After a welcome by Harold Prince, a selection of Kander's songs were performed by stage vets including Chita Rivera, Jason Danieley, Marin Mazzie, Debra Monk, James Naughton, Richard Thomas, Karen Ziemba, Peter Howard, and more. The benefit was chaired by lyricist Sheldon Harnick.Encompass New Opera Theatre is dedicated to creating, developing and producing imaginative productions of new music theatre and contemporary opera. Striving to discover and nurture emerging artists, premiere groundbreaking new productions, and revive important 20th century operas by outstanding American and international composers, Encompass has produced over 46 fully-mounted operas with orchestra and staged readings of more than 100 new works, from jazz and cabaret to musicals and opera.