Somebody Expects Pan Cogito To Be Interested In A National Endowment For The Arts Opera Honors Gala In Which The Guests Come In Business Attire?

Dear Pan,

The National Endowment for the Arts and
Washington National Opera
invite you to toast the inaugural
2008 Opera Honors Awards and Honorees

Friday, October 31, at 8:00 p.m.
Sidney Harman Hall at the Harman Center for the Arts

The NEA Opera Honors Awards will be presented to Leontyne Price, soprano; Carlisle Floyd, composer; Richard Gaddes, general director; and James Levine, music director/conductor.

Tickets Available October 31!

'Although officially sold out, unclaimed reserved seats will be distributed on the day of performance beginning at 7:30pm at the Harman Center for the Arts box office located at 610 F Street NW.

After those seats are distributed, 200 additional tickets will be available for viewing a live video feed in the Forum and other locations in the Harman Center. These tickets will be distributed beginning at 7:35 p.m. at the Harman Center for the Arts box office. All tickets are complimentary.

Washington National Opera (WNO) and OPERA America will host the evening that includes video portraits of the artists and performances by soprano Sondra Radvanovsky and WNO's Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists, accompanied by the WNO Orchestra. The evening's presenters are mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, NEA Chairman Dana Gioia, OPERA America President and CEO Marc A. Scorca, and WNO General Director Plácido Domingo. Each honoree will be present to receive their award. The evening ends with champagne for all attendees.

For more information, go to www.neaoperahonors.org or www.harmancenter.org.

Dress is business attire.'

*

[Pan was secretly hoping that Plácido Domingo, Leontyne Price, and James Levine would come to Washington, D.C. dressed as Ze' do Caixao (Coffin Joe), Terezinha, and Antonio.]