Richard Tucker Music Foundation Winners to Launch the Met's 2013 Summer Recital Series, 7/16

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation is happy to note that all three of the singers chosen to launch the Metropolitan Opera's fifth annual free Summer Recital Series are recent Foundation awardees. Presenting a program of arias, duets, and show-tunes at the Central Park SummerStage onTuesday, July 16, the singers include two winners of the Foundation's top prize, the coveted Richard Tucker Award: mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, winner of this year's award, and tenor Stephen Costello, who was similarly honored in 2009. They will be joined by soprano Erin Morley, recipient of a 2013 Richard Tucker Career Grant, and accompanied on piano by Bradley Moore. Event highlights include duets from Lucia di Lammermoor, LaPérichole, and Der Rosenkavalier, crowned by favorite numbers from West Side Story. All four artists will reunite on Friday, July 19, to reprise their program for a second free outdoor performance at Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

This good news comes at an auspicious time, because Richard Tucker - the legendary Brooklyn-born tenor for whom the Foundation is named - would have celebrated his 100th birthday on August 28 of this year, and the Foundation looks forward to marking this milestone in a number of ways. On the day itself, events will be presented citywide and online as part of the Foundation's second annual Richard Tucker Day. Two limited-edition boxed sets of the tenor's own recordings will be released by Sony Classical on August 6: the ten-disc Opera Recital Album Collection and 14-disc Song and Cantorial Album Collection both contain a wealth of material that has never previously been issued on CD. And a special Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala will honor the centenary at Avery Fisher Hall on November 17, when many of the biggest names in opera will gather together to celebrate. Singers already scheduled to appear at the event include Tucker Award-winners Renée Fleming, Joyce DiDonato, Angela Meade, Ailyn Pérez, Matthew Polenzani, and Stephen Costello.

Founded in 1975, the Richard Tucker Music Foundation is a non-profit cultural organization dedicated to perpetuating the artistic legacy of the great tenor by nurturing the careers of talented American opera singers and bringing opera into the community. 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. Further information about the foundation's work is available at www.richardtucker.org.

Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Series

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

Stephen Costello, tenor - 2009 Richard Tucker Award-winner

Erin Morley, soprano - 2013 Richard Tucker Career Grant-recipient

With Bradley Moore, piano

July 16, 8pm: Central Park SummerStage, New York, NY

July 19, 7pm: Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1, New York, NY

Program:

Rossini: "Una voce poco fa" from Il barbiere di Siviglia (Leonard)

Rossini: "La fioraia fiorentina" from Péchés de vieillesse, Book I (Leonard)

Gounod: "Salut! demeure chaste et pure" from Faust (Costello)

Strauss: Presentation of the Rose from Der Rosenkavalier (Morley & Leonard)

Donizetti: "Ah! mes amis" from La fille du régiment (Costello)

Donizetti: "Chacun le sait" from La fille du régiment (Morley)

Offenbach: "Tu n'est pas beau, tu n'est pas riche" from La Périchole (Leonard & Costello)

Mozart: "Batti, batti o bel Masetto" from Don Giovanni (Leonard)

Donizetti: "Sulla tomba che rinserra" from Lucia di Lammermoor (Morley & Costello)

Mozart: "Parto, parto, ma tu ben mio" from La clemenza di Tito (Leonard)

Gounod: "Ah! lève-toi, soleil!" from Roméo et Juliette (Costello)

Offenbach: "Les oiseaux dans la charmille" from Les contes d'Hoffmann (Morley)

Verdi: "Questa o quella" from Rigoletto (Costello)

Valverde: Clavelitos (Leonard)

Bernstein: "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story (Morley)

Bernstein: "One Hand, One Heart" from West Side Story (Leonard & Costello)

Bernstein: "Tonight" from West Side Story (Leonard & Costello)

For more information, visit www.richardtucker.org, www.facebook.com/RichardTuckerMusicFoundation and twitter.com/RTuckerMusicFdn.