2019 Kaufman Music Center Gala To Honor Cathy White O'Rourke And The Morris And Alma Schapiro Fund

Kaufman Music Center's 2019 Gala will honor Kaufman Board President Cathy White O'Rourke, a distinguished business leader, classically trained pianist, and devoted advocate for music education. Kaufman Music Center is also proud to honor The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund, a generous champion of education and the performing arts.

The evening's festivities, slated for Monday, June 3, 2019, at Guastavino's (409 East 59th St., NYC) at 6:30 pm, include an exclusive, one-night-only performance featuring pioneering composer, vocalist, violinist and producer Caroline Shaw - a Grammy winner and the youngest ever recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music - and the Attacca Quartet along with the Special Music School High School Men's Choir. Ms. Shaw's new album with the Attacca Quartet, Orange, immediately skyrocketed to #1 on the iTunes Top 100 Classical Albums list on the day it was released. "A love letter to the string quartet" (NPR), "the music of Orange exudes joy and a sense of wildness ... the pieces shoot off in thrilling and unpredictable directions" (Pitchfork). The Gala also includes performances by young instrumentalists from Special Music School and the Kingston Piano Trio.

This elegant, entertaining evening will benefit Kaufman Music Center's music education programs, which serve more than 4,000 children and teens annually. The Gala supports the music curriculum at Kaufman's K-12 public school that teaches music as a core subject (Special Music School/M. 859), provides scholarships to underprivileged students at Manhattan's largest community arts school (Lucy Moses School) and creates opportunities for children in New York City's neediest schools to enjoy performances at Merkin Hall.

Kaufman Music Center's Executive Director, Kate Sheeran, says, "Music education opens doors and transforms lives. We are proud that Kaufman Music Center's forward-thinking music education and performance programs are educating and inspiring the artists and audiences of today and tomorrow."

"When I first came to Kaufman Music Center, I promptly fell in love with its unique mission of combining music education and performance," says Cathy White O'Rourke, 2019 Gala Honoree and President of Kaufman's Board of Trustees. "I loved the concerts in Merkin Hall, and when I visited Special Music School and Lucy Moses School I was totally taken in by the sounds of music everywhere in the hallways and the adorable and talented kids. I wanted to be a part of this wonderful place."

Gala Chairs are Elaine & Henry Kaufman, Bethany & Robert B. Millard, the O'Rourke Family and Christina & Lawrence Wee. Gala Vice Chairs are Rosalind Devon & Sanford L. Batkin. Gala Dinner Chairs are Joel & Tracy Beckerman, Solange Landau, Sarah & Martin Leibowitz and Patricia & Lawrence Weinbach.

Cathy White O'Rourke has been a friend of Kaufman Music Center since she moved to New York in 1977 from Chicago. Initially, she was merely a Merkin concertgoer. But upon completing the New York Junior League's course on non-profit board membership in 1998, and having recently retired from a Wall Street career, she volunteered to aid Kaufman as a strategic planning consultant. Meeting then Executive Director Lydia Kontos and Trustee Phyllis Feder, Mrs. O'Rourke became acquainted with the full organization, and fell in love with the Center's mission of combining music education and performance. First, Mrs. O'Rourke joined the Special Music School Advisory Board, and then the Merkin Hall Advisory Board, followed by the Board of Trustees in 2002. She was elected President of the Board of Trustees in 2015. She also currently serves on the Face the Music Advisory Board and the Executive, Governance, and Finance committees. Mrs. O'Rourke is a graduate of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, Northwestern University School of Music and Wellesley College. Upon graduation from Wellesley, where she was a music major and winner of the Billings Prize in Music, she continued her studies at Northwestern University School of Music, receiving a M.M. in piano, under the late Donald Isaak. Mrs. O'Rourke officially retired in 2008 after a second career in fundraising at The Children's Aid Society. She also served as a Business Volunteer for the Arts at several points during her career. Her current volunteer activities and associations, in addition to Kaufman, include Wellesley College and Chamber Music Associates. She continues her piano as an active chamber musician.

Caroline Shaw is a New York-based musician-vocalist, violinist, composer and producer-who performs in solo and collaborative projects. She was the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013 for Partita for 8 Voices, written for the Grammy-winning Roomful of Teeth, of which she is a member. Recent commissions include new works for Renée Fleming with Inon Barnatan, Dawn Upshaw with S? Percussion and Gil Kalish, the Orchestra of St. Luke's with John Lithgow, the Dover Quartet, TENET, The Crossing, the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, the Calidore Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, the Baltimore Symphony, and Roomful of Teeth with A Far Cry. The 2018-19 season saw premieres by pianist Jonathan Biss with the Seattle Symphony, Anne Sofie Von Otter with Philharmonia Baroque, the LA Philharmonic, and Juilliard 415. Caroline's film scores include Erica Fae's To Keep the Light and Josephine Decker's Madeline's Madeline as well as the upcoming short 8th Year of the Emergency by Maureen Towey. She has produced for Kanye West (The Life of Pablo; Ye) and Nas (NASIR), and has contributed to records by The National, and by Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry. Once she got to sing in three part harmony with Sara Bareilles and Ben Folds at the Kennedy Center, and that was pretty much the bees' knees and elbows. Caroline has studied at Rice, Yale and Princeton, currently teaches at NYU, and is a Creative Associate at The Juilliard School. She has held residencies at Dumbarton Oaks, the Banff Centre, Music on Main and the Vail Dance Festival. Caroline loves the color yellow, otters, Beethoven Opus 74, Mozart operas, Kinhaven, the smell of rosemary and the sound of a janky mandolin.