Jackman gives $5M to Canadian Opera Co.

Former Ontario lieutenant governor Hal Jackman has given $5 million to the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto.

The money will help fund the capital campaign to build the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, which the opera company will share with the National Ballet of Canada.

A cast of international opera stars is lined up for the inaugural gala concert for the Four Seasons Centre, scheduled for June 14.

Canadian tenor Ben Heppner, soprano Adrianne Pieczonka and baritones Gerald Finley and Brett Polegato will perform in a mixed program with orchestral and choral pieces by the COC orchestra and chorus.

Jackman is a long-time supporter of the COC and  former president of its board of directors and of the board dedicated to building it a new home.

"Hal Jackman is one of the truly great philanthropists in this city and I am exceedingly grateful to him for his unfailing support of the opera house," says COC General Director Richard Bradshaw.

Jackman was named philanthropist of the year in 1995 and is an officer of the Order of Canada.

The COC now has raised $156 million of the $181 million it needs to build the Four Seasons Centre. Queen's Park donated land valued at $31 million, Ottawa gave $25 million and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts gave $20 million to get its name on the opera centre.

Scheduled for completion in June, the new downtown Toronto facility will be Canada's first performance venue built for opera, with specific acoustics and sightlines, 2,000 seats and a horseshoe-shaped design. The COC plans to begin its 2006-07 season in the new building.

The facility's president's council and sponsor lounge will now be known as the Henry N. R. Jackman Lounge.