For Immediate Release
Contact: Richard Russell
General Director
Opera New Jersey
(609) 799-7700
rrussell@OperaNJ.org
Opera New Jersey Annual Gala Honors Marilyn Horne on October 16th
New Jersey’s largest Opera Company Pays Tribute to Legendary Singer at the 7th Annual Celebrate Opera Gala
September 14, 2011 (Princeton, NJ) – Opera New Jersey will honor legendary opera star Marilyn Horne at its 7th Annual Celebrate Opera Gala on Sunday, October 16,, 2011 at 5:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Princeton. Chaired by Phyllis and L. Simon Marchand, this event is the New Jersey-based opera company’s largest fund raiser of the year.
“We are thrilled to be honoring a singer who has had such a powerful impact on so many people,” said Opera New Jersey’s General Director Richard Russell. “Marilyn Horne is one of greatest singers that America has produced and is passing on that legacy to the next generation of young artists. We are very proud that she will be our honoree this year.”
Tickets to Opera New Jersey’s Celebrate Opera Gala honoring Marilyn Horne are $250 per person. Sponsorship opportunities with special benefits are also still available. For tickets and more information, contact Opera New Jersey at (609) 799-7700.
7th Annual Celebrate Opera Gala
The festive event at the Hyatt Regency Princeton will begin at 5:30 with a cocktail reception and silent auction featuring some fabulous items including a luxury Metropolitan Opera package, vacation packages, exclusive jewelry, and more. The guests will then adjourn to the ballroom for a sumptuous meal. There will be a tribute to Ms. Horne and performances by three outstanding young artists, soprano Erica Strauss, mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham, and baritone Andrew Garland, accompanied by Keith Chambers. All three singers have burgeoning international careers and have been protégés of Ms. Horne.
Marilyn Horne
In 2002 Opera News magazine wrote that “Marilyn Horne… may be the most influential singer in American history.” An artist who sang for 26 years at the Metropolitan Opera and 39 seasons at the San Francisco Opera, and at just about every major opera house in the world, Ms. Horne has had a tremendous impact on and off the opera stage. She sang at the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton White Houses, was profiled on 60 Minutes and appeared on such mainstream media as The Tonight Show, starring Johnny Carson, The Carol Burnett Show, and The Odd Couple.
Long before her retirement, she also devoted herself to furthering of careers of young artists as a teacher and mentor. She founded the Marilyn Horne Foundation (now a part of Carnegie Hall) in 1994, which was dedicated to the vocal recital and the presentation of young singers in recitals in the U.S. In 1995 she became Vocal Program Director at the Music Academy of the West where she teaches public master classes and private lessons to select young artists.
Among the many honors that she has received are the Kennedy Center Honors (2004), the NEA Opera Honors (2009), the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters from France’s Ministry of Culture, and the Covent Garden Silver Medal. She has been awarded honorary doctorates from The Juilliard School and Johns Hopkins University, among others.
Ms. Horne was a resident of New Jersey from 1968-1976 when her then husband, conductor Henry Lewis was the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director.
About Opera New Jersey
Opera New Jersey is the Garden State’s largest and busiest opera company. Founded in 2002, Opera New Jersey presents a summer season of fully-staged opera at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre in July, with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra at its orchestra. In addition the company performs one opera in February in collaboration with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in Princeton and at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, in partnership with NJPAC. Three times awarded a Citation of Excellence by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Opera New Jersey has become known for the highly artistic quality of its productions. Opera News has called Opera New Jersey, one of the Garden State’s most enticing summer offerings.
In addition to its main stage offerings, the company brings its “Interact with Classics” education programs to schools throughout the state. Opera New Jersey presents outreach programs to a diverse community and also performs free concerts in numerous venues throughout New Jersey.
The Victoria J. Mastrobuono Emerging Artists Program in conjunction with Opera New Jersey’s summer season has quickly become one of opera’s most respected training programs. With a focus in training the emerging artist, Opera New Jersey has become know as a company that has indentified a number of rising young opera stars who have gone on to such venues as the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House in London.
Opera New Jersey is funded in part by grants provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and the Edward T. Cone Foundation.
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Opera New Jersey
P.O. Box 3151
Princeton, NJ 08543
(609) 799-7700
www.OperaNJ.org
