HONOREES

Marcia Clay Hamilton (HonDMA ’23)

Marcia Clay Hamilton’s career spans nearly four decades and includes positions of leadership in both corporate and small companies, community organizations, and entrepreneurial enterprises, including Lyrics Unlimited, which she founded. An ardent believer in the power of music to enrich lives and enhance learning, she serves as a Trustee of Manhattan School of Music and member of the School’s Executive Committee. A former Board member of the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra and founding member of the Greenwich Music Festival, she also serves as an advisor to the Greenwich Young Artists Philharmonic and Greenwich Pen Women, a branch of the Washington D.C.-based National League of American Pen Women, a group of professional women writers, artists, and musicians. An advocate of making music part of the core curriculum at all grade levels, she and her husband Don have supported this initiative at the leadingedge Gateway School in New York City and in both the Greenwich and Stamford, Connecticut public school systems. Marcia received her BA in English Literature and Urban Studies from Wheaton College and an MBA from the London Business School. Introduced to MSM through her daughter Alexandra (BM ’08), Marcia joined the Board of Trustees in 2010.

Ed Lowenthal (HonDMA ’23)

For more than 40 years, Ed Lowenthal has held leadership roles in real estate finance, acquisition, and development in both public and private entities. He founded Wellsford Strategic Partners, a private investment firm; Wellsford Residential Property Trust, a New York Stock Exchange listed multifamily real-estate investment trust; and Wellsford Real Properties, an American Stock Exchange listed real-estate merchant banking company. He served as Director of REIS, a real-estate information and analytics provider, until his retirement in 2012, and until 2022 was Director of Omega Healthcare Investors, a real-estate investment trust that provides financing and capital solutions to skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. He was Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of American Campus Communities, the nation’s largest developer, owner, and manager of high-quality student housing communities. A lifelong lover of music, especially jazz, Ed has served as a trustee of Manhattan School of Music since 2002 and chairs the Executive and Finance Committees. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Parlance Chamber Concerts. He earned a BA from Case Western Reserve University and co-chaired the University’s College of Arts and Sciences Visiting Committee. He earned a JD from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was an editor of the Georgetown Law Journal.

Hosts

Richard Gaddes (HonDMA ’17)

Richard Gaddes has spent most of his professional life guiding and raising the profile of two important American companies, the Santa Fe Opera, from which he recently retired as general director, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Born in Wallsend, England, and now a permanent resident of the United States, Gaddes studied at London’s Trinity College of Music. In the 1960s, he launched a program of lunchtime concerts by young musicians at Wigmore Hall, an initiative that is emblematic of a career spent championing young singers. In 1969, at the invitation of Santa Fe Opera founder John Crosby, he became the company's artistic administrator. He founded the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 1976 and ran it until 1985, but remained a consultant to Santa Fe. He returned there full-time in 1994 and later succeeded John Crosby as general director. At both companies, Gaddes became known not only for his imaginative productions and casting, but for programming adventurous repertoire, building audiences, and being the first to spot young stars. A former vice president of Opera America, he has served on many arts boards and is, at present, a member of the board of directors of the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. His honors include the National Institute for Music Theatre Award and the Young Audiences’ Cultural Achievement Award.

Melissa Wegner (MM ’05)

As Executive Director of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and the Laffont Competition, Melissa Wegner is responsible for identifying, awarding, and developing the world’s most promising operatic talent. A member of the Met’s artistic staff since 2011, she hears artists in stage and screening auditions and casts the Met’s New Opera Commissions workshops. She was the casting consultant for the opera Intimate Apparel at Lincoln Center Theater. An ambassador for Opera America’s 50th Anniversary in 2020, in 2019 she was named one of the Top 30 Professionals of the Year by Musical America and was a recipient of the Maria Callas Prize of New York from Melos International.

Ms. Wegner has adjudicated the Belvedere Competition (South Africa, Russia, Latvia), Opera’s Golden Voice (Georgia), and the Nicola Martinucci Competition (Italy). U.S. competitions include the Ades Vocal Competition, the SAI Vocal Competition, the McCammon Voice Competition, and NATSAA Competition. A faculty member of Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, she has also been visiting faculty for Bard College’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program and a frequent guest speaker and clinician at top conservatories and festivals. An active member of Opera America, Ms. Wegner holds degrees from Bard College, Manhattan School of Music, and the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam.