National Arts Centre's second annual Conductors Programme closes with a free public concert on July 3
June 26, 2002 -
Ottawa, Canada -- The National Arts Centre's second annual
Conductors Programme began on Monday, June 24 and culminates in a
free public concert on Wednesday, July 3 at 19:30 in the NAC's
Southam Hall. Seven conductors have been selected to participate in
the programme during which they work with Finnish conductor and
master teacher Jorma Panula, and National Arts Centre Orchestra Music
Director Pinchas Zukerman. Four of them will be selected to lead the
NAC Orchestra in the final concert. Free tickets to this hour-long
concert of classical music are available in person at the NAC Box
Office. There is a limit of four tickets per person.
The seven participants are: Kazem Abdullah (age 23, USA), founder
and conductor of the Aspen Mozart Orchestra and the University of
Cincinnati Community Orchestra, who has also been assistant conductor
of the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra and the Cincinnati
Contemporary Music Ensemble among others; Kerim Anwar (Canada) who
has spent a year studying at the Janacek Academy of Performing Arts
in the Czech Republic; Stephen Burns, (age 43, USA), a trumpet
virtuoso with an international soloist career who is the Artistic
Director of the Fulcrum Point New Music Project in Chicago and the
American Concerto Orchestra; Pietari Inkinen (age 22, Finland), a
former student of Jorma Panula now studying at the Sibelius Academy
who has guest-conducted a number of orchestras in Finland and abroad;
Richard Lee (age 32, Toronto, ON, Canada), Music Director of the
Korean Canadian Symphony Orchestra and Conductor of the Academy
Strings at the Royal Conservatory of Music; Zhipei Liu (age 38,
Toronto, ON, Canada), who was for a number of years the Music
Director and Conductor of the National Band of China with whom he
performed for such visiting dignitaries as US President Reagan,
British Prime Minister Thatcher and USSR President Gorbachev; and
Sean Trainer (Rocky Point, PEI, Canada), a conductor intern with the
Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra who previously held the positions of
Music Director of the St. Clement's Parish Orchestra and Quorum
String Ensemble in Toronto.
The National Arts Centre Conductors Programme provides a valuable
opportunity in Canada for talented conductors to develop their skills
under expert guidance. They undergo ten days of intensive study in a
masterclass format conducting a string quintet of participants in
the NAC's Young Artists Programme plus piano.
In the final two days of the programme participants will have the
opportunity to rehearse and conduct the National Arts Centre
Orchestra in the NAC's Southam Hall. Conducting sessions for
each participant are videotaped, and these videos used as the basis
for detailed discussion each day. Included in the Programme are
orchestration sessions led by Maestro Panula and evening information
sessions with staff and members of the National Arts Centre
Orchestra.
Repertoire for the final concert will be selected from the pieces
that the conductors will have been preparing over the course of the
Programme. These include: Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and
Symphony No. 8, Brahms' Symphony No. 3, Debussy's
Prélude à "L'Après-midi d'un
faune", Mahler's Symphony No. 5: Adagietto,
Mozart's Symphony No. 39, André Prévost's
Scherzo, Sibelius's Symphony No. 5,
Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks, and Tchaikovsky's
Violin Concerto, Symphony No. 4 and Serenade for Strings.
Jorma Panula was the artistic director of the Turku Philharmonic
Orchestra from 1963 to 1965, the Helsinki Philharmonic from 1965 to
1975, and the Aarhus Symphony from 1970 to 1973. He has been a
frequent guest conductor throughout Europe and has appeared
frequently as conductor of the Finnish National Opera. He has also
composed a wide variety of music, including two operas. He is now a
guest conductor and professor for conducting courses all over the
world including Paris, London, Moscow, Tanglewood and Aspen.
Conductors who have studied under him include Jukka-Pekka Saraste and
Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Jorma Panula led the inaugural 2001 edition of the National Arts
Centre Conductors Programme with Pinchas Zukerman. The previous year
he led the Conductor Training Workshop presented by Orchestras Canada
in collaboration with the National Arts Centre and the NAC
Orchestra.
The NAC Conductors Programme is partially funded through the
National Youth and Education Trust - Founding partner TELUS,
in association with Clarica, Corus Entertainment, the American
Friends of Canada and the J. Armand Bombardier Foundation. Thanks
also go to Suki Sandler, Leah Superstein, and Ken McKinlay for their
generous support, and to Stuart Conger for establishing the Joyce
Conger Award for the Arts (administered by the Community Foundation
of Ottawa
