The TSO presents the
National Arts Centre Orchestra

Toronto, Ontario – The TSO’s neighbours to the north, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, bring a delightful and elegant programme to Roy Thomson Hall. Maestro Pinchas Zukerman conducts and plays excerpts from the "Haffner" Serenade – just as Mozart himself would have done – and brings a chamber-orchestra perspective to Brahms’ exquisite First Symphony. The programme opens with Bringing the Tiger Down from the Mountain II by Canadian composer Alexina Louie featuring NACO principal cellist Amanda Forsyth.

The original orchestra-only version of Alexina Louie’s Bringing The Tiger Down From The Mountain was commissioned as a test piece by the 1991 Canadian Music Competition with the assistance of The Canada Council. This version, Bringing The Tiger Down From The Mountain II for cello and orchestra is only five minutes in duration, but tests the performer’s skill through its musical challenges and technical difficulties, such as double stop glissandi. There are also sections of the piece which allow the cellist to control the shape of the phrases by stretching them out or compressing them according to the performer¹s individual interpretation. There are moments of eerieness and fragility, provoking renowned cellist Fred Sherry of The Lincoln Center Chamber Players to say he heard the tiger crying and singing. In the summer of 2003, Amanda Forsyth performed Tiger at the prestigious Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. It was this performance and its effect on the enthusiastic audience that prompted Ms. Forsyth and Music Director Pinchas Zuckerman to request this special orchestration of the composition.

Consistent praise has followed the National Arts Centre Orchestra throughout its history of touring both nationally and internationally, recording, and commissioning Canadian works. A vibrant, classical-sized orchestra, NACO, founded in 1969, continues to draw accolades both abroad and at its home in Canada’s Capital, where it gives over 100 performances a year. The world-renowned conductor/violinist/violist Pinchas Zukerman was named Music Director of the Orchestra in March 1998, beginning a new era of artistic excellence. Now in its 35th season, NACO has seven of the original musicians in its ranks. Mario Bernardi led the orchestra for its first 13 seasons, and was succeeded by the respected Italian conductor and composer Franco Mannino as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor until the end of the 1985-86 season. From 1987 until 1990, Gabriel Chmura, former conductor of West Germany’s Bochum Symphony Orchestra, was Conductor and Music Director. In March 1991 Trevor Pinnock, founding conductor of The English Concert, began his tenure as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestra, becoming the ensemble’s Artistic Advisor for the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons. In 1998 Pinchas Zukerman became the fifth conductor to lead the Orchestra. Franz-Paul Decker was named to the position of Principal Guest Conductor in 1991, a role he continued until the end of the 1998-99 season. In 1997, founding conductor Mario Bernardi was appointed Conductor Laureate of NACO. In 2001, the young Chicoutimi native Jean-Philippe Tremblay took up the newly created post of Apprentice Conductor for a two-year term, and Jack Everly, as of this season, is now its Principal Pops Conductor.

Tickets:
$110, $83, $68, $60, $45, $37, $32.
Call the Roy Thomson Hall box office at 416 593 4828.

Mon-Fri, 9-8. Sat, 12-5. Sun, 2 hrs prior to concert start. VISA/MC/AMEX.