NAC Orchestra Brings Mozart & Goodyear to Life
Pianist-composer Stewart Goodyear takes the stage with conductor Joana Carneiro for a concert pairing Mozart with Mendelssohn.
Stewart Goodyear isn't just playing Mozart—he's living it. The Canadian pianist and composer arrives at the National Arts Centre later this month to perform Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 alongside conductor Joana Carneiro, who returns to the NAC Orchestra after seismic performances of Stravinsky ballets that left audiences breathless.
What makes this pairing electric is Goodyear himself. He straddles two worlds: the interpreter's precision and the creator's restlessness. In Mozart, those instincts collide beautifully. The concerto, written when Mozart was in his prime, demands both technical brilliance and emotional depth—exactly what Goodyear brings.
Carneiro, fresh off her Stravinsky success, conducts a program that also features Felix Mendelssohn, rounding out a concert designed for listeners who want substance without the stuffy formality. The Southam Hall stage at the NAC becomes a laboratory for how classical music still speaks to us: not as museum piece, but as living, breathing art.
Shows run May 27 and 28 at 8 p.m. This is the kind of evening that reminds you why Ottawa's cultural scene punches above its weight.