
Galas & Special Events
Please join us for gala premieres and other events during the 2022-23 season.
For more information, please call 212.362.6000.
Terence Blanchard’s Champion
Gala Premiere
Monday, April 10, 2023 8PM ET
Following the historic Met premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones to open the 2021–22 season, the company raises the curtain on another compelling opera by the six-time Grammy-winning composer, directed once again by James Robinson. The cast is led by bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as the young boxer Emile Griffith and bass-baritone Eric Owens as the fighter’s older self, and also features soprano Latonia Moore and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, with Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium. Take part in the gala festivities with cocktails and dinner before the performance.
To purchase gala tickets, please contact the Special Events Office at (212) 870-7492 or specialevents@metopera.org.
An opera by Terence Blanchard
Libretto by Michael Cristofer
Commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera. Originally commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, co-commissioned by Jazz St. Louis.
A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago
Production a gift of C. Graham Berwind, III and Lynne and Richard Pasculano
Additional funding from the Edgar Foster Daniels Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Francis Goelet Trusts, The National Endowment for the Arts, and Ann Ziff
- 6:00PM Cocktail Reception
- 6:30PM Gala Dinner
- 8:00PM Performance
- Intermission Champagne and Dessert
- Black Tie
Champion Gala Committee
GALA CHAIRMAN
Leonard S. Coleman, Jr.
GALA CO-CHAIRMEN
C. Graham Berwind, III
Betsy and Ed Cohen
Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin
Sheila Johnson and William T. Newman, Jr.
Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer and Joseph Neubauer
Ann Ziff
PRINCIPAL BENEFACTOR
Sandra and Steven van der Zwan
PRINCIPAL SPONSORS
Judith-Ann Corrente
Dr. Stirling and Alaina Larkin
Barbara Tober
SPONSORS
The Rev. Sarah Buxton-Smith and The Rev. Dr. Stephen J.S. Smith
Lee Wolf and Jordan Cohen
Ms. Diane Kolodziej
Dominique Laffont
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin N. Pyne
Thomas Roush and LaVon Kellner
Barbara Walkowski
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
John Pershing
Committee as of March 2, 2023