Gala season is upon us, and we hear this
year it’s more important than ever to put on your finest finery
and write large checks, as Brooklyn’s arts and cultural institutions
are still hurting for cash in the wake of the city’s post Sept.
11 budget cuts and the pervasive economic recession.
Two organizations that know how to celebrate humanity through
top-notch song – the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Brooklyn
Youth Chorus – held fundraisers in April that drew out the music
makers and music lovers.
While BAM staged the much-anticipated Claudio Monteverdi opera
cycle – which showcased all three of the composer’s remaining
masterworks, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus commissioned new choral
works and announced an exciting relocation in the works.
The Brooklyn Youth Chorus honored Borough President Marty Markowitz
and Robert Spano, music director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic
(and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra), on April 22 at a soiree
at the Heights Casino on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights.
The chorus, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, plans
to move to a new home and to open the doors of the borough’s
first voice-based music school, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus Academy,
at 179 Pacific St. in September. The chorus’ "Voices of
Harmony" gala raised more than $100,000 for the group’s
operating costs.
Among the 340 partygoers were composers Daniel Bernard Roumain
and Kirk Nurock, in the audience to hear their works – commissioned
by the Chorus – performed. If you’d like to hear ’em for yourself,
Nurock’s "Na-ni-na," Roumain’s "What We Are"
and Jackson Berkey’s new "Silent Tents" will again
be performed by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus at 7:30 pm on June
8 at St. Charles Borromeo Church, 21 Sidney Place in Brooklyn
Heights. [Tickets are $25. For more info, call (718) 243-9447.]
Other gala VIPs included WNYC radio personality Margaret Junthwaite
and the great jazz singer Theo Bleckmann.
Bravo Monteverdi
Designer Peter Cunningham of Absolutely Wild Floral Events and
Decor transformed the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Lepercq Space
at 30 Lafayette Ave. into an interpretive, ancient Mediterranean
seascape on April 10. Guests dined there before watching the
U.S. premiere of Les Arts Florissants and Aix-en-Provence Festival’s
production of the Monteverdi opera, "Il Ritorno d’Ulissse
in Patria."
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s artistic director, Adrian Noble,
didn’t hop across the pond for this weeklong engagement, but
his evocative staging at the BAM Harvey Theater spoke volumes
in his stead. The opera is based on Homer’s mythic tale of Ulysses’
return to Ithaca after a long absence and of his wife Penelope’s
constancy.
On this evening, BAM’s supporters showed their constancy by donating
just over $400,000 for BAM’s programming and the Spring 2002
opera season. Jean-Marc Moriani, CEO of Credit Lyonnais Americas,
served as gala chairman.
Among the guests who mixed and mingled with cast members Kresimir
Spicer (Ulysses) and Marijana Mijanovic (Penelope) – reportedly
a hot item on and off the stage – and Les Arts Florissants artistic
director William Christie, was BAM’s new trustee, Danny Simmons.
Simmons, who will present the artists of Def Poetry, including
playwright Danny Hoch, on May 17 at 9 pm in the BAMcafe, is co-founder
of Def Jam records and owner of Clinton Hill’s Corridor Gallery.
(Simmons’ brother Joseph is a member of the old-school rap group
RUN-DMC.)
Socialites Anne Bass, Beth Rudin DeWoody and Annaliese Soros
were also in attendance.
An upcoming highlight of BAM’s 2002 spring season is Fredrich
von Schilller’s play, "Maria Stuart," directed by famed
Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. "Maria Stuart" will
be performed the Royal Dramatic Theatre of Sweden from June 12
through June 16 at BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette
Ave.). (Tickets are $25-$65. For more information, call (718)
636-4100.)
Powerful lineup
The next gala fundraiser will benefit Spano’s financially strapped
Brooklyn Philharmonic. The Philharmonic will honor Kevin Burke,
president and COO of Consolidated Edison Company of New York
Inc. and Craig G. Matthews, retired vice chairman and COO of
Keyspan Energy. Featuring a performance by internationally acclaimed
pianist Lang Lang, the black-tie event will be held at the Brooklyn
Museum of Art on Monday, May 13 at 6:30 pm. Call (718) 622-5555
for tickets.
