The Metropolitan Opera Guild's season-long celebration of its 75th anniversary reaches a high point on December 7 when stars and fans of opera, as well as an array of New York's society, business and civic leaders, assemble in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf=Astoria for the Guild's annual luncheon. The diamond-anniversary event will feature live musical tributes by Marcello Giordani, Nathan Gunn, Hei-Kyung Hong, Brandon Jovanovich and Susanna Phillips, spoken tributes by Susan Graham, Deborah Voigt and others, and rare video footage. Some 800 guests are expected to attend the luncheon, including numerous current and former stars of the Metropolitan Opera. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Guild's education programs in New York City and throughout the country.
The Guild's annual luncheon has been a highlight of every opera season for decades, an important and unique community gathering bringing artists together with passionate opera fans - many of them Guild members - for a celebration of leaders in the art form. In recent seasons, the Guild's luncheon has paid tribute to such beloved artists as
Frederica von Stade,
Kiri Te Kanawa and Plácido Domingo, as well as director
Franco Zeffirelli and former General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Joe Volpe. At this season's luncheon, the Guild itself takes center stage, with honored guests reflecting on its remarkable achievements in the realms of fund-raising (more than a quarter of a billion dollars for the Metropolitan Opera so far!), education, audience development, and Opera News, which is now the world's largest circulation magazine devoted to opera. The Guild's pioneering founder, Eleanor Belmont, will also be a focal point of this year's tributes.
The Guild's President, Richard
J. Miller, Jr., noted:
"The Guild is, indeed, honored and privileged to have played such an important role in the development and stewardship of opera, not only for the Metropolitan Opera, but also in developing generations of past and future audiences. The Luncheon has been an annual event for many decades here in New York City - a time for the Guild to celebrate the Met and its illustrious artists. For this, our 75th Anniversary Luncheon, we are grateful that so many of the world's greatest members of the opera community will be with us to celebrate this consummate art form and the Metropolitan Opera."
Among the Met stars past and present who are slated to attend on December 7 are
Licia Albanese, Lucine Amara,
Martina Arroyo,
Richard Bernstein,
Harolyn Blackwell,
Nicole Cabell, D
Wayne Croft,
Mignon Dunn,
Rosalind Elias, Lucio Gallo,
Edward Gardner,
Denyce Graves, Gunther Groissböck,
Evelyn Lear,
Catherine Malfitano, Aprile Millo,
Patrice Munsel,
Paul Plishka, John Relyea,
Regina Resnik, Roberto Rizzi Brignoli,
Julius Rudel, Shenyang, George Shirley and
Carol Vaness.
The Chairmen of the event are Mr. and Mrs. Walter J. Laughery, Ellen and
James S. Marcus, Louis Miano, Richard
J. Miller, Jr., and Winthrop Rutherfurd, Jr., who is Chairman of the Board of the Guild. Susan S. Braddock, Thomas J. Hubbard and Laurence D. Lovett, who have all served as the Guild's President or Chairman, are the event's Honorary Chairmen.
The Metropolitan Opera Guild at a glance
For 75 years, the Metropolitan Opera Guild has provided substantial support to the Met, and has greatly enhanced the public's appreciation of opera in general. Since its founding by the pioneering philanthropist
Eleanor Robson Belmont in 1935, the Guild has contributed more than $245 million to the Met. The organization has one of the country's most innovative and far-reaching music education programs, which impacts more than 1,800 schools and communities. In August 2010, the Guild received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education's "Arts-in-Education" Model Development and Dissemination Program for its Comprehensive Opera-Based Arts Learning and Teaching (COBALT) project.
The Guild also publishes Opera News, the world's largest circulation magazine devoted to opera, and produces an annual series of major public programs, including the Opera News Awards, Met Legends and Met Mastersingers series. The sixth annual Opera News Awards will take place in New York City on April 17, 2011 at the Plaza, celebrating the achievements of five extraordinary artists who have made an invaluable contribution to the art form: tenor
Jonas Kaufmann, conductor Riccardo Muti, soprano Patricia Racette, soprano Dame
Kiri Te Kanawa, and bass-baritone
Bryn Terfel.
Additional information about Eleanor Belmont and the history of the Metropolitan Opera Guild can be found at www.metoperafamily.org/guild/about/belmont.aspx and www.metoperafamily.org/guild/about/history.aspx, respectively.
Tuesday, December 7 at 12:15pm
METROPOLITAN OPERA GUILD: GALA LUNCHEON
Grand Ballroom, The Waldorf-Astoria, NYC
Celebrating the Guild's 75th anniversary
The stars will be out in force to help the Guild celebrate this milestone.
For tickets, call 212-769-7009, or visit http://www.metoperafamily.org/guild/calendar/detail.aspx?id=4169
www.metguild.org
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