Richard Tucker Music Foundation Will Present 2019 Gala Concert Featuring Lisette Oropesa At Carnegie Hall

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation presents one of the most highly anticipated events of the opera season, the 2019 Richard Tucker Gala, on Sunday, October 27, 2019 at 6:00pm in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall.

The annual concert features coloratura soprano Lisette Oropesa, winner of the 2019 Richard Tucker Award, as well as winners of past Richard Tucker Awards and honored guests including sopranos Angel Blue, Ailyn Pérez, and Ermonela Jaho; mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton; tenors Michael Fabiano, Bryan Hymel, andMatthew Polenzani; baritones Lucas Meachem and Artur Ruci?ski; and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn. The program features iconic arias and ensemble pieces led by Maestro James Gaffigan with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the New York Choral Society.

After Richard Tucker's untimely death in 1975, his duo partner and friend Robert Merrill worked with the Tucker family to organize a gathering of opera legends, including Martina Arroyo and Roberta Peters, to take place on what would have been the duo's next date at Carnegie Hall. The Richard Tucker Music Foundation was formed later that year, and the concert became an annual tradition, raising funds to support young American opera singers and keep the beloved tenor's memory alive. Having relocated across town to Lincoln Center in 1989, the gala made a return to its original home at Carnegie Hall with a sold-out house in 2016. For more than four decades, audiences at both locations have been able to depend on the foundation's annual gala to bring together some of opera's most illustrious stars, including Leonard Bernstein, Montserrat Caballé, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Leontyne Price, and Joan Sutherland.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation is a non-profit cultural organization dedicated to perpetuating the artistic legacy of the great Brooklyn-born tenor by nurturing the careers of talented young American opera singers. Through awards, grants for study, performance opportunities, and other activities, the foundation provides professional development for singers at various stages of their careers. It also offers free performances in the New York metropolitan area, and supports music education enrichment programs. Each year, the foundation confers its most prestigious prize, the Richard Tucker Award, on an artist poised at the edge of a major international career. Often referred to as the "Heisman Trophy of Opera," the award comes with a $50,000 cash prize as well as the ongoing support of the Tucker family and foundation. Past winners include Christine Goerke, Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, Stephen Costello, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, and Nadine Sierra.