Solo bassoonist, NADINA MACKIE JACKSON is the most widely recorded Canadian bassoonist in history .
A true communicator, she ignores the standard categories of performance, confidently venturing into new works, venues and collaborations, joining forces with emerging and established composers, performers and thinkers, sharing her joy and continual sense of discovery with audiences.
17 new works for solo bassoon and orchestra were written for her in the last decade and she sees great importance in continually commissioning new composers to expand the voice of the bassoon.
Taking a phenomenal technical and musical ability into new areas such improvisation and electroacoustic music to presenting concerti without orchestra in hospital lobbies, to newly commissioned concerti with great orchestras to summer folk festivals, her performances and ideas often reach far beyond traditional concert settings for bassoon, making her unique amongst classical musicians.
Recent solo recordings released to great reviews include Vivaldi Concerti Volume I with Nicholas McGegan and the Juno short-listed Canadian Concerto Project with Guy Few and group of twenty-seven chamber orchestra.
Performing with folk legend Valdy and other virtuoso musicians and orchestras, Nadina has toured extensively across Canada, the US, to Europe and Japan, prompting enthusiastic press notices: “Mackie Jackson tosses off rapid-fire runs… gorgeous singing tone” (Winnipeg Free Press); “Brilliant artistry shines out like a jewel” (Audio Society of Atlanta. Ever mindful of the challenges faced by young bassoonists, Nadina teaches at the University of Toronto, the Glenn Gould School of the Royal conservatory of Music, is on the advisory council for the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and is the founder of The Council of Canadian Bassoonists – a nationally recognized charitable status group dedicated to assisting low income students to attain their highest ambitions as bassoonists. Nadina launched an 8-concert series in Toronto in 2016/17 called Bassoon Out Loud and the last show featured new concerti by Mathieu Lussier, Paul Frehner and Patricia Morehead. Nadina will be recording a new concerto written for her by Michael Colgrass for her and the SUNY Fredonia Wind Ensemble with Paula Holcomb in spring, 2019.
Also a visual artist, Nadina has shown regularly in the past 20 years, selling to private collectors, designing album covers and creating original displays for Toronto storefronts. After her upcoming art shows on Sept 15 and 29, Nadina’s next big art project is to finish the remaining 13 paintings in the series of 24 painting for Darwood’s Wild Bassoon
Updated September, 2018
WORK WITH ME
I love to create new creative projects with people. New concerti for bassoon and orchestra, including co-commissions and recording projects. Also lessons, discussions and lectures on my crazy career as a creative artist. Also interested in anything involving hands-on projects involving music, art, words, kids, community outreach… I am interested! It all starts with 101 emails, so contact me here and let’s get this show on the road!
REVIEWS
http://www.themco.ca/mackie-jackson-few-concert-review/“sublime Canadian soloist… bassoon phenomenon in Canada and abroad…showstopper…take no prisoners and passion for the bassoon…virtuosic playing to the end drew the crowd to its feet..”
Blog review Classical Concerts NS [August 27, 2016]
“ true phenomenon…absolute virtuosity, Mackie Jackson imparted the depth, reach and importance of her beloved instrument”
Blog review Margot Aldrich, Halifax, [October 30, 2015]
“…Mackie Jackson tossed off rapid-fire runs during the short work’s first movement before displaying her gorgeous singing tone and lightly executed ornamentation in the second …”
Holly Harris, Winnipeg Free Press, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Westminster United Church [March 12, 2014]
“Nadina Mackie Jackson takes full advantage of the beautiful voice of the bassoon…. brilliant artistry shines out like a jewel in a perfect setting…bold and full…deeply expressive… rapid fire… a gleeful abandon that infers the entire group”
Audio Society of Atlanta, Phil Muse, March 2014, CD review for Vivaldi Concerti Volume I
“…Tremendous colour and a riot of textures…the playing of the ensemble at this point was so extraordinary…perfectly sweet and mellow… danced, sparkling, over the edge of its time, and dissolved into an energized audience…”
Stanley Fefferman, OpusOneReview, André Laplante Makes Beautiful Music with his Friends at TSM (Toronto Summer Music Festival), July 2013
“With its top-notch soloist [Nadina Mackie Jackson] paired with some of the best baroque string and continuo players in North America this is easily one of the finest recordings of Vivaldi on modern instruments out there. Congratulations to all involved for a job very well done.”
Ryan Romine, IDRS Journal, Issue 36:1, July 2013, review of Vivaldi Concerti Volume I
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PHOTO CREDITS: BO HUANG
