History
The NAC Orchestra was founded in 1969 as the resident orchestra of the newly opened National Arts Centre, with Jean-Marie Beaudet as Music Director and Mario Bernardi as founding conductor. Bernardi became Music Director in 1971 and held the post until 1982. He was named Conductor Laureate of the NACO in 1997. Subsequent NACO music directors have included Franco Mannino (1982 to 1987), Gabriel Chmura (1987 to 1990), and Trevor Pinnock (1991-1997). Since 1999, Pinchas Zukerman has served as the NACO's Music Director. He is scheduled to conclude his NACO tenure in 2015.
Franz-Paul Decker was Principal Guest Conductor from 1991 to 1999. In 2001, Jean-Philippe Tremblay becamse the NACO's Apprentice Conductor, a then newly created post, for a two-year term.
The Orchestra has visited 112 cities in Canada and 122 cities internationally in its 38-year history, including a 1999 coast-to-coast Canada Tour. The NACO undertook first international tour in 1973 to Europe.
Read more about this topic: National Arts Centre Orchestra
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“The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live or the age in which they are living.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
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