Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra is embarking on a monumental tour—the 99th since its founding in 1969. The Orchestra returns to Japan for the first time in four decades.

NACO Tour - Osaka, Japan

The Symphony Hall

The program begins with Listening Underwater by Japanese Canadian composer Keiko Devaux, premiering her work on the international stage. Commissioned by the NAC Orchestra, this evocative work, inspired by the communications of whales and other sea life, transports the audience to an organic underwater environment that is both familiar and mysterious.

NACO Tour - Tsu, Japan

Mie Center for the Arts

The program begins with Listening Underwater by Japanese-Canadian composer Keiko Devaux, premiering her work on the international stage. Commissioned by the NAC Orchestra, this evocative work, inspired by the communications of whales and other sea life, transports the audience to an organic underwater environment that is both familiar and mysterious.

NACO Tour - Tokyo, Japan

Suntory Hall

Experience classical music’s most iconic four opening notes in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, performed by the National Arts Centre Orchestra under the direction of conductor Alexander Shelley. Known for its powerful themes of triumph over adversity, Beethoven’s Fifth remains one of the most celebrated works in symphonic music.

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Shelley & Yeol Eum Son (Toronto)

David Pecaut Square

Alexander Shelley leads the National Arts Centre Orchestra, featuring pianist Yeol Eum Son in Mozart’s expressive Piano Concerto No. 22, K. 482, along with Beethoven’s iconic Fifth Symphony, a masterful depiction of triumph over adversity, showcasing the orchestra’s profound artistry.

Beethoven’s Fifth with the National Arts Centre Orchestra

Toronto: Alexander Shelley leads the National Arts Centre Orchestra, featuring pianist Yeol Eum Son in Mozart’s expressive Piano Concerto No. 22, along with Beethoven’s iconic Fifth Symphony, a masterful depiction of triumph over adversity.

Roy Thomson Hall

In celebration of Asian Heritage Month, Conductor Naomi Woo curates a program of new music by composers inspired by coastal soundscapes. Montreal-based composer Keiko Devaux’s Ere captures the random complexity of a flock of birds in flight. Former VSO Composer in Residence Jocelyn Morlock’s Blue Sun (for violin and viola) evokes the ghostly afterimage that lingers after a glimpse of the sun. Her Icarus, Landing explores the shifting mental states as an illness winds its way to an inexorable close. Vancouver-based composer Robyn Jacob’s A World in Each responds to the 75th commemoration of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Naomi Woo takes to the piano to perform Alexina Louie’s “Memories in an Ancient Garden”, from Scenes from a Jade Terrace. The program flows to a conclusion with Devaux’s Ebb, an extraordinary study in the fluidity of nature.

VSO at the Annex: Coastal Soundscapes

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Our concert opens with Devaux’s Listening Underwater, which was written especially for the NAC Orchestra and had its world premiere in Southam Hall in May 2023. This magical work, inspired by the communications of whales and other sea life, transports us to an organic underwater environment that is both familiar and mysterious.

Mozart, Hewitt & Beethoven's Fifth

National Arts Centre

Experience the miraculous chemistry that happens when two great musical minds fuse into one, as guest pianist Angela Hewitt interprets Mozart on Southam Hall’s stage. 
Montreal-based composer Keiko Devaux loves playing with electroacoustic sounds then translating them into emotional and genre-blurring music, resulting in beautiful and otherworldly effects. 

Keiko Devaux

Events

Past events

Jun 7, 2025

NACO Tour - Osaka, Japan · National Arts Centre Orchestra

Jun 5, 2025

NACO Tour - Tsu, Japan · National Arts Centre Orchestra

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