Sydney and Melbourne, Australia

The most anticipated concert tour in Australian entertainment history has been confirmed for the year 2000.

Barbra Streisand will make her first visit to Australia in March 2000 and play landmark concert events in Sydney and Melbourne.

The engagements were announced today by Australian promoter and entrepreneur Kevin Jacobsen OAM and Ms. Streisand's career-long manager, Martin Erlichman.

The concerts, the first ever for the artist outside the United States and London, will follow the highly anticipated Millennium concert on New Year's Eve, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

It was previously confirmed that the engagement at the MGM Grand would be her final concert or concerts in the United States, but the artist said today she had long wanted to fulfil a lifetime dream of performing for her Australian fans.

"My priorities have shifted," Ms Streisand said. "I want to travel and enjoy my life.

"There are places in the world my husband and I want to visit and Australia has always been one of them.

"I am so looking forward to seeing the country and meeting the people. Australians have been wonderfully supportive throughout my career.

"The time seemed right, the dawn of a new millennium, to realise my dream and say thanks to my Australian fans," she said.

Ms. Streisand will perform in concert, in Sydney at The Sydney Football Stadium on 8 March, and in Melbourne at Colonial Stadium, Docklands, on 15 March, 2000.

Both venues will be specifically configured to meet the benchmark of quality, the trademark of a Barbra Streisand concert event.

Kevin Jacobsen said today that this would be the pinnacle event in his career as a promoter of live entertainment.

"The arrangement for these rare concert events by an artist who has dominated and inspired the music world for nearly four decades is one of the most important artistic occasions for our country," said Kevin Jacobsen.

"We know that Barbra Streisand is revered worldwide, but I think even she may be overwhelmed with the Aussie enthusiasm that will be rolled out for her by her fans here.

"Every major venue in the world has been competing for the chance to present Barbra Streisand in concert. It is a great compliment to Australia we have secured the event," he said.

Martin Erlichman said, "I think the Australian audiences are in for an extraordinary event. The concerts each have their own special magic and I'm sure that Australia will have a sense of something that is quite different for us, quite wonderful. Ms Streisand is the most sought after entertainer in the world today and she has never before embarked on a tour of this size in a foreign territory, so this makes the tour particularly unique.

Erlichman pointed out that Ms Streisand historically had dedicated most of her creative time to her recording career, to her work as director, producer and actress in motion pictures and, recently, to her Barwood Films' slate of issue-orientated motion pictures for television. He noted that, prior to her MGM Grand concerts just over five years ago, she had gone nearly three decades without performing for pay in public.

The New Year's Eve Millennium concert in Las Vegas, has set a one day performance sales record in the United States. The celebration concert has racked up the highest one day total of any single performance in the 33 year history of the ticketing arm, Ticketmaster.

It is expected Australians will also rush for tickets when they go on sale on Saturday 18 December.

The Academy Award winning maestro, Marvin Hamlisch, will conduct the upcoming Australian concerts for Ms Streisand as he will for the upcoming Millennium concert and as he did for both the prior Las Vegas appearances and for the 1994 concert tour.

Barbra Streisand's new Sony album of love songs entitled A Love Like Ours has already become her 42nd Gold Album and her 25th Platinum Album. These numbers, along with 13 multi platinum albums, are the most ever for any female artist. Her most recent album Higher Ground, has sold over 5,000,000 copies worldwide. Her total of 42 gold record albums is exceeded only by Elvis Presley.

Ms Streisand continues to be the highest-selling female recording artist ever and has had number one albums in each of the last four decades. Her number one albums span a period of nearly 35 years, the greatest longevity in that statistic for any one recording artist or group.

Tickets On Sale Saturday 18 December at 9am by telephone or at ticket outlets.

Information: 1902 555 403 (Calls charged at a rate of .95¢ per minute, maybe higher from mobile and pay phones.)

Web site: www.jacobsen.com.au (Seating plans can be viewed on the web site)

Sydney
Date: 8 March 2000 at 8pm
Venue: Sydney Football Stadium
Ticket Prices: $1527, $747, $447, $137 (booking fees included)
Bookings: All Ticketek Outlets, PhoneCharge (02) 9266 4800, www.ticketek.com.au

Melbourne
Date: 15 March 2000 at 8pm
Venue: Colonial Stadium, Docklands
Ticket Prices: $1530, $750, $450, $245, $140 (booking fees included)
Bookings: All Ticketmaster Outlets, PhoneCharge 136 100, www.ticketmaster.com.au

For further media enquiries only:
On Behalf of Jacobsen Entertainment
Bruce Pollack, Bruce Pollack Publicity
Tel: (02) 9331 5276, Mobile: 0418 331 527
Email: brucep@pollackpublicity.com
or
Brian Walsh, The Promotions Department Pty Limited
For and On Behalf of Martin Erlichman Associates Inc.
Tel: (02) 9387 1111, Direct: (02) 9200 1400, Mobile: 0419 254 616
Email: brian@promodept.com.au or walshb@nsw.bigpond.net.au