Building community through music: the National Arts Centre Orchestra tours Atlantic Canada with nine concerts and 80 education events

October 19, 2011

Tour showcasing Julian Kuerti, Jan Lisiecki and Atlantic Canadian musicians includes event with Craig Kielburger, a new work by Canadian composer John Estacio, and a special concert at CFB Gagetown

OTTAWA—Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra will celebrate Atlantic Canada in a dynamic performance and education tour that will build community through music with nine concerts reaching 7,000 individuals in all four Atlantic provinces, and provide an opportunity to work and perform with some of the region’s most promising young musicians in 80 music education events from Nov. 13-25, 2011.

The tour will shine the spotlight on many Canadian artists, but most significantly in the roles of guest conductor and soloist. Julian Kuerti, an alumnus of the National Arts Centre’s Summer Music Institute, is one of the most exciting young conductors to emerge on the scene in recent years, and has led orchestras across North America including the Boston, Houston, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Seattle, Montreal and Toronto symphonies, as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and at the 2010 Vancouver Cultural Olympiad. He made his New York City Opera debut at Lincoln Center in the spring of 2011, leading Oliver Knussen’s “Where the Wild Things Are.” In August 2010, he completed his post as assistant conductor to James Levine at the Boston Symphony.

As featured soloist, Albertan Jan Lisiecki is a 16-year-old piano phenomenon. Also an alumnus of the NAC’s Summer Music Institute, Jan had his orchestral debut at the age of nine, and has since performed as a soloist more than 100 times with orchestras in Canada and internationally, including 10 appearances with the NAC Orchestra, as well as several other chamber or solo performances at the NAC, such as the NAC Gala in 2006. In the 2011/12 season, he has already performed with L’Orchestre de Paris with Paavo Jarvi and and L’Orchestre Métropolitain with Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Upcoming engagements include debuts with the BBC Philharmonic at the Barbican in London and the Leipzig Radio Symphony at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. He has played at Carnegie Hall, the Ravinia Festival, the Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall, Seoul Arts Centre, and Salle Cortot, and has shared the stage with Emanuel Ax, James Ehnes, Yo-Yo Ma, and Pinchas Zukerman. In October 2010, at age 15, Jan signed an exclusive recording agreement with Deutsche Grammophon, in which he will record Mozart concertos, including Piano Concerto no. 20, which he will perform on this tour.

The tour will also feature Atlantic Canadian musicians, including Acadian fiddler Samantha Robichaud, Newfoundland fiddler Danielle Green and the award-winning Shallaway choir, and will stop in 15 cities and communities with concerts in St. John’s (Nov. 15), Charlottetown (Nov. 17), Moncton, (Nov. 20), Fredericton (Nov. 22) and Saint John (Nov. 23), all preceded by performances from local choirs. The Orchestra will also play a student matinee in St. John’s (Nov. 15) a bilingual student matinee in Moncton (Nov. 22), and another bilingual matinee at CFB Gagetown in honour of the Canadian military and their families that will feature the 3 Area Support Pipes & Drums (Nov. 24).

In what is sure to be a tour highlight— the NAC Orchestra with Pinchas Zukerman as conductor and violin and viola soloist will share the stage in a sold-out concert for Symphony Nova Scotia in Halifax on Nov. 19, in which Symphony Nova Scotia will perform Telemann’s Viola Concerto, the NAC Orchestra will perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 3, and both orchestras will join forces for Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 5. The NAC is donating the services of Maestro Zukerman and the musicians of the NAC Orchestra for this concert, and all proceeds will go to support SNS’s Listen to the Future endowment.

Repertoire will include:

Brio: Toccata and Fantasy for Orchestra, a new work in memory of Malcolm Forsyth composed especially for the tour by Canadian composer John Estacio, winner of the National Arts Centre Award for Canadian composers. Mr. Estacio will give pre-concert talks throughout the tour as well as composition classes;
Piano Concerto no. 20 by Mozart, with soloist Jan Lisiecki;
Symphony no. 1 by Brahms, with apprentices of the NAC’s Institute for Orchestral Studies;
The Place of the Blest by Randall Thompson, which will showcase Newfoundland’s Shallaway choir;
Antinomie by Canadian composer Jacques Hétu;
Flute Concerto no. 1 in G major by Mozart, featuring NAC Orchestra Principal Flute Joanna G’froerer;
Symphony no. 2 by Beethoven;
A “Let’s go Mozart!” student matinee program featuring NAC Orchestra Second Clarinet (and St. John’s own) Sean Rice, actor John Doucet and local fiddling stars Samantha Robichaud and Danielle Green.

Always at the forefront of technology and arts education, the award-winning NAC New Media department will make the NAC Orchestra’s Atlantic Canada Tour accessible to all Canadians, who are invited to follow the tour online at www.nacotour.ca for blogs, videos, podcasts, photos and more. Updates will also be posted on twitter at #CanadasNAC, and on the NAC’s Facebook page.

“National Arts Centre Orchestra tours are a hallmark of our commitment to Canadians, and of our firm belief in building communities through music,” said NAC President and CEO Peter Herrndorf. “Thanks to strong partnerships and collaborations with Atlantic Canada’s excellent arts and education organizations, this tour will touch tens of thousands of Canadians, particularly young artists and audiences.”

“I am delighted that the NAC Orchestra will be making music in Atlantic Canada, where music is such a rich and indelible part of the history and culture, and undertaking 80 education events throughout the region,” said Pinchas Zukerman, who will also give a public string masterclass at the Music Room in Halifax on Nov. 18. “I am also extremely excited about meeting and working with some of the region’s most outstanding young musicians.”

CELEBRATING MUSIC EDUCATION

Maestro Zukerman’s masterclass is just one of nearly two dozen tour teaching sessions that will be led by some of the most formidable musicians of the NAC Orchestra, including Concertmaster Yosuke Kawasaki, Principal Bass Joel Quarrington and Principal Flute Joanna G’froerer. Other instructors include Kenneth Kiesler, Director of the NAC Summer Music Institute’s Conductors Program, renowned Canadian composer John Estacio, and Grammy Award-winning choral conductor Duain Wolfe. These top-level professionals will work in collaboration with schools, universities, community orchestras, choirs, bands and other local music organizations to work with and inspire young Atlantic Canadian artists and audiences, building on the excellent foundation of the region’s music educators.

In addition to three student matinees and 20 masterclasses, the tour’s 80 education events include workshops, sectional rehearsals, lectures, private coaching, musicians-in-the-schools performances, question-and-answer sessions, broadband masterclasses and more. All will provide outstanding opportunities, not only for the young audiences and artists of Atlantic Canada, but also for the NAC Orchestra to forge connections and build relationships, said Geneviève Cimon, the NAC’s Director of Music Education.

“This tour offers us a chance to showcase the incredible talent in Atlantic Canada and the region’s strong music education programs, and to celebrate its strong legacy of music teaching,” Ms. Cimon said. “But it’s also a wonderful opportunity for the NAC Orchestra to encounter promising young artists and to introduce them to some incredible teachers, which we hope will lead to meaningful relationships that will continue well beyond the tour.”

One such relationship was born when clarinettist Sean Rice got to solo with the Orchestra on its 2002 Atlantic Tour when he was a 19 year-old studying at Memorial University in St. John’s, NL. That experience spurred Sean and led to many others, including broadband music classes with the NAC and summers at the NAC’s Summer Music Institute. Sean later studied at the Juilliard School, and today he is the NAC Orchestra’s Second Clarinet.

Tour music education highlights include:

Building Community through Music with Craig Kielburger (Nov. 13)

Internationally renowned children’s rights activist Craig Kielburger will give an interactive presentation via broadband to 400 young people from choirs in
St. John’s, NL and Ottawa, ON. This will be the culmination of an online project which invited young people to share video submissions on how singing can transform communities.

Let’s Go Mozart! student matinees in St. John’s, NL (Nov. 15), Moncton, NB (Nov. 22), and CFB Gagetown, NB (Nov. 24)

This entertaining program which brings Mozart to life for children will also shine the spotlight on Sean Rice and composers from Atlantic Canada, the actor John Doucet in the role of Mozart, and local fiddling stars Samantha Robichaud and Danielle Green.

The matinee, which will be performed in St. John’s and bilingually in both Moncton and at CFB Gagetown, will reach a combined audience of 2,500 children. To support students and teachers in advance of the Tour, the NAC has distributed 3,000 Let’s Go, Mozart! resources for both students and teachers to every elementary school across Atlantic Canada.

The very special matinee at CFB Gagetown will be a chance for the NAC Orchestra to offer thanks on behalf of all Canadians to the military and their families for their service to the country. The concert will also shine the spotlight on CFB Gagetown’s 3 Area Support Group Pipes & Drums.

NAC Orchestra musicians and internationally acclaimed instructors in residency at Memorial University (Nov. 14-15), UPEI (Nov. 17) and Dalhousie University (Nov. 18-19)

Pinchas Zukerman and musicians of the NAC Orchestra, along with internationally renowned instructors affiliated with the Orchestra, are delighted by the opportunity to encounter some of Atlantic Canada’s most exciting young artists. Instructors include:

Pinchas Zukerman, NAC Music Director and one of the world’s most celebrated violinists, violists, conductors and teachers
Kenneth Kiesler, Director of the NAC’s Summer Music Institute
John Estacio, NAC Award Composer
Yosuke Kawasaki, Concertmaster, NAC Orchestra
Karen Donnelly, Principal Trumpet, NAC Orchestra
Joanna G’froerer, Principal Flute, NAC Orchestra
Charles Hamann, Principal Oboe, NAC Orchestra
Joel Quarrington, Principal Bass, NAC Orchestra
Kimball Sykes, Principal Clarinet, NAC Orchestra
Lawrence Vine, Principal Horn, NAC Orchestra
Douglas Burden, Bass Trombone, NAC Orchestra
Camille Churchfield, Flute, NAC Orchestra
Elaine Klimasko, First Violin, NAC Orchestra
Sean Rice, Second Clarinet, NAC Orchestra
Leah Roseman, First Violin, NAC Orchestra
Carole Sirois, Cello, NAC Orchestra
Steven van Gulik, Second Trumpet, NAC Orchestra
Jonathan Wade, Percussion, NAC Orchestra

Manhattan on the Atlantic, a real-time, broadband masterclass at St. Francis Xavier University with acclaimed jazz guitarist Rodney Jones of Manhattan School of Music (Nov. 18)

Now in its seventh season, the NAC in partnership with Manhattan School of Music produces masterclasses using the very latest in broadband technology to link students at the NAC with some of the world’s greatest jazz artists from Manhattan School of Music, through a project called “Manhattan on the Rideau.” That same real-time, in-depth learning experience is the inspiration behind “Manhattan on the Atlantic,” this time with jazz students at St. Francis Xavier University who will connect with guitarist Rodney Jones in New York City.

Celebrating Sistema New Brunswick, Moncton, NB (Nov. 21) and New Brunswick Youth Orchestra (Nov. 25)

NAC Orchestra musicians and apprentices of the NAC’s Institute for Orchestral Studies will perform for and with Sistema New Brunswick, a program that provides after-school orchestral music lessons to underprivileged children and that is based on the belief that music helps create better communities. On Nov. 25, NAC Orchestra musicians will lead sectional rehearsals with the award-winning New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, which finished at the top of the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival and Competition in Vienna last summer. NBYO first launched Sistema New Brunswick in 2009, and by 2014 plans to operate four centres in New Brunswick, engaging more than 500 children and multiple orchestras.

Acadian Tour with Samantha Robichaud, Marjolaine Fournier and the NAC Brass Trio (Nov.21-22)

Samantha Robichaud, who performed at the NAC’s 2003 Atlantic Scene festival when she was just 15, will take part in a mini teaching and performance tour of Francophone schools on the Acadian peninsula, as will NAC Orchestra Assistant Double Bass Marjolaine Fournier and the Brass Trio of the NAC Orchestra. Acadian tour stops include Lagaceville, Neguac, Saint-Louis-de-Kent, Bouctouche, Shediac and Dieppe. Ms. Robichaud will also perform with the NAC Orchestra at student matinees in Moncton and at CFB Gagetown

ABOUT THE NAC ORCHESTRA

Reaching out to Canadian communities through touring is a central pillar of the NAC Orchestra. Over its 41-year history, the Orchestra has performed for audiences in hundreds of venues around the world, including 118 cities and communities in Canada (including Atlantic Canada in 2002), and 122 cities internationally.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The National Arts Centre Foundation gratefully acknowledges support for the Atlantic Canada Tour from Regional Partners CN (Nova Scotia), Suncor Energy (Newfoundland) and Tim Hortons (CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick) and Supporting Partners Diane and Wesley Campbell and Ian and Jan Craig. Thank you also to NAC Friends Crosbie Group of Companies, Long & McQuade Musical Instruments and the Gill Radcliffe Foundation.

The Atlantic Canada Tour is also made possible thanks to the CEO National Fund which supports the NAC’s programs across the country. The NAC Foundation extends a warm thank you to the Atlantic Canada donors to the CEO National Fund; the Craig Foundation, Fred and Elizabeth Fountain, Dale Godsoe, C.M., Frederick and Joanne MacGillivray, Frank and Debbie Sobey as well as NAC Foundation Director Gary Zed who has made a gift in memory Leesha & Amelia Zed.

The Atlantic Canada Tour Travel Partner is Air Canada and the Hotel Partner is Delta Hotels and Resorts. National Media Partners are CBC – Radio Canada and the National Post and the Media Partner is Atlantic Business Magazine.

TICKET INFORMATION

For ticket information to NAC Orchestra concerts in your community, please contact:

St. John’s (Nov. 15)

St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre

Tel: (709) 729-3900

Web site: www.artsandculturecentre.com

Charlottetown (Nov. 17)

Confederation Centre of the Arts

Tel: (902) 628-1864

Email: boxoffice@confederationcentre.com

Moncton (Nov. 20)

Capitol Theatre