≈ 1 hour 30 minutes · No intermission
Last updated: September 17, 2024
Welcome to SPHERE 2024!
SPHERE celebrates the near-endless artistic and intellectual inspiration that our natural world awakens in us. Through the eyes, ears, and bodies of artists, and in this city at the confluence of rivers, we will explore the symbiosis between our creativity and the surroundings that catalyze it. We will reflect on our fragile relationship with Mother Earth and how the confluence of art, science, and ethics will inform the coming chapters in our shared history. As a wave of brilliant and visionary artists from across genres and generations sweeps into Canada’s National Arts Centre, we warmly invite you to join them and us on this journey of multi-disciplinary discovery and artistic dialogue.
Welcome to SPHERE 2024!
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS
Thank you to our visionary donors Earle O’Born and Janice O’Born, C.M., O.Ont. for their generous support of SPHERE.
CHRISTINE BEAULIEU: THE SALMON OF THE MITIS RIVER
Created by Christine Beaulieu
A co-production of the NAC Orchestra, NAC French Theatre, NAC Indigenous Theatre, and Champ gauche
National Arts Centre Orchestra
Alexander Shelley, conductor
Program
BEDŘICH SMETANA “Vltava” (The Moldau), No. 2 from Má vlast (My Fatherland)
IAN CUSSON In Winter
Elisabeth St-Gelais, soprano
Capital Chamber Choir
COREY PAYETTE Guide My Way
Corey Payette, vocals and hand drum
Orch. IAN CUSSON Les saumons de la Mitis (The Salmon of the Mitis River)
Based on The Blood Alchemist Wateraga by SONNY-RAY DAY RIDER and Muskwa’s Mountain Home by JESSICA MCMANN
Christine Beaulieu, actor
Corey Payette, vocals and hand drum
There will be no intermission.
Artists
An inspired actor and writer, Christine Beaulieu has been impressing audiences with her versatility since 2003. She has appeared in some two dozen plays and movies, notably Ricardo Trogi’s film Le mirage, for which she earned two award nominations (Canadian Screen Awards and Gala du cinéma québécois) for her portrayal of Roxane.
She also played the lead in Sarah Fortin’s Nouveau-Québec, and was nominated at the Iris Gala in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role as Anne-Marie Boisvert in Maxime Giroux’s Norbourg. She shone in Louis Godbout’s Les tricheurs, Myriam Bouchard’s 23 décembre, and Guy Édoin’s Frontières. In 2020, she won the Bayard for Best Performance at the Festival international du film francophone de Namur (FIFF Namur) for her performance in the short film Un jour de fête. In 2023, she returned to the big screen in Monia Chokri’s Simple comme Sylvain, and played the lead in François Péloquin’s La fonte des glaces. The feature film Le cyclone de Noël, in which she plays Isabelle Gagnon, will open in theatres on November 8, 2024.
In 2015, she premiered her first play, J’aime Hydro, for which she won the Prix Michel-Tremblay; the show was presented by NAC French Theatre in November 2019. In 2021, she presented her second play, Les saumons de la Mitis, which she has since performed throughout Quebec.
On television, she has appeared in the series Hubert et Fanny, Les Simone, and Cérébrum. She won a Prix Gémeaux for her role as Josiane in Lâcher prise (2020). Since February 2021, she has starred as Isabelle Gagnon in Radio-Canada’s L’œil du cyclone, for which she won two Prix Gémeaux (2021 and 2023) for Best Leading Actress: Comedy.
A gifted and committed artist, Christine Beaulieu is also an ambassador for the tourist attractions in her home town of Trois-Rivières, and a spokesperson for the national Running Electric electric vehicle awareness campaign.
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“A natural communicator, both on and off the podium” (The Telegraph), Alexander Shelley performs across six continents with the world’s finest orchestras and soloists.
With a conducting technique described as “immaculate” (Yorkshire Post) and a “precision, distinction and beauty of gesture not seen since Lorin Maazel” (Le Devoir), Shelley is known for the clarity and integrity of his interpretations and the creativity and vision of his programming. To date, he has spearheaded over 40 major world premieres, highly praised cycles of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms symphonies, operas, ballets and innovative multi-media productions.
Since 2015, he has served as Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and Principal Associate Conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In April 2023, he was appointed Artistic and Music Director of Artis–Naples in Florida, providing artistic leadership for Naples Philharmonic and the entire multidisciplinary arts organization. The 2024-2025 season is Alexander’s inaugural season in this position.
Additional 2024-2025 season highlights include performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Symphony, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, the Chicago Civic Orchestra and the National Symphony of Ireland. Shelley is a regular guest with some of the finest orchestras of Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australasia, including Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Helsinki, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Malaysian, Oslo, Rotterdam and Stockholm philharmonic orchestras and the Sao Paulo, Houston, Seattle, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Montreal, Toronto, Munich, Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand symphony orchestras.
In September 2015, Shelley succeeded Pinchas Zukerman as Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, the youngest in its history. The ensemble has since been praised as “an orchestra transformed ... hungry, bold, and unleashed” (Ottawa Citizen), and his programming is credited for turning the orchestra “almost overnight ... into one of the more audacious orchestras in North America” (Maclean’s). Together, they have undertaken major tours of Canada, Europe and Carnegie Hall, where they premiered Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 13.
They have commissioned ground-breaking projects such as Life Reflected and Encount3rs, released multiple JUNO-nominated albums and, most recently, responded to the pandemic and social justice issues of the era with the NACO Live and Undisrupted video series.
In August 2017, Shelley concluded his eight-year tenure as Chief Conductor of the Nurnberger Symphoniker, a period hailed by press and audiences alike as a golden era for the orchestra.
Shelley’s operatic engagements have included The Merry Widow and Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet (Royal Danish Opera), La bohème (Opera Lyra/National Arts Centre), Louis Riel (Canadian Opera Company/National Arts Centre), lolanta (Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen), Così fan tutte (Opera National de Montpellier), The Marriage of Figaro (Opera North), Tosca (Innsbruck) and both Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni in semi-staged productions at the NAC.
Winner of the ECHO Music Prize and the Deutsche Grunderpreis, Shelley was conferred with the Cross of the Federal Order of Merit by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in April 2023 in recognition of his services to music and culture.
Through his work as Founder and Artistic Director of the Schumann Camerata and their pioneering “440Hz” series in Dusseldorf, as founding Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen’s “Zukunftslabor” and through his regular tours leading Germany’s National Youth Orchestra, inspiring future generations of classical musicians and listeners has always been central to Alexander’s work.
He regularly gives informed and passionate pre- and post-concert talks on his programs, as well as numerous interviews and podcasts on the role of classical music in society. In Nuremberg alone, over nine years, he hosted over half a million people at the annual Klassik Open Air concert, Europe’s largest classical music event.
Born in London in October 1979 to celebrated concert pianists, Shelley studied cello and conducting in Germany and first gained widespread attention when he was unanimously awarded first prize at the 2005 Leeds Conductors’ Competition, with the press describing him as “the most exciting and gifted young conductor to have taken this highly prestigious award.”
The Music Director role is supported by Elinor Gill Ratcliffe, C.M., ONL, LL.D. (hc).
Canada’s National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra is praised for the passion and clarity of its performances, its visionary learning and engagement programs, and its unwavering support of Canadian creativity. The NAC Orchestra is based in Ottawa, Canada’s national capital, and has grown into one of the country’s most acclaimed and dynamic ensembles since its founding in 1969. Under the leadership of Music Director Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra reflects the fabric and values of Canada, engaging communities from coast to coast to coast through inclusive programming, compelling storytelling, and innovative partnerships.
Since taking the helm in 2015, Shelley has shaped the Orchestra’s artistic vision, building on the legacy of his predecessor, Pinchas Zukerman, who led the ensemble for 16 seasons. Shelley’s influence extends beyond the NAC. He serves as Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the U.K. and Artistic and Music Director of Artis—Naples and the Naples Philharmonic in the U.S. Shelley’s leadership is complemented by Principal Guest Conductor John Storgårds and Principal Youth Conductor Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser. In 2024, the Orchestra marked a new chapter with the appointment of Henry Kennedy as its first-ever Resident Conductor.
The Orchestra has a rich history of partnerships with renowned artists such as James Ehnes, Angela Hewitt, Renée Fleming, Hilary Hahn, Jeremy Dutcher, Jan Lisiecki, Ray Chen and Yeol Eum Son, underscoring its reputation as a destination for world-class talent. As one of the most accessible, inclusive and collaborative orchestras in the world, the NAC Orchestra uses music as a universal language to communicate the deepest of human emotions and connect people through shared experiences.
A hallmark of the NAC Orchestra is its national and international tours. The Orchestra has performed concerts in every Canadian province and territory and earned frequent invitations to perform abroad. These tours spotlight Canadian composers and artists, bringing their voices to stages across North America, the U.K., Europe, and Asia.
Corey Payette is an interdisciplinary storyteller, writer, composer, singer, hand drummer, and director in music, theatre, and film. He is a member of the Mattagami First Nations, with French Canadian and Irish ancestry. Known for his deeply moving, large-scale original musical creations, Payette’s work challenges the public’s notion of what musicals can be, inserting Indigenous perspectives and narratives into mainstream spaces, igniting conversations that inspire social change. Payette’s work explores themes of colonization, Indigenous language revitalization, cultural healing, reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, and the complexity of historic and contemporary Indigenous experiences across music, theatre, and film. His musicals Children of God, Les Filles du Roi, Sedna, and Starwalker have won multiple awards and have toured extensively across Canada and those musical albums are available to stream and purchase online. He’s also performed his music in concerts around the world and made his Carnegie Hall debut in New York City in 2023. He has won numerous awards for his writing, direction, and music compositions and received the inaugural BC Reconciliation Award, created to honour those who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, integrity, respect, and commitment to furthering reconciliation with Indigenous peoples in the province of British Columbia. Corey has a long connection to the NAC, having attended the Canterbury School for the Arts in Ottawa and performed on the Fourth stage when he was 16 years old, was an artist-in-residence with English Theatre at the NAC directing Moonlodge (2016) and Children of God (2017), and associate artist in supporting the Indigenous Cycle which led to the creation of NAC’s Indigenous Theatre.
Named Radio-Canada’s “Révélation” (“discovery”) in classical music for the 2023–24 season, soprano Elisabeth St-Gelais graduated from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music in April 2023 with a Master of Music degree in voice and opera. An Innu from the community of Pessamit, she has made sharing her culture part of her mission as an artist. In 2022, Elisabeth received McGill University’s prestigious Wirth Vocal Prize, won the Grand Prize in the 19-30 age group at the Canimex Canadian Music Competition, and was named to the prestigious #CBC30under30 list, recognizing her as a leading Indigenous opera artist under the age of 30. In 2023, she won first prize in the age 26–30 category at the Festival Classival, the Prix d’Europe awarded at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, and first prize and the Audience Choice Award at the Canadian Opera Company’s annual Centre Stage competition. In November 2023, at the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, she placed first in the Western Canada District and won the Northwest Regionals Encouragement Award. Elisabeth is also active in her Montreal musical community, and has been a member of the board of directors of the Conseil québécois de la musique since April 2023. She has performed across Canada as a guest of the Canadian Opera Company, the Orchestre de l’Agora, the Orchestre symphonique des jeunes de Montréal, I Musici, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, the Orchestre symphonique de la Côte-Nord, the Orchestre classique de Montréal, the Toronto Summer Music Festival, Cecilia Concerts, the Festival d’opéra de Québec, and many others. As an Indigenous artist, Elisabeth St-Gelais is committed to the reconciliation of Canada’s Indigenous Peoples and a proud representative of her nation, the Innu of the Côte-Nord.
The Capital Chamber Choir (CCC) is an auditioned ensemble of experienced choral singers from the National Capital Region. The choir and Artistic Director, Jamie Loback, are committed to bringing a diverse range of choral music—in particular, modern, Canadian, and local works—to audiences through high-calibre and engaging performances. Founded in 2009 by Dr. Sara Brooks, the choir is a true collaboration, emphasizing the importance of collegiality in generating an integrated choral sound. CCC is a volunteer-led organization, drawing Executive Board and Committee members from within the ensemble itself.
Each season, CCC presents its own concert series in addition to undertaking collaborative projects with other musicians. The choir has collaborated with notable ensembles including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra, Elmer Iseler Singers, and Canadian Chamber Choir, and has hosted masterclasses or performances with composers including John Rutter, Morten Lauridsen, Ola Gjeilo, and Ēriks Ešenvalds.
CCC released its all-Canadian debut album, The Delight of Paradise, in April 2017. In 2018, the choir performed a Spotlight concert in St. John’s, Newfoundland as part of the Podium Choral Conference & Festival. CCC won second prize in the Mixed-Voice Adult Choirs category of the National Competition for Canadian Amateur Choirs in 2019 and was invited to perform at Rideau Hall for recipients of the Order of Canada.
Though the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to live performances in 2020 and 2021, CCC took advantage of the break to record two series of video sessions on YouTube. The choir re-emerged on stage in Fall 2021 and has since been building up to consistent seasons! CCC is looking forward to a full 2024–25 season program including innovative works on the National Arts Centre stage, exploring soundscapes with a local connection, a revival concert, and celebrating our 15th anniversary!
Frédéric Auger has been designing immersive sound environments and music for the performing arts for about 20 years. He is interested in creating dynamic sound material for live performance, and adapting sound for use in a performance context. He uses sampling, reproduction, and dynamic processing, as well as the possibilities of spatialization and live transformation of sound objects and elements (voice, instruments, or fixed media). His practice is organically integrated into the dramaturgy and creative and experimental process of the artists with whom he works.
He frequently collaborates with the Orchestre d’hommes-orchestres (Joue à Tom Waits, Cabaret brise-jour, Kitchen Chicken), Bureau de l’APA (Entrez nous sommes ouverts, Les oiseaux mécaniques), Théâtre Rude Ingénierie (Dreamland), Système Kangourou (Dérive de nuit, Bermudes (dérive), Fantômes), the documentary theatre company Porte Parole (Rose and the Machine, J’aime Hydro), Sibyllines/Brigitte Haentjens (Rome, Sang, Rêve et folie, Parce que la nuit), Onishka/Émilie Monnet (This Time Will Be Different, Marguerite : le feu), and Marie Brassard (La fureur de ce que je pense, La vie utile). He has also worked as a sound designer or sound engineer on productions by François Girard, Robert Lepage, Claude Poissant, and Philippe Cyr.
Ian Cusson (b. 1981) is a composer of art song, opera, and orchestral work. Of Métis (Georgian Bay Métis Community) and French-Canadian descent, his work explores Canadian Indigenous experience including the history of the Métis people, the hybridity of mixed-racial identity, and the intersection of Western and Indigenous cultures.
He studied composition with Jake Heggie and Samuel Dolin, and piano with James Anagnoson at the Glenn Gould School. He is the recipient of numerous awards and grants including the Chalmers Professional Development Grant, the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation Award, and several grants through the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council.
Ian was an inaugural Carrefour Composer-in-Residence with the National Arts Centre Orchestra for 2017–2019 and was Composer-in-Residence for the Canadian Opera Company for 2019–2021. He was a Co-artistic Director of Opera in the 21st Century at the Banff Centre and the recipient of the 2021 Jan V. Matejcek Classical Music Award from SOCAN and the 2021 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize. Ian is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers.
He lives in Oakville with his wife and four children.
A critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano of Kwagiulth and Stó:lō First Nations, English, Irish and Scottish heritage, Marion Newman is sought-after as one of Canada’s most accomplished singers in works ranging from Vivaldi to Vivier, and operatic roles including Carmen and Rosina in The Barber of Seville. Nominated for a Dora Award for her leading role in the world premiere of Shanawdithit (Nolan/Burry) with Toronto’s Tapestry Opera, Ian Ritchie wrote “she invests her character with towering dignity and courage”.
Marion is a guest curator at University of British Columbia’s Chan Centre for the Performing Arts for a new series of concerts featuring the work of Indigenous artists, and the new host of CBC’s Saturday Afternoon at the Opera.
Marion portrayed Dr. Wilson in the premiere of Missing (Clements/Current) with Vancouver City Opera/Pacific Opera Victoria, which gives voice, in English and Gitxsan, to the story of Canada’s missing and murdered Indigenous women, and starred as Tsianina Redfeather in Jani Lauzon’s music-drama I Call Myself Princess at Regina’s Globe Theatre.
On the North American concert stage, Marion has performed with Symphony Nova Scotia, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Emily Carr String Quartet, Continuum Contemporary Music, Elora Festival Singers, Elmer Iseler Singers, Portland Baroque Orchestra, and Montreal’s Chœur St- Laurent.
Concert highlights for Marion this season include Mozart’s Requiem, a co-production with Canadian Opera Company and Against the Grain Theatre, the livestream/workshop presentation of The Echoes Project with Gryphon Trio, and the string quartet version of Five Orchestral Songs on Poems of Marilyn Dumont (Cusson) with the New Orford String Quartet for Cecilia Concerts in Halifax.
In 2022, Marion debuts with Anchorage Opera as Dr. Wilson in a new production of Missing, and creates the role of Dawn with Welsh National Opera in the upcoming world premiere of Migrations, with stories by five writers based on their personal experiences of migrations and working with refugees.
Most recently, Marion curated and performed in What is classical Indigenous Music? with Toronto’s Confluence Concerts and debuted with Rhode Island Symphony in Handel’s Messiah.
In addition to her extensive performing career, she is a co-founder of Amplified Opera and has worked in many facets of the performing arts as a curator, arts administrator, speaker, and teacher. Marion is the dramaturge for Namwayut/We Are All One, a new opera in creation with IBPOC artists and Calgary Opera.
Marion has performed in many works that speak to her First Nations identity, including Ancestral Voices (Tovey) with the Vancouver Symphony, Nuyamł-ił Kulhulmx–Singing the Earth (Höstman) with the Victoria Symphony, and Five Orchestral Songs on Poems of Marilyn Dumont (Cusson) with the Regina Symphony Orchestra.
A 2008 graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, Mani Soleymanlou has lived in Tehran, Paris, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, and has worked with such acclaimed directors as Alice Ronfard (Les pieds des anges), Brigitte Haentjens (L’opéra de quat’sous), Claude Poissant (Rouge gueule, The Dragonfly of Chicoutimi), Serge Denoncourt (Projet Andromaque, Les trois mousquetaires), Olivier Kemeid (Furieux et désespérés), Denis Bernard (Ce moment-là) and Eric Jean (Variations sur un temps).
He is best known as the founding artistic director (2011) of the Montreal-based theatre company Orange Noyée. His distinctive artistic practice investigates notions of community identity (Un/One, Deux/Two, Trois/Three) and social relationships (Ils étaient quatre, Cinq à sept, 8). He pursued this approach more recently in Neuf [working title] and Zéro presented in fall 2019 in Montreal and Ottawa, and also in various artistic collaborations over the years: Lapin blanc, Lapin rouge, Les Lettres arabes II, and À te regarder, ils s’habitueront. Mani Soleymanlou was part of the impressive team behind Gabriel Dumont’s Wild West Show (premiered at the NAC in October 2017), as director and co-artistic director.
Mani Soleymanlou assumed the position of Artistic Director of NAC French Theatre on September 1, 2021.
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Credits
CHRISTINE BEAULIEU : Les saumons de la Mitis (The Salmon of the Mitis River)
Playwright and Actor
Christine Beaulieu
Sound Design and Sound Engineering
Frédéric Auger
Artistic Director and Outside Eye
Mani Soleymanlou
Music Curation
Ian Cusson, Marion Newman
Production Manager
Catherine La Frenière
Artistic Director
Geneviève Lizotte
English Translation
Sophie Lupien
NAC Orchestra
First Violins
Yosuke Kawasaki (concertmaster)
Jessica Linnebach (associate concertmaster)
Noémi Racine Gaudreault (assistant concertmaster)
Jeremy Mastrangelo
Marjolaine Lambert
Jeffrey Dyrda
Carissa Klopoushak
*Renée London
*Oleg Chelpanov
Second Violins
Emily Kruspe (principal)
Emily Westell
Frédéric Moisan
Leah Roseman
Jessy Kim
Mark Friedman
Edvard Skerjanc
Karoly Sziladi
**Winston Webber
*Andrea Armijo Fortin
*Marc Djokic
Violas
Jethro Marks (principal)
David Marks (associate principal)
David Goldblatt (assistant principal)
David Thies-Thompson
Paul Casey
**Tovin Allers
*Adriana Arcila Tascón
Cellos
Rachel Mercer (principal)
Julia MacLaine (assistant principal)
Leah Wyber
Timothy McCoy
Marc-André Riberdy
*Karen Kang
Double Basses
Sam Loeck (principal)
Max Cardilli (assistant principal)
Vincent Gendron
**Marjolaine Fournier
*Paul Mach
Flutes
Joanna G’froerer (principal)
Stephanie Morin
*Christian Paquette
Oboes
Charles Hamann (principal)
Anna Petersen
English Horn
Anna Petersen
Clarinets
Kimball Sykes (principal)
Sean Rice
Bassoons
Darren Hicks (principal)
Vincent Parizeau
Horns
*Nicholas Hartman (guest principal)
Julie Fauteux (associate principal)
Lauren Anker
Louis-Pierre Bergeron
*Olivier Brisson
Trumpets
Karen Donnelly (principal)
Steven van Gulik
Trombones
*Harry Gonzalez (guest principal)
*Nate Fanning
Bass Trombone
Zachary Bond
Tuba
Chris Lee (principal)
Timpani
*Charles Lampert (guest principal)
Percussion
Jonathan Wade
Andrew Johnson
*Andrew Harris
Harp
*Angela Schwarzkopf (guest principal)
Principal Librarian
Nancy Elbeck
Assistant Librarian
Corey Rempel
Personnel Manager
Meiko Lydall
Assistant Personnel Manager
Ruth Rodriguez Rivera
Orchestra Personnel Coordinator
Laurie Shannon
Stage Manager
Tobi Hunt McCoy
*Additional musicians
**On leave
Capital Chamber Choir
Artistic Director
Jamie Loback
Voice Specialist and Rehearsal Repetiteur
Sonya Sweeney
Soprano
Lily Polowin
Emma Bider
Erin Joyce
Katarina Michalyshyn
Cait Hurcomb
Jennifer Berntson
Nicola Oddy
Jocelyn Veevers
Alto
Julie Le Gal
Tammy Shaw
Amy Desrosiers
Jessica McClay
Katy Quinn
Aidan Shenkman
Alison Hamer
Tenor
Kelly Symons
Chris Libuit
Jamie H. Bell
Andrew Fitzgerald
Cameron Aitken
Caleb McCarroll-Butler
Bass
James Seyler
Spencer Cripps
Sam Paquette
Alan Rempel
Reid Earnshaw
Madox Terrell
Ary Williams
Alex Zabloski
Christopher Mallory
Timothy Mott
Donor acknowledgement
The National Arts Centre Foundation would like to thank Mark Motors Group, Official Car of the NAC Orchestra, and Earle O’Born & Janice O’Born, C.M., O.Ont.
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Official Car of the NAC Orchestra
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International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees