OTTAWA, August 30 – The National Arts Centre’s 2010-11 Season is about to begin and now is the time to make sure you are a part of it when tickets go on sale, Tuesday, September 7. The greatest names in arts and entertainment – from across Canada and around the world -- will be featured in orchestral, theatrical, and dance performances for all the NAC stages. Whatever your taste, there is something for everyone at the National Arts Centre – this is your chance to get your tickets before our exciting productions sell out.

On Tuesday, September 7 at 10 a.m., single tickets for NAC Orchestra, Dance, English Theatre, French Theatre and Music and Variety programming for 2010-11 go on sale as the NAC Box Office officially opens. To kick off the season in style, the first patrons in line will be greeted by special celebrity tickets sellers:

Simone Deneau, Producer of Variety and Community Programming at the NAC
Yosuke Kawasaki, Concertmaster of the National Arts Centre Orchestra
Cathy Levy, Producer, NAC Dance
Heather Moore, Producer/Executive Director, Prairie Scene
Laara Sadiq, Actor from the NAC English Theatre Company
Benoît Vermeulen, Artistic Associate, Youth Programming, NAC French Theatre

These special guests will behind the wickets and ready to take orders!

At the same time, NAC Executive Chef Michael Blackie will be on hand to meet and greet the line of patrons with special tastings.

Other exciting notes for September 7:
The first 20 patrons to purchase tickets for the upcoming season will be rewarded with a $20 NAC Gift Card.
Win Prizes! - All ticket buyers will have the chance to answer trivia questions about some of the upcoming productions in the 2010/11 season at the NAC.

It’s going to be a fun day for all – so don’t miss out!

Important Information for our Patrons:

It’s not too late to subscribe!
The NAC Box Office is happy to welcome last-minute new subscribers to the 2010-11 National Arts Centre Orchestra, English Theatre, French Theatre, and Dance season.

New This Season- Design Your Own NAC Subscription!
You can mix and match four or more NAC Orchestra, Dance, Theatre and Fourth Stage performances with Design Your Own NAC Subscription. With this special subscription, ticket buyers will save an average of 15% over regular Box Office single ticket prices, and qualify for NAC subscriber benefits such discounts on other NAC performances and no fees when exchanging tickets. Packages start at just $85! Some restrictions apply.

Some of the highlights for the 2010-11 Season:

September 18, 2010: NAC Music and Variety Begins
The Music and Variety Season kicks off 2010-11 with the popular Jazz Geggie series and the season will see the return of such series as the Ottawa StoryTellers, Vendredis de la chanson francophone and Contes Nomades. As a new part of the programming, the NAC will welcome a wide variety of Canadian artists on their stages throughout the season. To only name a few, folk singer and song writer Justin Rutledge will present his new album on November 6 at the Studio and Bruce Cockburn will return to the NAC stage for the first time in five years on April 15, 2011.

September 22, 2010: NAC Orchestra Season Begins
The 2010-11 Season comprises 53 separate events and 97 performances – not including programming for summer 2011 or the internationally acclaimed Summer Music Institute. The season opens with the spectacular seven-concert Mozart-Haydn Festival – with all five evening concerts conducted by Music Director Pinchas Zukerman -- and is quickly followed by the National Arts Centre Gala with special guest Diana Krall. Other season highlights include Pinchas Zukerman conducting Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 “Ode to Joy” and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, interpreted by four different violin soloists, Ottawa’s own Angela Hewitt performing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1, and pianist Emanuel Ax in recital. The season also features dozens of remarkable guest artists from across Canada and around the world.

September 28, 2010: NAC French Theatre Season Begins
For his third season at the helm of French Theatre, Wajdi Mouawad, in collaboration with his colleague Benoît Vermeulen (Artistic Associate, Youth Program), has chosen to showcase playwrights, directors and designers whose visionary artistic practice literally shapes theatre today. The new season includes three landmark productions to captivate French Theatre audiences: two international coproductions and a brand new play by Wajdi Mouawad. The season opens on September 28 with Albert Camus’ Les Justes, directed by Stanislas Nordey (Rennes, France). Beginning March 8, 2011, French Theatre acknowledges the 50^th anniversary of Malian independence with Vérité de soldat, a stage adaptation by Jean?Louis Sagot?Duvauroux of Soungalo Samaké’s book Ma vie de soldat, directed by Patrick Le Mauff. As for Wajdi Mouawad’s new work (opening April 12, 2011), we can’t tell you much about it yet except that it will feature a first-rate cast in a fitting celebration of the 40^th anniversary of Quebec City’s Théâtre du Trident.

October 5, 2010: NAC Dance Season Begins
The 2010-2011 Season is an impressive lineup with 46 performances of 17 dance events, including four exclusive Canadian engagements. From ballet to tap to contemporary dance, the season features the very best, most exciting and talked about dance from Belgium, China, Japan, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States and of course from Canada. The season begins with Les Ballet C. de la B. performing Out of Context – for Pina, providing a rare opportunity in North America to see the choreography of company founder and dance icon Alain Platel. Other season highlights include Robert Lepage, Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant on stage in Eonnagata - a landmark collaboration that merges dance and theatre, and the return to Ottawa of the awe-inspiring Mariinsky Ballet (The Kirov) with the great classic ballet La Bayadère.

October 19, 2010: NAC English Theatre Season Begins
The NAC English Theatre looks into the future with a sense of curiosity and anticipation, with youth and family being at the heart of the 2010-11 Season. The NAC English Theatre Company will interpret a great classic and welcome contemporary Canadian playwrights to the repertoire - and a work of the Canadian cannon - in a new translation that demonstrates the enormous range and vitality of our theatre. The season kicks off with a classic production of one of Shakespeare’s most famous works, Romeo & Juliet, directed by English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton. Among the highlights include Vern Thiessen’s dramatic Vimy, co-produced with GCTC, a holiday musical comedy from Peter Anderson with nativity, and a new translation by Linda Gaboriau of Michel Tremblay’s powerful Saint Carmen of The Main (in co-production with Toronto’s Canadian Stage Company).

From April 26 to May 7, 2011, Canada’s National Arts Centre will present Prairie Scene
The fifth in a series of national Scene festivals celebrating and showcasing our country’s finest established and emerging artists. Prairie Scene will invite more than 500 Saskatchewan and Manitoba artists to take over the nation’s capital. Musicians, actors, choreographers, visual and media artists, filmmakers, writers and master chefs will be bringing their unique talents to audiences in concert halls, theatres, galleries, bars, clubs, museums and restaurants throughout the region – a virtual Prairie invasion! Prairie Scene will also offer a chance for 70 national and international presenters to discover the best of Prairie culture, creating new performance opportunities for Prairie artists across the country and around the world. Prairie Scene will present a vast living portrait of the region – combining rural and urban, traditional and contemporary, shaking stereotypes and celebrating new voices. Partial programming to be announced November 2010 and final programming announced and tickets on sale February 2011. Visit www.prairiescene.ca for more information.

Tickets are available in person at the NAC Box Office from 10 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Monday through Saturday) or through TicketMaster (with surcharges) at 613-755-1111; Ticketmaster may also be accessed through the NAC’s website at www.nac-cna.ca.

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Information:   
Sean Fitzpatrick
Communications Officer, NAC English Theatre
613-947-7000, ext. 389
[e-mail]  sfitzpat@nac-cna.ca