Great Composers Festival presents "Russian Romance", an all-Tchaikovsky concert led by Pinchas Zukerman with Jon Kimura Parker playing the Piano Concerto No. 1 on July 15
July 09, 2003 -
Ottawa, Canada -- National Arts Centre Orchestra Music Director Pinchas Zukerman leads an all-Tchaikovsky concert as part of the Great Composers Festival on Tuesday, July 15 at 19:30 in NAC's Southam Hall. Popular Canadian piano virtuoso Jon Kimura Parker is the featured soloist in Tchaikovsky's lush, magnificent Piano Concerto No. 1. This programme of "Russian Romance" also includes the Waltz and Polonaise from Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin and the glorious Serenade for Strings in C major which Tchaikovsky himself said, "I am violently in love with this work and can't wait for it to be played!"
The concert ticket includes a pre-concert chamber music recital beginning at 18:15 in Southam Hall featuring Brahms's Sextet No. 1 in B-flat performed by NAC Orchestra musicians and NAC Young Artists Programme graduates. The violinists are Jessica Linnebach and Donnie Deacon, violists are Pinchas Zukerman and Jethro Marks, and cellists are Amanda Forsyth and Margaret Munro Tobolowska. NAC Executive Chef Kurt Waldele will have a light supper available in the Foyer so concertgoers can dine before or between the two parts of the programme.
The Great Composers Festival is presented by the Casino du Lac-Leamy in association with the Ottawa Citizen.
Internationally acclaimed concert pianist Jon Kimura Parker was born, raised, and educated in Vancouver. A true Canadian ambassador of music, Mr. Parker has given two command performances for Queen Elizabeth II, and has performed for the Prime Ministers of Canada and Japan and for the United States Supreme Court. He has performed often with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, most recently on the 2001-02 season's opening concerts, and has also toured twice with the Orchestra.
In November 1996 Mr. Parker received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award, joining such distinguished musicians as Joni Mitchell and Oscar Peterson. In 1999 he was invested with the Order of Canada, his country's highest honour. A passionate educator, Mr. Parker hosts the classical music television series Whole Notes on Bravo Canada – the first series of which was with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Pinchas Zukerman – and teaches a limited number of exceptional piano students at Rice University in Houston.
Tickets for this Great Composers Festival concert on Tuesday, July 15 at 19:30, with pre-concert chamber music at 18:15, are on sale now at $13.00, 22.00 and 30.00 (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.
