Promising to upstage the Peace Tower itself on the national scene, Canada's new National Arts Centre in Ottawa is on its final curtain call. After six years of planning and at a cost of $46,400,000, North America's most modern complex for the performing arts is about to usher in an era of exciting change and abundant culture that will permeate and reverberate across the continent. The Centre is a series of hexagonal concrete buildings built on varying levels of public terraces which occupy six and a half acres of land near the Houses of Parliament. It contains a 2,300-seat opera house-concert hall with a very large stage area, an 800-seat theatre, an experimental studio-theatre, a salon, a restaurant, a cafe, a coffee shop, bookshops, a record shop, a boutique, a 900-car garage and several bars, lounges and terrace facilities. After the inauguration and open house to the public on May 31 the Centre will present the world premier of Krannerg performed by the National Ballet of Canada. Other opening attractions will include the Toronto and Montreal symphony orchestras, Lysistrata (Make Love; Not War) by Le Theatre du Nouveau Monde, concerts by Monique Leyrac and Gordon Lightfoot, chamber music groups, an experimental multi-media play and an experimental opera. These will be followed by a summer program of popular entertainment (including a theatre-cabaret) as a prelude to the Centre's first full winter season which will feature a strong ballet program and performances by the Stratford National Theatre Company and the Centre's own company, Le Theatre du Capricorne, and the 450-piece National Arts Centre Orchestra. Ottawa, Canada's capital and seat of government, through the fine new facilities of the National Arts Centre, is about to become one of the brightest spots on the world map for the performing arts.