March 28, 2023 – OTTAWA (Canada) – The National Arts Centre (NAC) is pleased to announce that John Storgårds, Principal Guest Conductor of the NAC Orchestra, has extended his contract with the NAC Orchestra for five years, through the 2027-2028 season.
The acclaimed Finnish musician first conducted the NAC Orchestra in February 2013 and was subsequently named Principal Guest Conductor in 2015-2016. Mr. Storgårds has maintained a position of great renown on the world stage, having just been named Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic and performing as a highly sought-after violin virtuoso and chamber musician.
“I am delighted that the orchestra and our audiences will continue their wonderfully fruitful relationship with John for another five years,” said NACO Music Director, Alexander Shelley. “The length and depth of his relationship with the National Arts Centre speaks to the integrity and energy that he brings to each and every visit. I join the musicians and our wider community in celebrating this great news!”
NACO Managing Director Nelson McDougall commented, “With our NAC Orchestra, John contributes his unique interpretive voice to a wide variety of repertoire. The energy they create together and share with audiences is undeniable. He has brought to NACO a wealth of new artistic relationships, with both internationally renowned soloists and visionary composers, including Outi Tarkiainen and Sebastian Fagerlund. We’re thrilled to continue this relationship!”
“I am very happy to be continuing my warm relationship with the wonderful National Arts Centre Orchestra and its great musicians,” said NACO Principal Guest Conductor, John Storgårds. “The National Arts Centre in Ottawa has become a special, important home abroad for me during these recent years, and the musicians and staff of the orchestra have become dear colleagues and friends. We have already achieved many fantastic and unforgettable moments of music making together, and I can’t wait to have more of that, together with our devoted, supporting listeners.”
“The camaraderie and inspiration that John brings with the music making draws the best out of all of us, and that is palpable and exciting to our audience members,” said NACO Concertmaster, Yosuke Kawasaki. “I think I can speak on behalf of the whole orchestra to say we are absolutely thrilled and honoured to have John with us for the foreseeable future.”
John Storgårds returns this week for two concerts with the NAC Orchestra, March 29 and 30, for the North American premiere of Sebastian Fagerlund’s chamber symphony, a NACO co-commission. On this program, NACO Concertmaster Yosuke Kawasaki is taking centre stage as soloist for Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4. More information is available on our website.
Mr. Storgårds will also make an appearance as a violinist on NACO’s WolfGang Session #19 at Club SAW on March 31.
ABOUT JOHN STORGÅRDS
Principal Guest Conductor of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds has a dual career as a conductor and violin virtuoso and is widely recognized for his creative flair for programming. As Artistic Director of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, a title he has held for over 25 years, Storgårds earned global critical acclaim for the ensemble’s adventurous performances and award-winning recordings.
Internationally, Storgårds appears with such orchestras as the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Music Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Vienna Radio Symphony, and the London Philharmonic, as well as all of the major Scandinavian orchestras, including the Helsinki Philharmonic where he was Chief Conductor from 2008 to 2015. In North America, he is a regular guest with the Boston and Chicago symphony orchestras, the orchestras of Toronto, Montreal, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Detroit, and Dallas, and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C., as well as with the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.
Storgårds’s award-winning discography includes not only recordings if works by Schumann, Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn, but also rarities by Holmboe and Vask, which feature him as violin soloist. Cycles of the complete symphonies of Sibelius (2014) and Nielsen (2015) with the BBC Philharmonic were released to critical acclaim by Chandos. His most recent recordings are a highly acclaimed recording on BIS of Mahler’s Symphony No. 10 with the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, completed and arranged for chamber orchestra by Michelle Castelletti, and Shostakovich’s monumental Symphony No. 11 “The Year 1905” with the BBC Philharmonic as part of an ongoing Shostakovich symphony cycle being recorded for Chandos. Additional recordings include discs of works by Nørgård, Korngold, Aho and Rautavaara, the latter receiving a GRAMMY nomination and a Gramophone Award in 2012.
ABOUT THE NAC
The National Arts Centre is Canada’s bilingual, multi-disciplinary home for the performing arts. The NAC presents, creates, produces, and co-produces performing arts programming in various streams — the NAC Orchestra, Dance, English Theatre in collaboration with Black Theatre Workshop, French Theatre, Indigenous Theatre, and Popular Music and Variety — and nurtures the next generation of audiences and artists from across Canada. The NAC is located in the National Capital Region on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe.
