Gala Events Celebrate
Theater's Grand Reopening
Domingo, Perlman, Others to Perform January 10-17

Placido Domingo

Itzhak Perlman

Georgia Jarman

Carlos Miguel Prieto

The premier venue for cultural arts performances in New Orleans is getting ready to reopen for the first time in three and a half years and an all-star cast of performers is set to commemorate that reopening.

World-renowned tenor Placido Domingo, violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman, gospel great Yolanda Adams, and a slate of famed local musicians will take the stage between January 10 and 17 for a week of special performances marking the reopening of the Mahalia Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts. The theater had been shuttered since it was flooded by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Since that time, the theater’s primary tenants, the New Orleans Opera and the New Orleans Ballet have had to perform elsewhere.

The events will mark the culmination of a $27 million effort to restore and improve the theater and outdoor gathering space, the bulk of it financed with local tax dollars. Improvements to the seating, lighting, the orchestra pit and to the stage itself have been made during this reconstruction phase and facelift. Improvements were also made to Louis Armstrong Park where the theater is located.

Here is how the week’s lineup is shaping up:

• Thursday, January 8 – The New Orleans All-Star Review featuring the Preservation Hall Band, Rebirth Brass Band, Kermit Ruffins, Irma Thomas, Marva Wright, Jeremy Davenport, Ingrid Lucia, Philip Manuel, Michael Ward and Fredy Omar. 7 p.m. Free but tickets are required. Log on to www.TicketMaster.com.
• Saturday, January 10 – “An Evening of Music and Dance” presented by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the New Orleans Ballet Association featuring Itzhak Perlman (see biography below), the San Francisco Ballet and stars of the New York City Ballet. 7 p.m. For tickets contact the LPO at 504-523-6530 or NOBA at 504-522-0996 or visit www.lpomusic.com or www.nobadance.com.
• Sunday, January 11 – Family Day in the Park, featuring YaYa, KidsmART, the Ashé Cultural Arts Center, Congo Square drumming circles, kids activities and more. 12 noon.
• Sunday, January 11 – Family Day in the Theatre featuring NORD/NOBA Center for Dance, Crescent City Lights Youth Theatre and the Greater New Orleans Youth Organization. 1 p.m.
• Tuesday, January 13 – “Beethoven and the Blues” featuring Allen Toussaint. 6:30 p.m. Tickets $10-$65 through TicketMaster or the LPO box office.
• Thursday, January 15 – Louisiana Philharmonic Special School Performance. 10 a.m.
• Friday, January 16 – “An Evening with Yolanda Adams (see biography below) and Irvin Mayfield” featuring Adams with the New Orleans All-Star Gospel Choir and Mayfield with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. 7:30 p.m. Tickets $10-$35 through TicketMaster.
• Saturday, January 17 – New Orleans Opera Association presents Placido Domingo (see biography below) in concert. 6:30 p.m. For tickets call 504-529-3000 or log on to www.neworleansopera.org.

The newly renovated theater, with a capacity of about 2,200, will continue to host performances of the New Orleans Opera Association, the New Orleans Ballet Association, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and other special events for the remainder of the cultural season and beyond.

Biographies

Placido Domingo
Domingo, the week’s big headliner, will sing arias from some the operas he has sung over the past forty years of a stellar career. One of the “Three Tenors” who sang with the late, renowned Luciano Pavarotti, Domingo has been regarded as the foremost living tenor since Pavarotti’s passing. Early in his career, Domingo sang on a number of occasions with the New Orleans Opera, including his first-ever role in the title character of Giordano’s Andrea Chenier, which became one of his signature roles. He also sang at a recent post-Katrina benefit for the New Orleans Opera Association, the city’s first major cultural event after the storm.

Itzhak Perlman
Widely regarded as one of the foremost living concert violinists, Itzhak Perlman has performed professionally for well over forty years. A native of Israel, he has toured the world, performing , conducting, teaching, arranging and scoring films, and he has won five Grammy Awards in various categories. He has performed with other well-known classical artists during his career, including fellow violinist Pinchas Zukerman and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Yolanda Adams
One of the foremost gospel singers of today, Yolanda Adams began singing in choirs in her native Houston at an early age. By her mid-20s she had blossomed into a full-fledged gospel star with lucrative recording contracts. In total, Adams has won four Grammy Awards, four of the Gospel Music Association's Dove Awards, one American Music Award and a number of lesser honors. In recent years she has branched out into more mainstream genres alongside other major singing stars and hosts her own nationally syndicated morning gospel show.

By Dean M. Shapiro