February 13, 2004 -

Ottawa, Canada -- To honour the 200^th anniversary of the birth of composer Hector Berlioz (Dec. 1803), Music Director Pinchas Zukerman has programmed an all-Berlioz evening featuring the Ottawa debut of one of the world’s most sought-after lyric mezzo-sopranos, Susan Graham, in the evocative set of sorrowful love songs, Les Nuits d’été. This programme on Wednesday, February 18 and Thursday, February 19 at 20:00 in the NAC’s Southam Hall also features the NAC Orchestra’s first performance of Harold of Italy, a major orchestral work with viola, which Zukerman is now conducting. It will feature the NAC Orchestra solo debut of the Orchestra’s dazzling associate principal viola Jethro Marks, a graduate of the NAC Young Artists Programme. The concert opens with a large-scale Berlioz overture not often performed by the NAC Orchestra – the stormy and passionate Le Corsaire.

There will be free Pre-Concert Talks in English at 19:00 both evenings given by CBC Radio Network Producer Jill LaForty entitled “Romancing the Muse”.

The six songs of Les Nuits d’été are to texts by the French poet Théophile Gautier, and share the theme of unrequited or lost love. They are all marvelously atmospheric, expressive, imaginative and original. They will have the perfect medium in Susan Graham, long esteemed as a Berlioz specialist, and celebrated worldwide for the lustrous timbre of her voice, the enchanting allure of her stage presence, and the fervent emotion that infuses her varied repertoire. She has performed her signature piece Les Nuits d’été at Carnegie Hall, and opened the current season performing Berlioz’s Les Troyens at the  Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Les Nuits d’été was Graham’s first solo recording, and was met with great critical acclaim, as her more recent releases have also been.

Graham’s 2002 Erato recording, C’est ça la vie, c’est ça l’amour: French Operetta Arias, was named one of the best classical music albums of 2002 by Entertainment Weekly and won Editor's Choice awards from Gramophone and Opera News magazines. And Il tenero momento, a disc featuring Gluck and Mozart arias was nominated for Gramophone magazine’s award for Best Recital Disc in 2001 and was the recipient of the Grand Prix de l'Académie du disque (Prix Gabriel Fauré).

Berlioz’s Harold in Italy was composed on a commission from none other than the virtuosic violinist and composer Paganini who approached Berlioz after being dazzled by a performance of the Symphonie fantastique. Paganini asked for a concerto not for violin but to feature his newly acquired Stradivari viola. But for Berlioz, the orchestra was first and foremost his vehicle of expression. Berlioz described the piece thus:  “My idea was to write a series of orchestral scenes in which the solo viola would be involved, to a greater or lesser extent, like an actual person, retaining the same character throughout.  I decided … to make it a kind of melancholy dreamer in the style of Byron's Childe Harold.” The monumental work contains some of Berlioz’s most fascinating, daring and dazzling music.

Jethro Marks joined the NAC Orchestra as associate principal viola at the beginning of this season, after studying in the Zukerman Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music – where he was the first violist ever to win the MSM’s Concerto Competition – and participating as a member and then a mentor of the NAC Young Artists Programme. He has frequently been featured in chamber music at the NAC and is a member of the Zukerman Chamber Players – a string ensemble that toured North American and European festivals this past summer, with another tour planned for 2004.

Tickets for these Audi Signature Series concerts on February 18 and 19, are on sale now at $27.00, $45.00, $56.00 and $58.00, with box seats at $73.00 (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 web-site 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.

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