Page 15 - Boca Exposure - February '24

Boca Exposure, Page 15
Palm Beach Opera Toasts To 2024 Gala Chairs

And Benefactors At Private Palm Beach Home

In an exciting overture to its upcoming 2024 Gala, Palm
Beach Opera (PBO) honored its Gala Chairs and Host
Committee with an intimate performance in the Palm Beach
home of Paulette Koch on Jan. 6.
Koch welcomed 65 guests and thanked her cochairs Judy
Harpel and Diane Sculley and the hardworking gala council
and host committee for their tireless efforts in creating what
will be a truly outstanding gala.
The Palm Beach Opera Gala at The Breakers Palm Beach
on Feb. 5 will showcase an exclusive recital by mezzo-
soprano Isabel Leonard, a three-time Grammy Award-
®
winner who made her PBO debut as Musetta in La Bohème
in the company’s historic 2021 festival.
Guests enjoyed dinner, cocktails, and passed hors
d’oeuvres. PBO Chair of the Board of Directors David Genser Sanford and Isanne Fisher Robert and Julie Desnick Rebecca and Randell Doane Lee and Jeffrey Alderton
reminded guests that the opera’s largest annual fundraiser not
only supports the company’s world-class productions but
also its three-tiered artist training programs as well as the
numerous education and community engagement initiatives
provided at no cost across Palm Beach County.
General and Artistic Director David Walker recognized
the Gala Host Committee, Gala Council and Gala Chairs and
thanked the evening’s hosts Paulette Koch, Judy and Jerry
Kaufman and Joan and David Genser.
“From our transformative studio training program for high
school students and the Cornelia T. Bailey Apprentice Artist
Program that creates a bridge to a professional career for recent
music school graduates to our acclaimed Benenson Young
Artists Program that receives applications from emerging artists
around the world, your support of the gala is a commitment to
the future of Palm Beach Opera,” Walker said. Charles and Merrill Gottesman Joan and David Genser John and Diane Sculley Judy and Jerry Kaufman
Walker then introduced three of this season’s Benenson
Young Artists: Maria Vasilevskaya, Devin Eatmon and Cloe Susan and Paul Efron, Wendy and Elliott Eisen, Isanne and an international standard of excellence and to enriching the
SanAntonio. Accompanied by pianist Shelby Rhoades, the Sanford Fisher, Ann and Robert Fromer, Joan Genser, Merrill life of the communities it serves with a diverse offering of
talented singers performed arias from Carmen, La Bohème, and Charles Gottesman, Judy Harpel, Dana and Robert educational programs. Founded in 1961, the fully professional
La Traviata, and the operetta Das Land des Lächelns to the Iommazzo, Judy and Jerry Kaufman, Diane and John Sculley, Palm Beach Opera presents main stage performances at the
delight of the guests. Jane and John Shalam and Roseanne and Dennis Williams. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach
Others attending the event included Lee and Jeffrey For information on Palm Beach Opera’s 2024 Gala, please and is a proud member of OPERA America and the Cultural
Alderton, David Brodsky, Erika and David Brown, Julie and contact Clarissa Stoney at cstoney@pbopera.org. Council of Palm Beach County.
Robert Desnick, Rebecca and Randell Doane, Judi Donoff, Palm Beach Opera is dedicated to producing live opera at Photos by Capehart Photography

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