≈ 1 hour and 30 minutes · With intermission
Last updated: June 2, 2022
Program
REENA ESMAIL Tuttarana for brass quintet
ANDREW STANILAND Allusions for oboe and clarinet
KELLY-MARIE MURPHY Glacial Ablations for oboe and piano
JACOB TER VELDHUIS Garden of Love for oboe and soundtrack
SIMON BOURGET Élégie and Toccata from Trio pour cor, violoncelle et piano, Op. 7
Repertoire
Tuttarana for brass quintet
Indian American composer Reena Esmail (b. 1983) works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music and brings communities together through the creation of equitable musical spaces. She is the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s 2020–2023 Swan Family Artist-in-Residence, and Seattle Symphony’s 2020–2021 Composer-in-Residence. Her work has been commissioned by ensembles including the Kronos Quartet, Imani Winds, Chicago Sinfonietta, and The Elora Festival, among many others, with new work for Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Santa Fe Pro Musica in upcoming seasons. Esmail holds degrees in composition from The Juilliard School and Yale School of Music; her doctoral thesis, entitled Finding Common Ground: Uniting Practices in Hindustani and Western Art Musicians, explores the methods and challenges of the collaborative process between Hindustani musicians and Western composers. Currently based in Los Angeles, Esmail is Artistic Director of Shastra, a non-profit organization that promotes cross-cultural music connecting music traditions of India and the West.
Tutturana was originally a piece for women’s choir, composed in 2014, which Esmail then arranged for brass quintet, by commission of The Brass Project, as the final movement of a three-movement suite entitled Khirkiyaan. As she explains:
The title of this movement is a conglomeration of two words: the Italian word “tutti”, means “all” or “everyone”, and the term “tarana” designates a specific Hindustani (North Indian) musical form, whose closest Western counterpart is the “scat” in jazz. Made up of rhythmic syllables, a tarana is the singer’s chance to display agility and dexterity. While the brass version of this piece doesn’t have the actual syllables that the vocal version does, it does aim to showcase the brilliant virtuosity of the ensemble.
Allusions for oboe and clarinet
I. introit
II. as one
III. precision vs accuracy
IV. as one, higher
V. accuracy vs precision
VI as one, lower
Described by the National Arts Centre as a “new music visionary”, composer Andrew Staniland (b. 1977) has established himself as one of Canada’s most important and innovative musical voices. His music is performed and broadcast internationally and has been described by Alex Ross in The New Yorker magazine as “alternately beautiful and terrifying”. Among his many awards and honours, he has been recognized by election to the Inaugural Cohort (2014) of the College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada. Staniland was an Affiliate Composer to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (2006–2009) and the National Arts Centre Orchestra (2002–2004). He is currently on faculty at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, where he founded MEARL (Memorial ElectroAcoustic Research Lab).
Co-commissioned by Ottawa Chamberfest, NACO, clarinetist Sean Rice, and oboist Anna Petersen, Allusions (2021) is a collection of virtuosic movements for clarinet and oboe. As Staniland further describes:
It is written for and dedicated to my friends Sean Rice and Anna Petersen.
Introit features Sean’s penchant for circular breathing and overblowing on the bass clarinet, with Anna’s oboe highlighting tones and harmonics that are both present and imagined in the rich bass clarinet tones.
As One is an angular and acrobatic piece that creates the illusion of a single unbroken line shared by two people, exploring the similarities and differences in timbre between the two instruments. In the melody, there is a veiled nod (or allusion) to the main theme in Phi Caelestis, my ballet score for NACO’s Encounters project (Sean and Anna both played on the premiere and subsequent JUNO-nominated recording).
Precision vs Accuracy is about rhythmic and textural counterpoint. It features a mercurial chromatic bass clarinet line that cycles over nine notes, complemented by a counterpoint of a rich, dark English horn melody moving steadily.
As One, Higher revisits the unison material in As One, this time in the higher reaches of the instruments. The longer melodies from As One reappear like shards and fragments.
Accuracy vs Precision retells the story of the third movement, but with a reversed complexity. The bass clarinet’s chromatic cycle is transformed into dark tonal arpeggios, while the oboe traces a slower, precise melodic line.
As One, Lower features the English horn and bass clarinet together. Here, all the musical material is brought back and developed into a virtuosic finale.
Glacial Ablations
I. Crystalline Elements
II. Ice-Sizzle
III. Runoff
With music described as “breathtaking” (Kitchener-Waterloo Record), “imaginative and expressive” (The National Post), “a pulse-pounding barrage on the senses” (The Globe and Mail), and “Bartok on steroids” (Birmingham News), Kelly-Marie Murphy’s voice is well known on the Canadian music scene. She has created a number of memorable works for some of Canada’s leading performers and ensembles, including the Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, The Gryphon Trio, James Campbell, Shauna Rolston, the Cecilia and Afiara String Quartets, and Judy Loman. Born in 1964 on a NATO base in Sardegna, Italy, Murphy studied composition at the University of Calgary and later received a PhD in composition at the University of Leeds in England. She is now based in Ottawa, from where she pursues a career as a freelance composer.
Murphy composed Glacial Ablations in 2022 for NACO Principal Oboe Charles “Chip” Hamann, who tonight, with pianist Frédéric Lacroix, performs the work’s world premiere. She describes the piece as follows:
Chip Hamann invited me to create a new piece for oboe and piano for a recital and recording project featuring a number of Canadian composers. The theme for the project was nature in Canada—things to do with our climate or landscapes. As my subject-matter, I chose glaciers, specifically, how we are losing our glacial ice and permafrost due to climate change.
For my piece, I chose three terms from the field of glaciology and tried to create music that responds to them. The title Glacial Ablations refers to the loss of ice and snow in a glacial system. The first movement, Crystalline Elements, is slow, and features not only delicate structures in the piano, but also space and drama, in which translucence and opaqueness mingle with the human response.
The second movement, Ice-Sizzle, is very fast, powerful, and urgent. The term refers to the sound glaciers can make, which is like carbonated water. The final movement, Runoff, has to do with evaporation and deterioration of the glacier. It begins with cadenza-like moments in the oboe and piano and features upward moving lines. The runoff intensifies as the forces of moving water grow in ferocity and urgency.
The Garden of Love for oboe and soundtrack
Dutch “avant pop” composer JacobTV (Jacob ter Veldhuis, b. 1951) started as a rock musician and studied composition and electronic music at the Groningen Conservatoire. He received the Composition Prize of the Netherlands in 1980 and became a full-time composer, who soon made a name for himself with melodious compositions. He’s been called by the press “the Jeff Koons of new music” and an “outlaw” in new music, whose work “makes many a hip-hop artist look sedate” (The Wall Street Journal). His music is packed with slick sounds and quirky news samples—“I pepper my music with sugar,” he says; other stylistic hallmarks include bright timbres, energy and drive, as well as quiet intensity.
Composed in March 2002 for oboist Bart Schneemann, Garden of Love is one of JacobTV’s “boombox” works, created for live solo instruments with a grooving soundtrack based on speech melody. The text sampled on this piece’s audio track is William Blake’s poem “The Garden of Love” from his 1794 collection Songs of Experience. Other sounds on the track include oboes, harpsichord, birdsongs the composer took from recordings or collected himself from the Dutch countryside, and various electronic sounds.
Garden of Love unfolds in three large sections and follows the poem’s text (provided below). It opens with an introduction featuring the oboe with birdsong and harpsichord samples, which then leads into the narration of the opening line of the poem, amidst staccato articulation, ostinatos, and syncopations. After relaxing briefly on the word “Love”, the material is further developed. The second section, beginning with “A chapel was built”, is characterized by sudden changes of articulation (clipped versus smooth) and grooving mixed meters. On “…Love, that so many sweet flowers bore”, the piece transitions into the third section, initially resting on sustained chords and bird song, followed by a pulsating episode. It melts on “gowns” and the final line, “binding with briars, my joys and desires,” is given a sensuous, lush setting, after which the oboe skips off with birdsong to the work’s conclusion.
THE GARDEN OF LOVE
I went to the Garden of Love.
and saw what I never had seen:A chapel was built in the midst,
where I used to play on the green.
And the gates of this chapel were shut,
and ‘Thou shalt not’ writ over the door;
So I turn’d to the Garden of Love,
that so many sweet flowers bore.
And I saw it was filled with graves,
and tomb-stones where flowers should be:
And priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds,
and binding with briars, my joys and desires.
Élegie and Toccata from Trio pour cor, violoncelle et piano, Op. 7
Hailing from Dieppe, New Brunswick, French horn player and composer Simon Bourget has been second horn with Orchestre Métropolitan (OM) since 2017 and principal horn with Orchestre symphonique de l’Estuaire (Rimouski, Québec) since 2016. His career has led him to perform with many notable Canadian ensembles, including Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Opéra de Montréal, Les Violons du Roy, Sinfonia Nova Scotia, the Katcor horn quartet, and the baroque orchestra Ensemble Caprice, among many others. He holds degrees from the University of Moncton, McGill University, and Université de Montréal. Bourget began composing from a young age; among his recently completed works include a horn concerto for his OM colleague Louis-Philippe Marsolais, and a Trio for horn, cello, and piano—two movements of which you’ll hear tonight. Élégie was originally commissioned by Ottawa Chamberfest and was premiered in August 2021. The complete Trio will have its first performance in October 2022.
Bourget shares the following description for his Trio:
The Trio for Horn, Cello and Piano, known as the “Pathétique,” uses musical language inspired by the composers of the first half of the 20th century. Polytonality, dissonance, syncopated and uneven rhythms, sudden mood changes—these are all writing techniques of which I am particularly fond, and that open up an aestheticism that I like to describe as Machiavellian. As a professional musician by training, I’m drawn to an instrumental writing style that is as idiomatic as it is effective. It’s important to me that each part can be played with natural ease.
The first movement, Élégie, whose variable form has a plaintive tone, is in sonata form. The lyrical theme of the exposition is introduced by the cello, then reintroduced by the horn in the recapitulation. The development is more mysterious and uncertain, with a lighter theme. The end of this movement hints at a rather dream-like motif that will be picked up in the trio’s third and fourth movements.
The second movement, Toccata, is a free-form movement characterized by brilliant figures, virtuosity and rhythmic energy. The theme, which recurs quite often, becomes more and more impetuous, with an increasingly powerful sound due mainly to the nature of the horn.
Artists
Since October 2017, Louis-Pierre Bergeron is the proud 4th horn of the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Previously, he was 3rd horn with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, 2nd horn with Orchestre Métropolitain, and solo horn with Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières. He still collaborates frequently with Les Violons du Roy, in Québec City. In Mars 2020, he will be soloist in Ferdinand Ries’ Concerto for two horns, with Louis-Philippe Marsolais and I Musici de Montréal.
Louis-Pierre studied with John Zirbel at McGill University and at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the natural horn with Teunis van der Zwart at the Amsterdam Conservatory. An avid champion of the natural horn, he performed and recorded with prestigious early music ensembles, notably the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik and Europa Galante.
Equally active in pop music, Louis-Pierre Bergeron founded in 2015 the Montreal Horn Stars, a brass quintet for which he is also arranger. The group collaborates with artists such as Patrick Watson, Bernard Adamus, Louis-Jean Cormier and Klô Pelgag. They performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival, at Francofolies de Montréal and at Festival d’été de Québec.
Louis-Pierre gives educational concerts with his woodwind quintet Ayorama, and for senior residents of healthcare establishments with Moon Palace, the duo he forms with his partner, the NACO cellist Julia MacLaine.
As hobbies, Louis-Pierre practices hockey, cross-country skiing and cyclo-touring. He collects music records and old instruments.
Heralded for the “exquisite liquid quality” of his solo playing (Gramophone), Charles “Chip” Hamann was appointed to the principal oboe chair of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra in 1993 at the age of 22. Mr. Hamann has also served as guest principal oboe with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Quebec’s Les Violons du Roy.
Mr. Hamann’s solo debut album, the double CD collection Canadian Works for Oboe and Piano with pianist Frédéric Lacroix, was released in 2017 on the Centrediscs label and his playing was lauded for “well-rounded tone, sensitive phrasing and…breathtaking sustained tones” (The Whole Note) and “exquisite musicianship.” (The Double Reed) With the NAC Wind Quintet, his performances of music for wind instruments by Camille Saint-Saëns with pianist Stéphane Lemelin for the Naxos label, including the op. 166 Oboe Sonata, won Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s Choice award in 2011. Mr. Hamann was also featured in J.S. Bach’s Concerto for violin and oboe BWV 1060 with Pinchas Zukerman on NACO’s 2016 Baroque Treasury album for Analekta that earned him praise as a “superb colleague” (Gramophone) and for “a gorgeous, expressive sound.” (Ludwig van Toronto) Mr. Hamann has commissioned numerous solo works from leading Canadian composers and continues to champion new repertoire. He will record a CD of newly commissioned music for oboe solo and oboe with piano in 2021 with pianist Frédéric Lacroix.
Charles Hamann has appeared as concerto soloist with Les Violons du Roy, the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra in Nebraska, the Yamagata Symphony Orchestra, and Ottawa’s Thirteen Strings. He has appeared many times with NACO, both in Ottawa and on tour, in major concertos including Mozart, Strauss, and Vaughan-Williams. He has been a featured recitalist at the International Double Reed Society conferences and has presented solo recitals across Canada and the US.
Mr. Hamann is Adjunct Professor of oboe at the University of Ottawa School of Music and was on the faculty of the NAC Summer Music Institute for twenty years. He is a frequent faculty member at the Canada’s National Academy Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and the Orchestre de la francophonie. Mr. Hamann has been a guest clinician throughout Canada and at leading conservatories in the US. Internationally, he has given clinics in Mexico, China and Japan, where he is a frequent guest artist at the Affinis Music Festival and has been a guest faculty member of the Hyogo Performing Arts Centre Orchestra, a prominent orchestral training institution.
Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, Mr. Hamann pursued early study with Brian Ventura and William McMullen and later at the Interlochen Arts Camp and Interlochen Arts Academy with Daniel Stolper. He earned a Bachelor of Music and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music in 1993, where he was a student of Richard Killmer.
Following three successful seasons (1996-1999) as Acting Principal Trumpet of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Karen Donnelly was unanimously appointed Principal Trumpet in October 1999, and continues to enjoy each year with this wonderful ensemble.
A native of Regina, Saskatchewan, Karen picked up a trumpet for the first time in her elementary school band program and she was hooked. Her formal training includes a Bachelor of Arts in Music program at the University of Regina and later a Master's of Music from McGill University.
Karen held the position of Principal Trumpet with Orchestra London (Canada) from 1994-1996, and performed with many ensembles in southwestern Ontario during her time there.
Since she burst on the Ottawa scene in 1996, Ms. Donnelly has done concerts and interviews for CBC (French and English), performances with the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Rideau Lakes Brass Quintet, and the large ensemble, Capital BrassWorks. In 2008, Capital Brass Works released its third album, Gabriel’s Sister featuring Ms. Donnelly as soloist.
Karen has been featured with professional orchestras, community amateur orchestras, and many local school bands. These include the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra, Kington Symphony, Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra London, Hannaford Silver Street Band, Maple Leaf Brass Band, Parkdale Orchestra and the Regina Catholic Schools Honour Band.
Music education has always been, and continues to be, very close to Karen’s heart. Her work with the Rideau Lakes Brass Quintet and Capital BrassWorks creates opportunities for educational concerts and workshops in schools. Through the NAC Music Education programs, Karen has given master classes in Switzerland, Mexico, China, United States, United Kingdom and Canada from coast to coast. Ms. Donnelly joined the teaching staff at the University of Ottawa in 2002, and since 2009, Karen has been assisting with the Leadingnote OrKidstra program.
Frédéric Lacroix has performed in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia as a soloist, chamber musician and collaborative pianist. He is a frequent collaborator with members of the NAC Orchestra both in chamber music and recitals, having first performed in the Music for a Sunday Afternoon concert series in 2015. This past September, he curated, as fortepianist (and composer), the late-night concerts of the NAC Orchestra’s Beethoven Festival.
Following the University of Ottawa’s purchase of a fortepiano, he has devoted part of his time to the study and performance of music on period keyboard instruments, for which he was recognized as the Westfield Center Performing Scholar for 2008–2009. He has presented numerous concerts in Canada and the United States as harpsichordist and fortepianist.
Intrigued by the seemingly infinite diversity of new music, Lacroix has enjoyed collaborating with composers and performers in the premiere of a number of Canadian and American works. Also active as a composer, his song cycle, Nova Scotia Tartan (2004), is featured on Hail, a disc dedicated to Canadian Art Song.
Frédéric Lacroix teaches piano and composition at the University of Ottawa. He recently completed his doctorate degree in keyboard performance practice with Malcolm Bilson at Cornell University.
A native of Toronto, Chris began playing tuba at the age of twelve at Winona Drive Senior Public School and instantly discovered a passion for performing. During his time at Winona, Chris met Chuck Daellenbach of the Canadian Brass, and performed over 50 concerts with the Winona Brass Quintet including a tour of Japan. Chuck would serve as a role model and mentor for the remainder of Chris' career and those early musical experiences with the quintet would leave an indelible imprint on him.
After graduating from the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, Chris’ formal education included studies with Dennis Miller at McGill, Alain Cazes at the Montreal Conservatoire and Dan Perantoni at Indiana University. His summers were spent performing at various summer festival orchestras including the National Academy Orchestra (Hamilton Canada), National Repertory Orchestra (Breckenridge, Colorado), National Orchestral Institute (College Park, Maryland), Verbier Festival Youth Orchestra (Switzerland) and a memorable summer in the Ceremonial Guard Band performing on Parliament Hill.
Chris’ professional orchestral tuba career began overseas in Spain, performing as Principal Tuba with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia for 2 seasons from 2001 to 2003 before returning to Canada to take up the same position with the Winnipeg Symphony in 2003. Chris served as Principal Tuba with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for 15 seasons from 2003 until 2018, when he started as Principal Tuba with the National Arts Centre Orchestra.
Chris has been an active teacher and enjoys sharing his passion for music. While in Europe, Chris was the Professor of Tuba at the ESMAE School of Music in Porto, Portugal and is the former Instructor of Tuba at the University of Manitoba. He is very proud of his former students who hold a variety of positions.
Chris has recorded with the Winnipeg Symphony, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Real Philharmonic de Galicia, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Brass and numerous studio recordings in the US. Chris has appeared as a soloist with a variety of ensembles including the Winnipeg Symphony, the University of Manitoba Wind Ensemble and the National Youth Band of Canada. Chris gave the orchestral premiere of the Victor Davies Tuba Concerto in 2009 with the WSO and is always on the lookout to find new tuba repertoire to perform for Canadian audiences. When he is not playing tuba, Chris enjoys running, playing golf and spending time with his wife, Desiree and their two kids; Evelyn and Keenan.
Though Marc-André Riberdy’s musical education began with the violin, he later changed his allegiance to the cello. He first studied with Father Rolland Brunelle and Sophie Coderre at the École de musique de Lanaudière, and then with Elizabeth Dolin at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. He did further studies in Jean-Guihen Queyras’s class at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany.
Riberdy made a name for himself in numerous music competitions, including the Lanaudière classical music festival and competition, the Canadian Music Competition and the Hélène-Roberge Music Competition. He was also awarded a special prize at the 2016 Domnick cello competion in Stuttgart, Germany.
During his studies, Riberdy performed as a soloist with various orchestras, including the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal’s string orchestra, its symphony orchestra and the Joliette Youth Orchestra. He became the Orchestre Métropolitain’s associate solo cello in 2016 before before joining the NAC Orchestra’s cello section in 2018. He plays a Giovanni Gagliano 1790–1800 cello with a Karl Hans Schmidt bow, both generously made available to him by Canimex.
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.
September 22, 1956—December 21, 2022
Born in Montreal, Donald Renshaw received his Bachelor degree in Music with distinction in trombone from McGill University in 1977 and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School in New York City in 1982.
After graduating in 1977, he freelanced in both the classical and commercial fields performing a wide spectrum of musical styles from early and contemporary music with such groups as the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal under Christopher Jackson on sackbut, and the Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec under Serge Garant, to performing in backup, jazz and dance big bands.
While in New York, he performed regularly at Carnegie Hall with the National Orchestra of New York. During this time, he attended summer sessions of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and the Tanglewood Festival in Massachusetts. In 1983, Mr. Renshaw was invited to perform with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra as Principal Trombone. He was appointed Principal Trombone of Orchestra London Canada in 1983, a position he held for three years while teaching at the University of Western Ontario.
In 1986, Don Renshaw became Principal Trombone of the National Arts Centre Orchestra and taught trombone, tuba and Jazz Ensemble at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Hull from 1987 to 1994. He was a founding member of the Rideau Lakes Brass Quintet (now known as the NAC Brass Quintet), the Capital BrassWorks ensemble and the Ambassador Brass Trio, and taught at the University of Ottawa.
Don was the dear husband of Linda Renshaw, and proud father of two sons, Adam and Aaron.
Originally from St. John’s, Newfoundland, Sean Rice has performed extensively throughout North America and around the world. His broadcasts include recitals with CBC National Radio, performances for Swiss Radio DRS, and Lucerne Festival live streams for the 2016 New York Philharmonic Biennial and 2019 Lucerne Festival Alumni Orchestra.
Recognized as an exciting interpreter of contemporary music, The New York Times has described Sean as a “technically precise, exuberant protagonist” in performance. Sean has performed at festivals such as Lucerne Festival, Ottawa Chamberfest, New York City’s Museum of Modern Art Summergarden Series, Toronto Summer Music Festival, and Banff Music Festival. In addition to numerous New York Times reviews, Sean’s performances have received high praise from the Ottawa Citizen, Musical Toronto, and Artsfile. For a recent performance of Golijov’s Ayre at Ottawa Chamberfest, Musical Toronto wrote: “The performers were strong, especially NACO clarinetist Sean Rice, who unloaded a wailing solo that rivalled even the best Klezmer effort by Giora Feidman.”
At an early age, Rice was invited to perform a concert with the National Arts Centre Orchestra during their 2002 Atlantic Tour and subsequently, he has appeared as a soloist with ensembles including the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Axiom, The New Juilliard Ensemble, and Symphony Nova Scotia. The recipient of numerous awards, Sean received first prize at the 2006 Canadian Concerto Competition hosted by the Orchestre symphonique de Québec. Following his 2007 Montréal debut at Jeunesses Musicales, La Presse wrote: “…clarinettiste canadien Sean Rice y révéla une technique impeccable, une authentique musicalité, une sonorité tour à tour éclatante et chaleureuse, et un vrai talent de chambriste.” Continuing the 2007–2008 season, Sean performed his first national tour with pianist Jean-Philippe Sylvestre for Jeunesses Musicales’ touring series. Since then, he has toured frequently throughout major cities across the United States, Europe, Malaysia, Brazil, and Japan.
As an educator, Rice has served as Visiting Professor at Memorial University (2017–2018) and Director of the Contemporary Music Ensemble at the University of Ottawa (2012–2017). He has been invited to give masterclasses at institutions such as the Royal College of Music, Beijing Central Conservatory, University of British Columbia, and the University of West England. Additionally, Sean has adjudicated numerous competitions, including the National Music Festival Competition held by the Canadian Association of Music Festivals. In the fall of 2021, Rice joined the clarinet faculty at the University of Ottawa.
As a conductor, Rice made his debut in 2012 as the Director of the Contemporary Music Ensemble at the University of Ottawa. In 2017, he led an ensemble of musicians from the National Arts Centre Orchestra and made his international conducting debut at the International Society for Contemporary Music Festival in Vancouver. Recently, Sean conducted the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra for their 2021–2022 season opener—their first performance since the pandemic.
Outside the concert hall, Rice has developed a significant profile as a classical music podcaster and host. Under his tenure, the National Arts Centre NACOcast has enjoyed great success and international recognition, with Classic FM continuing to list his podcasts among the Top 10 in the world for classical music. Sean also hosts the NAC Wolfgang Sessions—a contemporary music series that he helped design and curate for the National Arts Centre.
Sean Rice is a graduate of Memorial University of Newfoundland, where he received his Bachelor of Music while studying with Paul Bendzsa. Continuing his studies under the tutelage of Charles Neidich, Rice graduated with both a Master of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts from The Juilliard School. Currently residing in Ottawa, audiences can hear him perform regularly as a recitalist and chamber musician and as Second Clarinet / Bass Clarinet of the National Arts Centre Orchestra.
Ottawa-born trumpet player Steven van Gulik became a member of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in 2009. He began playing the cornet at the age of eight studying with his uncle Kenneth Moore and performing with the local Salvation Army church band.
Having won the National Arts Centre Orchestra Bursary in 1993 and competing successfully at many regional, provincial and national music festivals, Steven decided to pursue studies at the Interlochen Arts Academy and then at McGill University with former NAC Orchestra principal trumpet Douglas Sturdevant and Montreal Symphony principal trumpet Paul Merkelo. An active chamber musician, he has performed in every season of the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival and can be heard regularly performing with Capital BrassWorks, an Ottawa-based brass ensemble. Steven can also be heard performing on CBC Radio as recital soloist, chamber musician and on stage with various orchestras across Canada.
Steven held the position of principal trumpet of the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, and has performed as a soloist with the Thunder Bay Symphony, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra.
Steven served as a member of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 2000-2007 and performed on international tours and recordings before moving west to become a member of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra from 2007 to 2009. He has now returned to his hometown of Ottawa with his wife Lianne and their daughter Maria.
Principal Horn with the National Arts Centre Orchestra since 2002, Lawrence Vine has also served as Principal Horn with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra.
A much sought-after chamber musician, Lawrence has performed with Andrew Dawes, Lynn Harrell, Joseph Kalichstein, Anton Kuerti, Malcolm Lowe, Menahem Pressler, Pascal Rogé, David Schifrin, Joseph Silverstein, and Pinchas Zukerman. He regularly performs at home and on tour with the National Arts Centre Wind Quintet, a highly acclaimed ensemble that has recorded for the Naxos label.
As a soloist, he has appeared with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, and Ottawa’s Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra. His festival credits include the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre for Fine Arts, Cleveland’s Kent/Blossom Music, the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival and Ottawa's Music and Beyond Festival.
An active teacher and clinician, Lawrence is proud to teach the horn studio at the University of Ottawa's School of Music. He previously taught at the University of Manitoba, and has presented masterclasses at the Manhattan School of Music, Baltimore’s Peabody Conservatory, Chicago’s Roosevelt University, Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music, Wilfrid Laurier University, and the Universities of Colorado, Toronto, British Columbia, Calgary and Victoria. He also serves on the faculty of the NAC Summer Music Institute.
The Toronto Globe and Mail has praised his “fine, burnished playing”; the Winnipeg Free Press commended his “delicate phrasing, rounded tone, and sense of poise”; the Ottawa Citizen enthused that his “playing was assured, and his clear sound was remarkably subtle”; and the Montreal Gazette described his playing as “radiant”.