January 22, 2003 -

Pinchas Zukerman leads Beethoven's Fifth, on a programme also featuring rising star contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux in Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, February 5-6

Ottawa, Canada - Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, the most famous symphony ever written and probably the greatest, will be performed by the National Arts Centre Orchestra led by Music Director Pinchas Zukerman on Wednesday, February 5 and Thursday, February 6 at 20:00 in Southam Hall. These Audi Signature concerts also include what will undoubtedly be a stunning performance of Wagner's romantic Wesendonck Leider by prize-winning Quebec contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux. The programme opens with Richard Strauss's heart-breakingly beautiful Metamorphosen.

There will be Pre-Concert Talks in English both nights by CBC Radio Network Music Producer Jill LaForty, well known for the music talks she gives on CBC Radio's In Town and Out and Ottawa Morning. These free talks entitled "Passion and Remembrance", take place in the NAC Salon at 19:00.

Wagner set poems written by his close friend, perhaps his lover, Mathilde Wesendonck to music, and these five songs, the Wesendonck Lieder, were a preface to the composer's opera inspired by the famous love story of Tristan and Isolde. These gorgeous vocal works will be sung by contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux, the Joseph Rouleau First Prize winner at the Jeunesses Musicales du Canada in 2000. That same year she won both the "Queen Fabiola" and the "Special Lied" Prizes at the International Queen Elisabeth Competition, marking the beginning of an international career performing in Europe, Canada and the United States both in concert and in recital. She has recorded the Wesendonck Leider, as well as Les Nuits d'été; by Berlioz, and the Rückertlieder by Mahler. She made her NAC Orchestra debut during last season's Black and White Opera Soirée.

The National Arts Centre Orchestra last performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in the 1996-97 season. All are familiar with this masterpiece which opens with an intense, concentrated onslaught of a four-note rhythmic cell unfolding with unparalleled energy, leaving the audience gasping under its emotional impact. After hearing it in performance, the composer Berlioz is reported to have met his former teacher, François Lesueur, who exclaimed: "It moved and excited me so much that my head was reeling. One should not be permitted to write such music." "Calm yourself," replied Berlioz; "it will not be done often!"

Tickets for these Audi Signature Series concerts at the National Arts Centre on February 5 and 6 are on sale now at $26.50, $43.50 and $54.50, with box seats at $68.00 (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. 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.

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