AN AVALANCHE OF THE ARTS
NAC unveils ambitious new season
Superstar saxophonist Branford Marsalis, Quebec theatre master Robert Lepage, Chinese pianist Lang Lang, virtuoso violinist Itzhak Perlman and the return of Pina Bausch’s dance company are among the many highlights of the National Arts Centre’s 2017-18 season.
For the first time, the upcoming seasons of the NAC orchestra, dance and English theatre departments are being unveiled at once, delivering an avalanche of arts that will see 10 world-class theatre productions, 21 innovative dance performances and more than 50 orchestra concerts at the newly renovated arts centre over the next year.
Some of the most ambitious works include the orchestra’s 12day Ideas of the North CanadaFinland festival, a Chinese-language musical drama and a new dance piece based on the music of Leonard Cohen.
To navigate the riches, we sat down with the NAC’s three artistic directors: the orchestra’s Alexander Shelley, English theatre’s Jillian Keiley and the dame of dance, Cathy Levy. Returning subscribers can start buying packages on Monday, and single tickets will go on sale in September.
ORCHESTRA
Heroes and the North are two themes Alexander Shelley set out to explore in programming NACO’s new season, his third with the orchestra. “I like to create programs that have a thread through them,” he said. “One of the reasons for music is that it picks up where words end. We have a reaction to certain elements of music that go beyond the concrete, and in a sense short circuits straight to the emotional content. Music, if written well, can cut directly to the feelings we have when we think of something heroic.”
The concept will be illustrated in pieces such as Korngold’s Robin Hood, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Ravel’s Pavane, Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Meanwhile, the Ideas of North festival grew out of a brainstorming session inspired by Glenn Gould’s fascination with northern culture, combined with a desire to celebrate the milestone birthdays of Canada and Finland.
“We talked about the fact that Gould had a deep interest in many areas. On his radio program, Idea of North, he goes into the music, architecture and culture of the North, and it was a door that opened,” Shelley said.
Highlights of the Oct. 3-14 festival include a visit by Finnish conductor John Storgards and his Lapland Chamber Orchestra, a performance by the a cappella sextet, Rajaton, a contemporary dance performance by Finland’s Tero Saarinen company and the premiere of a newly commissioned symphonic version of Gould’s only string quartet.
No less impressive is the list of soloists booked to join the orchestra, starting next fall. Marsalis will spend a week in Ottawa next March, teaching and performing. Violinist Joshua Bell’s Man with a Violin show will see its Canadian premiere as a NACO holiday concert in December, while Perlman, another master violinist, salutes his favourite film scores over two nights in September and Chinese pianist Lang Lang gives a recital next February. Former conductor Pinchas Zukerman is also scheduled to return in November to conduct and perform a program that includes Mozart’s Symphony No. 25.
Other guests include the acclaimed Ottawa-born pianist Angela Hewitt and singer-songwriter k.d lang, who is the featured performer at this year’s NAC Gala on Sept. 16.
“We have such an extraordinary roster of soloists,” said Shelley. “It speaks to the relationship the orchestra has built up over the years. Pinchas’ work and connections were second to none, and he did an extraordinary job of nurturing those relationships.”
DANCE
The NAC’s Cathy Levy believes the late, influential choreographer Pina Bausch would be delighted to see the NAC Orchestra playing alongside Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. “It was something that Pina and I spoke about years ago,” Levy said of the Sept. 28-30 run. “It was our wish to one day pull this off. She would be very happy to see it.”
Bausch’s company will mount one of the choreographer’s most popular evenings, the pairing of Cafe Muller and Rite of Spring, with music performed by NACO. “This is a huge coup for us,” Levy said.
It’s the centrepiece of a comprehensive dance season that brings the best of contemporary dance to Ottawa. “I am tackling the world,” said Levy. “For us, it’s about balance, about trying to push our audiences. What we’re doing is showcasing some of the artists that you know and some that you don’t know.”
Familiar companies include the National Ballet of Canada, performing a new work, Nijinsky by John Neumeier, and the return of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet with two productions, a Canadianalaced Nutcracker and, later in the season, Dracula. There’s also reimagined Swan Lake featuring Germany’s Semperoper Ballett Dresden with choreography by Canada’s Aaron Watkin.
One new piece is a multimedia work by Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal that’s based on the music and poems of Leonard Cohen, to be presented Feb. 24 in Southam Hall. Another must-see is Lee-Chen Lin’s Legend Lin Dance Theatre on Jan. 20, a Taiwanese company described by Levy as “pensive but dynamic.”
Also new this year is a collaboration with La Nouvelle Scene, 333 King Edward Ave., to present Canadian artists making their names on international stages, including Montreal’s Daina Ashbee, Berlinbased Laurie Young, and B.C.-born Josh Beamish and Toronto’s Belinda McGuire. Companies from France, Spain, Finland, Australia and Israel are also part of the season. Of the 145 plays Jillian Keiley saw across the country last year, she’s selected 10 of the most “astounding ” to make up the NAC’s English theatre season.
“I’ve always trying to get a snapshot of what Canada is, and what’s happening in Canada right now,” she said. “A lot of the work we’re doing is contemporary.” She’s especially thrilled about the Ottawa premiere of the Mandarinlanguage musical drama, Mr. Shi and His Lover, a Macau-Toronto co-production with music by Njo Kong Kie. “It’s really wild,” Keiley said. “A great story, and beautifully sung.” It runs Jan. 3-13, 2018.
The season starts in September with a hip remake of Onegin, the Russian historical drama, thanks to Toronto’s Musical Stage Company featuring music by Veda Hille. October brings King of the Yees, “an epic joyride through Chinatown” from B.C.’s Gateway Theatre, and Sir John A: Acts of a Gentrified Ojibway Rebellion, a bittersweet sesquicentennial story.
Quebec’s Robert Lepage is sure to dazzle in January with the English version of his autobiographical 887, which he has written, designed, directed and performs in. Closer to home is Up To Low, set in the Gatineau Hills, by Ottawa author Brian Doyle, set for May.
Keiley herself is back to direct a holiday production of A Christmas Carol, while dance artist Crystal Pite directs Betroffenheit.
Rounding out the season are David Yee’s tsunami-inspired play, carried away on the crest of a wave, and Omari Newton’s Sal Capone: The Lamentable Tragedy of, a hiphop-laced tale of loss.
Navarra, the celebrated Murray Street restaurant that served upscale Spanish and Mexican-influenced dishes nodding to its award-winning chef-owner René Rodriguez’s roots, closed this week.
“I made the decision to close Navarra for several reasons, including high costs and a tough climate for many small restaurants, as well as a need for change,” said Rodriguez, who gained national recognition in 2014 when he came first ahead of 13 other Canadian chefs on Top Chef Canada, then Food Network Canada’s top-rated show.
“In the short term, I will be focusing on rebuilding my true devotion to my craft by reconnecting with food and taking some time to really understand my path as a chef,” Rodriguez said in a statement released Thursday.
“I intend to be cooking again very soon in this city,” Rodriguez continued. “This is a big year for Ottawa as it celebrates 150 years and I want to be a part of it, so please stay tuned. I very much look forward to making further contributions to, and evolving with, the Ottawa food scene moving forward.”
The closure of Navarra follows on the recent shuttering of two other top-level Ottawa restaurants — Murray Street Kitchen, a few doors east of Navarra, and Taylor’s Genuine Food and Wine Bar in Old Ottawa South.
Rodriguez, now 44, opened Navarra in 2008. It was a cosy, 30-seat restaurant focused on Rodriguez’s highly personal cuisine that stood out on Ottawa’s restaurant scene. While Rodriguez was born in Ottawa, between the ages of five and 19 he lived in Mexico. Returning to Ottawa, Rodriguez trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa before working at such restaurants as Ironwood Cafe, ARC the Hotel, the Black Cat Café and Social.
A chef who thrilled with big, rich flavours, visual flair and contemporary techniques, Rodriguez at Navarra created dishes such as crab and avocado salad with grapefruit aguachile, mushrooms with chimichurri and pig cheek carbonara.
At the 2014 Top Chef Canada finals, Rodriguez served braised lamb in mole sauce, a signature Navarra dish, only garnished audaciously with crispy fried mealworms. That dish helped him to win the title of Canada’s Top Chef and the accompanying $100,000 first prize. After winning the competition, Rodriguez spoke of opening a second restaurant that would serve authentic dishes of the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
Meanwhile, the Village Cafe, a two-decade-old restaurant on Richmond Road, announced its closure, “with a heavy heart,” on Facebook on Wednesday.
“We thank all the customers, staff, friends, neighbours and the Westboro community for 20 years of support and memories. We wish you all the best,” read the message posted to Facebook.
The cafe, a long, narrow place with a nearly room-length bar and a small open kitchen, eschewed trendiness and held fast for years to a menu featuring Mediterranean-tinged dishes, comfort food and sandwiches, serving items such as stuffed chicken breast and tandoori salmon to a generation of regulars.
Finally, the Rideau Street restaurant Hooch Bourbon House has closed. Opened in 2013, the bar and eatery served Southern- and soul food- influenced small plates and evoked a Prohibition-era speakeasy with its rustic scruffiness. Ottawa Magazine called Hooch Bourbon House one of 2013’s best new Ottawa restaurants, and it was featured last year on the Bell Fibe TV1 show 24 Hours of Food.