OTTAWA— The National Arts Centre (NAC) is thrilled to welcome internationally renowned children’s rights activist and co-founder of Free The Children Craig Kielburger to kick off the NAC Orchestra’s Atlantic Tour with a youth leadership project linking young singers in Ottawa with singers in St. John’s, Newfoundland in an interactive videoconference performance and lecture.

Two hundred top singers from leading Ottawa youth choirs will be singing with 100 members of Shallaway, an award-winning youth choir from Newfoundland, in a broadband videoconference performance at 12:00 p.m. in Ottawa and at 1:30 p.m. in St. John’s, on Sunday November 13, 2011.

Supported by the NAC’s New Media team, the young performers at the National Arts Centre will be linked via next-generation videoconference technology with the youth choir singing at the D.F. Cook Hall at Memorial University in St. John’s.

“It’s an exciting project that demonstrates young people trying to make a positive difference in their communities through music,” said Free The Children co-founder, Craig Kielburger. “Free The Children has built more than 650 schools and school rooms for young people around the world and we believe music is an important part of every child’s development.”

“When you think about community building through music, Atlantic Canada comes to mind immediately. We are excited to bring together some of the best young voices from St. John’s and Ottawa together through the innovative use of interactive videoconference technology,” said Genevieve Cimon the NAC’s Director of Music Education and Community Outreach.

Jackie Hawley, Artistic Director of the Ottawa Children’s Choir, will be conducting the 200 young singers at the National Arts Centre while Shallaway’s Artistic Director Kellie Walsh will be conducting 200 young people at Memorial University. This event will be broadcast live on nac-cna.ca.

The award-winning NAC New Media department will make the NAC Orchestra’s Atlantic Canada Tour accessible to all Canadians, who are invited to follow the tour online at NACOtour.ca for blogs, videos, podcasts, photos and more. Updates will also be posted on Twitter at #CanadasNAC, and on the NAC’s Facebook page.

Details for Media in Ottawa:

Sunday, November 13, 2011

National Arts Centre
Rehearsal Hall B
Performance begins at 12:00 p.m.

In St. John’s, Newfoundland

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Memorial University

D.F. Cook Hall
Performance begins at 13:30 p.m.

This event will mark the beginning of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra’s celebration of Atlantic Canada through a dynamic performance and education tour that will include nine concerts reaching 10,000 people, in all four Atlantic provinces. Nearly 70 musicians from the NAC will work and perform with some of the region’s most promising young musicians in 80 music education events from Nov. 13-25, 2011.

The tour will feature Atlantic Canadian musicians, including Acadian fiddler Samantha Robichaud, Newfoundland fiddler Danielle Green and will stop in 15 cities and communities with concerts in St. John’s (Nov. 15), Charlottetown (Nov. 17), Halifax (Nov. 19), Moncton, (Nov. 20), Fredericton (Nov. 22) and Saint John (Nov. 23). The Orchestra will also play a student matinee in St. John’s (Nov. 15) a bilingual student matinee in Moncton (Nov. 22), and another bilingual matinee at CFB Gagetown (Nov.24)  in honour of the Canadian military and their families that will feature the 3 Area Support Pipes & Drums.

Always at the forefront of technology and arts education, the award-winning NAC New Media department will make the NAC Orchestra’s Atlantic Canada Tour accessible to all Canadians, who are invited to follow the tour online at www.nacotour.ca for blogs, videos, podcasts, photos and more. Updates will also be posted on twitter at #CanadasNAC, and on the NAC’s Facebook page.

About Shallaway

Founded in 1992 by Susan Knight, Shallaway includes more than 200 choristers, age 7-18 from the City of St. John’s and surrounding areas. Its mandate is to connect the province with the wider artistic world through choral excellence  and to promote and preserve the rich folk culture of Newfoundland and Labrador.

 

About the Ottawa choir  

The Ottawa group is made up of choristers from the Ottawa Children’s Choir, Cantiamo Girls Choir, Cantiamo Training Choir, Chœur de l’École Sécondaire De la Salle and the Ottawa Regional Youth Choir.

ABOUT THE NAC ORCHESTRA

Reaching out to Canadian communities through touring is a central pillar of the NAC Orchestra. Over its 42-year history, the Orchestra has performed for audiences in hundreds of venues around the world, including 118 cities and communities in Canada (including Atlantic Canada in 2002), and 122 cities internationally.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The National Arts Centre Foundation gratefully acknowledges support for the Atlantic Canada Tour from Regional Partners CN (Nova Scotia), Suncor Energy (Newfoundland) and Tim Hortons (CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick) and Supporting Partners Diane and Wesley Campbell, Zita Cobb and Ian and Jan Craig. Thank you also to NAC Friends Crosbie Group of Companies, Long & McQuade Musical Instruments and the Gill Radcliffe Foundation.

The Atlantic Canada Tour is also made possible thanks to the CEO National Fund which supports the NAC’s programs across the country.  The NAC Foundation extends a warm thank you to the Atlantic Canada donors to the CEO National Fund; the Craig Foundation, Fred and Elizabeth Fountain, Dale Godsoe, C.M., Frederick and Joanne MacGillivray, Frank and Debbie Sobey as well as NAC Foundation Director Gary Zed who has made a gift in memory Leesha & Amelia Zed.

The Atlantic Canada Tour Travel Partner is Air Canada and the Hotel Partner is Delta Hotels and Resorts.  National Media Partners are CBC – Radio Canada and the National Post and the Media Partner is Atlantic Business Magazine.

TICKET INFORMATION

For ticket information to NAC Orchestra concerts in your community, please contact:

St. John’s (Nov. 15)

St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre   

Tel: (709) 729-3900
Web site: www.artsandculturecentre.com

Charlottetown (Nov. 17)

Confederation Centre of the Arts      

Tel: (902) 628-1864
Email: boxoffice@confederationcentre.com

 

Moncton (Nov. 20)

Capitol Theatre          

Tel: (506) 856-4379
Web site: www.capitol.nb.ca

Fredericton (Nov. 22)

The Playhouse                       

Tel: (506) 458-8344
Email: boxoffice@theplayhouse.ca

Saint John (Nov. 23)

Imperial Theatre        

Tel: (506) 674-4100
Email: boxoff@imperialtheatre.nb.ca

Please note that the Nov. 19 Symphony Nova Scotia-NAC Orchestra concert in Halifax is sold out.

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Rosemary Thompson               
Director of Communications 

National Arts Centre
Tel. 613-947-7000, ext. 260
Cell: 613-762-4118                  
rosemary.thompson@nac-cna.ca

Carl Martin
Communications

National Arts Centre
Tel. 613-947-7000, ext. 560
Cell : 613-291-8880
carl.martin@nac-cna.ca

Mary Gordon
Communications

National Arts Centre
Tel. 613-947-7000, ext. 849
mary.gordon@nac-cna.ca