National Endowment for the Arts Presents Great American Voices at Schofield Barracks, January 21

		Contact: Sally Gifford 202-682-5606 giffords@arts.gov

January 21, 2006

Washington, D.C. - The National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the United States Army, presents a performance of opera and musical theater for military personnel at Schofield Barracks in Wahiawa, Hawaii, on Saturday, January 21. The performance is part of the NEA's Great American Voices Military Base Tour: Unforgettable Melodies from Opera & Broadway, which celebrates the best of American arts by bringing professional performances of opera and musical theater to 39 military bases nationwide.

The evening concert will feature members from the Opera Studio of the Hawaii Opera Theatre, a program for talented and rising young stars. These performers will sing selections from popular operas such as Bizet's Carmen, and highlights from classic American musicals such as including Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific.

In addition to the military base tour, the NEA also has produced a compact disc with opera and Broadway excerpts and commentary, to be distributed to audience members and teachers at participating schools. For the latest tour information and sample educational materials, visit www.greatamericanvoices.org.

Great American Voices Military Base Tour is presented in coordination with the Department of Defense and OPERA America. Great American Voices Military Base Tour is made possible by The Boeing Company.

Hawaii Opera Theater performs for Schofield Barracks

Members of the Hawaii Opera Theatre's Opera Studio program will perform Great American Voices on January 21 at 6:30 p.m. at the Nehelani Banquet and Conference Center at Schofield Barracks. This performance is free and open to active and retired military, DoD civilians, veterans, and spouses. For more information contact Army MWR Marketing at 808-438-2911.

Great American Voices Military Base Tour is the latest in a series of groundbreaking partnerships between the NEA and the Department of Defense. The Boeing Company also made possible the NEA's Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, an initiative that reached 44 domestic and overseas military bases and offered an open call for writing submissions to troops worldwide. The initiative will result in a federal archive of troop writings and an anthology to be published in 2006. As part of the largest tour of Shakespeare in American history, the NEA presented the Shakespeare in American Communities Military Base Tour, which brought performances by four Shakespeare companies to 18 military bases. For more information on these and other NEA programs, visit www.arts.gov.

About Boeing

Boeing is the world's leading aerospace company and the largest combined manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft. With additional capabilities in rotorcraft, electronic and defense systems, missiles, rocket engines, satellites, launch vehicles and advanced information and communication systems, the company's reach extends to customers in 145 countries. In terms of sales, Boeing is one of the largest U.S. exporters.

About the National Endowment for the Arts

This year, the National Endowment for the Arts marks its 40th anniversary of leadership in the arts. The NEA is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts - both new and established - bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the largest national funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases.

National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506