June 01, 2005 -

Ottawa, Canada -- The 2005 National Arts Centre Summer Music Institute (SMI) will assemble over 80 talented instrumentalists, conductors and composers from Canada and around the world to study in Ottawa with an international faculty led by NAC Orchestra Music Director Pinchas Zukerman from June 10 to July 2.  This prestigious advanced training institute consists of the Young Artists Programme, now in its seventh year, the Conductors Programme in its fifth, and the Young Composers Programme in its third. The NAC Summer Music Institute is supported by scholarships, private donations, the NAC National Youth and Education Trust, and corporate partners including Galaxie, Scotiabank and TransAlta.

A number of public masterclasses and concerts will give the public the opportunity to appreciate the talents of participants and their faculty.

The National Youth and Education Trust is supported by founding partner TELUS, CGI, SunLife Financial, Bruce Power, Michael Potter and Véronique Dhieux, supporters and patrons of the National Arts Centre Gala, and the National Arts Centre Foundation Donors' Circle.

NAC Young Artists Programme

The NAC Young Artists Programme – created by Pinchas Zukerman in 1999 in order to provide gifted young musicians with training at the highest level in chamber music and individual instruction for strings and piano – expanded last year with the addition of the Junior Strings, and this year has added a wind component. There are 43 students attending this summer – 22 from Victoria, BC, to St. John’s, NL. in Canada, and the rest from Bulgaria, China, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Mexico, Poland, Spain, the United States and Uzbekistan.

This year’s faculty is headed by Pinchas Zukerman and co-Artistic Director Patinka Kopec of the Manhattan School of Music (both on violin and viola); and includes Grigory Kalinovsky of the Manhattan School of Music (violin), Hans Jorgen Jensen of Chicago’s Northwestern University (cello) Carole Sirois, of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal (cello); Tatiana Goncharova of the Manhattan School of Music (piano); Joseph Kalichstein of the Juilliard School of Music (special guest artist, piano); Steven Dann of the Axelrod String Quartet and Toronto’s Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, (Chamber Music Coach); Michael Tree of the Guarneri String Quartet and the Manhattan School of Music (special guest artist, chamber music), and the Orion Quartet (special guest artists, chamber music).

The Junior Strings Programme from June 14 to July 2 includes 20 young violinists, violists and cellists aged 10 to 16, from Canada. This programme, supported by the New Sun Fund, is again led by NAC Orchestra violinist Elaine Klimasko and cellist Margaret Munro Tobolowska.

The public can see the training in progress of participants in Young Artists Programme through a number of public events:

Masterclasses – one-on-one sessions between teacher and student observed by an audience – will take place on June 24 with Hans Jorgen Jensen (cello), June 27 with Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec (violin/viola), and June 29 with Joseph Kalichstein (piano), all at 19:30 in Freiman Hall in the Perez Building at the University of Ottawa.

Free Midday Concerts featuring participants in the Young Artists Programme will take place on June 27 (Reynaliz Herrera, percussion), June 28 and 29 (Young Artist Programme chamber ensembles) and on June 30 Choirs of Unisong from across Canada will perform each beginning at 12:30.

On June 24, two participants from the Young Artists Programme Amaury Coetaux, violin and Béla Horvath, viola will perform in recital as part of the Aber Diamond Debut Series that is broadcast live on CBC Radio Two’s Studio Sparks program with host Eric Friesen. The recital takes place in the lobby of the NAC beginning at 12:00.

On July 2 there will be a chamber music marathon, offering an opportunity to see all of the chamber ensembles in their final recitals. The Junior Strings will perform at 10:30, and the Young Artists Programme ensembles will perform in three sets of concerts at 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00 in the NAC Foyer.

There will also be a Chamber Music Extravaganza featuring Pinchas Zukerman and other SMI faculty members on June 30 at Dominion Chalmers Church. A second Chamber Music Extravaganza will follow the Chamber Music Marathon on July 2 featuring the Orion Quartet and pianist Peter Serkin in Southam Hall.

Students will also be part of free Canada Day concerts with the NAC Orchestra in Southam Hall on July 1 at 14:30 and 19:30 sponsored by Rogers Wireless.

Galaxie – the Continuous Music Network continues to champion the talent of young artists through its Galaxie Rising Stars Program of the CBC and sponsorship of the Young Artists Programme through 2007. The Scotiabank Cross Canada award provides four scholarships a year to young artists from different regions of Canada.  TransAlta recently created a three year scholarship to foster young talent from Canada, US and Mexico.  Individual donors as well as groups such as NACOA and the NAC Donors' Circle also provide scholarships to fund travel, accommodation and tuition costs for each of the Canadian students enrolled in the Young Artists and Young Composers Programmes. In addition, donors fund partial scholarships for many international students.

NAC Conductors Programme

The NAC Conductors Programme is now in its fifth year under master conductors Jorma Panula and Pinchas Zukerman. Its goal is to provide a valuable opportunity in Canada for conductors to develop under the expert guidance of accomplished orchestra leaders. Five participants, two from Canada and three others from Britain, Finland, and Israel, have been chosen for full participation in ten days of intensive study in a masterclass format conducting a string quintet of musicians from l’Orchestre de la Francophonie canadienne. An additional six will audit the programme. Conducting sessions for each participant will be videotaped, and these videos used as the basis for detailed discussion each day.

In the final two days of the programme up to five of the full participants will have the opportunity to rehearse and conduct the National Arts Centre Orchestra. This will culminate in a free public concert on June 28 at 19:30 in the NAC’s Southam Hall, for which tickets may be picked up in person at the NAC Box Office.

NAC Young Composers Programme

Five Canadian composers from Halifax to Calgary have been selected to participate in the third edition of the NAC Young Composers Programme from June 20 to 30. The Young Composers Programme aims to nurture new Canadian composers and, ultimately, to drive the creation of new Canadian musical works.

Composer Alexina Louie, one of the three NAC Award Composers, will lead the Young Composers Programme (YCP) in 2005. One of Canada’s most successful composers, Louie accompanied the NAC Orchestra on its BC Tour earlier this season leading a series of composition and piano workshops. She will be joined by American composer Joseph Schwantner as guest artist. Schwantner’s Concerto for Percussion will be performed by Evelyn Glennie and the NAC Orchestra in the 2005-06 season. Over the course of the YCP, each participant will workshop their latest composition while hearing it in performance. The composers will have at their disposal a 12-member ensemble from l’Orchestre de la Francophonie canadienne led by Jean-Philippe Tremblay, the NAC Orchestra’s former Apprentice Conductor and a graduate of the NAC Conductors Programme.

There will be a public workshop to observe the works in progress in the National Arts Centre’s Rehearsal Hall B on a date to be announced.

A final “Celebration of Future Classics” concert will take place on June 29 at 19:00 with the audience seated on the Southam Hall stage at the National Arts Centre. The audience will hear works by the young composers as well as by Louie and Schwanter.

In partnership with the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects, two weekend workshops for youth aged 8 to 18 and for teachers will again by part of the Young Composers Programme. Young musicians from the region with an interest in composing will participate in workshops on June 18-19, and 25-26 at the NAC led by composer Alice Ho.

2005 NAC Summer Music Institute Participants

NAC Young Artists Programme:

Violin: Adrian Anantawan (21, Ottawa, ON, Canada), Adam Barnett-Hart (20, USA), Yue Albert Cheng (20, Hong Kong), Nikki Chooi (16, Victoria, BC, Canada), Amaury Coeytaux (20, France), Lizann Gervais (20, La Tuque, QC, Canada), Jessica Hung (19, USA), Wu Jie (21, China), Tali Kravitz (21, Israel), David Lisker (19, USA), Elizabeth MacCorquodale (18, Nanaimo, BC, Canada), Emily Nenniger (17, Calgary, AB, Canada), Sarpouhi Pantikian (22, Bulgaria), Jesus Reina Gomez (18, Spain), Alexander Woods (23, Canada/USA), Tao Zhang (19, China), and Daniel Khalikov (21, Uzbekistan, returning as a mentor).

Viola: Carolyn Blackwell (20, Calgary, AB, Canada), Béla Horvath (22, Hungary), Aleksandr Khutoryansky (23, USA), Pierre Lapointe (28, Hull, QC, Canada), Tom Palny (21, Israel), Artur Rozmyslowicz (25, Poland), David Samuel (25, Guelph, ON, Canada), Nathan Selman (20, USA), and Weijing Wang (19, China).

Cello: Anna Burden (20, USA), Raphaël Dubé (20, Mt. St. Hilaire, QC, Canada), Adrian Fung (24, Burlington, ON, Canada), Andrew Janss (21, USA), Thaddeus Morden, (20, Ottawa, ON, Canada), Audrey Nadeau (17, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada), Louis-Philippe Robillard (23, Montreal, QC, Canada) and Yina Tong (17, China).

Winds (new this year): Gloria Huh, flute (21, Vancouver, BC, Canada), Sean Rice, clarinet (22, St. John’s NL, Canada), Caitlin Broms-Jacobs, oboe (21, Toronto, ON, Canada), Catherine Carignan, bassoon (21, Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, QC, Canada), and Lauren Hill, horn (23, Winnipeg, MB, Canada).

Piano: André-Anne Perras-Fortin (23, Quebec City, QC, Canada), Avan Yu (17, Vancouver, BC, Canada), Bryan Wagorn (21, Ottawa, ON, Canada) and Xiayin Wang (26, China).

Timpani: Reynaliz Herrera (20, Mexico)

NAC Conductors Programme:

James Lowe (29, Britain)
Jukka Iisakkila (29, Finland)
Darko Butorac (27, Canada)
Yaniv Dinur (24, Israel)
Bradley Thachuk (35, Canada)

NAC Young Composers Programme:

Scott Good, Affiliate Composer (32, Toronto, ON)
Vincent Ho, (29, Calgary, AB)
David Adamcyk, (27, Montreal, QC)
Maxime McKinley (25, Montreal, QC)
Emily Doolittle (32, Halifax, NS)

Full Chronological Schedule of Public Events:

Friday, June 24 at 12:00
Aber Diamond Debut Series Recital
Amaury Coeytaux, violin
Bela Horvath, viola
Jean Desmarais, piano
National Arts Centre Foyer : $3

Friday, June 24 at 19:30
Masterclass
Hans Jorgen Jensen, cello
Freiman Hall, University of Ottawa: $5

Monday, June 27 at 19:30
Masterclass
Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec, violin/viola
Freiman Hall, University of Ottawa: $5

Monday, June 27 at 12:30
Free Midday Concerts Series
Reynaliz Herrera, percussion
National Arts Centre Foyer: Free

Tuesday, June 28 at 12:30
Free Midday Concerts Series
Students of the Young Artists Programme
National Arts Centre Foyer: Free

Tuesday, June 28 at 19:30
Conductors Programme Final Concert
NAC Southam Hall: Free
(tickets may be picked up in person at NAC Box Office)

Wednesday, June 29 at 12:30
Free Midday Concerts Series
Students of the Young Artists Programme
National Arts Centre Foyer: Free

Wednesday, June 29 at 19:00
Masterclass
Joseph Kalichstein, piano
Freiman Hall, University of Ottawa: $5

Wednesday, June 29 at 19:30
Celebration of Future Classics (New Music Concert)
Ensembles from l’Orchestre de la Francophonie and the National Arts Centre Orchestra
Jean Philippe Tremblay and Alexander Mickelthwate, conductors
NAC Southam Hall (onstage seating) $12
Program includes works by Alexina Louie, Joseph Schwantner as well as by YCP student composers

Thursday, June 30 at 12:30
Free Midday Concerts Series
Unisong Choirs
National Arts Centre Foyer: Free

Thursday, June 30 at 19:30
Chamber Music Extravaganza I (SMI Faculty)
Pinchas Zukerman, violin
Steven Dann, viola
Amanda Forsyth, cello
Joseph Kalichstein, piano
The Orion String Quartet
SCHUMANN Arabesque for solo piano
SCHUMANN Piano Quartet
BARTÓK String Quartet No. 5
Dominion Chalmers Church: $12

Friday, July 1 at 10:00
Canada Day Celebrations
Unisong Choir
NAC Southam Hall: Free, no tickets required

Friday, July 1 at 14:30 and 19:30
Canada Day Celebrations
National Arts Centre Orchestra
Boris Brott, conductor
Members of the SMI Young Artists Programme
Unisong
NAC Southam Hall: Free, no tickets required

Saturday, July 2 at 10:30
YAP Chamber Music Marathon
Junior Strings
NAC Main Foyer:

Saturday, July 2 12:00, 14:00, 16:00
YAP Chamber Music Marathon
Young Artists Programme ensembles
NAC Main Foyer
Individual concerts: $5
Day pass: $12

Saturday, July 2 at 19:30
Chamber Music Extravaganza II
Peter Serkin, piano
Orion String Quartet
PETER LEIBERSON Quintet for Piano and Strings
MOZART Piano Quartet in E-flat major, K. 493
NAC Southam Hall: $12

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