Shelley, Music Director of the NAC Orchestra.

On Saturday, October 31, viewers will relish in music from George Walker, the first Black American composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for music, and Jessie Montgomery, part of the younger generation of Black composers. This first program, named Solace after the piece by JUNO award winning Jocelyn Morlock, will feature two of our own orchestra members, concertmaster Yosuke Kawasaki and assistant principal cello Julia Maclaine, and fantastic young Canadian artists: Christ Habib, a classical guitarist from Gatineau who will perform the Concerto for guitar and strings by Quebec’s Jacques Hétu; and Toronto-based soprano Jonelle Sills,who will sing Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and narrate Carlos Simon’s Portrait of a Queen.

Later, Affairs of the Heart, livestreamed on Saturday, November 7, will celebrate three brilliant women composers from Canada, the US and the UK, in a concert of music spanning from 1957 to 2018. It will feature Canadian Hillary Simms playing Henri Tomasi’s Concerto for Trombone.

These 80-minute broadcasts are free to view on the NAC website, allowing unpresented access to NACO’s work and giving us the opportunity to engage and serve with new audiences across the city, and the country.

Solace—Featuring Alexander Shelley, musicians of the National Arts Centre Orchestra and special guests.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2020, 8 PM: https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/27450
LIVE FROM SOUTHAM HALL
FREE

GEORGE WALKER Lyric for Strings
JESSIE MONTGOMERY Starburst
JACQUES HÉTU Concerto for Guitar and Strings (Christ Habib, guitar)
SAMUEL BARBER Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Jonelle Sills, soprano)
CARLOS SIMON Portrait of a Queen (Jonelle Sills, narrator)
JOCELYN MORLOCK Solace (Yosuke Kawasaki, violin, Julia MacLaine, cello)

Affairs of the Heart—Featuring Alexander Shelley, musicians of the National Arts Centre Orchestra and special guests.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2020, 8 PM: https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/27460
LIVE FROM SOUTHAM HALL
FREE

JESSIE MONTGOMERY Coincident Dances
HENRI TOMASI Trombone Concerto (Hillary Simms, trombone)
HANNAH KENDALL Verdala
MARJAN MOZETICH Affairs of the Heart (Duncan McDougall, violin)
VIOLET ARCHER Sinfonietta

ABOUT ALEXANDER SHELLEY

Alexander Shelley became Music Director of the NAC Orchestra in September 2015; he is Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and was Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra 2009–2017. Since being awarded first prize at the 2005 Leeds Conducting Competition, Mr. Shelley has been in demand from orchestras around the world, including the Philharmonia, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, DSO Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestra Svizzera Italiana, Stockholm Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Simón Bolívar, Seattle, and Houston Symphony Orchestras. He is a regular guest with the top Asian and Australasian orchestras. The Bounds Of Our Dreams recording with the NAC Orchestra follows Life Reflected, ENCOUNT3RS and the JUNO-nominated New Worlds and the NAC Orchestra has since released Clara, Robert, Johannes—Darlings of the Muses.

ABOUT THE NAC ORCHESTRA

The NAC Orchestra was formed 51 years ago at the creation of Canada’s National Arts Centre 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 ground-breaking teaching and outreach programs, and the nurturing of Canadian creativity. In 2015 Alexander Shelley began his tenure as Music Director, following Pinchas Zukerman’s 16 seasons at the helm. 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.

The NAC Orchestra has recorded many of the 80+ new works commissioned since its inception, for radio and on over 40 commercial recordings. These include Angela Hewitt’s 2015 JUNO Award-winning album of Mozart Piano Concertos; the groundbreaking Life Reflected, which includes My Name is Amanda Todd by Jocelyn Morlock, winner of the 2018 JUNO for Classical Composition of the Year; and from the 2019 JUNO nominated New Worlds, Ana Sokolović’s Golden Slumbers Kiss Your Eyes,

2019 JUNO Winner for Classical Composition of the Year. The NAC Orchestra was nominated for a 2020 JUNO for Classical Recording of the Year, Large Ensemble for The Bounds of Our Dreams, which includes le Concerto de l’asile by Walter Boudreau and performed by Alain Lefèvre.

THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS.

The National Arts Centre Foundation wishes to acknowledge the leadership support of Mark Motors Group, Official Car of the NAC Orchestra. The NAC Orchestra Music Director role is supported by Elinor Gill Ratcliffe, C.M., O.N.L., LLD (hc).  Special thanks to the Janice and Earle O’Born Fund for Excellence in the Performing Arts, VIA Rail (Official Rail Partner) for their generous support of the NAC Orchestra and music education programs at the NAC.
 

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