October 19, 2006 -

OTTAWA -- When the special tenth anniversary edition of the annual Black & White Opera Soiree comes to glorious life in Southam Hall of the National Arts Centre on February 17, 2007, the stage will be ablaze with star power. Host of the evening -- themed Heroes and Heroines of the Stage – will be legendary artist and humanitarian Harry Belafonte. The National Arts Centre Orchestra will be conducted by Jack Everly, NACO Principal Pops Conductor, and will feature the Opera Lyra Ottawa Chorus, under the direction of Chorus Master Laurence Ewashko.

The Black & White Opera Soiree, presented by Bell Canada, in association with Enbridge Gas Distribution and Casino du Lac-Leamy, is an annual winter benefit for the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Opera Lyra Ottawa. It will be a truly fabulous fundraiser, featuring some of the most glorious arias and duets of the opera repertoire. Accessible and entertaining, the evening is a tantalising mix of fine food, high fashion, and some of the most beautiful music ever written. The Black & White Opera Soiree is most certainly a glittering jewel in the crown of the Ottawa social season.

From his 1955 album Calypso -- the first album ever to sell more than a million copies and one which started a Caribbean music craze in North America -- to We Are the World, multiple award winner Harry Belafonte has been called “the consummate entertainer”, an artist in every field in which he has participated – as a concert singer, a recording artist, a star of movies, Broadway, and television, and as a producer. In 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton awarded him with a National Medal of Arts for his contributions to the cultural life of the nation. Belafonte is equally respected for his work in the human rights struggle both in the U.S. and around the world.

The Black & White Opera Soiree proudly showcases Canadian talent, with proceeds divided equally between the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Opera Lyra Ottawa. Since its inception in 1998, the Soiree has contributed more than $1.8 million to help foster Canada’s next generation of talented musical artists through training, mentoring, and showcasing.

After ten successful years, the Soiree continues to grow -- and has set its fundraising sights high for this anniversary year. Black & White Opera Soiree Committee Chair Lawson Hunter, who has returned to lead the committee for a second year, sees this season’s Soiree as an important opportunity to support and develop Ottawa’s vibrant cultural life. “This year we are celebrating ten years of a very successful partnership between two organizations which has enriched our city. Last year’s Black & White Opera Soiree raised $345,000 for Opera Lyra Ottawa and the National Arts Centre Orchestra; this support has meant that both organizations were able to offer unparalleled artistic and outreach programming to this community. With the continued support of our community, I know that we will be able to expand upon this achievement and provide even more opportunities for aspiring Canadian musicians.”

The Black & White Opera Soiree takes place on Saturday, February 17, 2007 at the National Arts Centre.

Soiree tickets are $275, which includes a cocktail reception, dinner, concert, and a post-concert party with the stars.

Concert-plus tickets are $175 for the concert and the post-concert party.

Soiree tickets and concert-plus tickets can be purchased through the NAC Foundation at 947-7000, ext.322 or at Opera Lyra Ottawa by contacting 232-9200, ext. 225.

Concert-only tickets are $75, $65, and $50. Please note that Ticketmaster will be accepting concert-only ticket orders as of November 13, 2006.

Tickets are available at the NAC Box Office (in person) and through Ticketmaster (with surcharges) at (613) 755-1111; Ticketmaster may also be accessed through the NAC’s web-site at www.nac-cna.ca . For more information on the event please visit the NAC website or www.operalyra.ca.

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Information:
Gerald Morris, National Arts Centre
(613) 947-7000, x249
gmorris@nac-cna.ca

Karl Balisch, Opera Lyra Ottawa
(613) 233-9200, x229
marketing@operalyra.ca

HARRY BELAFONTE
Musical legend Harry Belafonte is one of those artists who helped define a generation. A consummate entertainer of enormous natural talent, he rose from a poor background to become a household name.

Growing up in Harlem after WWII, his first choice of career was the stage. He worked with the American Negro Theatre, and took drama classes alongside then-unknown actors Marlon Brando, Walter Matthau, and Tony Curtis. He eventually abandoned the theatre (though not before winning a Tony Award), and turned instead to music — singing in Harlem clubs alongside jazz greats Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. He also listened to folk artists such as Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger. Those influences, combined with his own Jamaican roots, guided the creation of his own musical style — one that reached full flower with his 1956 breakthrough album Calypso. It was the first LP ever to sell over a million copies, and it set young Harry firmly on the path to musical success.

After hundreds of concerts, worldwide tours and Broadway performances, and dozens of recordings, Hollywood beckoned. Mr. Belafonte’s charisma came across as powerfully on camera as in live performance, and he found plenty of work. Standout roles included movies such as Carmen Jones (the first film with an all-black cast), The Flesh and the Devil, and the then-controversial Island in the Sun (for which he wrote and sang the title song). His next move was into television, where (with the help of a young and unknown Canadian director named Norman Jewison), he produced a musical epic called Tonight with Belafonte. It won an Emmy Award and garnered rave reviews; and his company went on to produce several more Emmy-nominated shows — many starring great names such as Sidney Poitier, Diahann Carroll, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Duke Ellington. He also discovered comedians Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx.

In the 1950s, Mr. Belafonte turned to social activism. He embraced the civil rights struggle, and in 1960 was named cultural advisor to the Peace Corps by President Kennedy — the first entertainer to be so honoured. He became close friends with Martin Luther King, and later Nelson Mandela; and developed a shrewd sense of the power of showbiz to influence politics.

Long before the modern era of Live Aid, Harry Belafonte had become a driving force for unity in his own country and in Africa. He still devotes himself to global issues, still believes in the power of social justice — and still sings as no one else can, giving his audiences a mix of new songs and old favourites.

JACK EVERLY, Conductor
Principal Conductor of the National Arts Centre Orchestra’s beloved Pops programme since 2004, Jack Everly has spent his career following his passion for popular music. Well known to Ottawa audiences for such recent concerts as Pops Goes British (2004), A Gershwin Celebration and Those Glorious Hollywood Musicals (2003), his local credits also include Broadway Divas, and last season’s hilarious
The 1950s: The Golden Age of Black and White.

Maestro Everly shares his talents with other communities as well as Ottawa, through guest-conducting in orchestras across North America and as Principal Pops Conductor with the symphony orchestras in Baltimore and Indianapolis. For the latter group, he is Music Director of A Yuletide Celebration — an annual holiday special that is always a big hit. His recording of the event, A Yuletide Celebration, Volume One (2004) was a great success, breaking sales records.

Mr. Everly’s many achievements in theatre, film and television include acting as Music Director of the famed American Ballet Theatre, for which he has led over fifty international tours; conducting Carol Channing hundreds of times in Hello, Dolly! in Broadway productions; conducting the songs for Disney’s animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame; and directing many Broadway cast recordings — including the critically praised Everything’s Coming Up Roses: The Complete Overtures of Broadway’s Jule Styne. He has lent his conducting and musical directing expertise to a number of CDs, such as In The Presence (2005), featuring tenor Daniel Rodriguez.

Jack Everly currently divides his time between Ottawa and Indianapolis, where he acts as Music Director to the Symphonic Pops Consortium, an organization he helped to create.