February 27, 2004 -

Ottawa, Canada  -- Cellist Kaori Yamagami, 2001 winner of First Prize at the CBC Radio National Competition for Young Performers as well as $15,000 from the CBC/Canada Council for the Arts in the same competition, performs on the National Arts Centre and CBC Radio Two Debut Series on Tuesday, March 2 at 12:00 noon in the NAC Studio. Accompanied by Ottawa pianist Jean Desmarais, Yamagami will perform Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro; Beethoven’s Sonata No. 5; Elegy by Canadian composer Leslie Mann, and Grand Tango by Astor Piazzolla.

The recital will also give the audience a chance to see the most valuable instrument in the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank, the ca. 1696 Bonjour Stradivari cello, valued at approximately $4.5 million US.  Kaori Yamagami was awarded a three-year loan of the cello as the top winner in the Instrument Bank’s national cello competition. Yamagami also retains the use of the ca. 1850 Shaw-Adam cello bow, which she originally won in the Instrument Bank’s September 2000 cello competition.

These hour-long recitals, co-presented by the NAC and CBC Radio Two, give young Canadian musicians the opportunity to perform at the National Arts Centre and to have their recitals recorded and broadcast nationally on CBC Radio Two. Admission is $2.00 with all proceeds going to the NAC Orchestra Bursary Trust Fund. Additional donations to the Fund are greatly appreciated.

Originally from Maple, Ontario, Ms. Yamagami began studying the cello in 1985 at the age of 3, making her first public appearance by age 6 at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She has won first prize in numerous competitions including the Philadelphia Orchestra Competition, the Kingsville International Competition, both the Junior and Senior divisions at the Montreal Symphony Competition, the JAA Music Awards in New York, and was named the “Most Promising Candidate” in the Rostropovitch International Competition.

Kaori Yamagami enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music at age 13 under the direction of Orlando Cole and has also studied with Mihai Tetel, Vladimir Orloff, Daniel Domb, Paul Katz and Mario Brunello.

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

Jill LaForty, CBC Radio
(613) 562-8571
lafortyj@ottawa.cbc.ca