Sing for Hope (www.singforhope.org), a non-profit organization that mobilizes professional artists in volunteer service to benefit communities in need, announces The 2009 Songs for Our Future Honorees: 2009 Presidential Medal of Honor Recipient and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus, celebrated soprano and Metropolitan Opera star Renée Fleming, Academy Award winning actress and humanitarian activist Jane Fonda, and philanthropic leader and President of Lincoln Center Reynold Levy. The four 2009 Songs for our Future Honorees are social and cultural leaders who, in their lives and work, lift their voices for positive social change.
Muhammad Yunus, 2009 Presidential Medal of Honor Recipient and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, is renowned as the pioneer of the global microfinance movement, which has moved more than 100 million people out of poverty.
Metropolitan Opera star Renée Fleming passionately advocates for literacy programs and for arts education, in addition to being one of the world's most celebrated classical music icons who, as "the people's diva," has vastly broadened the audience for classical vocal music.
Academy Award winning actress and humanitarian activist Jane Fonda is renowned for her advocacy of a wide range of causes including the Civil Rights movement, Native American causes, and support of women and girls through Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention.
Philanthropic leader and President of Lincoln Center Reynold Levy is the former President of the International Rescue Committee and a leading thinker on best practices in non-profit management, fundraising, and social responsibility.
All four Songs for Our Future Honorees are celebrated authors whose combined works have touched millions of lives.
Ms. Fleming, Ms. Fonda, Dr. Levy, and Dr. Yunus were honored at Sing for Hope's annual Songs for Our Future gala, co-chaired by prominent New York City philanthropists Joseph and Judi Flom, on November 21, 2009 at 6:00pm at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center. Guests included Martha Stewart, Pat Mitchell, Shelley and Donald Rubin, and Billie Jean King.
Performers for the evening - all members of Sing for Hope's roster of world-class artists who donate time and talent in humanitarian outreach programs - included actor/singer Tituss Burgess (Broadway's Guys and Dolls and The Little Mermaid), violinist Daisy Jopling (Royal Albert Hall, Vienna Festival), mezzo-soprano Kirstin Chávez (The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera), bass-baritone Kevin Short (The Metropolitan Opera, Zurich Opera), baritone Joshua Hopkins (The Metropolitan Opera, Marilyn Horne Foundation), and Sing for Hope Co-Founding Directors, sopranos Monica Yunus (The Metropolitan Opera, Spoleto Festival USA) and Camille Zamora (Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera).
All proceeds from the gala will support Sing for Hope's arts outreach programs in underserved schools and hospitals, reaching the lives of more than 2,000 students and 1,500 patients and healthcare practitioners each year.
In the words of 2009 Songs for Our Future honoree Renée Fleming, "I know firsthand the power of art to unite and transform communities... Sing for Hope is dedicated to bringing the healing power of art to those who need it most, and in today's world, that feels more urgent than ever." Ms. Fleming's fellow honoree Muhammad Yunus offers, "What Sing for Hope does is wonderfully simple. It maintains a roster of compassionate, world-class artists who donate time and talent to the humanitarian causes that inspire them."
