BEETHOVEN’S ICONIC FIFTH SYMPHONY OPENS THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE ORCHESTRA’S MARK MOTORS AUDI SIGNATURE SERIES ON OCTOBER 12-13

Chief Conductor Designate of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra for a term beginning in 2013, and for the year leading up to that its Principal Guest Conductor, Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu has been Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra since August 2009. He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin.

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams
One of the greatest composers of twentieth-century England was inspired by one of the greatest musicians of the English Renaissance. Ralph Vaughan Williams had been commissioned to edit a new edition of the English Hymnal, and while searching through folk-song and English church collections, he came across nine melodies by Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585) written for the 1567 English Psalter. The Psalter was used for only a few years then suppressed, but the tunes were preserved. One tune in particular caught Vaughan Williams’s interest and in June 1910, he completed his Fantasia (for strings only). The theme’s ecclesiastical nature combines simplicity, strength, mysticism, serenity, eloquence and elegiac brooding.

American/Canadian violinist Leila Josefowicz performs Thomas Ades’s brilliant Violin Concerto “Concentric Paths.” Ms. Josefowicz was born in Missisauga and moved to Los Angeles when she was a young child. She started studying violin at the age of three and a half using the Suzuki method. She has won the hearts of audiences around the world with her honest, fresh approach to the repertoire and her dynamic virtuosity.

Violin Concerto “Concentric Paths”, Op. 24 by Thomas Adès
Thomas Adès (born 1971) has been described as “the most brilliantly inventive British composer of his generation.” He was turning out mature compositions -- Five Eliot Landscapes, Powder Her Face -- even before he reached his own maturity. In 2000, Adès became the youngest composer ever to win the prestigious $200,000 Grawemeyer Prize for Asyla, written when he was just 26. Adès is also the composer of Living Toys (1993) and The Tempest (2004), and a formidable pianist and a busy conductor. He composed his Violin Concerto in 2005 as a joint commission from the Berlin Festival and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Adès has said,“The outer movements are circular in design, the first fast, with sheets of unstable harmony in different orbits, the third playful, at ease, with stable cycles moving in harmony at different rates. The slow movement [is] built from two large, and very many small, independent cycles, which overlap and clash, sometimes violently, in their motion towards resolution.” The three movements last but twenty minutes, but those twenty minutes are densely packed with musical event.

Symphony No. 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is one of the most popular and best-known compositions in all of classical music, and one of the world’s most often-played symphonies. It begins by stating a distinctive four-note ”short-short-short-long” motif which is known worldwide, appearing frequently even in popular culture, from disco to rock and roll, to appearances in film and television. Evoking feelings of conquest and triumph, the symphony’s overwhelming artistic structure and scope of human drama reward music lovers eager to delve deeper into its mysterious workings, eager for renewed spiritual nourishment, and eager to learn what interpretative insights the conductor will bring to the work. Beethoven wrote his Fifth Symphony between 1804 and 1808, with most of the work accomplished in 1807. The first performance took place in Vienna on December 22, 1808. Today it is easy to forget just what a forward-looking and “modern” work it was in 1808. For starters, there was not a single tune that could be hummed in the opening movement; instead, an intense, concentrated onslaught of a four-note rhythmic cell unfolded with unparalleled energy, leaving the audience gasping under its emotional impact. But even this movement did not embody the emotional peak of the work. Traditionally, the finale represented a merely lightweight, festive ending. But in the Fifth, the finale assumed a new role, acquiring the status of triumphal solution, the grand peroration that resolves conflicts and tensions of the preceding movements. Early audiences were astounded.

The NAC Orchestra performs Beethoven’s Fifth in Southam Hall of the National Arts Centre on Wednesday October 12 and Thursday October 13 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20.45, $31.21, $42.51, $53.81, $64.57, $75.33, and $94.17, for adults and $11.73, $17.11, $22.76, $28.41, $33.79, $39.17, and $48.59 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 1-888-991-2787; Ticketmaster may also be accessed through the NAC’s website www.nac-cna.ca.

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 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.

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