Artists

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  Conductor Dina Gilbert

  

  Conductor Dina Gilbert

  Dina Gilbert is a Canadian conductor passionate about educating audiences of all ages and broadening their appreciation of orchestral music through innovative collaborations. This commitment, as well as Dina’s extensive repertoire—often highlighting Canadian and female composers—have shaped her career and the orchestras she has worked with over the years. Regularly invited to conduct in Canada and overseas, she attracts critical acclaim for her energy, precision, and versatility. Dina Gilbert is currently Music Director of the Kamloops Symphony where she is known for her contagious dynamism and her audacious programming.

  Over the years, Dina has been invited by leading Canadian orchestras and has conducted performances in the United States, Colombia, Spain, France, and Japan. Her innate curiosity towards non-classical musical genres and her willingness to democratize classical music have brought her to engagements conducting the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Orchestre national de Lyon in several Hip Hop Symphonique programs featuring renowned artists I AM, MC Solaar, Youssoupha, and Bigflo & Oli.

  As the founder and artistic director of the Ensemble Arkea, a Montreal-based chamber orchestra, Dina premiered over 30 works from emerging young Canadian composers. Committed to music education, she has reached thousands of children in Canada with her interactive and participative Conducting 101 workshops. From 2013 to 2016, Dina Gilbert was Assistant Conductor to Kent Nagano at the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and also assisted guest conductors such as Zubin Mehta and Sir Roger Norrington.

  Highlights of the 2022–23 season include debuts with the NAC Orchestra, Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire, a tour with Orchestre national de Metz, and return invitations with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and Orchestre symphonique de Québec. As the Principal Conductor of the Orchestre des Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, she will notably conduct Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Prokofiev’s Cinderella.  

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  Oboe and English Horn Anna Petersen

  

  Oboe and English Horn Anna Petersen

  Anna Petersen joined the NAC Orchestra as Second Oboe and English Horn in 2013. She has performed orchestral and chamber concerts throughout Canada and the United States, and internationally in China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and throughout Europe.

  Prior to joining the NAC Orchestra, she held positions as Principal Oboe of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and as a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. She has enjoyed guest appearances as Principal Oboe with the Pittsburgh, Detroit, Vancouver, and Wichita Symphony Orchestras, The Florida Orchestra, the Lake Placid Sinfonietta, and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom she made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2013. She has also recently performed with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in Auckland, New Zealand.

  In addition to her orchestral career, Anna is an active soloist and chamber musician. She has been a soloist with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, Symphoria, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra, the Lake Placid Sinfonietta, and the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, and has performed as a finalist in the Coleman Chamber Music Competition in Pasadena, California. Anna has been a featured performer at Ottawa Chamberfest, a fellow at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, a participant at the Masterclass Program at the Banff Centre for the Arts, and a performer at the Skaneateles and Bravo! Vail Valley Music festivals.

  Also an experienced teacher, Anna is currently on faculty at the University of Ottawa and previously was the Adjunct Professor of Oboe at Syracuse University’s Setnor School of Music and SUNY Geneseo. She was a guest member of the Prairie Winds at Madeline Island Chamber Music in 2018, and during the summers of 2012 and 2015 she was a coach at the Bennington Chamber Music Conference in Bennington, Vermont.

  Anna earned her Bachelor of Music Degree and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. Her primary teachers include Richard Killmer and Suzanne Geoffrey.

  In addition to her musical life, Anna is also an internationally certified yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance, having completed 300 hours of training in Bali, Indonesia.

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  Violin Yosuke Kawasaki

  

  Violin Yosuke Kawasaki

  Yosuke Kawasaki currently serves as Concertmaster of the NAC Orchestra. His versatile musicianship allows him to pursue a career in orchestra, solo, and chamber music. His orchestral career began with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra and soon led to Mito Chamber Orchestra, Saito Kinen Orchestra, and Japan Century Orchestra, all of which he led as concertmaster. His solo and chamber music career spans five continents, collaborating with artists such as Seiji Ozawa, Pinchas Zukerman, and Yo-Yo Ma, and appearing in the world's most prestigious halls such as Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, and the Royal Concertgebouw.

  Kawasaki's current regular ensembles are Trio Ink and the Mito String Quartet. His passion for chamber music led to his appointment as Music Director to the Affinis Music Festival in Japan. He is also an artistic advisor to a new chamber music festival, Off the Beaten Path, in Bulgaria.

  As an educator Kawasaki has given masterclasses and performed side by side with students in schools across Canada. Well versed in the string quartet literature he was entrusted by Seiji Ozawa as the youngest faculty member of the Ozawa International Chamber Music Academy at the age of 26. He was also an adjunct professor of violin at the University of Ottawa School of Music from 2013 to 2022 alongside the beloved pedagogue Yehonatan Berick.

  Kawasaki began his violin studies at the age of six with his father Masao Kawasaki and Setsu Goto. He was subsequently accepted into The Juilliard School Pre-College Division and further continued his education and graduated from The Juilliard School in 1998 under the tutorship of Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang, Felix Galimir, and Joel Smirnoff.

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  Featuring NAC Orchestra

  

  Featuring NAC Orchestra

  Since its debut in 1969, the National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra has been praised for the passion and clarity of its performances, its visionary educational programs, and its prominent role in nurturing Canadian creativity. Under the leadership of Music Director Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra reflects the fabric and values of Canada, reaching and representing the diverse communities we live in with daring programming, powerful storytelling, inspiring artistry, and innovative partnerships.

  Alexander Shelley began his tenure as Music Director in 2015, following Pinchas Zukerman’s 16 seasons at the helm. Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and former Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra (2009–2017), he has been in demand around the world, conducting the Rotterdam Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Stockholm Philharmonic, among others, and maintains a regular relationship with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and the German National Youth Orchestra.

  Each season, the NAC Orchestra features world-class artists such as the newly appointed Artist-in-Residence James Ehnes, Angela Hewitt, Joshua Bell, Xian Zhang, Gabriela Montero, Stewart Goodyear, Jan Lisiecki, and Principal Guest Conductor John Storgårds. As one of the most accessible, inclusive, and collaborative orchestras in the world, the NAC Orchestra uses music as a universal language to communicate the deepest of human emotions and connect people through shared experiences.

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