December 23, 2004 -

Ottawa, Canada -- Conductor Maximiano Valdés returns to lead an unusual all-Scandinavian programme of Gade’s In the Highlands, Rautavaara’s Violin Concerto – featuring the first appearance in Ottawa since 1989 of celebrated violinist Elmar Oliveira – as well as two works by Sibelius: The Swan of Tuonela and the Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major. The Gade and Rautavaara are both premieres for the NAC Orchestra. These Bravo Bostonian concerts, the first of 2005, take place on Wednesday, January 5 and Thursday, January 6 at 20:00 in Southam Hall.

There will be Pre-Concert Talks both evenings by music critic Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer in French entitled “Le miracle finlandais”.

Einojuhani Rautavaara, Finland’s most prominent living composer, studied in the U.S. with Roger Sessions, Aaron Copland and Vincent Persichetti after winning a grant awarded by Sibelius. He composed his romantic and virtuosic Violin Concerto in the mid 1970s.  Guest soloist Elmar Oliveira recorded the Rautavaara Violin Concerto with the Helsinki Philharmonic (Ondine), and the best-selling CD won a Cannes Classical Award and has appeared on Gramophone’s “Editor’s Choice” list.  Elmar Oliveira remains the first and only American violinist to win the Gold Medal at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky International Competition.  He is also the first violinist to receive the Avery Fisher Prize, in addition to capturing First Prizes at the Naumburg International Competition and the G.B. Dealey Competition.  Oliveira has performed in all of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, and has premiered works by such distinguished composers as Morton Gould, Joan Tower, Andrzej Panufnik, Benjamin Lees, and Richard Yardumian.  He recently gave the Spanish premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Second Violin Concerto, conducted by the celebrated composer.

Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony was premiered as part of Finland’s national fiftieth birthday celebrations in honour of Sibelius, the most famous Finn in the world, with the composer himself on the podium. (Please note that Symphony No. 5 replaces the previously announced Symphony No. 7 by Sibelius.)

Sibelius’s symphonic poem The Swan of Tuonela, originally written as the prologue to an opera that was never completed, has become one of Sibelius’s most famous works. The concert opens with In the Highlands by 19^th century Danish composer Niels Gade (pronounced GAH-deh) inspired, like Mendelssohn, by Scotland.

Maximiano Valdés is Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias in Spain and Chief Conductor of both the orchestra and opera at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile, and has conducted the NAC Orchestra several times. Born in Santiago, he began his studies in piano and violin at the Conservatory of Music there and continued at the Accademia de Santa Cecilia in Rome where he took courses in composition and conducting. Maximiano Valdés has an exclusive agreement with Naxos to record works by Latin American and Spanish composers with his orchestra in Asturias. He invited NAC Orchestra principal flute Joanna G’froerer to Spain to record the Rodrigo Flute Concerto with his orchestra for this CD series, after he conducted her as soloist with the NAC Orchestra on a 2002 visit. The CD, released in Canada in 2004, received rave reviews.

Tickets for these Bostonian Bravo Series concerts on January 5 and 6 are on sale now at $27.00, $46.00, $57.00 and $59.00, with box seats at $77.50 (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. 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

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