Pinchas Zukerman conducts and performs with internationally renowned cellist Lynn Harrell in NAC Orchestra concerts on January 14-15
January 06, 2004 -
Ottawa, Canada -- Music Director Pinchas Zukerman will lead the National Arts Centre Orchestra and world-famous cellist Lynn Harrell in the Orchestra's first-ever performance of Shostakovich's dark and intense Cello Concerto No. 2 in G major in concerts on Wednesday, January 14 and Thursday, January 15 at 20:00 in the NAC's Southam Hall. Audiences will also have the opportunity to hear Zukerman perform on the viola, an instrument on which he is unparalleled, when he and Harrell open the programme with Beethoven's witty and virtuosic"Eyeglass" Duo for Viola and Cello. Mozart's masterful Symphony No. 40 completes this "Mozart Plus" concert.
The public is invited to observe Lynn Harrell leading a masterclass on Tuesday, January 13 from 10:00 to 12:00 noon in the National Arts Centre's Rehearsal Hall A. The cello students are from the Mannes School of Music, the University of Montreal and (by videoconferencing) Northwestern University. Admission is $10 ($5 for students and seniors.)
Lynn Harrell's presence is felt throughout the musical world. A consummate soloist, chamber musician, recitalist, conductor and teacher, his work throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia has placed him in the highest echelon of today's performing artists. A frequent guest of many of the leading orchestras, in recent seasons Mr. Harrell has performed with the Boston and Chicago symphonies, the Los Angeles and New York philharmonics, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony (whom he guest conducted), the Saint Louis Symphony at Royal Festival Hall, the London Philharmonic with Kurt Masur conducting, and the Israel Philharmonic. Additional highlights include a two-week tour to Japan with Vladimir Ashkenazy and Pinchas Zukerman, and a three-week "Lynn Harrell Cello Festival" with the Hong Kong Philharmonic.
On April 7, 1994, Lynn Harrell appeared at the Vatican with the Royal Philharmonic conducted by Gilbert Levine in a concert dedicated to the memory of the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The audience for this historic event, which was the Vatican's first official commemoration of the Holocaust, included Pope John Paul II and the Chief Rabbi of Rome. That year Mr. Harrell also appeared live at the Grammy Awards with Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman, performing an excerpt from the Grammy-nominated recording of the complete Beethoven String Trios (Angel/EMI). Highlights from a discography of more than 30 recordings include the complete Bach Cello Suites (London/Decca), the world-premiere recording of Victor Herbert's Cello Concerto No. 1 (London/Decca), the Walton Concerto with Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (EMI), and the Donald Erb Concerto (New World). Mr. Harrell has received two Grammy Awards - in 1981 for the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio and in 1987 for the complete Beethoven Piano Trios (both Angel/EMI) with Itzhak Perlman and Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Tickets for these Ovation Series series concerts on January 14 and 15, are on sale now at $27.00, $45.00, $56.00 and $58.00, with box seats at $73.00 (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.
