Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra

The durable National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada has championed works by Canadian composers. The group has a substantial recording catalog and also performs and records non-Canadian music. The National Arts Centre Orchestra (also known as the NAC Orchestra or, in French, l'Orchestre du Centre national des arts) was established in 1969 in Ottawa, Ontario. It was founded in conjunction with the opening of the National Arts Centre itself. The group's first music director was Jean-Marie Beaudet, who remained in his post until 1971; he was succeeded by Mario Bernardi, who had held the post of founding conductor. Bernardi was succeeded in 1982 by Franco Mannino (1982-1987), Gabriel Chmura (1987-1990), and Trevor Pinnock (1990-1997). From 1999 to 2015, the violist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman served as music director, expanding the orchestra's size to 61 players. His successor was Alexander Shelley, who remained as music director as of the mid-2020s. The orchestra's only native-born Canadian conductors have been Beaudet and Bernardi. An early digital recording by the NAC Orchestra appeared in 1986 on the CBC Records label, featuring works by Schubert and Richard Strauss, with Mannino as conductor. The group also has a principal guest conductor, John Storgårds (as of the mid-2020s), and a pops conductor, currently Jack Everly. The orchestra's home base is Southam Hall at the National Arts Centre on the Rideau Canal in downtown Ottawa. The group has always placed an emphasis on touring, making its first European tour in 1973, including Leningrad in the Soviet Union (now St. Petersburg, Russia) on its itinerary. The NAC Orchestra has also toured Britain, China, and the U.S., as well as appearing nationally in many Canadian cities. The group has played in some 125 cities in Canada. A major part of the orchestra's activities has consisted of the commissioning and performance of new music, specifically by Canadian composers; the group has commissioned more than 90 new works, mostly but not all Canadian. After several albums on CBC Records, the NAC Orchestra recorded for Hyperion and later for Analekta. The orchestra moved to Orange Mountain Music in 2024 for the recording Truth in Our Time, featuring the newly commissioned Symphony No. 13 of Philip Glass.
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