July 04, 2006 -

Ottawa (Canada) -- World-renowned conductor, violinist and music educator Pinchas Zukerman’s contract as the NAC Orchestra’s Music Director has been extended until at least 2011, the National Arts Centre (NAC) today announced.

The decision to renew Maestro Zukerman’s contract was unanimously approved by the National Arts Centre Board of Trustees, on the recommendation of NAC President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Herrndorf.

“Pinchas Zukerman is a unique artist in the world of classical music,” said Herrndorf. ”The National Arts Centre benefits from his leadership on the podium, his extraordinary musical artistry as soloist, his profound commitment to music education and his commitment to annual touring with our Orchestra. We are thrilled that Pinchas will continue to share his vision with our audiences at home and around the world.”

“I am honoured to accept the National Arts Centre’s invitation to continue making wonderful music with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Thanks to the dedication of my Orchestra colleagues, we have been able to make a difference across Canada by reaching out to new and diverse communities to introduce them to the power and magic of music,” said Zukerman. “We are so fortunate to have loyal and knowledgeable audiences at home in Ottawa who have supported our Orchestra for more than 37 years and I look forward to continuing to make great music with them in the years ahead.”

According to Christopher Deacon, Managing Director of the NAC Orchestra, Zukerman’s boundless energy and passion for both making music and teaching are unprecedented in NAC history. “In all my years at the NAC I have never seen a more hard-working music director. Since Pinchas arrived in 1999, he has worked almost non-stop to build on the strengths of the NAC Orchestra and its programming and educational activities. Pinchas has set an incredible pace of conducting, playing concertos and chamber music, teaching, planning seasons, touring, making recordings and expanding our program repertoire,” said Deacon.

Since his appointment as NAC Music Director in 1999, he has brought an international level of excellence to the NAC Orchestra, including the recruitment of remarkable Canadian musicians to leadership positions within the Orchestra. Zukerman’s commitment to artistic excellence has kept NACO at the top of its game, with reviews from around the world lauding the Orchestra’s rich and lustrous sound.

As part of his commitment to nurture the next generation of performers, he created the NAC Summer Music Institute, which in 2006 is hosting of the world’s most promising young performers, conductors and composers from across Canada and around the globe to Ottawa to study with Zukerman and an international faculty. A consummate and respected teacher, he also chairs the Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music and has pioneered distance-learning technology. With an advanced videoconferencing system he helped develop, Zukerman is able teach students from around the world.

Under Zukerman’s leadership, the National Arts Centre Orchestra has returned to regular touring: coast-to-coast Canada Tour in 1999; Tour 2000 to Europe and the Middle East; Atlantic Canada in 2002; United States and Mexico in 2003; British Columbia in 2004; Alberta and Saskatchewan in 2005; with plans for Quebec in fall 2006 and China and Japan in 2007. All of these tours have featured education and outreach activities unmatched by any touring orchestra.

As part of his commitment to Canadian classical music, Zukerman created the NAC Orchestra New Music Programme. He selected three of Canada’s most important contemporary composers to be the first recipients of the NAC Composer Awards: Denys Bouliane, Gary Kulesha and Alexina Louie were each commissioned to create new works, while also working in collaboration with the National Arts Centre Orchestra on a series of new music education initiatives.

Zukerman has attracted major recording and media projects to the Orchestra, including five CD recordings, five national television network productions, and unique documentaries on both CBC Radio and Television, including “The Concerto According to Pinchas” with Eric Friesen. During his time at the NAC, the Orchestra has undertaken more media work than ever before.

Under Zukerman’s leadership, a new Acoustic Control System in the NAC Orchestra's home in the National Arts Centre's Southam Hall was installed. He also created the Pinchas Zukerman Musical Instruments Foundation for the NAC Orchestra, a charitable foundation that provides exceptional quality string instruments for NACO musicians to use.

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1948, Pinchas Zukerman began musical training with his father, first on recorder, then clarinet, and ultimately violin and viola. At the age of eight, he began studying with Ilona Feher at the Israel Conservatory and the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv.

With the guidance of Isaac Stern and Pablo Casals, the support of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, and scholarships from the Juilliard School and Helena Rubinstein Foundation, he came to America in 1962 to study with Ivan Galamian at Juilliard. In 1967, Mr. Zukerman won First Prize in the twenty-fifth Leventritt International Competition, setting the stage for his solo career. Mr. Zukerman was the winner of the inaugural Isaac Stern Award for Artistic Excellence in 2002.

The National Arts Centre is a leader in the presentation of classical and contemporary music, dance, variety, English language theatre, and French language theatre and works with artists and arts organizations across Canada. The National Arts Centre is also in the forefront of youth and educational activities, including programs for young and emerging artists, programs for young audiences, and the production of programs and study materials for teachers.

Pinchas Zukerman is the fifth conductor to lead the National Arts Centre Orchestra. The ensemble was founded in 1969 as the resident orchestra of the newly opened National Arts Centre.

Statement by the National Arts Centre Orchestra Players' Association

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For more information, please contact:
Jayne Watson, Director
Communications and Public Affairs
National Arts Centre
(613) 947-7000 ext. 260
(613) 791-5697 (cell)
jwatson@nac-cna.ca