December 01, 2005 -

Ottawa, Canada -- The National Arts Centre Orchestra’s 2005-06 masterclass series continues on Monday, December 5 at 19:30 when principal clarinet Kimball Sykes presents the second of four masterclasses by the principal winds of the Orchestra. This series takes place at the Conservatoire de musique de Gatineau in Fernand-Graton Hall at 430 blvd. Alexandre-Taché. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

A masterclass is a one-on-one lesson in which a master musician teaches a selected student or ensemble under the watchful eyes of fellow students and members of the public. Thus the audience can learn from the master along with the talented student in the spotlight. This clarinet masterclass will be with students from the Conservatoire de musique followed by question-and-answer.

Kimball Sykes joined the National Arts Centre Orchestra as principal clarinet in 1985. He has performed as a soloist with the Orchestra on numerous occasions. In May 2000, he gave the premiere performance of Vagues immobiles, a clarinet concerto by Alain Perron commissioned for him by the NAC, and in November 2002, he performed the Copland Clarinet Concerto, both conducted by Pinchas Zukerman. Other groups he has appeared with as soloist include Thirteen Strings, the Honolulu Symphony (where he was principal clarinet from 1983-85) and the Auckland Philharmonia. Sykes has performed numerous solo and chamber music programs for the CBC. He can be heard on the Chamber Players of Canada recording of Schubert’s Octet, and the Mozart Clarinet Quintet which is included in the NAC Orchestra’s double Mozart CD released by CBC Records in 2003. Kimball Sykes is currently on faculty at the University of Ottawa.

The NAC is presenting three categories of masterclasses this season: the “International Series” in collaboration with the University of Ottawa, consisting mainly of major guest soloists with the NAC Orchestra; “Manhattan on the Rideau”, featuring jazz musicians from the Manhattan School of Music linked to the NAC by broadband videoconference, and the “NAC Orchestra Series”, in collaboration with the Conservatoire de musique de Gatineau, of which the Kimball Sykes session is a part.

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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