Pinchas Zukerman performs the Bruch Violin Concerto for NAC audiences on April 2-3

2 • March 22, 2008
Pinchas Zukerman performs the Bruch Violin Concerto for NAC audiences on April 2-3
Posted by mcollins Subscribe to the OttawaStart RSS Feed for instant news updates.

National Arts Centre Orchestra Music Director Pinchas Zukerman will put down his baton and take up his violin to perform the glorious Bruch Violin Concerto for Ottawa audiences in Mark Motors Audi Signature Series concerts on Wednesday, April 2 and Thursday, Apri1 3 at 20:00 in the NAC’s Southam Hall. On the podium for this special occasion is Scottish conductor Douglas Boyd making his NAC Orchestra debut. He will also lead the Orchestra in Haydn’s Symphony No. 67 and two works by Sibelius – excerpts from Pelleas and Melisande and Sibelius’s Seventh and final symphony.

The concert will be preceded both nights at 19:00 by a free Musically Speaking pre-concert talk with Pinchas Zukerman hosted by CBC Radio Executive Music Producer Jill LaForty. She will guide Zukerman through a live version of “The Concerto According to Pinchas”, the highly popular series she produced with CBC Radio’s Eric Friesen during which the Bruch Violin Concerto was one of the Top Ten discussed.

Pinchas Zukerman performed the Bruch Violin Concerto on select concerts during his recent cross-continent tour with London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The Washington Post described the concerto as “a work that alternates soaring lyricism with a martial ferocity that taxes the skills of all but the finest violinists. Fortunately, Mr. Zukerman is clearly among the latter… insightful, passionate, and so energetic that one feared his rapidly shredding bow might not survive to the last bar of the finale.” And the Washington Times wrote: “Zukerman remains an astounding virtuoso; his robust tone and flawless passage work still amaze.”

Zukerman is also performing the Bruch Violin Concerto as part of an historic concert in Moscow this month in the Great Hall of the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory. He was invited to give the first public concert in 70 years on a newly purchased Guarneri del Gesù violin for which a Russian businessman recently paid the highest price ever for a violin – “well in excess” of the world auction record of $3.54 million paid in 2006 for a Stradivarius. The public concert on March 22 follows a private concert in the St. George Hall of the Great Kremlin Palace on March 21.

This description of the Bruch Concerto by Pinchas Zukerman is excerpted from the video interviews on the 07-08 season that are available on the NAC website: “I think the slow movement is one of the most beautiful pieces as movements go in a concerto. He’s not a great innovator, but there is something very unique and sensuous about the music. That slow movement to me is the cornerstone of so many things that came later for the violin concerto. He just wrote beautifully for the instrument. The first movement is kind of an introduction… Beautiful melody again in the middle. The last movement is very boisterous…. You have to be in good shape to do it! It’s wonderful to play.”

Tickets for these Mark Motors Audi Signature Series concerts on Wednesday, April 2 and Thursday, April 3 at 20:00 are on sale now at $19.00, $29.00, $49.00, $59.00, $69.00 with box seats at $83.00 (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 website 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. Same-day Live Rush tickets (subject to availability) for full-time students (aged 13 to 29) are $10 at the NAC Box Office between 14:00 and 18:00 on the day of performance only, upon presentation of a valid Live Rush card.

Groups of 10 and more save 15% to 20% off the regular price of tickets to NAC Music, Theatre and Dance performances. To reserve your seats call 613-947-7000 ext. 384 or email grp@nac-cna.ca.

More News
Subscribe to OttawaStart's RSS Feed for instant news updates

Click here...