A group of local musicians will join the Nakatani Gong Orchestra (NGO) for its Canadian premiere on Thursday, June 15th at The Mount Community Centre in Peterborough.
NGO is the only bowing gong orchestra in existence in the world today. The multiple layers of bowed gongs produce rich harmonies that both the musicians and audiences describe as transformative, engaging, and inspiring.
Conducted by Japanese-American percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani, who also founded the orchestra, NGO is currently touring throughout North and Central America. The Peterborough show is the first in Canada for this internationally renowned orchestra, which has performed more than 100 concerts since 2011.
For each performance of the orchestra, a local presenter selects participating gong players. Nakatani, who also composes all the music, gives a specialized training workshop to the gong players in preparation for the performance.
For the Peterborough show, local musician Bennett Bedoukian is the presenter and, along with himself, the gong players will be Melissa Baldwin, John Climenhage, Jean-Paul Contois, Sylvie Dasne, Stephen Disher, Rob Fortin, Matt Greco, Joelle Levesque, Megan McAndrew, Leigh Macdonald, Susan Newman, Rick Sloukji, and Noah Gerard Vandelinde.
The concert takes place in the auditorium at The Mount Community Centre (1545 Monaghan Rd., Peterborough). Doors open at 7 p.m., and Nakatani will open the concert with a solo performance at 8 p.m., followed by a performance by the full orchestra.
Tickets are $10 in advance, available at Artspace (378 Aylmer St. N., Peterborough) or $15 at the door.
VIDEO: Nakatani Gong Orchestra in Philadelphia (April 2017)
