NAC announces Summer Music at the National Arts Centre

Summer Music at the NAC includes Great Composers Series with Pinchas Zukerman, Orchestras in the Park, Through Roses, and visiting orchestras

Ottawa, Canada ’Äì The National Arts Centre today announced details of Summer Music at the NAC, a festival of summer concerts by the NAC Orchestra and others. The line-up includes three ’ÄúGreat Composers Concerts’Äù featuring Pinchas Zukerman and the NAC Orchestra in Southam Hall; a special presentation of Marc Neikrug’Äôs music-theatre piece Through Roses starring Pinchas Zukerman and Saul Rubinek; four Orchestras in the Park concerts outdoors in LeBreton Flats Park presented in collaboration with the National Capital Commission beginning with Measha Brueggergosman and Richard Margison in ’ÄúOpera Under the Stars’Äù; and concerts by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, l’ÄôOrchestre de la francophonie canadienne and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Concerts are either free or priced at special low summer prices.

The three ’ÄúGreat Composers Concerts’Äù by the NAC Orchestra led by Pinchas Zukerman in Southam Hall take place on Thursday, July 3 (Rachmaninov’Äôs White Night with pianist Katherine Chi and Pinchas Zukerman as violin soloist as well as conductor); Tuesday, July 8 (Zukerman’Äôs Romance featuring the 2008 Gilmore Young Artist Adam Golka on piano, and Zukerman again as violin soloist as well as conductor), and Thursday, July 10 (Mendelssohn’Äôs Italy featuring pianist Angela Cheng).

These three concerts start at 7:30 pm and are available at the special summer price of $19 per concert or $39 for all three. Le Cafˆ© is providing a tempting summer menu in the newly renovated Outdoor Terrace for those who would like to begin or end their evening by the canal.

Through Roses is a gripping and sensitive music-drama for narrator and eight solo instruments depicting the inner turmoil of a Holocaust survivor who was once destined to be a great violinist. Through Roses was composed in 1980 by acclaimed composer Marc Neikrug (well known to Ottawa audiences as Pinchas Zukerman’Äôs recital partner) and has been performed hundreds of times and translated into 11 languages. On Tuesday, July 15 and Wednesday, July 16 at 7:30 pm, Saul Rubinek, Canadian star of stage and screen, is the narrator and Pinchas Zukerman is the violinist for two special performances of Through Roses in the Barney Danson Theatre at the Canadian War Museum presented in conjunction with Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race, an exhibition organized and circulated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Tickets at $24 are available at both the NAC and the Canadian War Museum.

From July 17 to 20 at 7:30 pm, the National Arts Centre Orchestra will present its second season of Orchestras in the Park in collaboration with the National Capital Commission in the special outdoor performance space developed at LeBreton Flats Park in front of the Canadian War Museum. The series begins on Thursday, July 17 with ’ÄúOpera Under the Stars’Äù featuring two Canadian superstars ’Äì soprano Measha Brueggergosman and tenor Richard Margison ’Äì in a programme of opera’Äôs greatest hits conducted by Alain Trudel with the Opera Lyra Chorus directed by Laurence Ewashko. On Friday, July 18, the Orchestre de la francophonie canadienne takes over the outdoor stage led by Jean-Philippe Tremblay and featuring soprano Marianne Fiset, Grand Prize winner of the 2007 Montreal International Musical Competition. The National Arts Centre Orchestra returns on Saturday, July 19 with Canadian folk-country icon Ian Tyson celebrating his 75^th birthday. Orchestras in the Park concludes with pianist Jon Kimura Parker and NAC Orchestra violinist Jessica Linnebach as soloists with the NAC Orchestra led again by Alain Trudel in a programme including dazzling showpieces by Rachmaninov and Sarasate. Orchestras in the Park concerts are free with no tickets required.

Three visiting orchestras will perform in Southam Hall as part of Summer at the NAC. On Saturday, June 28 at 7:30 pm, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra makes its NAC debut in an exciting programme by the best and brightest composers of today featuring the NAC Orchestra’Äôs principal horn Lawrence Vine as soloist. Tickets are $15. Two free concerts complete the summer’Äôs musical offerings: On Wednesday, July 23 at 7:30 pm, the Orchestre de la francophonie canadien led by Jean-Philippe Tremblay will return, and on Friday, July 25, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada led by Jacques Lacombe makes its annual visit to the Capital.

There are also numerous public concerts presented as part of the 10^th annual Summer Music Institute during the month of June. These have been announced separately.

And don’Äôt forget to visit the National Arts Centre on Canada Day where activities will take place all day long including a massed choral performance by Unisong 2008 at 10 am in Southam Hall and two concerts by the NAC Orchestra led by Pinchas Zukerman at 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm.

Tickets for Summer at the National Arts Centre are on sale now at the NAC Box Office (Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 21:00), and through Ticketmaster (with surcharges) at 613-755-1111. Ticketmaster may also be accessed through the NAC’Äôs website at www.nac-cna.ca.

CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING OF EVENTS

Manitoba Chamber Orchestra

Saturday, June 28

Southam Hall at 7:30 pm

Anne Manson, conductor

Lawrence Vine, horn

WOJCIECH KILAR Orawa

LARS-ERIK LARSON Concertino for Horn and String Orchestra, Op. 45

REGER Scherzino for Horn and String Orchestra

JOHN ESTACIO Such Sweet Sorrow (MCO commission)

BARTOK Divertimento

PETER HEIDRICH Theme and Variations on Happy Birthday

Tickets: $15

Canada Day

Tuesday, July 1

Southam Hall at 10 am

Unisong Massed Choir

Mark Sirett, director

A massed choir of 400 voices from across Canada sings in honour of Canada’Äôs birthday.

Southam Hall at 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm

National Arts Centre Orchestra

Pinchas Zukerman, conductor

Unisong Massed Choir

Members of the NAC Summer Music Institute

Free admittance: No tickets required

Great Composers: Rachmaninov’Äôs White Night

Wednesday, July 3

Southam Hall at 7:30 pm

National Arts Centre Orchestra

Pinchas Zukerman, conductor / violin

Katherine Chi, piano

RACHMANINOV Vocalise

PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3

RACHMANINOV Symphony No. 2

Tickets: $19 (or all three Great Composers concerts for $39)

Great Composers: Zukerman’Äôs Romance

Tuesday, July 8

Southam Hall at 7:30 pm

National Arts Centre Orchestra

Pinchas Zukerman, conductor and violin

Adam Golka, piano

BEETHOVEN Romance for Violin and Orchestra

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 1

Tickets: $19 (or all three Great Composers concerts for $39)

Great Composers: Mendelssohn’Äôs Italy

Thursday, July 10

Southam Hall at 7:30 pm

National Arts Centre Orchestra

Pinchas Zukerman, conductor

Angela Cheng, piano

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 1

MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 4, ’ÄúItalian’Äù

Tickets: $19 (or all three Great Composers concerts for $39)

Through Roses (music-drama)

Tuesday, July 15 and Wednesday, July 16

Barney Danson Theatre (Canadian War Museum) at 7:30 pm

Saul Rubinek, actor

Pinchas Zukerman, violin

Jethro Marks, viola

Amanda Forsyth, cello

Emily Smethurst, flute

Charles Hamann, oboe

Michael Rusinek, clarinet

Beverly Johnston, percussion

Angela Cheng, piano

Marc Neikrug, conductor and piano

MOZART Piano Quartet in G minor

MARC NEIKRUG Through Roses

A unique collaboration between the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Canadian War Museum in conjunction with ’ÄúDeadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race’Äù, an exhibition organized and circulated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Tickets: $24 (also available at the Canadian War Museum)

Orchestras in the Park: Opera Under the Stars

Thursday, July 17

LeBreton Flats Park at 7:30 pm

National Arts Centre Orchestra

Alain Trudel, conductor

Measha Brueggergosman, soprano

Richard Margison, tenor

Opera Lyra Chorus

Laurence Ewashko, director

Two Canadian vocal superstars join forces with the NAC Orchestra for a programme of opera’Äôs greatest hits.

Free admittance: No tickets required

Orchestras in the Park: L’ÄôOrchestre de la francophonie canadienne

Friday, July 18

LeBreton Flats Park at 7:30 pm

L’ÄôOrchestre de la francophonie canadienne

Jean-Philippe Tremblay, conductor

Marianne Fiset, soprano

JULIEN BILODEAU Commission for OFC

R. STRAUSS selected songs

BRAHMS Symphony No. 2

Free admittance: No tickets required

Orchestras in the Park: Ian Tyson with the NAC Orchestra

Saturday, July 19

LeBreton Flats Park at 7:30 pm

National Arts Centre Orchestra

Ian Tyson, vocalist / guitar

The NAC Orchestra celebrates the 75^th birthday of Canadian folk-country legend Ian Tyson, composer of ’ÄúFour Strong Winds".

Free admittance: No tickets required

Orchestras in the Park: National Arts Centre Orchestra

Sunday, July 20

Lebreton Flats Park at 7:30 pm

National Arts Centre Orchestra

Alain Trudel, conductor

Jon Kimura Parker, piano

Jessica Linnebach, violin

One of Canada’Äôs most gifted, popular and charismatic pianists and an equally talented member of NACO perform two dazzling showpieces ’Äì Rachmaninov’Äôs Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini for piano, and Sarasate’Äôs finger-busting Carman Fantasy for violin.

Free admittance: No tickets required

L’ÄôOrchestre de la francophonie canadienne

Wednesday, July 23

Southam Hall at 7:30 pm

L’ÄôOrchestre de la francophonie canadienne

Jean-Philippe Tremblay, conductor

MARQUEZ Danzon 2

JULIEN BILODEAU Commission for OFC

WAGNER Prˆ©lude et mort de Tristan

R. STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegel’Äôs Merry Pranks

Free tickets: available in person at the NAC Box Office (donations welcome)

National Youth Orchestra of Canada

Friday, July 25

Southam Hall at 7:30

Jacques Lacombe, conductor

MURPHY NYOC commission

PROKOFIEV Scythian Suite

MAHLER Symphony No. 1

Free tickets: available in person at the NAC Box Office (donations welcome)