Opera.ca announces recipient of National Opera Directors Recognition Award

OPERA.CA ANNOUNCES RECIPIENT OF THE NEW NATIONAL OPERA DIRECTORS RECOGNITION AWARD SPONSORED BY BMO FINANCIAL GROUP

J. ROB COLLINS

Toronto, 27 January 2009

Opera.ca, the national association for opera, is proud to announce the first recipient of the Opera.ca National Opera Directors Recognition Program, Mr. J. Rob Collins of the Canadian Opera Company. In its inaugural year, this distinction, sponsored by BMO Financial Group, honours one opera board director annually for exemplary leadership and support on behalf of their opera company and the community they serve.

In acknowledging the dedication of board members across the country, the National Opera Directors Recognition Program highlights the tenets of good governance, celebrates models of volunteer excellence and raises the bar for board director commitment. The following excerpt from the COC’Äôs nomination highlights the accomplishments of this year’Äôs honouree, Mr. J. Rob Collins. ’ÄúFor 16 years, Rob Collins served as a Canadian Opera Company Director, including as Chair and President of the Board of Directors, and Chair of the Canadian Opera House Company’Äôs (COHC) Building Committee. A successful lawyer in his own right with the firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, Mr. Collins dedicated an unprecedented amount of time and leadership to the COC in ensuring that the vision of a world-class opera house for the COC, now the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, became a reality.’Äù