March 29, 2004 -

Ottawa (Canada) – The next National Arts Centre Orchestra TD Bank Financial Group Young People’s Concerts on Saturday, April 10 at 13:30 and 15:30 in the afternoon focus on the art of the composer. The concerts, entitled Write On! The Creative Composer, are led by conductor Boris Brott, and feature NAC Award Composer Denys Bouliane, principal cellist Amanda Forsyth playing music composed for her by her father Malcolm Forsyth, and a special appearance by Leo Svirsky, a young composer/pianist whom the Orchestra discovered on its recent United States and Mexico Tour, performing a piece he wrote especially for these concerts. The programme includes excerpts from Beethoven’s masterful Fifth Symphony and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol. The grand finale is a NACO world premiere performance of a work created on the spot by the audience, with the help of a musical Easter Egg-hunt!

The bilingual series for 7- to 11-year-olds and their grown-up friends includes pre-concert activities in the Foyer organized by the NAC Orchestra Association beginning at 12:45 for the first concert and 14:45 for the second concert.

Write On! The Creative Composer continues this season’s theme of “The Music Makers”, exploring what makes the performers and creators of music so extraordinary. How does a composer hear all the parts of a 60-piece orchestra in his head and then put these sounds on paper so that others can perform them? NAC Awards Composer Denys Bouliane shows how the composer works his magic – how a melody or motif is invented, developed and orchestrated.

The programme includes NAC Orchestra principal cello Amanda Forsyth playing Ripsnorter Finale, along with two Cello Duets for Young Cellists – Sad Clown with a Happy Face and Hop, Step, Skip – all pieces that her father, composer Malcolm Forsyth, wrote for her when she was a child.

Leo Svirsky is a 15-year-old student at the Levine School of Music in Washington, whom Denys Bouliane met during one of his composition workshops on the recent United States and Mexico Tour. The young man surprised Bouliane by playing the composer’s difficult Contredanse from memory. Leo has been invited to Canada to perform this piece along the world premiere of a work he composed especially for this Young People’s Concert ChANson dADA. The programme also includes an excerpt from Bouliane’s NAC-commissioned piece Snow is White, but Water is Black which the Orchestra performed on the same tour. Other works on the programme include R. Murray Schafer’s Statement in Blue and selections from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol.

Pre-Concert Activities organized by the NAC Orchestra Association take place in the NAC Foyer starting 45 minutes prior to each concert. Community partners for Write On! The Creative Composer include Music For Young Children with composition activities involving rhythm instruments, the Ottawa Public Library, Leading Note, Ottawa composer Joanna Estelle, and a NACOA craft station with collages and paper-folding. The Ottawa 67s mascot will also be on hand to greet the kids.

All Young People’s Concerts feature NACOtron presented in collaboration with Rogers Television. Five television cameras positioned on stage and in the hall capture live video images of the musicians while they are performing, and these images are projected onto a giant screen above the stage allowing the audience to watch the action in close-up.

Tickets for this Young People’s Concert on Saturday, April 10 at 13:30 and 15:30, including Pre-Concert Activities, are $14.00 for children and $20.50 for adults (including GST and Facility Fee where applicable) and are on sale now at the NAC Box Office (Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 21:00), and through Ticketmaster (with surcharges) at 613-755-1111. Visit the National Arts Centre’s web site at www.nac-cna.ca.

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