Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra announces details of its United States and Mexico Tour, October 31 to November 16
October 07, 2003 -
OTTAWA, CANADA -- Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra, featuring Music Director Pinchas Zukerman as conductor and violin soloist, will embark on a major United States and Mexico Tour from October 31 to November 16, 2003. After preview performances in Ottawa on October 28 and 29, the National Arts Centre Orchestra will perform 10 concerts and hold more than 70 education activities during the 17-day tour. More than 50 partners are assisting with the education activities which will reach more than 6,500 elementary school children, plus an additional 1,250 music students. The Tour includes a visit to the prestigious Cervantino Festival, as well as performances in New York, Washington and Chicago. This will be the Orchestra's first tour to the U.S. since 1996 and first to Mexico since 1975.
Pinchas Zukerman is world-renowned for his dedication to teaching and to the musical development of the next generation of young artists, and he passionately believes that every child should have access to a musical education. He is the driving force behind the leading national role the National Arts Centre plays in education and community outreach, and in the use of new technology to reach Canadians from coast to coast. Some of the many education activities on tour will be accessible across Canada and internationally through the NAC's website at www.nac-cna.ca.
Pinchas Zukerman said: "One of the great joys I have as Music Director of Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra is to see the reaction of audiences around the world when we teach and perform. There is definitely something special in conducting a national orchestra when you play outside your national borders. Your music speaks artistically, but you also voice the aspirations and values of your home country. Canada is a generous nation and has a reputation as a country that builds bridges between peoples. Touring with Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra reminds people that Canada places a great value on cultural exchange...on the importance of the arts...and on how music can connect people and nations."
As evidence of the importance that Canada places on linking nations with culture, Canada's Deputy Prime Minister will be attending the concert in Washington on November 12. "As an ardent supporter of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, I am proud and honoured to have the opportunity to introduce the Orchestra to the people of Washington. I am looking forward to a wonderful evening of music at the Kennedy Center with these fine Ambassadors of Canada", said John Manley, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada.
The United States and Mexico Tour is presented by Export Development Canada (EDC). This Canadian financial institution with a strong tradition of supporting the arts in Canada, is devoted exclusively to providing trade finance and insurance services to assist Canadian exporters and investors in some 200 markets worldwide, including the U.S. and Mexico. The Tour's Education Partner is HSBC. The National Arts Centre is also grateful for the support of TransAlta and Bombardier (Tour Partners), the National Post (Media Partner), and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
"Canada's National Arts Centre is delighted that the corporate community across Canada has responded so strongly to this Tour", said NAC President and CEO Peter Herrndorf. "The NAC is a national institution and our touring is a part of our mandate to showcase the best Canada has to offer. Our partners in the private and public sector are an important part of making this Tour a success."
Touring is an important part of the mandate of the National Arts Centre Orchestra which has visited, in its 34-year history, 99 cities in Canada, and 122 cities internationally. The United States and Mexico Tour is Pinchas Zukerman's fifth tour with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and fourth since being appointed Music Director in 1998. In 1999 he led the coast-to-coast Canada Tour, and the following year took the Orchestra to Israel and Europe on Tour 2000. Last season he and the Orchestra undertook the Atlantic Tour 2002. As guest conductor and soloist in 1990, he led the Orchestra on a European Tour.
Repertoire for the National Arts Centre Orchestra's United States and Mexico Tour includes Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 "Turkish", with Pinchas Zukerman leading the Orchestra from the violin. This work can also be heard on a CBC Records CD released internationally to correspond with the Tour. An alternate programme includes the Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major, a monumental tour-de-force for which the world-renowned violinist is especially celebrated. Other works to be performed on tour are Mozart's Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter", Beethoven's Symphony No. 2, Schubert's Symphony No. 3, Rossini's Overture to La Cenerentola, and Elgar's Introduction and Allegro.
All concert programmes feature the NAC-commissioned work Snow is white but water is black by Canadian composer Denys Bouliane. Bouliane is one of three composers named as recipients of the National Arts Centre's Composer Awards of $75,000 under the National Arts Centre New Music Plan launched in 2002. Bouliane will join the NAC Orchestra on tour leading composition lectures and master classes with university music students in several cities.
Let's Go Mozart!, a Teacher Resource Kit produced by the National Arts Centre on the life, times and music of Mozart, will be distributed to 12,500 elementary school across Canada, as well as to 5,000 elementary schools in Monterrey, Mexico City, Chicago, Washington and New York. Produced in three languages - English, French and Spanish - the Kit includes an original children's story - Buzz, Moz and the Bees - written especially for the NAC by renowned Canadian author Roch Carrier, Canada's National Librarian, whose best known story is the beloved classic The Hockey Sweater.
Each Mozart Kit also includes a complimentary copy of the aforementioned CBC Records ZUKERMAN-MOZART recording. The first CD of this double set presents Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 "Turkish"; Divertimento for Strings; and Symphony No. 29, featuring Pinchas Zukerman and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. The second consists of two Mozart chamber music masterpieces: the String Quintet in G minor, and the Clarinet Quintet in A major "Stadler", featuring Zukerman and members of the NAC Orchestra. The Mozart Kit can also be downloaded from the National Arts Centre website: www.nac-cna.ca. Selections of the Mozart CD repertoire will also be streamed on the NAC website.
The NAC Orchestra will export its highly successful recipe for Student Matinees to the home to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Conductor Boris Brott, who regularly leads the NAC Orchestra's youth and education concerts, will conduct two bilingual Spanish/English student matinees focusing on the music of Mozart and featuring Montreal actor Martin Choquette as the composer. Pinchas Zukerman will make a special appearance leading local Suzuki students in "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on the violin. These concerts are the first bilingual concerts ever presented in Orchestra Hall.
Other outreach activities on the Tour include master classes for advanced students with Pinchas Zukerman and principal musicians of the National Arts Centre Orchestra; sectional rehearsals and full rehearsals with youth ensembles; and NAC Orchestra "Musicians in the Schools" String Quintet performance-demonstrations for school-children.
NAC Orchestra French horn player Félix Acevedo, originally from the Dominican Republic, will travel to Monterrey, Mexico, from October 27 to 30, and to Chicago from November 3 to 7, visiting a number of classrooms. He will lead Spanish-speaking children in a discussion of Mozart and his music using the Let's Go Mozart! Kit, and giving a musical demonstration of the French horn.
New Media activities will include five live webcasts, three of which are simulcasts of broadband tele-mentoring sessions. One of these is a live three-country "Music Bridge" event led by Pinchas Zukerman that will connect grade 6 students in Monterrey, Chicago and Ottawa. Students will be invited to share aspects of their own cultural heritages as well as their creative responses to the music of Mozart.
As well, the National Arts Centre Orchestra's United States and Mexico Tour will be accessible to all Canadians through the "Music" section of the NAC's performing arts education website, "ArtsAlive.ca". Tour-related content will include video Web journals of interviews with musicians and staff. The site will also feature original content such as a free download of the Let's Go Mozart! Teacher Resource Kit, online activities, education event listings and a map highlighting the Orchestra's travels. Some sections will be available in Spanish at www.giraorquesta.ca.
National Arts Centre Orchestra United States and Mexico Tour Dates:
Nov. 1: Monterrey, Mexico - Auditorio Luis Elizondo presented by TEC de Monterrey
Nov. 2: Guanajuato, Mexico - Teatro Juarez presented by the Cervantino Festival
Nov. 4: Mexico City, Mexico - Palacio de Bellas Artes presented by same
Nov. 6: Miami, Florida - Jackie Gleason Theatre presented by the Concert Association of Florida
Nov. 7: Greenville, SC - Peace Center for the Performing Arts presented by same
Nov. 9: Chicago, Illinois - Orchestra Hall presented by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
(Nov. 10: Chicago, Illinois - two student matinees led by Boris Brott in Orchestra Hall)
Nov. 12: Washington, DC - Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presented by the Washington Performing Arts Society
Nov. 13: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts presented by same
Nov. 14: Ithaca, NY - State Theatre presented by the Cornell Concert Series
Nov. 16: New York, NY - Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts presented by same
