Barbara Cook, Francis Ford Coppola Present At Opera News Awards 4/17

The complete list of presenters at the sixth annual Opera News Awards, which will take place on April 17 at The Plaza in New York City, has been announced: beloved singer Barbara Cook will present the award to tenor Jonas Kaufmann; iconic film director Francis Ford Coppola will present to conductor Riccardo Muti; legendary soprano Renata Scotto will present to soprano Patricia Racette; conductor Andrew Davis will present to soprano Kiri Te Kanawa; and award-winning playwright John Guare will present to bass-baritone Bryn Terfel. Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and Broadway favorite Patti LuPone will co-host the gala event. Always a night of extraordinary star-power and glamour, the Opera News Awards gala evening will once again bring together a bevy of New York's cultural and social luminaries.

The Opera News Awards gala will feature the celebrity presenters speaking about the awardees, as well as introducing video clips for each. Tributes to the five awardees, all of them distinguished members of the international operatic community, also feature prominently in the just-published April 2011 issue of Opera News.

The Opera News Awards were created in 2005. They recognize five individuals each year for their distinguished achievement in the field of opera. Proceeds from the gala evening on April 17 will benefit the education programs of the Metropolitan Opera Guild.

Now in its 75th anniversary season, Opera News has been published by the Metropolitan Opera Guild since 1936 and has the largest circulation of any classical music magazine in the United States. The monthly magazine is a winner of three ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards for excellence in music journalism.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management is the corporate sponsor for this year's Opera News Awards. Presenting sponsors for the Opera News Awards sweepstakes include American Airlines and the St. Regis New York, with EMI Classics as a contributing sponsor.

2010 OPERA NEWS AWARDS
Sunday, April 17 at The Plaza in New York City
Hosted by Stephanie Blythe and Patti LuPone
Awards presented by Barbara Cook, Francis Ford Coppola, Andrew Davis, John Guare, and Renata Scotto
Tickets are available through the Metropolitan Opera Guild at (212) 769-7009 or online here.

2010 Opera News Awards honorees
Jonas Kaufmann, tenor
Riccardo Muti, conductor
Patricia Racette, soprano
Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano
Bryn Terfel, bass-baritone

Previous Opera News Awards honorees:
2009: Martina Arroyo, Joyce DiDonato, Gerald Finley, Philip Glass, Shirley Verrett
2008: John Adams, Natalie Dessay, Renée Fleming, Marilyn Horne, Sherrill Milnes
2007: Olga Borodina, Stephanie Blythe, Thomas Hampson, Leontyne Price, Julius Rudel
2006: Ben Heppner, James Levine, René Pape, Renata Scotto, Deborah Voigt
2005: James Conlon, Régine Crespin, Plácido Domingo, Susan Graham, Dolora Zajick

www.operanews.com