Features and Benefits of the National Academy Orchestra of Canada International Student Program

Why is the National Academy Orchestra of Canada the Best Experiential Training Program for Young Orchestral Musicians?

• Artistic Director Boris Brott is recognized internationally as one of Canada's most renowned Conductors, Educator s and Motivational Speakers
• Opportunity to perform in Canada's largest orchestral music festival -- the Brott Music Festival at a variety of world class and picturesque venues throughout the greater Hamilton and Burlington area (Please visit www.brottmusic.com)
• Opportunity to perform major orchestral as well as chamber repertoire in a professional setting
• Mentors, teachers and concertmasters from the finest orchestras in North America
• Repertoire includes substantive choices in orchestral and chamber music for example: Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Haydn, Brahms, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Vivaldi, Orff, Ravel, Berlioz, Dvorak, Bernstein, Bach, Gershwin as well as important contemporary composers
• Students will perform up to 20 concerts and take part in approximately nine celebrity master classes with important educators and soloists
• Individual coaching sessions / lessons with N.A.O.C. mentors
• Sectional rehearsals prior to each orchestral concert
• N.A.O.C. is the orchestra-in-residence for the famed Brott Music Festival which has sold out concert halls at virtually every concert
• E.S.L. study/coaching every day with highly qualified teachers
• This 20 week program begins with 4 weeks of intensive E.S.L training
• The N.A.O.C. provides an extraordinary experience for emerging young orchestral musicians to work as apprentice musicians alongside established professionals from some of North America's finest orchestras. The N.A.O.C. is celebrating its 21st anniversary season in 2009
• Performances are not the only aspect of the N.A.O.C.'s activities, apprentices also take part in mock auditions, seminars, lectures, performance classes, repertoire reading sessions, and masterclasses, with guest soloists and mentors
• The N.A.O.C. places particular emphasis on entrepreneurial skills and practical topics through its seminars, focusing on issues that affect the everyday life of the professional orchestral musician i.e. musician's health, dealing with performance anxiety
• The N.A.O.C. is Canada's only professional training orchestra, and unique in the world. Graduates from the N.A.O.C. hold or have held positions with every major orchestra across Canada and orchestras across North America and around the world
• To date the National Academy Orchestra of Canada has graduated over 1,100 students into the profession, in its 20 years of creating world-class musicians

Why Make Hamilton, Ontario Your Choice for Study?

• National Academy Orchestra of Canada is located in the beautiful city of Hamilton, Ontario Canada
• Greater Hamilton has a population of 504,559
• Hamilton is located at the western edge of the famous Lake Ontario
• Hamilton has a beautiful lakefront, nature reserves, national parks and the Royal Botanical Gardens
• Located forty five minutes drive from downtown Toronto, Ontario, one hour drive from Niagara Falls, one hour flight from New York City and one hour flight from Montreal
• Located one hour from Niagara Falls
• Excellent hospitals and medical clinics
• Reasonably-priced accommodation and living expenses
• Tends to be a safer, quieter community with beautiful historic sections of town
• Accessible public transportation