September 18, 2006 -

Ottawa, Canada -- Yo-Yo Ma, the most famous cellist in the world today, and the equally beloved pianist Emanuel Ax will share the stage of the National Arts Centre’s Southam Hall in an all-Beethoven programme for the first recital of the Bombardier Great Performers Series on Tuesday, September 26 at 20:00. These two musical adventurers have collaborated regularly since they met at Juilliard over 30 years ago, and their multiple Grammy Awards include three Grammys for their recordings together.

The recital of four Beethoven works opens with Twelve Variations in F major on “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” from Mozart’s The Magic Flute (an aria which NAC Orchestra audiences will have heard the week before in its original performed by bass-baritone Gerald Finley), and continues with three sonatas: No. 1 in F major, No. 4 in C major, and No. 3 in A major.

“Could there be a musical partnership more intimate or more joyous than the one between pianist Emanuel Ax and cellist Yo-Yo Ma?” wrote the San Francisco Chronicle,going on to say: “Over years of collaboration, these two have developed a rapport in which personal and artistic considerations become a single expressive vein, with the audience as its beneficiary… To hear the elegant give-and-take of their musical dialogue is to witness an apex of communicative virtuosity.” “Their fierce and exuberant joy in playing was a consistent and enlivening presence,” said the Los Angeles Times.

A hundred fortunate string students have free tickets to attend this Bombardier Great Performers recital thanks to Broccolini Construction’s “Inspire a Student” sponsorship of the NAC Gala the following night.

YO-YO MA’s multi-faceted career is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences, and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Whether performing a new concerto, revisiting a familiar work from the cello repertoire, coming together with colleagues for chamber music or exploring cultures and musical forms outside of the Western classical tradition, Ma strives to find connections that stimulate the imagination. An exclusive Sony Classical artist, his discography of over 50 albums has won him 15 Grammy Awards. Yo-Yo Ma maintains a balance between his engagements as soloist with orchestras throughout the world and his recital and chamber music activities. He draws inspiration from a wide circle of collaborators.

EMANUEL AX is renowned not only for his poetic temperament and unsurpassed virtuosity on the piano, but also for the exceptional breadth of his performing activity. Each season his distinguished career includes appearances with major symphony orchestras worldwide, recitals in the most celebrated concert halls, a variety of chamber music collaborations, the commissioning and performance of new music, and additions to his acclaimed discography on Sony Classical. He captured public attention in 1974 when, at age 25, he won the First Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. In 1975 he won the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists and, four years later, took the coveted Avery Fisher Prize.

The paths of Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax have converged before in Ottawa: they appeared together in recital on the National Arts Centre stage in 1981 and again in 1983. Yo-Yo Ma last performed at the NAC in recital in 1988, and Emanuel Ax’s last solo piano recital was in 1999.

Tickets for this Bombardier Great Performers recital on September 26 have been sold out for some time, but those hoping to attend can check for returns 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.

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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