"This
year's Gift of
Music gala
celebrated individuals who have made significant
contributions to the artistic community," said
OSL
President and Executive Director Katy
Clark. "Mark has staged some of the most remarkable
dance productions of our generation, and OSL deeply
appreciates his unwavering commitment to live music. Emme
and Jonathan are beloved friends of our orchestra,
dedicating their time, expertise, and resources to many
areas of the organization, from development to education. We
all look forward to honoring these achievements with an
evening of dinner, music, and dancing."
Mark Morris formed
the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) in 1980, and has since
created close to 150 works for the company. He
has directed and choreographed 18 ballets since 1986 and his
work has been performed by companies worldwide. His
collaborations with OSL span more than two decades and
include Prokofiev's Romeo
and Juliet at
Lincoln Center and performances at the Mostly Mozart
Festival, among others. Morris also works extensively in
opera, directing and choreographing productions for the
Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, English National
Opera, and The Royal Opera.
Noted for his musicality, Morris has been
described as 'undeviating in his devotion to music' (The
New Yorker). He began conducting performances for MMDG
in 2006 and has since conducted at The International
Festival of Arts and Ideas, Lincoln Center, and BAM
(Brooklyn Academy of Music). Morris was named a Fellow of
the MacArthur Foundation in 1991, and has received
the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for
Lifetime Achievement (2007) and the Leonard Bernstein
Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in
Society (2010). He opened the Mark Morris Dance Center in
Brooklyn in 2001 to provide a home for his company,
rehearsal space for the dance community, outreach programs
for children and seniors, and dance classes for students of
all ages and abilities.
Gala honorees Emme
and Jonathan Deland are
devoted to OSL and other institutions that contribute to New
York City's health, welfare, and culture. Emme works at
NewYork Presbyterian Hospital as senior vice president and
chief strategy officer, responsible
for developing clinical and corporate strategic plans. Emme
is on the board of the Emily Davie and Joseph S. Kornfeld
Foundation, through which she was introduced to Orchestra of
St. Luke's. Jonathan is co-chief of the Foot and Ankle
Service at Hospital for Special Surgery, and is professor of
clinical orthopedic surgery at Weill Cornell Medical
College. He
has been named to the Best Doctors in America and Best
Doctors in New York lists by New
York Magazine for
the past three years.
Emme and Jonathan collectively serve on the boards of the
Zeitz and Kornfeld Foundations, Planned Parenthood of New
York City, Public Health Solutions, the American Memorial
Hospital in Reims, France, and the Library of America, as
well as on the advisory board of MMGD's Dance for PD®
program. The Delands award will be presented by their friend
and gala chairman Frances Resheske, who is senior vice
president of public affairs at Con Edison.
Bringing his characteristic wit and charm,
Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor David
Hyde Pierce hosted
the Gift of
Music gala.
Pierce is perhaps best known for playing Niles on the sitcom Frasier.
Since 2004, he has focused on Broadway and theatre, earning
a Tony Award for 2007's Curtains,and
a Tony nomination for his starring role in Vanya
and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which he recently
returned to direct at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.
The musical portion of the evening was led by OSL Principal
Conductor Pablo
Heras-Casado in
his third Gift
of Music performance.
He will conduct OSL in a program of Mozart and Catalani
arias with star soprano Angela Meade, as well as selections
from the ballet music from Mozart's Idomeneo. Meade
is the recipient of the 2012 Beverly Sills Artist Award from
the Metropolitan Opera and the 2011 Richard Tucker Award,
and was named 2013 Artist of the Year by Washington National
Opera. She is a regular performer with OSL at Caramoor Music
Festival, returning this summer for the title role in
Donizetti's Lucrezia
Borgia.The evening will conclude with OSL performing
Strauss waltzes to accompany dancing in the Grand Ballroom a
longtime tradition at Gift
of Music galas.