Soul-soothing music for harpsichord becomes soul-soothing music for strings. Special guest Violinist Karen Gomyo is a true musical citizen of the world. The perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon: up close and personal.

In honour of International Women’s Day, the first half of this special concert features pieces celebrating the musical achievements of three extraordinary women artists from three different musical eras - contemporary Chinese American composer Chen Yi, 20th century Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, and 19th century Venezuelan Teresa Carreño.

Nearly 300 years after they were written, the Goldberg Variations still calm the troubled soul. The story goes that illness and anxiety kept German Count Kaiserling of Saxony from relaxing at night, so he called on J.S. Bach to write something that would soothe his sleepless evenings. Enter virtuoso musician Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who was the first to perform Bach’s variations on a theme written for the Count—thus the name “Goldberg Variations.”

Tokyo-born violinist Karen Gomyo studied in Montreal and New York. Now, she regularly performs with the best international orchestras and musicians in North America, Europe, and Australasia. NACO is delighted to have her for International Women’s Day, where she’ll perform Bach’s famous Goldberg Variations with our orchestral members, as reconceived for strings.