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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Early this year Ben Nind, executive director of Northern Arts and Cultural Centre (NACC), received a call placed on behalf of Ben Heppner. The world-renowned dramatic tenor asked to play in Yellowknife this fall.

Dramatic tenor Ben Heppner will perform at NACC next Saturday as part of a small-town tour through Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Fort McMurray, Alta., Yorkton, Sask. and other Canadian towns. - photo courtesy of CAMI

In August, Heppner performed in San Sebastian, Spain and this winter he sings at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Opera National in Paris and the Berlin Philharmonic along with appearances in England, Germany and several other countries.

Heppner performs at NACC on Saturday, Sept. 20, at 8 p.m.

"I think this is going to be one of those very rare opportunities to see a performance of that calibre that stands on any stage in the world," Nind said.

"It shows the quality of the person, not only the artist but the person himself, to be able to say 'this is is the kind of environment that I grew up in and given my success I want to come back and give back to those communities."

Heppner spent his childhood in Dawson Creek, B.C., which marks the start of the Alaska Highway.

"I grew up in a small town," he said. "Why not go out there and have some contact with the real people of Canada?"

He began to book dates in small town Canada a couple of summers ago with a tour of B.C. launched from his hometown. He toured rural Ontario last year.

"If you go to New York or Paris they think they know more than you do, and maybe they do, but (in small towns) there's a real genuine interest in being part of the music that you bring," he said.

Heppner's accessibility and humble attitude belies his stature in the world of contemporary classical music. He has been recognized with a Grammy, a Juno and is an Officer in the Order of Canada.

He grew up in a musical Mennonite family.

"We sang at home. We sang in the car. We sang at church. We sang at school," he said. "In fact in our family if you couldn't sing they might actually trade you for another kid who could."

He sang at weddings in countless church halls, found gigs as a soloist around Vancouver and eventually joined a professional choir in Montreal in his last year of university.

When he entered a national CBC talent contest his aspirations of teaching high school dissolved.

"Son of a gun if I didn't win the whole darn thing," he said. "That was important because that gave me the courage to think out loud - maybe I could make a career."

There wasn't enough oratorio and recital work to pay the rent, so Heppner gravitated to opera.

"Really, opera wasn't part of my world at that point," he said. "For practical reasons I started to pursue it and, lo and behold, look what happened."

During his NACC performance, Heppner will present some of his favourite folk songs arranged by classical British composer Benjamin Briton.

"They are very accessible and they're in English so people will understand the words and we present that with a little bit of fun," he said.

He will finish with a "reader's digest tour" of one of his operatic programs, including works by Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Grieg and Wagner.

"The second half is opera Arias because they tell me that I'm an opera singer so I thought I should bring some of that," he said.

"And I finish off with what I call parlour songs. They're in English and some of the tunes will be familiar, particularly if you've lived a number of decades. If you don't know the songs you'll still relate to them really easily and get into the spirit of the whole thing."

Today is the last day to purchase season tickets at NACC. Single ticket sales for Ben Heppner go on sale tomorrow.