December 05, 2006 -

Ottawa, Canada -- Andrew Litton, Music Director Emeritus of the Dallas Symphony, makes his debut on the podium of the National Arts Centre Orchestra for concerts on Thursday, December 14 and Friday, December 15 at 20:00 in NAC Southam Hall to lead works by Lalo, Stravinsky and Canadian composer José Evangelista. These Bostonian Bravo Series concerts also mark the NAC Orchestra debut of rising Canadian star violinist Karen Gomyo.

As part of the Christmas FanFair campaign by the NAC Orchestra Players Association, the Ottawa Foodbank will be collecting donations at the concert from those who wish to bring a non-perishable food item.

Karen Gomyo will perform Lalo’s fiery Symphonie espagnole, a concerto/symphony/suite which offers the soloist plenty of opportunity for virtuosic fireworks in exotic Spanish style. Karen Gomyo dazzled NAC recital audiences when she first performed at the NAC in the Aber Diamond Debut Series in 2003. She was the winner of the 1997 Young Concert Artists International Auditions just one week after her fifteenth birthday. The following year she became the youngest artist ever to be presented in the Young Concert Artists Series in New York. Last season she made her New York Philharmonic and Detroit Symphony debuts.

Born in Tokyo, and raised from childhood in Montreal, she studied at the Juilliard School on full scholarship, and is now starting at the studio of Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory of Music. She plays the rare “Ex Foulis” Stradivarius of 1714 that is on permanent loan to her from a private sponsor.

Canadian composer José Evangelista based his Airs d’Espagne on fifteen folk melodies from his native Spain. The Juno Award-winning work has become his most frequently performed piece. Exotic European themes also pervade the Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. The music was commissioned for a ballet by Fokine produced by the legendary impresario Diaghilev, famous for sparking great artistic collaborations. The ballet, based on Russian folktales was Stravinsky’s first big success, and he soon made a suite of the highlights in 1912 and another in 1918. The 1945 suite to be performed for the first time by the NAC Orchestra is the most substantial of them all.

Andrew Litton who will bring these works to life, has just completed his twelfth and final season as Music Director of the Dallas Symphony, where he is now Music Director Emeritus. The New York-born Litton is also Music Director of Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Artistic Director of the Minnesota Orchestra's Sommerfest and Conductor Laureate of Britain’s Bournemouth Symphony. Mr. Litton has appeared as guest conductor with more than 110 of the world’s top orchestras and opera companies. His more than 60 recordings include the Grammy-winning Walton's Belshazzar's Feast with Bryn Terfel and the Bournemouth Symphony. A complete set of the Four Symphonies of Charles Ives with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will be released this year on Hyperion.

Tickets for these Bostonian Bravo Series concerts on Thursday, December 14 and Friday, December 15 at 20:00 are on sale now at $18.82, $38.64, $58.45, 68.36 with box seats at $82.22 (6% 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 website 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. Same-day Live Rush tickets (subject to availability) for full-time students (aged 13 to 29) are $10 at the NAC Box Office between 14:00 and 18:00 on the day of performance only, upon presentation of a valid Live Rush card.

Groups of 10 and more save 15% to 20% off the regular price of tickets to NAC Music, Theatre and Dance performances. To reserve your seats call 947-7000 ext. 384 or email grp@nac-cna.ca. Subscriptions are also still available by calling the Subscription Office at 613-947-7000, ext. 620.

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