April 12, 2005 -

Ottawa, Canada -- Count Egmont was a resistance hero immortalized in a play by the great German poet Goethe. Beethoven wrote the music for Egmont – a rousing tale of love, war and the struggle for victory over oppression – which the National Arts Centre Orchestra will bring to life on Tuesday, April 19 and Wednesday, April 20 at 20:00 in the NAC’s Southam Hall. Beethoven’s stirring score is conducted by Lawrence Foster to narration by actor Mervon Mehta, with Canadian soprano Kathleen Brett as Klärchen, Egmont’s true love.

The concert opens with Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, one of the composer’s supreme masterpieces, incorporating a veritable catalogue of his stylistic fingerprints.

There will be Pre-Concert Talks in English both evenings given by music critic Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer. His title is “Egmont, the Flandres and Beethoven’s Defence of Freedom Fighters.”

Montreal native Mervon Mehta has performed Beethoven’s Egmont with the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Houston Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic; he has also appeared with the Houston Symphony and Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Orchestra in Leonard Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony – all under the baton of Lawrence Foster. He is a member of the Mehta musical dynasty that includes his father, the famed conductor Zubin Mehta, his uncle Zarin Mehta, executive director of the New York Philharmonic, his mother Carmen Mehta a soprano and teacher, and his cousin the countertenor Bejun Mehta. Mervon was a founding member of the Neighborhood Group Theatre in New York, and on returning to Canada in 1987 appeared at a number of theatres including two seasons at the Stratford Festival where he was a recipient of the Tyrone Guthrie Award. Returning to the USA in 1993 he appeared in many productions in Chicago before moving to Philadelphia where he is now Vice President of Programming and Education for the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

Lawrence Foster is a frequent guest conductor with the orchestras of Los Angeles, Montreal, Chicago and Houston, as well as the Deutsche Oper of Berlin among others. He has been Music Director of the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Lisbon, since 2002 and is Music Advisor to the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra of which he was formerly Music Director. He was also formerly Music Director of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and National Orchestra of Catalunya of which he is now as Principal Guest Conductor.

Soprano Kathleen Brett’s recent noteworthy performances with the National Arts Centre Orchestra have included Vivaldi’s Gloria under Trevor Pinnock and the Fauré Requiem under Pinchas Zukerman. She has enjoyed a long artistic collaboration with the Canadian Opera Company, and has also performed with l’Opéra de Montreal, Opera Lyra Ottawa (Leila in The Pearl Fishers), Los Angeles Opera, Lincoln Center, New York City Opera and the Royal Opera Covent Garden.

Tickets for these Ovation Series concerts on April 19 and 20 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