NAC, Feb 6 and 12: Manhattan on the Rideau jazz masterclass series - Jason Moran (piano) Feb. 6; Samir Chatterjee (jazz-fusion percussion) Feb. 12

Ottawa, Canada - The National Arts Centre's 2007-2008 "Manhattan on the Rideau" series of jazz masterclasses continues on Wednesday, February 6 with pianist Jason Moran, followed on Tuesday, February 12 by a jazz-fusion percussion workshop with tabla master Samir Chatterjee. Both sessions take place at the NAC's Fourth Stage from 12:00 noon to 14:00. Admission is free.

Manhattan on the Rideau links leading jazz faculty members of the Manhattan School of Music (MSM) with accomplished music students at the National Arts Centre. The sessions use the very latest in broadband videoconference technology to connect teachers and students in real time with high fidelity audio and video. The series is produced by NAC New Media as part of the Hexagon Project in association with MSM.

A masterclass is a one-on-one lesson in which a master musician teaches a selected student or ensemble under the watchful eyes of fellow students and members of the public. Each masterclass involves 2 to 3 students in succession followed by questions-and-answers.

Jason Moran was born in 1975 in Houston, Texas, and began studying piano at age 6. His aspirations and talents eventually led him to New York City where he continued his education at the Manhattan School of Music to study with pianist Jaki Byard, a jazz leftist who became Moran's teacher for four years and a role model for life. Since 1997, Moran has been a fixture in Greg Osby's touring and recording bands. Moran made his professional recording debut on Osby's 1997 Blue Note CD, Further Ado, which brought him to the attention of Blue Note executives who signed the pianist to his own record deal shortly thereafter.

Moran has performed as a sideman with such artists as Cassandra Wilson, Joe Lovano, Don Byron, Steve Coleman, Lee Konitz, Von Freeman, Ravi Coltrane, and Stefon Harris. Rolling Stone proclaimed Moran "the most provocative thinker in current jazz," and he topped the Down Beat Critics Poll in three categories in 2003 and 2004. He has been lecturer/instructor at Banff Center for The Arts, Denmark's Vallekilde Jazz Camp, Skidmore and Manhattan School of Music.

Pandit Samir Chatterjee is a virtuoso Tabla player of India. He travels widely across the world throughout the year performing in numerous festivals as a soloist or with other outstanding musicians from both Indian and western traditions. His compositions are widely acclaimed as well as his writings. Pandit Chatterjee has performed in concert and on numerous recordings as soloist, accompanying many of India's greatest musicians and in collaboration with western musicians of outstanding calibre. He lives in New York, where he has become a catalyst in the fusion of Indian and Western music, performing with many jazz and avant-garde musicians.

Pandit Samir Chatterjee has been teaching for the last 25 years and many of his students are established performers. Pandit Samir Chatterjee has also a career as a musicologist and journalist, contributing to many different newspapers and periodicals. He won gold medal for his proficiency in a musical examination (equivalent to B.Mus.). He has two master degrees to his credit, in English and History.

The NAC's Hexagon project supports education outreach activities by leveraging next-generation networks like Canada's CA*net4 (www.canarie.ca) and Internet2 (www.internet2.org) in the United States as well as regional high speed networks throughout the world. The NAC's broadband infrastructure includes state-of-the-art optical network access in all its performance spaces as well as on-site videoconference and audio-video production facilities. Hexagon projects include tele-mentoring sessions with master teachers in music, theatre and dance.

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Jane Morris

Communications Officer/Agente de communication

National Arts Centre Orchestra/Orchestre du Centre national des Arts

Telephone/Tˆ©lˆ©phone: 613-947-7000 x 335

Fax: 613-996-2828

www.nac-cna.ca

www.artsalive.ca