Musicians from the Philadelphia Orchestra will perform with members of Canada’s National Arts Center Orchestra at Ambassador David L. Cohen’s residence in Ottawa in a private event that overlaps with a trade mission to promote trade and learning between Philadelphia and Canada. As part of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s ongoing work to foster people-to-people exchange through music, the string quartet tour will also include masterclasses, sections and side-by-side performances with students musicians from the Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy and a free performance on July 20 for Ukrainian refugees at Café Ukraine, a welcome center where refugees can meet and support each other, share coffee and stories , and seek out resources to help them adjust to life in Canada.

“The extraordinary relationship between the United States and Canada goes far beyond treaties and trade. The strength of the relationship lies in the strong people-to-people ties that unite our two countries,” said Ambassador David L. Cohen. “The visit of the Philadelphia Orchestra delegation will serve to further strengthen these bonds through music. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to connect some of Philadelphia’s best with their Ottawa counterparts to create great music, share skills and spread joy.

“The connection between Canada and the United States is reflected in the deep ties the Philadelphia Orchestra has with our northern neighbor, from our Canadian Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin to the fact that the Orchestra’s first transcontinental tour in 1936 was in Canada,” said Matías Tarnopolsky, President and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center, Inc. “Celebrating our deep connections through music in this way is incredibly important. Ottawa for this warm invitation.”

The musicians representing the Philadelphia Orchestra on this tour are:

Daniel Han, violin

Mei Ching Huang, violin

David Nicastro, viola

Hai-Ye Ni, cello (Cello solo)

The musicians representing the National Arts Center Orchestra are:

Jessica Linnebach, violin (associate concertmaster)

Mintje van Lier, violin (Second principal violin)

David Goldblatt, viola (assistant principal viola)

Julia MacLaine, cello (assistant principal cello)

Musicians from the Philadelphia Orchestra will perform works by Dvořák and Florence Price. The musicians of the National Arts Center Orchestra will perform a work by Carmen Braden, a composer from the subarctic region of Canada. The quartets of the two orchestras will together perform the first movement of Mendelssohn’s String Octet.

The Greater Philadelphia Business Visit to Canada is a joint effort of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the new United States Ambassador to Canada, David L. Cohen, sponsored in part by the Philadelphia Foundation. The mission will meet on July 19 to develop business opportunities and business relationships between Canadian and Philadelphia minority-owned small and medium-sized businesses. During the day, members of the delegations will participate in a series of round tables. Philadelphia attendees include members of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce executive committee, representatives from the Asian, African American, and Hispanic chambers in the Philadelphia area, as well as members of the Philadelphia Orchestra Board of Trustees and from the Kimmel Center, Inc., Osagie Imasogie and Erika James, as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center, Inc. President and CEO Matías Tarnopolsky.

Support for this visit comes from the Arts Envoy program of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Association of American Voices. The Arts Envoy program engages American artists and arts professionals in cultural exchange programs and shares the best of the American arts community with the world.