OTTAWA, ON—Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Institute for Orchestral Studies will host the 2012 Canadian Conductors Workshop from February 25-29, 2012. A supplement to the highly successful Conductors Program of the NAC Summer Music Institute, the Canadian Conductors Workshop will offer intense conducting instruction for emerging professional and pre-professional Canadian conductors.

Led by internationally renowned conductor and mentor Maestro Kenneth Kiesler, the Workshop will serve as a stepping stone in the ongoing development of talented Canadian conductors.

“The Canadian Conductors Workshop offers these young conductors a unique opportunity to learn from a hands-on experience with the exceptional artists of the NAC Orchestra,” said Maestro Kiesler. “It can be astonishing to see just how significant a few days of intensive work can be, especially with such talented young conductors and such an intensive program.  I'm looking forward to this with great anticipation.”

“The NAC Orchestra is such an incredible ensemble, so I am extremely grateful to have the chance to work with them and Maestro Kiesler through the Canadian Conductors Workshop,” said Antonio Delgado, Musical Director and conductor of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, which won Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival and Competition in Vienna in the summer of 2011.  “The NAC truly is a leader of artist training in this country.”

“It’s so rewarding for all of us in the orchestra to be able to share our knowledge with these young conductors,” said Chip Hamann, Principal Oboe of the NAC Orchestra. “We all care deeply about bringing up the next generation of great Canadian artists, so we’re very grateful to be a part of this workshop.” 

The participants for this year’s Canadian Conductors Workshop are Antonio Delgado, Nadège Foofat, Dina Gilbert, Philippe Ménard and Lucas Waldin.

Antonio Delgado was invited following a day-long conductors' workshop with Maestro Kiesler in Halifax during the NAC Orchestra’s recent Atlantic Canada Tour.  Nadège Foofat and Dina Gilbert have both been apprentices of the Conductors Program of the NAC’s Summer Music Institute. Philippe Ménard is Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique des Musiciens Étudiants de Montréal, and Lucas Waldin is the Enbridge Resident Conductor with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. (Full biographies can be found at the bottom of this release.)

Through the Workshop five conductors will apprentice with Maestro Kiesler and the NAC Orchestra for five days of score study and rehearsal from February 25-29. Sessions include two days of score study, rehearsal preparation and silent conducting, during which participants will work with Mr. Kiesler on pure conducting technique. Then, for the next three days, the conductors take the podium for six rehearsals with the NAC Orchestra—a rare and incredibly potent learning opportunity.

The repertoire for the Workshop includes Mozart’s Symphony No. 31 in D major, K. 300a [297] “Paris,” String Symphony in C minor, Op. 110a by Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5 in C minor (movements 2 and 3), and Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony.

This is the second time the NAC has offered the Canadian Conductors Workshop, which builds on the important training currently offered through the Conductors Program of the NAC Summer Music Institute. Over 12 days in June, Canadian and international emerging professional conductors receive high caliber instruction with Maestro Kiesler and NAC Orchestra Music Director Pinchas Zukerman, including the unique experience of working with two full orchestras—l’Orchestre de la francophonie and the NAC Orchestra. The dates for this year’s Conductors Program are June 16-28, 2012.

For more information please contact:

Mary Gordon Communications Advisor National Arts Centre (613) 947-7000, ext. 849 mgordon@nac-cna.ca

Participants in the 2012 NACO Canadian Conductors Workshop

Antonio Delgado

Antonio Delgado received his musical education in the world-renowned El Sistema program (National System of Youth and Children's Orchestras of Venezuela) in his home town of Caracas.  Delgado began his musical life on the violin, but soon discovered his love and talent for conducting. Mr. Delgado began his conducting studies with Maestro Rodolfo Saglimbeni and pursued further training at the Canford School of Music in Wimborne, England with George Hurst.  From 2005 to 2010 he was Musical Director of the largest South American theatre, Teresa Carreño, where he conducted a diverse range of music, including ballet and opera.  He has conducted every major orchestra in Venezuela and orchestras in Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Canada and Panama.  Since July 2010, he has been Musical Director and Conductor of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, with whom he won the Summa Cum Laude competition held in Vienna in 2011, and Musical Director and teacher in residence of Sistema New Brunswick.

Nadège Foofat

Nadège Foofat was born in Calgary.  She is a graduate of the Mount Royal College Conservatory program where she studied with many of Canada’s prominent musicians. Ms. Foofat spent her formative childhood years attending concerts by the Calgary Philharmonic and Calgary Opera Company. She served as principal violist of the Calgary Youth Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Philadelphia Virtuosi, and as a member of the Albany Symphony before founding the Esopus Chamber Orchestra in upstate New York.  She also performs frequently as a soloist and chamber musician on violin. She has been awarded grants to pursue conducting from the Albany Symphony, and the New York Foundation for the Arts.  Ms. Foofat received her Bachelor’s degree from Juilliard and Master’s degree from Yale University.

Dina Gilbert

Dina Gilbert is the founder and artistic director of the Ensemble Arkea, a Montreal-based chamber orchestra composed of young professional musicians.  Holding a Baccalaureate in clarinet and a Master's in conducting, Ms. Gilbert completed her doctorate studies under the supervision of Jean-François Rivest at the Université de Montréal on September 2011. Ms. Gilbert is the Choir director of the Choeur Bellerivoix in Laval (Québec) and has recently been appointed as the Assistant conductor of the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra and the Kawartha Youth Orchestra.

Philippe Ménard

Philippe Ménard has been the Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique des Musiciens Étudiants de Montréal (OPMEM) since 2009, and this past summer was the National Academy Orchestra’s 2011 RBC Foundation Apprentice Conductor. Born and raised in Farnham, QC. He began singing in choirs at age eight, studying piano at age nine and continued on the  trumpet in high school. He began formal vocal studies under Yolande Parent at the Université de Montréal. While completing his undergraduate degree he studied conducting with choral director François Ouimet (McGill).  Philippe was presented with a Master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the Conservatoire de Musique Montreal in April 2011, where he studied with Raffi Armenian.

Lucas Waldin

In 2009 at the age of 26, Lucas Waldin was appointed Enbridge Resident Conductor of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. Upcoming performances include debuts with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Modesto Symphony, Orchestra London Canada, and the Jugendsinfonieorchester Kassel. Lucas received both a Master's degree in orchestral conducting from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Bachelor's degree in flute performance. He has participated in masterclasses with Helmuth Rilling, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Colin Metters, and Bernard Haitink, and was a Discovery Series Conductor at the Oregon Bach Festival and Assistant Conductor of Cleveland’s contemporary orchestra RED.  Lucas has also worked with the Staatstheater Cottbus, Bachakademie Stuttgart, and both the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony at the St. Magnus Festival, Orkney.