October 15, 2004 -

Ottawa (Canada) -- This season’s National Arts Centre Orchestra TD Bank Financial Group Young People’s Concerts begin on Saturday, October 23 at 13:30 and 15:30 in the afternoon featuring Marc Garneau, Canada’s first man in Space, as special guest host of Music of the Spheres – Our New Frontier. The NAC Orchestra is conducted by the ever-popular Boris Brott in his new role of Principal Youth and Family Conductor. This season, the bilingual series for children aged 7 and up and their grown-up friends, explores the rhythms, melodies, harmonies and syncopation of our multicultural world using music, stories and multimedia.

The concert ticket includes Pre-Concert Activities in the NAC Foyer organized by the NAC Orchestra Association 45 minutes prior to each concert, beginning at 12:45 for the first concert and 14:45 for the second concert. In keeping with the theme of Music of the Spheres – Our New Frontier, community partners for these Pre-Concert Activities include the Canadian Space Agency with an interactive scale model of the International Space Station, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, the Science Department of Lisgar Collegiate with its Portable Planetarium and Shuttle Simulation Software, the Ottawa Public Library with books on space, the Air Cadet League and the Ottawa Citizen. There will also be a wind instrument petting zoo with Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy volunteers.

New this season is the opportunity for YPC subscribers to purchase their own recorders in the NAC Foyer for the low cost of $5 thanks to St. John’s Music, and to register for family recorder clinics at $2 per person presented in partnership with St. John’s Music and Yamaha Canada.  Participants will prepare three recorder pieces that they can play along with the NAC Orchestra at each of the concerts.

Marc Garneau, who this year celebrates the 20^th anniversary of the flight that made him the first Canadian in space, will co-host the concert along with conductor Boris Brott. Along with his musical selections, Dr. Garneau will bring a movie highlighting his last voyage into space in November 2000. As an astronaut, Dr. Garneau spent 677 hours in space and travelled almost 12 million miles around the earth! He is now President of the Canadian Space Agency and Chancellor of Carleton University.

Music selections for the concerts include Richard Strauss’s Thus Spake Zarathustra (as seen in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey), Holst’s The Planets: Mercury and Jupiter, NAC Award Composer Alexina Louie’s Music for Heaven and Earth: River of Stars, and John Williams flying theme from E.T.- The Extra-Terrestrial. Principal oboe Chip Hamann is featured in Marcello’s Oboe Concerto in C minor.

All TD Bank Financial Group Young People’s Concerts feature NACOtron presented in collaboration with Rogers Television. Five television cameras positioned on stage and in the hall capture live video images of the musicians while they are performing, and these images are projected onto a giant screen above the stage allowing the audience to watch the action in close-up.

The Ottawa Citizen is the media partner of the TD Bank Financial Group Young People’s Concerts.

Tickets for this TD Bank Financial Group Young People’s Concert on Saturday, October 23 at 13:30 and 15:30, including Pre-Concert Activities, are $14.50 for children and $21.00 for adults (including GST and Facility Fee where applicable) and are on sale now at the NAC Box Office (Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 21:00), and through Ticketmaster (with surcharges) at 613-755-1111. Visit the National Arts Centre’s web site at www.nac-cna.ca. Groups of 20 and more save up to 20% on NAC Music, Theatre and Dance performances.  To book call 947-7000 ext. 384 or email grp@nac-cna.ca

Subscriptions for the four-concert TD Bank Financial Group Young People’s Concert series, including a special Family-of-Four pack, are also still available by calling the Subscription Office at 613-947-7000, ext. 620.

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