Martina Arroyo Foundation 12th Annual Fundraising Gala to Take Place Tonight

The Martina Arroyo Foundation's 12th Annual Fundraising Gala, a celebration of Prelude to Performance, Role Class and Outreach Programs, will be held on Monday, November 7, 2016 beginning with a cocktail hour and silent auction at 6:30pm in the Grand Salon of the JW Marriott Essex House,160 Central Park South, NYC.

The gala will honor acclaimed actress and singer Christine Ebersole, fashion designer Adrienne Landau, and the award-winning composer and musical arranger Jeanine Tesori. Terrance McKnight willserve as the host for the evening. Dinner will be held at 7:30pm with award presentations and a live auction, followed by dessert and a special performance by Prelude to Performance Young Artists and some very Special Guests. The event is black tie optional.

The mission of the Martina Arroyo Foundation is to counsel and guide young singers in the preparation of an entire operatic role through a formal educational process that includes character development, the background of the drama, the historical perspective, the psychological motivation of each character, and language proficiency.

For tickets for the Gala or more information about the work of the Foundation, please call (212) 315-9190 or e-mail info@martinaarroyofdn.org, or visit https://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=9432.
Musical selections include pieces showcasing young artists of Prelude to Performance:

• Hongni Wu: Chacun à son goût, Die Fledermaus
• Shana Grossman, Maria Natale, Jonathan Tetelman: Act I Trio, Die Fledermaus
• Seok Jong Baek, Holly Cameron, Dángelo Díaz, and Yunnie Park: Act III Finale, La Bohème

Accompanied by Maestro Steven M. Crawford Honorary Gala Chairs: Donna and Richard Esteves, AnDrew Martin-Weber
Honorary Benefit Committee: Kathy Bates, Harolyn Blackwell, Stephanie Blythe, Tyne Daly, Paquito D'Rivera, Jane Eaglen, Brenda Feliciano, Susan Graham, Reri Grist, Marilyn Horne, Richard Leech, Audra McDonald, Sherrill Milnes, Rita Moreno, Jessye Norman, Eric Owens, Frederica von Stade, Billy Stritch, Ben Vereen, Rufus Wainwright, Darren Walker.

HONOREES
Actress and singer Christine Ebersole has divided her career between stage, television, cabaret, and screen. In television she joined the cast of Saturday Night Live for the 1981-82 season and has recently been seen in the series Sullivan & Son and Royal Pains. In films she appeared as the diva Katerina Cavalieri in 1984 film Amadeus and most recently in The Wolf of Wall Street. But it has been her work on Broadway that has brought Ebersole her greatest acclaim. She has won two Tonys for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, her first in 2001 as Dorothy Brock in the revival of the musical 42nd Street and her second in 2007 for the dual role of "Little" Edie Beale / Edith Bouvier Beale in Grey Gardens. She was also nominated for a Tony in the 2002 revival of Dinner at Eight. She has had a distinguished career in cabaret receiving the 2010 Nightlife Award for Outstanding Vocalist in a Major Engagement for her 2009 Café Carlyle cabaret, where she recently completed another acclaimed cabaret engagement in October 2016.

Adrienne Landau started her career in the arts as a painter in New York City. Her namesake collection, which was officially launched in 1980, is known for her glamorous ease, use of color and the juxtaposition of materials. Adrienne Landau has expanded from her signature collection, creating a line of high-end home furnishings in addition to handbags, backpacks, and a children's collection. She continues to design "A by Adrienne Landau," a lifestyle collection sold exclusively through Home Shopping Network. The Adrienne Landau collection is carried in the world's most exclusive specialty stores and department stores and continuously worn by celebrities and featured in the top fashion publications. Known for versatile pieces that seamlessly transition from day to evening, Adrienne Landau has become the go-to designer for the world's most fashionable and influential women and men. She has a strong celebrity following including Madonna, Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey, Barbra Streisand, Katie Couric, Patti LaBelle, Liza Minnelli, and Aretha Franklin.

Jeanine Tesori is an American composer and musical arranger. She is the most prolific and honored female composer in history receiving Tony nominations for best score for five Broadway musicals, winning in 2015 for Fun Home with book and lyrics by Lisa Kron. Kron also won a Tony marking the first time an all-female composing team won for best original score. Tesori has composed music for films including Shrek the Third. She then wrote the music for the Broadway musical Shrek theMusical earning both Tony and Drama Desk nominations. In 1999, she won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a play for Nicholas Hytner's production of Twelfth Night and the 2004 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music for Caroline, or Change. Her opera, The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me, had its world premiere in the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center in 2013. Tesori is the artistic director of the concert series of Off-Broadway musicals 'Encores! Off Center.'

American soprano Martina Arroyo has received numerous awards and accolades for her long-standing pre-eminence at the world's foremost opera houses and concert halls, including a 2013 Kennedy Center Honors and a 2010 Opera Honors Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. She continues to make an invaluable contribution to the art form through her teaching and her commitment to young artist development through the Martina Arroyo Foundation. Born and raised in Harlem, Arroyo went on to conquer the opera world, from the Metropolitan Opera to the Vienna State Opera, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires to La Scala in Milan, Paris Opera to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, and the great concert halls from Salzburg and Berlin to her hometown of New York City. She has had the honor of three opening night performances at the Met, two of them in consecutive seasons. Few in her generation have been so fearless or so successful across the repertory, from Mozart, Verdi, Puccini and Strauss to Barber, Bolcom, Schoenberg, and Stockhausen. The New York Times once heralded her voice as "among the most glorious in the world." Her extensive recorded legacy reflects her inspired collaborations with conductors Leonard Bernstein, Karl Böhm, Rafael Kubelík, Zubin Mehta, Thomas Schippers, Colin Davis, and James Levine. Arroyo studied to be a teacher and graduated from Hunter College. In 1958, she auditioned for and won the Metropolitan Opera's Auditions of the Air, which gave her a chance to study both music and acting at the Met's Kathryn Long School. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1958 in the American premiere of Ildebrando Pizzetti's Murder in the Cathedral, and in 1965 stepped in as a last-minute replacement for an ailing Birgit Nilsson in Aida at the Met, a career-changing moment. Over the years and in nearly 200 performances at the Met, Arroyo performed all the major Verdi roles that would be the core of her repertory, in addition to Mozart's Donna Anna, Puccini's Cio-Cio-San and Liù, Mascagni's Santuzza, Ponchielli's Gioconda, and Wagner's Elsa. Her 1968 London debut came in a concert version of Meyerbeer's epic Les Huguenots, followed the same year by her Covent Garden debut in Aida. Her debuts at Paris Opera, La Scala and the Teatro Colón followed in close succession. In 2003, Arroyo established her own non-profit cultural organization. Now entering its thirteenth season, the Martina Arroyo Foundation provides new generations of emerging young artists with the tools to pursue careers in opera, by means of two intensive programs of study, coaching, and performance that focus on in-depth preparation of complete operatic roles.