Thankful for Our Donors
We extend our sincere appreciation to all donors and acknowledge the following individuals, foundations and corporations for their generous gifts made between October 1, 2023 to May 15, 2024 in support of the Merola Opera Program.
DONORS
CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE
$30,000 & ABOVE
Yvonne and Edgar Baker Fund
Margareta and Staffan Encrantz
Kia Ora Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
PRESIDENT’S CIRCLE
$20,000–$29,999
Amazon
Jennifer and Chris Brahm
Barbara Bruser and Richard Clark
Mrs. Annina R. Demmon
Grants for the Arts
In Honor of Blanche Streeter
In Memory of Cameron Waterman
In Memory of Wanda Lee Graves
John L. Garfinkle
Ms. Anne Nunan
Bernard Osher Foundation
Ms. Amy Roth and Mr. Robert Epstein
Leslys Vedder,
in memory of James Forrest Vedder
DIAMOND CIRCLE
$12,000–$19,999
Eloise Bouye Foundation
Fitness SF
Mr. David Hugle and Mr. Haggai Niv
Bernice Lindstrom
Mr. Paul D. Nordine
Drs. Richard and Pamela Rigg
Mr. and Mrs. A. Lee Zeigler
PLATINUM CIRCLE
$5,000–$11,999
Norby Anderson
Richard Bastoni
James Scott Bays
Robert H. Beadle
Ms. Langley Brandt
Chan Family Fund of the Yolo Community Foundation
Carlyn Clause and Alexander L. Brainerd
Dr. and Mrs. William R. Crain
Tim Dattels and Kristine Johnson
Peter and Jayne Davis
Steven D. Goldby and Anita Weissberg
Mr. Gerry Goldsholle
Miss Ursula Grunfeld
James Heagy, in memory of Janey Heagy
Mary Henderson
Dr. and Mrs. John Lavorgna
Mr. John Lee
Eve and Niall Lynch
Dr. Shireen Mansouri and Mr. Shawn Delaney
James R. Meehan
Anne L. Morton
The Henry W. and Nettie Robinson Foundation
Bob and Terri Ryan
Jeannie Sack and Jordan Sachs
Sack Family Fund
Jack and Betty Schafer
Miss Dorothy Schimke
Dr. David D. Stein and Dr. Phyllis A. Kempner
Moya Verzhbinsky
Bruce and Fran Walker
Mr. Patrick Wilken and Mr. David Dickson
Ms. Faye Wilson
Susan York
Mr. and Mrs. Zderic
Stephen and Connie Zilles
Anonymous
GOLD CIRCLE
$2,500–$4,999
Five Arts Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Bialek
Jennifer Bienaime and Josh Fiedler
Dr. Phyllis B. Blair
Karen Broido
Janet Cluff
Mr. Michael Colbruno
Mrs. Antonia Cross
Drs. John and Lois Crowe
Ms. Jeanne Dorward
Roberta and Mark Emerson
Beatrice and Paul Gomory
Ms. Theresa Hallinan
Michael A. Harrison and Susan Graham Harrison
Mr. Fred Hartwick
Greer and Thayer Hopkins
Mr. Michael H. Kalkstein and Ms. Susan English
Anne and Jeffrey Katz
Karen J. Kubin
Kathe and Ben Lange
Miss Renee O. Leap
Ms. Sylvia R. Lindsey
Betty Maddux
Myron Marx and Cora Yang
Mr. Donald L. McGee
Ellen and Paul McKaskle
David Miller
Mr. Robert B. Mison
Cathy and Howard Moreland
Mrs. Pamela Murdock
Scott and Andrea Nagelson
Ms. Erika Nelson and Mr. Guy Cross
James A. Noe III
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Rudd
San Francisco Opera Guild East Bay Chapter
Mr. Steven Shladover
Ms. Jean Shuler
Dr. and Mrs. W. Conrad Sweeting
Ruth Uchimura
Mrs. Carol A. Weitz
Ms. Ann L. Williamson
Mr. Dennis Zhang
SILVER CIRCLE
$1,000–$2,499
Ms. Linda Barrett
Mr. and Mrs. Joel Bean
Adam Arthur Bier and Rachel Bier Lem
Ms. Brooke Bourland
Maria Castellucci
Raymond and Minnie Chinn
Clay and Kim Clement
Mr. Hugh J. Coughlin
Dr. James Cross and Mr. Charles Antonen
George Crow
Dr. and Mrs. Roy L. Curry
Dr. Philip and Mrs. Elayne Dauber
Mr. James F. Dean
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority – San Francisco Alumnae Chapter
Ms. Lenora Desmas
Keith Doerge
Ms. Evamarie Doering and Mr. Robert Munday
John P. and Cecelia G. Eurich
Aaron Fan
Mr. Peter Felleman
Barbara B. Friede
Geoffrey and Marcia Green
Joseph H. Harris Jr., in memory of Joseph H. Harris and Margaret A. Harris
Mr. and Mrs. David Hartley
Wilma Horwitz
Dr. Hing On Hsu
Ms. Andrea G. Julian
Monique Kaufman
Ms. Jean Kellogg
Drs. Joan B. and James Kelly
Mr. Sven Kjaersgaard
Barbara Graham Kreissler
Joan Shelbourne Kwansa
Mr. Roy Levin and Ms. Jan Thomson
Mr. William Lokke
Yvonne Marsh
Trey and Amie McFee
John and Tessa Melvin
Toby and Susan Mumford
Victoria Nakamura
David and Marilyn Nasatir
National Philanthropic Trust
Ms. Susan K. Prather
Ramchandra Rajeshinde
Mr. and Mrs. John Renard
John and Judith
Dr. Andrew Rombakis
San Francisco Opera Guild Marin Chapter
Carl Schaper
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Shoemaker
Megan Silletti
David L. and Barbara G. Sloss
Roselyne Chroman Swig
Jim and Elisabeth Warren
Mr. Kimberly M. Webb and Mr. Richard R. Rossi
Mr. Christopher E. Wiseman and Mr. Eric W. Sleigh
Ms. Shirley Woo and Mr. David Rosenfeld
Fritz and Suan Zimmer
BRONZE CIRCLE
$500–$999
Theodore and Sophie Aldrich
Mr. David N. Barnard
Miss Carol Benz
Dr. Roy C. Bergstrom
Charles and Janet Chiang
Katie Colendich
Ms. Pamela D. Ferris
Elaine Gerstler and Booker Holton
Joel Goodrich
Pierce Gould
Ms. Barbara E. Harms
Ian Hinchcliffe and Marjorie Shapiro
Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Houck
Ms. Marian Huntoon
Judit Jackovics
Ms. Nelda Kilguss
Gretchen B. Kimball
Ms. Diana Kissil and Mr. John Cullison
Norman and Helen Ann Licht
Arend Lijphart and Gisela Meyers
Ms. Eugenia Loken
Patrick McCabe
Michael McGinley
Mr. Steven L. Mendoza
Mr. and Mrs. Donald G. Michener
Dr. and Mrs. Hans Orup
Carlos Penikis
Suzanna G. Pollak
Ms. Freda Scott and Mr. Jason Danielson
Diana and Richard Shore
Prof. Alan Smith and Dr. Helen Lew
Prescott and Susy Stone
Charles Sturek
Ms. Kimberly Twesme
Jessica Vapnek
Jace Wittig
FOUNDER
$250–$499
Norman Abramson and David Beery Charitable Fund of Horizons Foundation.
Mr. and Mrs. David Anderson
Ms. Michele C. Anderson
Paul and Linda Baumann
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin
Ms. Jodie Beyer
Linda Blum
Mr. and Mrs. Bill Boeckmann
Victor P. Bonfilio, JD, PhD.
Mr. Bruce Bowen and Ms. Junona Jonas
Eugene Celillo
Mr. Martin Cohn
Mr. Clifford Colvin
Mr. Robert Cook and Ms. Blanca Haendler
Mrs. Louise Costigan-Kerns
Mr. Arthur Davidson
Professor Sandra Ferrari Disner
Patricia Donohue
Karin Eames
Pat and Richard Farnsworth
Ms. Carol Ghinger
Dave Gomberg and Diana Lum
Dr. Kathleen Grant and Dr. Thomas Jackson
Dr. Erich Gruen and Ms. Ann Hasse
Mr. William Hamilton
Mr. Daniel Hersh
Gladys Kurzuk Howard
Mr. and Mrs. Stewart Hume
Dan Joraanstad
Ms. Judith Kahn
Elsie M. Kelly
Marcia Lazer
Janice Levy
Mr. Nathaniel Lopez
Kathie and Dexter Lowry
Ms. Marian Marsh
Kent Matson
Erie Mills and Thomas Rescigno
Mr. and Mrs. D. Warner North
Ms. Joan O’Leary
Brenda Osborne
Marie Louise Otto
Dr. Judy O’Young and Mr. Gregg Hauser
Ms. Mitzi Palmer
Anne P. Gray
Mrs. Helen C. Prather
Hiroko Prather
Phillip and Carla Reed
Richard Reeder
Ms. Nancy Reilly
Ms. Isabella Rosen
Jeffrey Ross
Mr. Victor Rowley and Dr. Stanley K. Yarnell
Mr. and Mrs. Michael D. Schroeder
Peter Smerd
Marcia Stein
Marie Tilson
Isabel Valdes
Judith Waterman
Dr. Ronald Wing
Frank Zepeda
Carl and Betty Zlatchin
Anonymous
BASIC
$25–$249
Mr. Robert Abra
Kenneth Adams
Michelle Adams
Ms. Joan Adler
Alan Almquist
Roger and Mary Ashley
Marilyn Balson
Cantor Roslyn Barak
Marc Barberis and Catherine Mikami
Eileen Bart
Abby Bauland
Mr. and Mrs. Kent T. Baum
Markus Beam
Martha Nell Beatty
Mr. Stephen Bertram
Davidson Bidwell-Waite and Edwin A. Waite
Veronica Breuer
Mr. and Mrs. Robert V. Brody
Mrs. Kathleen M. Brown
Dr. James Marvin Campbell
Mr. John Chiappolini
Gee Kin Chou and Victoria Fong
Leah Coffin
Ms. Carol Copperud
Mr. and Mrs. D’Andrea
Ms. Diane Daniels and Mr. Leonard Heil
Ms. Francine S. Davis
Mr. and Mrs. Harry L. E. Dennis
Judith Donahue
J. Edwin Eng Charitable Fund
Shinji Eshima
Roland Feller Violin Makers
Dr. and Mrs. Robert Fenwick
Joseph and Barbara Fredrick
Frederick Gabali
Mr. Francis Garcia
Ms. Ruth Geos
Stanley Goldsmith
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Gordon
John Gravell
Ms. Crystal Gromer and Mr. Geoffrey Smith
Ms. Sara Haber
Mrs. Bronwyn H. Hall
Charles F. Hanes
Mr. Larry Hanover
Eleanor Hansen
Joel Harris
Elisabeth Hartman
Dr. John L. Herbert
Mr. and Mrs. Melvyn Hetzel
Mr. Ephraim G. Hirsch and Ms. Dianne Fillippi
Mr. Barry D. Hovis
Mrs. Nadine Hubbell
Marcia Huberman
Ronald T. Hughes
Carlos Infante
Mr. Luther Jackson and Ms. Cecilia Deck
Ms. Loisann Jacovitz
Sean Kali-Rai
Sally Lane Kirby
Ms. Ludmila Kisseleva-Eggleton and Mr. Peter Eggleton
Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Kohs
Margaret Korte
Judith A. Lamberti
Ms. Anna Lamothe
Mr. Steven Langer
Ms. Marguerite L. Lawrence
Mr. Richard Ledon
Ms. Margaret Levitt
Ms. Donna Lim
Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Lin
Ronald and Karla Maenza
Carrie-Ann Matheson
Judith May
Mrs. Charlotte McMinn
Ms. Edith Mendez
Ms. Deborah K. Miller
Patricia Milstead
Patricia Mitchell
Gwen and James Neary
Mr. Howard R. Neckel
John Newmeyer
Helen O’Connor
Tim and Kara O’Leary
Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Oliver
Maureen Oshea
Ms. Eithne Pardini
Janet Paslin
Michael Peskin
Mr. and Mrs. Wolfgang Pohl
Hilary Power
Katie Preissner
Susan Ralston
Francene Reichel
Ms. Judith L. Reynolds
Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Robins
Mr. and Mrs. Carl Rodd
David Roe
Mr. Ronald Rogness
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Rosenberg
Gail I. Rubman
Ms. Kathleen Rydar
Ms. Cecile Scandone
Mrs. Hanne Schultz
Ms. Constance Schwarz
Mark Shattuck
Mr. Stephen Silberstein
Ms. Cherrill Spencer and Mr. Rick Leder
Jake Stensberg
Mr. Ian E. Stockdale
The Rev. Dr. and Mrs. David Stohlmann
Miss Carol Tomlinson
Thomas Tragardh and David Cortez
Fran van Bergen
Stephen Vanmeter
Mr. Albert J. Vizinho
Mary and Terry Vogt
Ms. Rosalie V. Weaver
Rosalie Wolf
Eugenie Yaryan
Anonymous
BENEFIT GALA SPONSORS
$25,000
Diane B. Wilsey
$15,000
Janet Cluff
$10,000
Robert H. Beadle
William and Gretchen
Kimball Fund
Pali Wine Co.
Amy Roth and Robert Epstein
$5,000
Camille Chan
George Crow
Bernice Lindstrom
Dr. Pamela Zell Rigg
UBS Institutional Consulting
Hon. James L. Warren
IN-KIND DONORS
Bay Area Graphics
Robert H. Beadles
Jennifer and Chris Brahm
Christian Hardy with
Culinary Excellence Catering
Jeanne Dorward
Greer and Thayer Hopkins
David Hugle and Haggai Niv
Jean Kellogg
Patti Kim and Scott Gable
Myron Marx and Cora Yang
Betty Newman
Drs. Pamela and Richard Rigg
Bob and Terri Ryan
Carol Weitz
MEROLA LEGACY
SOCIETY
Ms. Barbara Adams
Mr. and Mrs. David Anderson
James Scott Bays
Robert H. Beadle
Maurice and Mary Sue Bizzarri
Donna Blacker
Agnes Chen Brown
Joanne R. Bourland
Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Bowen
Mr. Donald Buhman and Mr. Wray Humphrey
Russell P. Chappell
Donna Chazen
Maureen Clarke
Carlyn Clause and Alexander L. Brainerd
Mr. Michael Colbruno
Mr. Jose María Condemi
Dr. James Cross and Mr. Charles Antonen
George and Susan Crow
Mr. Gerald F. Currier and Mr. Cleveland M. Smith
Peter and Jayne Davis
Mr. and Mrs. James F. Dean
Mr. Cesar L. De Joya, Jr.
MMs. Evamarie Doering and Mr. Robert Munday
Mr. Stephen Drewes
Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Dwelly
Dr. Ranveig N. Elvebakk and Mr. Thomas Farren
Roberta and Mark Emerson
Mary and Tom Foote
Mr. Thomas Foutch
Mario Fracchia
Barbara B. Friede
Joseph and Antonia Friedman
Ms. Magda Gabali
John L. Garfinkle
Ms. Pamela George
Elaine Gerstler and Booker Holton
Mrs. Rolf Gille
Dave Gomberg and Diana Lum
Beatrice and Paul Gomory
Ms. Tracy Grant and Ms. Mélanie Grant
Miss Ursula Grunfeld
Dr. and Mrs. John G. Gurley
James Heagy
Mr. David Hugle and Mr. Haggai Niv
Ms. Marian Huntoon
Dagmar L. Jamison
Ms. Joanie Juster
Mrs. Jeannie Kaufman
Ms. Jean Kellogg and Mr. Henry Tang
Drs. Joan B. and James Kelly
MEROLA OPERA PROGRAM ENDOWMENT
Kurt Herbert Adler Fund
Amici di Merola Fund
Anthony I. Balestrieri Fund
Dr. Richard J. Bartlett Memorial Fund
Jean E. Bennett, Jr. Fund
Blair Scholarship Fund
John S. Brooks Memorial Fund
Florence Bruce Fund
Bruser Family Fund
Carlton F. Bryan Fund
Betty Cable Fund
Zheng Cao Opera Fund
Cooper Fund
Darwin Memorial Fund
Reid & Peggy Dennis Fund
Grace A. Diem and Alice E. Siemons Fund
Oreste J. di Muro Fund
In Memory of Jean Donnell Fund
Phillip L. Eaton Fund
Querita Eybel Fund
Mr. & Mrs. A. Barlow Ferguson Fund
The Future Fund
Gerard Gagnon Fund
I. P. Patrick Gallagher Fund
Nicholas & Mary Ann Gannam Fund
John Garfinkle Fund
L. Henry Garland Memorial Fund
Al Garren Fund
Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund
Donna Lee Grassman Memorial Fund
Doris W. Grau Fund
Sheri Greenawald Fund
Gary Griffith Memorial Fund
Gropper Memorial Fund
Anneliese Gruenberg-Bremer Fund
Otto Guth Memorial Fund
Mark Haffner Apprentice Coach Fund
In Memory of James T. Heavey Fund
Elaine Henderson Fund
Heritage Fund
David S. Hugle & Haggai Niv Fund
Jacobs Family Trust Fund
In Memory of Peter G. Kavantjas Fund
Drs. Phyllis A. Kempner and David D. Stein Fund
Leona Gordon Lowin Memorial Fund
Lotfi Mansouri Apprentice Director Fund
Sandra McCabe Fund
Meltzer Family Memorial Fund
Merola Members Fund
Vivienne E. Miller Scholarship Fund
Albert L. Mosher & John E. McCormick AIDS Memorial Fund
Milton Mosk and Tom Foutch Fund
Vija Hovgard Nadai Fund
Verna Osborne Fund
Bernard Osher Foundation Career Grant Fund
Mary A. Powell Career Grant Fund
In Honor of Leontyne Price Fund – Chisholm Foundation
Glenn Reid Fund
Rusty and Mike Rolland Fund
Charles Rolle, MD Fund
Marie Louise Rosenberg Memorial Fund
Gerald B. Rosenstein Fund
Mary Roy Fund
Ken Ruta Fund
Schick Memorial Fund
James H. Schwabacher, Jr. Fund
Shenson Family Fund
Richard Strauss Fund
Arthur Stromberg Fund
Margery Tede Fund
Sam H. Thal Fund
Blanche Thebom Fund
Dickson Titus III Fund
Suzanne Turley and William Jackson Fund
Alma Brooks Walker Memorial Fund
Frank W. & Matilda O. Weymouth Fund
In Memory of Patricia Yakutis Fund
LIFETIME HONORARY
MEMBERS
In recognition of their invaluable contributions to the Merola Opera Program
Chris Bragg
Sheri Greenawald
Mark Morash