NACO Western Tour

Ottawa, Ontario – The National Arts Centre Orchestra is coming to Prince George, on Tuesday, October 28 at 8 p.m. for the first time since 1992 as part of a 20-day Western Canada Tour across four provinces and the Yukon. The concert at Vanier Hall, presented by the Prince George Symphony Orchestra, will be led by guest conductor James Judd. The soloist is superstar Canadian pianist Jon Kimura Parker performing Beethoven’s poetic Piano Concerto No. 4. Judd will also lead the NAC Orchestra in Mozart’s masterful final Symphony No. 41, nicknamed the “Jupiter”.

Maestro Judd will open the program with Alexina Louie’s Infinite Sky with Birds, a shimmering atmospheric work commissioned by the NAC and premiered in 2006. Vancouver-born Alexina Louie, a two-time Juno Award winner of international renown, has been one of the NAC’s three Award Composers since 2002. 

Concertgoers are invited to come at 7:15 p.m. to hear a pre-concert lobby performance by Nove Voce led by choir director Robin Norman, as part of the NAC Orchestra’s program to showcase local performers while on tour. They are also invited to a post-concert Q & A on stage with guest conductor James Judd and soloist Jon Kimura Parker.

Tickets are $49 for Adults, $43 for Seniors and Students and $37 for Youth and can be purchased at the PGSO office, by calling 562-0800, or by going online to www.pgso.com.

Follow the NAC Orchestra’s Western Canada Tour online at www.NACOtour.ca where there are tour blogs, audio clips, a photo gallery, and more.

The Prince George visit includes a number of education events for local music students on Tuesday, October 28. These are among more than 130 education activities to be undertaken in 26 communities by the NAC Orchestra while on tour, reaching some 8,000 participants.

Two NAC Orchestra Musicians in the Schools ensembles will give concert-demonstrations in French immersion elementary schools. At 2 p.m. a brass trio visits Austin Road Elementary (4543 W. Austin Rd.) and also at 2 p.m. a string quintet visits Spruceland Elementary (3805 Rainbow Dr.)

There will be instrumental clinics by NAC Orchestra musicians at Lakewood Junior Secondary (4131 Rainbow Drive) at 2 p.m. These consist of a flute clinic led by Emily Smethurst: Room 222; a clarinet clinic led by Kimball Sykes: Room 221; a trumpet clinic led by Laszlo Klein (of the Prince George Symphony Orchestra) in the Library; a trombone clinic led by Douglas Burden, Room 219 and a Percussion clinic led by Jonathan Wade in the Band Room 124.

The National Arts Centre Foundation gratefully acknowledges support for the Western Canada Tour from Presenting Partner EnCana, Signature Education Partner Agrium, and the NAC Friends, a generous group of supporters including True Energy Trust and SaskTel and a number of individual donors who have made the Western Canada Tour possible.

The National Arts Centre Orchestra was founded in 1969 as the resident orchestra of the NAC. World-renowned conductor/violinist Pinchas Zukerman has been its Music Director since 1998. Touring is an important part of the mandate of the NAC Orchestra which has visited, in its 39-year history, 111 cities in Canada, and 122 cities internationally.

Considered one of the pre-eminent interpreters of English orchestral music, British-born conductor James Judd is Music Director Emeritus of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, former Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre National de Lille in France and former Music Director of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra where he spent 14 groundbreaking years including its first tour of the major concert halls of Europe. He has amassed an extensive collection of recordings on the Naxos label.

James Judd made his National Arts Centre Orchestra debut in May 2002 and has returned regularly since. He has led major orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic; conducted in the Salzburg Mozarteum and Vienna’s Musikverein, and continues to conduct regularly with all of the major British ensembles.

The extraordinary career of internationally acclaimed pianist Jon Kimura Parker has taken him from Carnegie Hall and London’s Royal Festival Hall to Baffin Island and Zimbabwe. In recent seasons, he has performed as guest soloist with the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic and the NHK Tokyo Orchestra.

Jon Kimura Parker has a long history with the National Arts Centre Orchestra including a 1998 tour in Canada and a 1996 tour in the Eastern U.S. This season, he is the NAC Orchestra’s first artist-in-residence appearing in concert and in recital, and playing an integral role in education outreach. The Vancouver-born musician is an Officer of The Order of Canada, this country’s highest civilian honour.

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