Buffy Sainte-Marie, Rufus Wainwright headline National Arts Centre 2017 lineup

OTTAWA — Concerts by Buffy Sainte-Marie and Rufus Wainwright headline the National Arts Centre's 2017 calendar, which also includes cross-country festivities marking Canada's 150th anniversary.

Sainte-Marie will take to the stage at Southam Hall in Ottawa on July 3, while Wainwright will perform with the NAC Orchestra at the same venue on July 12.

Music director Alexander Shelley will lead the NAC Orchestra across the country next spring and fall with performances combining classic favourites with new Canadian creations.

The tour will feature Canadian violinist James Ehnes as soloist, and portions of the orchestra's multimedia presentation  "Life Reflected" will also be performed in select locations.

The NAC will also remount the popular 2013 play "Tartuffe" to audiences in Newfoundland and Labrador in late 2017, with an education program featuring activities linking youth and artists across the country.

A collective of French, English, First Nations and Metis theatre artists will also create the new play "Gabriel Dumont's Wild West Show," which will tour Montreal in the fall, followed by runs in Winnipeg and Saskatoon in winter 2018. 

The NAC has also revealed plans for the Canada Scene festival in Ottawa featuring more than 1,000 artists and taking place over a six-week period from June 15 to July 30.

In addition to the scheduled performances by Saint-Marie and Wainwright, highlights include a tribute concert to the late jazz great Oscar Peterson on July 10, and a co-production with the Canadian Opera Company of the classic Harry Somers opera "Louis Riel" on June 15 and 17.

Montreal's circus collective Les 7 doigts de la main ("The 7 Fingers of the Hand") will return to the NAC with "Cuisine & Confessions, from July 7-8.

The full festival programming will be unveiled in the spring.

The NAC will also commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards on June 29.

The Canadian Press