Pinchas Zukerman leads a stellar quartet of soloists plus the Cantata Singers and Ottawa Choral Society in Mozart's Requiem on Jan. 16-17
January 07, 2003 -
Ottawa, Canada -- Music Director Pinchas Zukerman will lead the
National Arts Centre Orchestra in Mozart's Requiem on
Thursday, January 16 and Friday, January 17 at 20:00 in the
NAC's Southam Hall as part of the Orchestra's "Mozart Plus"
Festival. The quartet of vocal soloists consists of Canadian soprano
Monica Whicher, Canadian mezzo-soprano Susan Platts, Canadian tenor
Michael Colvin and American bass-baritone Jay Baylon, as well as the
Cantata Singers of Ottawa prepared by Laurence Ewashko and the Ottawa
Choral Society prepared by Iwan Edwards.
These Bostonian Bravo Series concerts also feature the
Orchestra's first-ever performance of Messiaen's Trois
petites liturgies de la Présence Divine led by conductor
Duain Wolfe, Director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. The NAC
Orchestra is joined by a 37-voice ensemble of female singers as well
as Canadian Jean Laurendeau on the ondes Martinot, an unusual
electronic instrument heard frequently in film scores but rarely on
the concert stage, and Canadian Louise Bessette on piano.
Mozart's did not, as popular myth might have it, compose the
Requiem at the command of a mysterious "messenger of death"
for his own impending funeral. It was anonymously commissioned by
Count Walsegg-Stuppach for his young wife who had died the winter
before. Incomplete at Mozart's death, the Requiem was eventually
finished by Mozart's pupil Süssmayr at the request of
Mozart's widow Constanze.
Messiaen's Trois petites liturgies de la Présence
Divine is a fitting complement to the Requiem. All of
Messiaen's works were written from his particular point of view
of glorifying God and expressing his love for the Divine Creator.
This piece, written during the darkest days of World War II, and
premiered in Paris in 1944, is both liturgical and sensual.
Tickets for these Bostonian Bravo Series concerts on January 16
and 17 are on sale now at $26.50, $43.50 and $54.50, with box seats
at $68.00 (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.
