October 21, 2004 -

Ottawa, Canada -- The National Arts Centre Orchestra’s Music for a Sunday Afternoon chamber music series continues on Sunday, October 31 at 14:00 in the Auditorium of the National Gallery of Canada with special guest artist Jeffrey Kahane. The famed pianist will be joined by ensembles of the NAC Orchestra in a programme of works by Fauré, Chopin, Saint-Saëns and Berio.

While in Ottawa Jeffrey Kahane will give a piano masterclass at the University of Ottawa on Friday, October 29 from 16:00 to 18:00 in Freiman Hall. Admission is $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for students. Masterclasses are of particular interest to students studying the featured instrument and music lovers who wish to observe great artists in the role of pedagogue.

Renowned pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane has established an international reputation as a truly versatile artist, equally sought-after as soloist, conductor and chamber musician.  He is Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Santa Rosa Symphony, and is Artistic Director of the Green Music Festival in Sonoma County.  He also continues to perform at the highest level as a soloist, giving recitals in many of the nation’s great concert halls and regularly performing with leading orchestras. Kahane is renowned for his collaborations with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Joshua Bell, the Emerson String Quartet and Thomas Quasthoff.

The chamber music concert opens with Saint-Saëns’ Sonata for Oboe and Piano in D major, a charming work reminiscent of French rococo and classicism, to be performed by principal oboe Charles (Chip) Hamann and pianist Jean Desmarais.  Next principal flute Joanna G’froerer is featured in Berio’s Sequenza I for solo flute.

Jeffrey Kahane will then perform two solo piano pieces: Fauré’s Nocturne No. 6 in D-flat major, the longest and most celebrated of the thirteen he composed, and Chopin’s gently rocking Barcarolle in F-sharp major.

The concert concludes’s with Fauré’’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor. Kahane is joined by Renée-Paule Gauthier on violin, Sally Benson on viola, and Margaret Munro-Tobolowska on cello for this early work by the composer displaying “the eminently French qualities of taste, clarity and sense of proportion” that he sought to incorporate in his music.

This Music for a Sunday Afternoon chamber concert takes place on Sunday, October 31 at 14:00 and is presented in collaboration with the National Gallery of Canada. Tickets at $27.00 (GST and facility fee included) 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. Ticketmaster may also be accessed through the NAC’s web-site at www.nac-cna.ca. Student tickets at $14.25 are on sale in person at the NAC Box Office upon presentation of a valid student ID card. Music for a Sunday Afternoon tickets may also be purchased one hour before the concert outside the Auditorium of the National Gallery.

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