HOUSTON GRAND OPERA, a company well familiar with epic events and grand occasions, outdid itself at its recent Concert of Arias show and dinner.
The usual high point of the annual event — the finals of the Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, followed by an elegant dinner in the Wortham foyer — is the naming of the winners of the “American Idol”-type contest for young opera singers. But there was another announcement this year that had tongues wagging.
Indeed, after mezzo-soprano Natalie Lewis was named the first-place winner and handed a check for $10,000, HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor spoke to the audience, explaining that donors Sarah and Ernest Butler had just made the largest ever single gift to the company — $22 million! In recognition of their gift, HGO’s 43-year-old, world-renowned school for young singers was renamed the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio.
“Decades-long HGO supporters Rita Leader and Glen Rosenbaum chaired the evening that saw record attendance and raised over $660,000 to benefit the future of the operatic art form through HGO Studio’s recruitment, nurturing, and support of world-class young artists,” added a rep for the company.
Boldface names in the crowd included Cynthia and Tony Petrello, Molly and Jim Crownover, Isabel and Danny David, Beth Madison, Kristina Sommerville, Bobbie Nau, and Grammy-winning soprano Isabel Leonard, who was among the judges for the competition.
Beth Wolff, Anna Dean, Cheryl Byington
Bobbie Nau & Kristina Somerville
Al Lasher and Melanie Jerrell
Cynthia Petrello & Celina Hellmund
Jennifer Davenport and Rebecca Martens
Betty and Jess Tutor, Jackie and Malcolm Mazow
Anne and Albert Chao
Danny and Isabel David
Drs. Warren and Rachel Ellsworth
Marty Dudley, Teresa Ivo, Luke Sutliff
Emily Bivona and Ryan Manser
Thomas Oswald and Maureen Zoltek
Ani Kushyan and Navasard Hakobyan
Vivianna Jolie & Astley Blair
Patrick Summers, Rita Leader and Glen Rosenbaum
Aerin & Quentin Smith
Ann & Jonathan Ayre