‘Amazing People’ concert with Chantal Kreviazuk adds star power to Ottawa Race Weekend

Concert is first in a series of events being organized by Amazing People Ottawa

Pasta dinner and light stretching aside, the best way to prepare for this year’s Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend was to hang out with the consummately entertaining and insanely talented Chantal Kreviazuk at the Shaw Centre on Friday night.

Red, White and Gold: An Amazing Evening with Chantal Kreviazuk was hosted by Amazing People Ottawa in partnership with Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend. The Winnipeg-born chanteuse charmed the crowd of 250-plus in the Trillium Ballroom, performing on a grand piano from Steinway Piano Gallery Ottawa. She also mingled with Ottawans (a term she only learned that evening) during a VIP reception held immediately before the intimate and interactive concert.

She played some of her new material, as well as her classics. “You got to play your hits, you know, because they’re the songs that make people know you,” Kreviazuk told the room.

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An Evening with Chantal Kreviazuk
From left, Canadian singer/songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk with Peggy Taillon, founder of HERA Mission of Canada, Kimothy Walker, chair of Amazing People Ottawa, and Running Room regional manager Phil Marsh, at Red, White and Gold: An Amazing Evening with Chantal Kreviazuk, organized by Amazing People in partnership with the Ottawa Race Weekend, at the Shaw Centre on Friday, May 26, 2017. (Photo by Caroline Phillips)

Seated in the front row was former governor general Michaëlle Jean. She and her husband have created and are co-chairing a foundation in Jean’s name that helps disadvantaged youth change their lives and their communities through the arts.

The Michaëlle Jean Foundation is now working with Amazing People, the philanthropic arm of Ottawa Media Group, led by Kimothy Walker and Eric Collard.

An Evening with Chantal Kreviazuk
Former governor general  Michaëlle Jean, co-chair of the Michaëlle Jean Foundation, addresses the audience at a special evening and concert with Canadian singer Chantal Kreviazuk, organized by Amazing People Ottawa, at the Shaw Centre on Friday, May 26, 2017. (Photo by Caroline Phillips)

The Amazing People charity gala, slated for this October 21, will shine a light on the extraordinary work being done by some of the unsung heroes in our community. Beneficiaries of the gala also include HERA Mission and SchoolBOX.

The evening kicked off a series of Canada 150 celebrations that are being planned by Amazing People throughout the year. “We really wanted to start it off with a ‘go big or go home’ event,” creative director Tara Shannon told the crowd before introducing Kreviazuk to the stage.

At the event were Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi and Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau, both of whom ran the half marathon on Sunday. Also seen were Nepean-Carleton PC MPP Lisa MacLeod and Stéphane Giguère, CEO of the Ottawa Community Housing Corp.

The vice chair of his board, Deloitte partner Dan Doré, was there on behalf of his firm, which sponsored the benefit concert. Ottawa Race Weekend organizers and supporters, such as race director John Halvorsen and running guru John Stanton, founder of the Running Room, were present, as well.

An Evening with Chantal Kreviazuk
From left, Ottawa Community Housing CEO Stéphane Giguère with retired NFL player Christo Bilukidi, who's an ambassador for Ottawa Community Housing, and Melissa Reeves, with Linebox Studio and ModBox Developments, as well as a board member with the Ottawa Community Housing Foundation, at Red, White and Gold: An Amazing Evening with Chantal Kreviazuk, held at the Shaw Centre on Friday, May 26, 2017. (Photo by Caroline Phillips)
An Evening with Chantal Kreviazuk
From left, Ottawa Race Weekend volunteer Geoffrey Prudhomme with director of marketing Susan Marsh, race director John Halvorsen and Alyssa Parks at Red, White and Gold: An Amazing Evening with Chantal Kreviazuk organized by Amazing People Ottawa, in partnership with the Ottawa Race Weekend, at the Shaw Centre on Friday, May 26, 2017 as a partnership between the Amazing People Gala and Ottawa Race Weekend. (Photo by Caroline Phillips)
An Evening with Chantal Kreviazuk
From left, Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau with his wife, lawyer Lynda Bordeleau, and Running Room founder John Stanton at the Shaw Centre for Red, White and Gold: An Amazing Evening with Chantal Kreviazuk, hosted by organizers of Amazing People Ottawa in partnership with the Ottawa Race Weekend, at the Shaw Centre on Friday, May 26, 2017. (Photo by Caroline Phillips)

– caroline@obj.ca




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