Tenor Benjamin Brecher will replace Colin Ainsworth in A Celtic Celebration with Natalie MacMaster, a National Arts Centre Orchestra CTV Pops concert to be performed at 8 p.m. in Southam Hall of the NAC on Thursday March 22, Friday March 23, and Saturday March 24, 2012.

Conductor Jack Everly (Principal Pops Conductor of the NAC Orchestra) leads Ms. MacMaster, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Uillean piper Christopher Layer, and the O’Hare Irish Dancers in this extremely entertaining high-energy concert.

American tenor Benjamin Brecher has gained great acclaim with his many performances on the opera and concert stages. Mr. Brecher has performed with numerous opera companies, including New York City Opera, Opéra de Montréal, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Chautauqua Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Berkshire Opera, Arizona Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera. Recent roles include Ernesto in Don Pasquale at the Festival de Belle Île, France, and Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville.

On the concert stage, Mr. Brecher has performed a wide range of repertoire with world’s finest symphonies, including the orchestras of Chicago, Chautauqua, Budapest, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Detroit, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Detroit, Baltimore, Seattle, Toronto, Edmonton, Milwaukee, Columbus, and the National Symphony at Washington’s Kennedy Center. He has recorded The Barber of Seville with The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra and performed the world premiere of Steven Schwartz’s first opera, Séance on a Wet Afternoon. Tonight is his second appearance with the NAC Orchestra.

Mr. Brecher is a graduate of The Juilliard Opera Center, the New England Conservatory of Music and Bowling Green State University. He currently resides in Santa Barbara, California, where is an Associate Professor and serves as the chair of the vocal department at the University of California Santa Barbara.

The NAC Orchestra, under Jack Everly, performs A Celtic Celebration with Natalie MacMaster in Southam Hall of the National Arts Centre on Thursday March 22, Friday March 23, and Saturday March 24, 2012 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20.45, $31.21, $42.51, $53.81, $64.57, $75.33, and $94.17 for adults and $11.73, $17.11, $22.76, $28.41, $33.79, $39.17, and $48.59 for students (upon presentation of a valid student ID card). Tickets are available at the NAC Box Office (in person) and through Ticketmaster (with surcharges) at 1-888-991-2787; Ticketmaster may also be accessed through www.nac-cna.ca.

For additional information, visit the NAC website at www.nac-cna.ca

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Information:  
Gerald Morris
Communications Officer, NAC Music
613-947-7000, ext. 335
[e-mail]  gerald.morris@nac-cna.ca