American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, who takes the stage at the gala as winner of the 2015 Richard Tucker Award, has been praised by the New Yorker as “a fresh wonder of the opera world, possessing a voice of preternatural beauty and power.” The winner of both the Main and Song Prizes at the 2013 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, she has been described by The Guardian as “a great artist, no question, with an imperturbable steadiness of tone, and a nobility of utterance that invites comparison not so much with her contemporaries as with mid-20th century greats such as Kirsten Flagstad.” She is also a winner of the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a Grammy nominee, a 2012 Richard Tucker Career Grant winner, and the Kennedy Center’s 2014 Marian Anderson Award recipient.

In advance of the annual gala, WQXR 105.9 FM, New York’s classical radio station, stages a special event to introduce Barton as the 2015 Richard Tucker Award-winner on Thursday, September 3 at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space in Lower Manhattan. Joining Barton in both conversation and performance is 2001 Tucker Award-winner, soprano Christine Goerke, who will be singing the title role in Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera this fall. Tickets and more information are available here, and the event will also be a live video webcast at www.wqxr.org.

Founded in 1975, 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.

The full list of singers featured on the gala program is provided below. Tickets for this year’s event range from $40 to $600 and are on sale to the public through the Richard Tucker Music Foundation’s website, www.richardtucker.org. Reservations for the gala dinner on the Grand Promenade that follows the concert can be arranged by contacting the Tucker Foundation offices at (212) 757-2218.

Further information about the 2015 gala and the work of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation is available at www.richardtucker.org.

Richard Tucker Music Foundation presents:

2015 RICHARD TUCKER GALA

November 1 at 6:30pm

David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City

2015 Richard Tucker Award winner Jamie Barton

Winners of Richard Tucker Music Foundation grants and honored guests:

Piotr Beczala, tenor

Andrea Bocelli, tenor

Lawrence Brownlee, tenor (2006 Richard Tucker Award winner)

Stephen Costello, tenor (2009 Richard Tucker Award winner)

Renée Fleming, soprano (1990 Richard Tucker Award winner)

Christine Goerke, soprano (2001 Richard Tucker Award winner)

Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano (2013 Richard Tucker Award winner)

Nadine Sierra, soprano (Tucker Career and Study Grant winner)

New York Choral Society

Members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Maestro Eugene Kohn, conductor

A B O U T   WQXR

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