Sublime Mozart -- the fourth Mark Motors Audi Signature Series concert of the NAC’s 2011-2012 season – features Pinchas Zukerman on the conductor’s podium and international superstar Garrick Ohlsson as piano soloist. Writer/broadcaster Eric Friesen hosts the concert. Sublime Mozart is at 8 p.m. in Southam Hall on Wednesday April 25 and Thursday April 26, 2012.

Praised for his “clarity, command and wit”, Garrick Ohlsson performs Mozart’s “Jeunehomme” Piano Concerto as part of a concert chiefly devoted to the transcendent composer. Conductor Pinchas Zukerman and host Eric Freisen will also share a lively onstage conversation on Mozart's masterworks (in English). 

The program includes:
HAYDN  Symphony No. 70 in D major  
MOZART  Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat major, K. 271, “Jeunehomme”
MOZART  Symphony No. 36 in C major, KV 425, “Linz”

PRE-CONCERT CHAT by ERIC FRIESEN
Le Salon ~ 7 p.m. ~ A Musical Equation: H¹ + M² = Perfect Harmony
(in English)

POST-CONCERT CHAT
Both Pinchas Zukerman and Garrick Ohlsson are highly intelligent, widely read, and very articulate. This post-concert onstage chat with Messrs. Zukerman and Ohlsson in conversation with Eric Friesen should be extremely enlightening and entertaining

Symphony No. 70 in D major was written by Joseph Haydn to mark the start of construction of a new opera house on the Eszterháza estate. Sometimes called the “Hungarian Versailles”, Esterháza is a palace in Fert?d, Hungary, built by Prince Nikolaus Esterházy. From 1766 to 1790, the estate was Haydn’s home, and the composer wrote the majority of his symphonies for the Prince’s orchestra. Eszterháza had two opera houses; Haydn conducted his own and others’ operas, often with more than a hundred performances per year. Symphony No. 70 was premiered on December 18, 1779.

Garrick Ohlsson is one of the world’s finest pianists, of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess, technically flawless, and free of Romantic mannerisms. He has the ability to traverse the entire spectrum of 18 dynamic degrees discernible on the modern piano, from the thundering fortississimo to the finest pianississimo. He is 6’-4” and he can stretch an octave and a 5th with his left hand and an octave and a 4th with his right hand. Ohlsson commands an enormous repertoire and is noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart.

The Piano Concerto No. 9 "Jeunehomme" in E flat major, K. 271, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was written in Salzburg in 1777, when Mozart was 21 years old. It was said that Mozart wrote the piece for a French pianist “Jeunehomme” when she visited Salzburg. But scholars couldn’t identify the woman for whom he actually wrote it. Recently, musicologist Michael Lorenz has argued that the woman was actually Victoire Jenamy (1749-1812), a daughter of Jean-Georges Noverre, a famous dancer who was one of Mozart’s best friends. The work is highly regarded by critics. Charles Rosen has called it “perhaps the first unequivocal masterpiece [of the] classical style. Alfred Brendel has called it “one of the greatest wonders of the world” and Alfred Einstein dubbed it “Mozart's Eroica.”

The Symphony No. 36 in C major, KV 425, (known as the “Linz”) was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart during a stopover in the Austrian town of Linz as he and his wife were on their way back home to Vienna from Salzburg in late 1783. The entire symphony was written in four days to accommodate the local Count’s announcement, upon hearing of the Mozarts’ arrival in Linz, of a concert. The première in Linz took place on 4 November, 1783. The composition was also premièred in Vienna on 1 April, 1784.

Sublime Mozart will be performed in Southam Hall of the National Arts Centre on Wednesday April 25 and Thursday April 26, 2012 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20.45, $31.21, $42.51, $53.81, $64.57, $75.33, and $94.17, for adults and $11.38, $16.76, $22.41, $28.06, $33.44, $38.82, and $48.24 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 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.
The National Arts Centre gratefully acknowledges the financial investment by the Department of Canadian Heritage in the creation of this online presentation for the Virtual Museum of Canada.
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