Testimonials
Arnold Friesen
Left to right, front row: Zinka Milanov, Osie Hawkins, Risë Stevens: second row: Lodovico Oliviero, Willian Hargrave, Wellington Ezekiel (leaving on a Met tour mid 1940’s).
Dear Metropolitan Opera,
I was the personal representative of Arnold Friesen of Butterfield, Minnesota and wanted you to know something about the man who left all he owned to his beloved Metropolitan Opera.
Arnold was a small-town, bachelor plumber who got hooked on opera through the Saturday afternoon broadcasts in the 1930s. With no musical background or training, he became a passionate opera lover. Needless to say, opera lovers were not common on the prairie of southwestern Minnesota, but Arnold spread his passion to others. It was not unusual for him to take a group of eight to ten from Butterfield (population 575) to Minneapolis during the Met’s touring days, and we always sat in the first three or four rows.
Arnold traveled yearly to New York to hear opera performances at the Met before his health deteriorated. I twice accompanied him to Lincoln Center, ate at the Grand Tier and went on back-stage tours. Arnold continued to attend the Midwest auditions each spring, long after the New York trips ended.
Several years ago, he clipped out an advertisement for the Encore Society from Opera News. He was interested in perpetuating the best in opera, and so he left his entire estate to the Met as his personal legacy.
Sincerely,
If the Met has been a part of your past, be a part of its future. To learn how you can create your own legacy to the Metropolitan Opera, please call 212-870-7388.
The Encore Society
The Metopolitan Opera
Lincoln Center, New York, NY 10023
212-870-7388
e-mail: encoresociety@mail.metopera.org.