In Monday’s (4/15) Globe and Mail (Canada), Robert Harris writes, “Plans were announced Monday morning in Ottawa for a two-and-a-half-week tour the National Arts Centre Orchestra will make to China next fall. From Oct. 4 to 20, the 70– member orchestra will perform in seven cities (including Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai), give eight major concerts, interact with hundreds of Chinese musical students in 80 educational events, and generally spread the excellence of Canadian music-making to one of the fastest-growing audiences for classical music in the world. The artistic highlights of the visit will include the performance of two Mozart violin concertos with the orchestra’s world-renowned music director, Pinchas Zukerman, as soloist, as well as performances of two contemporary Canadian compositions: John Estacio’s Brio and Alexina Louie’s Bringing The Tiger Down From the Mountain II. Louie is a Chinese-Canadian composer, and her piece features Amanda Forsyth, the NAC’s principal cellist, as soloist. … The last Canadian orchestra to tour China was the Vancouver Symphony in 2009. … Pinchas Zukerman, who has been visiting China himself since 1995 as both a performer and conductor, thinks the greatest impact of the trip might be on the NAC musicians themselves.”
Posted April 16, 2013
