THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE ANNOUNCES WINTER PROGRAMMING FOR THE 2021-2022 SEASON
THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE ANNOUNCES WINTER PROGRAMMING FOR THE 2021-2022 SEASON
Tickets for shows running from December through winter go on sale October 28
OCTOBER 26, 2021 – OTTAWA, CANADA – After successfully re-opening for in-person performances over the fall, the National Arts Centre announced today that more dynamic and diverse programming, including several family-friendly holiday performances, will go on sale October 28.
Since welcoming audiences and artists back to the stage in September, the NAC has seen its halls reawaken with the magic of performance while ensuring the safety and well-being of audiences, artists and staff remains a priority. Now that adults in attendance must be fully vaccinated, we are gradually moving to 100 % seated capacity and distancing between seats is no longer required. Masks must be worn at all times, except when drinking or eating.
LIVE PERFORMANCES TO EXPERIENCE IN PERSON AND ONLINE
As the NAC continues to safely welcome audiences back in its performance venues, select livestreamed performances will continue taking place, allowing audiences across Canada to experience the works presented on the NAC’s stages.
To prepare audiences for performances going on sale on October 28, the NAC’s artistic and creative leadership has highlighted concerts and shows through to February 13, 2022. For complete season information, visit www.nac-cna.ca/season.
For performance and artist photos, click here.
NAC Orchestra (Alexander Shelley, Music Director)
There is something for everyone in the NAC Orchestra’s holiday programming! In Holiday Cirque, presented December 9-10-11, we team up with Los Angeles-based Troupe Vertigo to turn dazzling physical feats into works of art, set to the holiday music you love. Experience the holiday masterpiece Handel’s Messiah under the baton of distinguished Québec conductor Bernard Labadie with La Chapelle de Québec, December 15-16. Celebrate the Holidays with Carly Rae Jepsen and the NAC Orchestra is a truly special two-night holiday performance taking place December 22-23.
On January 28, Alexander Shelley and the NAC Orchestra present a NACO Playlist, a night of fun, audience-pleasing classical favorites.
And the Award Goes to… Join the NAC Orchestra and guest conductor Damon Gupton on the red carpet on February 11-12 for an evening of unforgettable classics from Oscar-winning and nominated film scores like Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Godfather, The Lord of the Rings, Lawrence of Arabia, and the Star Wars saga.
Some concerts will be performed by the NAC Orchestra ensembles and guests. On January 18, NACO members will play chamber music in the NAC’s Fourth stage in A Journey Beyond, featuring music by Beethoven and more. Dive into the world of a great composer with the return of Kinderconcerts in Mozart’s Flights of Fancy, presented January 23.
NAC English Theatre (Jillian Keiley, Artistic Director)
In December 2020, NAC English Theatre, in partnership with Black Theatre Workshop (BTW), announced a shared curation model for the national stage, and introduced BTW as the inaugural Co-Curating Company-in-Residence. Under this initiative, BTW will curate half of English Theatre’s programming for the 2021-2022 season, providing the opportunity to envision its mandate of fostering and showcasing Black Canadian art and artists on a national scale.
In February 2022, the NAC and BTW will launch the first curated production with The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time, a one-man, multi-character tour-de-force written and performed by the legendary Canadian actor, poet and playwright Walter Borden. Directed by former NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton-Davis, The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time follows the moving and intimate journey of a young Black queer man growing up in rural Nova Scotia.
NAC French Theatre (Brigitte Haentjens, Artistic Director)
French Theatre welcomes the Théâtre Populaire d’Acadie with Savèches, une fragmentation en contemporaine en trois movements. Inspired by the texts of Acadian poet Jonathan Roy, Savèches navigates between the construction of identity and the consequences of the democratization of information.
Children ages 7 – 14 and families will enjoy the stage version of Chansons pour le Musée. A beautiful hybrid creation imagined by Karine Sauvé, that makes the dramatic case for the importance of art and its amazing healing powers!
NAC Indigenous Theatre (Kevin Loring, Artistic Director)
NAC Indigenous Theatre is proud to offer two incredible shows this winter! Let’s gather together to celebrate Indigenous trailblazer Tomson Highway! For Tomson’s 70th Birthday, we honour his work and legacy with a one-night show, TOMSON HIGHWAY: KISAAGEETIN *(I love you/Je t’aime) on December 11.
In January, we are delighted to bring back a show that was postponed from our abbreviated 2019/2020 season. Inner Elder is a powerful and devastatingly funny one-woman show featuring Gemini Award-winning Cree artist Michelle Thrush. We are proud to present this intimate experience in the Azrieli Studio January 11-15, 2022.
NAC Dance (Cathy Levy, Executive Producer)
Tradition continues as NAC Dance proudly brings back a family favourite this holiday season! Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet is descending upon the National Arts Centre December 3-5, 2021, to perform their all-Canadian version of The Nutcracker accompanied by the NAC Orchestra.
From February 3-5, 2022, we welcome The National Ballet of Canada to the stage in a stunning mixed repertoire evening. Crystal Pite’s gorgeous Angels’ Atlas and the Canadian premiere of Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain will be presented alongside two new National Ballet commissions: Soul by Jera Wolfe and Crepuscular by Vanesa G.R. Montoya. After the Rain and Crepuscular will be accompanied by the NAC Orchestra.
Our first international troupe of the season hails from Norway and is presented as part of the Nordic Bridges initiative, which aims to foster cultural exchange between Canada and Europe’s Nordic Region. Alan Lucien Øyen / winter guests will introduce their original contemporary piece, Story, story, die. to NAC audiences on February 11 and 12, 2022.
Those who prefer to experience contemporary dance from the comfort of their own homes will be thrilled by the December 8 to 19, 2021 Digidance presentation of Babel 7.16, choreographed by Ottawa favorite Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet, and inspired by the biblical myth of the same name.
NAC Popular Music and Variety (Heather Gibson, Executive Producer)
Popular Music & Variety has kicked off the season with a bang, and with some sold out shows! We have recently added more shows to our lineup, including Good Lovelies who we welcome back with their annual Christmas Concert and are thrilled to present Céleste Lévis’s Christmas Show in November.
We are excited to welcome some first timers to our stages, Kaia Kater, Clerel and Joyce N’Sana and some returning favourites Frazey Ford, Socalled, and Salomé Leclerc. All four stages will be busy this season, especially with a full capacity audience! The Fridays at the Fourth livestreams will continue every Friday night for free via our Facebook page!
Arts, Medicine & #Life also returns via livestream with Dr. Jillian Horton. Her first guest on Oct. 26th is author Anna Mehler Paperny, followed by author Darrel J. McLeod on Nov. 23rd.
TICKETS FOR WINTER PROGRAMMING ON SALE AS OF OCTOBER 28
Tickets for NAC performances taking place up until February 13, 2022, are on sale as of 10 a.m. on October 28. Performances scheduled after that date will go on sale early in 2022, and additional programming will be announced at that time. Please note that select music performances scheduled beyond February 13 are also on sale. The NAC will announce additional programming and ticketing information for late winter and spring 2022 early in the New Year.
To purchase tickets to upcoming NAC performances, visit Ticketmaster to purchase tickets online or call 1-888-991-2787 (ARTS). In-person purchases at the NAC Box Office are suspended until further notice.
For more information, please visit www.nac-cna.ca/season.
To prepare for your upcoming attendance to a performance, visit https://nac-cna.ca/en/visit.
NATIONAL CREATION FUND
Numerous projects in the 2021-2022 season, including Violence by Marie Brassard and White Out by L'eau du bain, were developed with support from the NAC’s National Creation Fund, which provides Canadian artists with the additional time, space and resources they need to create great work. Marking its fifth year in 2022 and fueled entirely by generous donors from across the country, the fund makes investments in the development of compelling and ambitious new Canadian works in theatre, dance, music and inter-disciplinary performing arts. For more information on the National Creation Fund and upcoming projects, visit nac-cna.ca/en/creationfund.
ENGAGING WITH CANADIANS ONLINE
Over the course of the pandemic, the National Arts Centre launched several digital initiatives to support Canadian performing artists and connect with audiences at home. They include #CanadaPerforms, NACO Live, #DanceForth, Grand Acts of Theatre, Prologue(s), Indigenous Cities and the Arts Alive arts learning programming, among many others. The NAC will continue to use these new digital platforms to engage with Canadians online, and recognizes digital technology as an important tool to leverage in the future. All details of livestreamed performances and other digital offerings will be listed on the NAC website.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE
The National Arts Centre is Canada’s bilingual, multi-disciplinary home for the performing arts. The NAC presents, creates, produces, and co-produces performing arts programming in various streams — the NAC Orchestra, Dance, English Theatre in collaboration with Black Theatre Workshop, French Theatre, Indigenous Theatre, and Popular Music and Variety — and nurtures the next generation of audiences and artists from across Canada. The NAC is located in the National Capital Region on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe.
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS
Programming at the National Arts Centre is made possible through the support of many generous individuals and organizations from across the country. The NAC Foundation would like to thank Mohammad & Najla Al Zaibak (Bay Tree Foundation), The Azrieli Foundation, BMO Financial Group, John & Bonnie Buhler, Adrian Burns, LL.D. & Gregory Kane, Q.C., Facebook Canada, Mohammed A. Faris, Margaret Fountain, C.M., DFA (h) & David Fountain, C.M., Elinor Gill Ratcliffe, C.M., O.N.L., LLD (hc), Susan Glass & Arni Thorsteinson, The Jennings Family, The Leacross Foundation, Mark Motors Group, The Janice and Earle O’Born Fund for Excellence in the Performing Arts, The RBC Foundation, Rogers Communications, Dasha Shenkman, OBE, Hon RCM, The Slaight Family Foundation, TD Bank Group, Robert Tennant, The Vered Family, VIA Rail, and The Hon. Hilary M. Weston & the late Mr. W. Galen Weston. Thank you also to our many other supporters across the country.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Mireille Allaire
Senior Manager, Strategy and Communications
National Arts Centre
343-998-4244
mireille.allaire@nac-cna.ca
Sean Fitzpatrick
Communications Strategist,
English Theatre / Indigenous Theatre
613 899-9737
sean.fitzpatrick@nac-cna.ca