Claire Watson Fisher grew up in a music-loving family. Her father was instrumental in the founding of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in 1934. Her mother never missed a Saturday broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera from New York City. “Claire and I were often taken to concerts where our love…
In this, Pinchas Zukerman’s ultimate season, we asked some of those closest to him at the NAC to share a special memory of the man who brought us so much enjoyment over the years. Here’s what they had to say: “For me, every occasion I hear Pinchas perform, it's a special gift. I've also…
Sean Hawthorne, cellist and apprentice with the NAC’s Institute for Orchestral Studies (IOS), feels his anticipation grow. He knows that in a moment, NAC Orchestra Music Director Pinchas Zukerman will play Max Bruch’s First Violin Concerto. “Hearing him play the Bruch Concerto every night…
When Pinchas Zukerman became Music Director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in 1999, a heady mixture of surprise and delight swept across Canada. As one of the finest violinists and violists of his generation — of any generation — Maestro Zukerman could have chosen another orchestra…
On Christmas Day, Canadians are invited to watch the extraordinary performance of the National Arts Centre Orchestra on CBC Television from Salisbury Cathedral to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. The haunting beauty of one of the United Kingdom’s…
How do we preserve beauty? We take photographs of perfect moments; we use video to memorialize baby’s first hesitant steps; and we write carefully chosen words to describe an event or a feeling. We do these things so that we can revisit and share the emotions we first felt upon…
Hearing Pinchas Zukerman and the NAC Orchestra perform a live concert of such extraordinary beauty and musicality is one way to bring healing to human suffering. As Maestro Zukerman says, “A live concert experience brings you extraordinary joy, and healing. It can be a major life…
The Britten Theatre at London's Royal College of Music was packed with students, teachers and music fans eager to learn from maestro Pinchas Zukerman'smasterclass. Three young violinists had been selected to perform; Chieri Tomi from the Royal Academy of Music and Soh Yon Kim and Emily Sun…
The NAC Orchestra’s UK Tour of performance, remembrance and education has seen the Orchestra perform beautiful concerts and engage in meaningful education events. In the week since the tour began, there have been many highlights. In Edinburgh, Orchestra musicians rehearsed with Big Noise…
What do you need to make it as a musician? Intellect. Heart. And a feeling down deep in your stomach that says “Rrraaa!!!!” Watch this video, which premiered at the recent NAC Gala in support of arts education, and find out more about what drives the incomparable Pinchas Zukerman, Music…
Tonight’s 18th annual National Arts Centre Gala put a shining new face on music education in Canada, raising the second-highest amount in its history and delighting concert-goers with a succession of astonishing performances. The NAC Gala with Pinchas, Itzhak & Friends was sold out, and…
Violinist Jessica Linnebach met Pinchas Zukerman in 1999, at the first ever National Arts Centre Summer Music Institute (SMI), the young artist training program Zukerman founded after becoming the NAC Orchestra’s Music Director. She was 15. Despite her young age, Linnebach was already a…
Violinist Jessica Linnebach joined the National Arts Centre Orchestra in 2003 and became Associate Concertmaster in 2010. She has distinguished herself among the next generation of Canadian classical artists being lauded on concert stages nationally and around the world. In this interview…
Just check out the steely focus of Jessica Linnebach in this video of her 7 year-old self! In this archival video, Jessica Linnebach performs onstage at the National Arts Centre and wins the 1990 Canadian Music Competition Grand Prize, at the age of 7. “I remember how excited I was to…
If you’re a fan of the violin, then run, don’t walk, to The NAC Gala with Pinchas, Itzhak & Friends, which will be held on Thursday, October 2 in Southam Hall. This is the 18th annual edition of this fabulous fundraiser, and it is Pinchas Zukerman’s ultimate Gala, as his tenure with the…