September 22, 2005 -

Ottawa, Canada -- Two dazzling principal musicians of the National Arts Centre Orchestra – principal flute Joanna G’froerer and principal trumpet Karen Donnelly – step into the spotlight in the role of soloist as does Music Director Pinchas Zukerman who will take up his violin as well as his baton for the opening concerts of the Bostonian Bravo Series. These concerts on Thursday, October 6 and Friday, October 7 at 20:00 in Southam Hall feature works from four musical periods starting with today all the way back to Bach!

The first of the two concerts is dedicated to the memory of Peter Jennings, the late Ottawa-born broadcaster who went on to international renown as the anchor of ABC World News Tonight. Jennings made his stage “debut” at the NAC in The Merry Widow in 1999 starting the series of annual Black & White Opera Soirees that has raised over a million dollars for the NAC and Opera Lyra Ottawa. He was also a founding member of the National Arts Centre Friends (U.S.)

At the October 6 concert, CBC senior parliamentary editor Don Newman will speak from the stage to pay tribute to Peter Jennings. The audience that evening will include Peter’s wife, broadcaster Kayce Freed, his children Christopher and Elizabeth, and his sister Sarah Jennings. Many members of Canada’s broadcast and political elite are expected be amongst the concert audience on October 6. A display of photos and memorabilia from Jennings’s storied journalism career will be on exhibit in the NAC foyer.

The concert programme opens with the world premiere of The Boughs of Music by Canadian composer Gary Kulesha featuring Karen Donnelly as trumpet soloist. This NAC commission will subsequently be taken on the Orchestra’s November tour to Alberta and Saskatchewan allowing the Regina-born virtuoso Donnelly, who has been principal trumpet of the NAC Orchestra since 1999, to star in her hometown.

Composer Gary Kulesha will give a Pre-Concert Talk in English both nights entitled “Solos from the Orchestra”. Kulesha, one of the NAC’s three Award Composers under its New Music Programme, will accompany the Orchestra on the Alberta-Saskatchewan Tour giving composition lectures and workshops to music students. 

Ottawa’s first opportunity this season to hear the legendary Pinchas Zukerman performing solo violin in a concerto will be the Bach Violin Concerto No. 1. Enjoy the genius of Bach’s musical inventions in the hands of a master as he leads the Orchestra from the violin.

Joanna G’froerer then performs Mozart’s one and only concerto composed especially for the flute. Critics and audiences find themselves searching for superlatives when the NAC Orchestra’s principal flute is featured as soloist as she has been many times in the dozen years since she joined the Orchestra at age 20. The charm, elegance and melodic inventiveness of Mozart’s score will come to life in the best of hands.

The programme concludes with Dvorak’s delightful Symphony No. 8. Its genial, carefree spirit, idyllic moods and evocations of nature will bring this glorious concert to a close.

Tickets for these Bostonian Bravo Series concerts on October 6 and 7 are on sale now at $27.00, $47.50, $58.00 and $60.00, with box seats at $79.00 (GST and Facility Fee included) 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’s web-site at www.nac-cna.ca. 

New for 05-06: Groups of 10 and more save 15% to 20% off the regular price of tickets to NAC Music, Theatre and Dance performances.  To reserve your seats call 947-7000 ext. 384 or email grp@nac-cna.ca.  Half-price tickets for students in all sections of the hall are on sale in person at the NAC Box Office upon presentation of a valid student ID card. Subscriptions for the season are also still available by calling the Subscription Office at 613-947-7000, ext. 620.

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For more information please contact:
Jane Morris, Communications Officer,
National Arts Centre Orchestra
(613) 947-7000, ext. 335
jmorris@nac-cna.ca