Zuckerman Will Continue Making Sweet Music

Pinchas Zuckerman has renewed his contract with the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) in Ottawa, Ont., until the 2014-2015 season. Zuckerman’s contract was due to expire in 2010-2011 until the board unanimously voted to extend it.

The Israeli-born director said to the Ottawa Citizen, “I am proud of the tremendously high level at which the orchestra is playing and I look forward to furthering the musical journey that the musicians and our audiences have begun together.”

Zuckerman was appointed to the position of musical director in the fall of 1988. At the end of his contract renewal, he will become the longest-serving director for the National Arts Centre. In his time, he has a created a summer program for young composers, musicians and conductors. But his relationship with the National Arts Centre has not always hit the right note.

In 2005 he took an unpaid sabbatical absence for five months without any explanation to musicians or the audience. Since then, the orchestra hired facilitators to smooth out the tension and Zuckerman said the atmosphere has improved.

Principal horn player Lawrence Vine also said that the group is excited about the news of Zuckerman’s contract. He told the Ottawa Citizen, “We're confident that NACO's audiences will continue to enjoy wonderful music-making under Pinchas' direction.”