News
Mr. and Mrs. Sid R. Bass Donate $25 Million Dollars to The Metropolitan Opera
January 5, 2006
The Metropolitan Opera announced today that it has received a gift of $25 million dollars from Mr. and Mrs. Sid R. Bass, representing the largest single unrestricted gift paid at one time from an individual in the company’s 123-year history. This gift marks the beginning of a fundraising initiative for support of increased artistic activities and audience development projects.
In speaking of the gift, Mrs. Bass (Mercedes), who has been a managing director of The Metropolitan Opera since 1993, said, “We are thrilled to support the excellence of The Metropolitan Opera, one of New York’s greatest assets as well as a national and world wide treasure, with this gift. Our involvement with The Metropolitan Opera over the years has given us many memorable and pleasurable musical moments.”
Joseph Volpe, General Manager of The Metropolitan Opera, said, “With this gift of historic proportions, Mercedes Bass has set a new level of generosity in support of the art form and the institution she loves. I am deeply grateful to her, both personally, and on behalf of the entire Metropolitan Opera company. Her vote of confidence in our past achievements and our future artistic goals is simply the best holiday gift any of us could ask for.”
Christine F. Hunter, chairman of the board of The Met, said, “This magnificent new gift reaffirms the leadership role Mercedes and Sid Bass have long taken in supporting The Metropolitan Opera. Mercedes has given so generously of her time and expertise, always coupled with strong financial support, but this new gift confirms her stature as one of The Met’s most extraordinary Directors.”
The Met’s president and chief executive officer, William C. Morris, said, “Mercedes and Sid Bass are the kind of friends on whom the future of The Metropolitan Opera depends. This gift is particularly timely coming during the transition in management from Joseph Volpe to Peter Gelb.”
In addition to her board membership at The Met, Mrs. Bass is a member of the executive committee, and chairman of the production committee. This season, Mercedes Bass and her husband Sid R. Bass have provided leadership funding for new productions of "Roméo et Juliette" and "Mazeppa," and in recent seasons they have made leadership gifts for the company’s new productions of "Samson et Dalila," "Tristan und Isolde," "Nabucco," "Les Troyens," "Salome," and "Rodelinda." Mr. and Mrs. Bass have generously supported special events at The Met for many years. This season, Mr. and Mrs. Bass have been chairmen of the first three gala benefits: opening night, the new production premiere of "Roméo et Juliette" and the world premiere of "An American Tragedy." Mrs. Bass has also recently initiated The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall Committee to help underwrite The MET Orchestra concert series, and she and Mr. Bass serve as chairmen of this committee.
Mrs. Bass is also vice chairman and member of the executive committee of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, a director and member of the executive committee of the Van Cliburn Foundation, a trustee and member of the executive committee of Carnegie Hall, and a vice-chairman and member of the executive committee of the American Academy in Rome. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she is a member of the chairman’s council, a member of the friends of European sculpture and decorative arts, and an acquisitions fund contributor. Mrs. Bass is co-chair of the chairman’s council of the Museum of Modern Art. She is a member of the Great Performer’s circle at Lincoln Center and of the president’s circle of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Additionally, Mercedes Bass is a member of the board of trustees of the Aspen Institute, and the American Friends of Covent Garden, a member of the board of directors of the Friends of Art and Preservation in Embassies in Washington, D.C., and a member of the advisory board of the Music Associates of Aspen.