Internationally Renowned Mezzo-Soprano

Multi-Grammy Award winner and 2018 Olivier Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, Kansas-born Joyce DiDonato entrances audiences across the globe, and has been proclaimed “perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation” by the New Yorker. With a voice “nothing less than 24-carat gold” according to the Times, Joyce has soared to the top of the industry both as a performer and a fierce advocate for the arts, gaining international prominence in operas by Handel and Mozart, as well as through her wide-ranging, acclaimed discography. She is also widely acclaimed for the bel canto roles of Rossini and Donizetti.

Joyce’s 2020/21 season began with performances of her baroque-inspired programme My Favourite Things with Il Pomo d’Oro in Bayreuth and Valencia, as well as a breathtaking recital for the Met Stars Live in Concert series. Further season highlights will include performances of Joyce’s Songplay programme with Craig Terry in Oviedo, Madrid and Barcelona, and Werther in concert under Donald Runnicles at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. This year Joyce is also delighted to be an Artist Ambassador in partnership with the classical music streaming service, Primephonic.

Joyce was Carnegie Hall’s 19/20 Perspectives Artist with appearances including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Muti and Schubert’s Winterreise in recital with Nézet-Séguin and a. The season also held the final tour of her album In War & Peace with Il Pomo d’Oro to South America culminating in Washington DC, and a tour with the Orchestre Métropolitain under Nézet-Séguin.

In opera, Joyce’s recent roles include Agrippina at the Metropolitan Opera and in a new production at the Royal Opera House, Didon Les Troyens at the Vienna State Opera; Sesto, Cendrillon and Adalgisa Norma at the Metropolitan Opera, Agrippina in concert with Il Pomo d’Oro under Maxim Emelyanchev; Sister Helen Dead Man Walking at the Teatro Real Madrid and London’s Barbican Centre; Semiramide at the Bavarian State Opera and Royal Opera House, and Charlotte Werther at the Royal Opera.

Much in demand on the concert and recital circuit, Joyce has held residencies at Carnegie Hall and at London’s Barbican Centre, toured extensively in the United States, South America, Europe and Asia and appeared as guest soloist at the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms. Other concert highlights include the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and the Accademia Santa Cecilia Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra USA under Sir Antonio Pappano.

An exclusive recording artist with Erato/Warner Classics, Joyce’s award-winning discography includes Les Troyens which in 2018 won the Recording (Complete Opera) category at the International Opera Awards, the Opera Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards and Gramophone’s Recording of the Year.  An extensive recording artist, other recent albums include Songplay, In War & Peace which won the 2017 Best Recital Gramophone Award, Stella di Napoli, her Grammy-Award-winning Diva Divo and Drama Queens. Other honours include the Gramophone Artist of the Year and Recital of the Year awards, and an induction into the Gramophone Hall of Fame.

 

Managing Director, International Monetary Fund

Kristalina Georgieva currently serves as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, a position she was selected for on September 25, 2019 and has served as since October 1, 2019.

Before joining the Fund, Ms. Georgieva was CEO of the World Bank from January 2017 to September 2019, during which time she also served as Interim President of the World Bank Group for three months.

Previously, Ms. Georgieva helped shape the agenda of the European Union while serving as European Commission Vice President for Budget and Human Resources. In this capacity she oversaw the EU’s €161 billion (US $175bn) budget and 33,000 staff, as well as the EU’s response to the Euro Area debt crisis and the 2015 refugee crisis. Before that, she was Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, managing one of the world’s largest humanitarian aid budgets.

Ms. Georgieva began her career in public service at the World Bank as an environmental economist in 1993. After serving for 17 years, and in many senior positions, including Director for Sustainable Development, Director for the Russian Federation, Director for Environment, and Director for Environment and Social Development for the East Asia and Pacific Region, her career culminated in her appointment as Vice President and Corporate Secretary in 2008. In this role, she served as the interlocutor between the World Bank Group’s senior management, its Board of Directors, and its shareholder countries.

Ms. Georgieva serves on many international panels including as co-Chair of the Global Commission on Adaptation, and as co-chair of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing. She has authored and co-authored over 100 publications on environmental and economic policy, including textbooks on macro- and microeconomics.

Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1953, Ms. Georgieva holds a Ph.D in Economic Science and a M.A. in Political Economy and Sociology from the University of National and World Economy, Sofia, where she was an Associate Professor between 1977 and 1993. During her academic career, she was visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 2010, she was named “European of the Year” and “Commissioner of the Year” by European Voice in recognition for her leadership in the EU’s response to humanitarian crises. In October 2020, she received the Atlantic Council’s Distinguished International Leadership Award in acknowledgement of exceptional and distinctive contributions during her career of public service.

Former President, Carnegie Corporation of New York

Vartan Gregorian passed away unexpectedly on April 15, 2021. He was the twelfth president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, a grant-making institution founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1911.  He assumed that position in 1997, and previously served as president of Brown University and as president of The New York Public Library.

He was born in Tabriz, Iran, of Armenian parents, receiving his elementary education in Iran and his secondary education in Lebanon.  In 1956 he entered Stanford University, where he majored in history and the humanities, graduating with honors in 1958.  He was awarded a Ph.D. in history and humanities from Stanford in 1964.

Gregorian taught European and Middle Eastern history at San Francisco State College, the University of California at Los Angeles, and the University of Texas at Austin.  In 1972 he joined the University of Pennsylvania faculty and was appointed Tarzian Professor of History and professor of South Asian history.  He was founding dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania in 1974 and later became its twenty-third provost.

He was the recipient of numerous fellowships, honorary degrees and awards including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the American Academy of the Institute of Arts and Letters’ Gold Medal for Service to the Arts, the National Humanities Medal, and the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civil award. In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed him to serve on the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. He was decorated by the French, Italian, Austrian, Portuguese and Armenian governments.  

He served on several boards at the time of his passing, including the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, The American Academy in Berlin, and the Library of Alexandria.   

Gregorian was the author of The Road To Home: My Life And Times; Islam: A Mosaic, Not A Monolith; and The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan, 1880-1946, 

Internationally Renowned Pianist

One of the most exciting and accomplished classical musicians of our time, Lang Lang began playing the piano at the age of three. He has since then performed for world leaders and worked with the world’s best orchestras and maestros, and has used his art and his ability to inspire audiences around the world to help improve the lives of children everywhere.

In October 2008, he launched the Lang Lang International Music Foundation with a mission to encourage music performance at all levels as a means of social development for youth. The Foundation operates with the conviction that music, as a universal language, can help bridge cultural gaps and unite communities.

Lang Lang has been widely recognized for his commitment to mobilizing support for improving the lives of children around the world, most notably as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. In 2013, he was designated by the Secretary General of the United Nations as a Messenger of Peace, focusing on global education and fostering global citizenship. He currently serves on the Weill Music Institute Advisory Committee as part of Carnegie Hall’s educational program and is the youngest member of Carnegie Hall’s Artistic Advisory Board.

Lang Lang has received numerous honors and awards in recognition of his distinguished service to music, including the highest prize awarded by the Ministry of Culture in the People’s Republic of China; the highest German civilian honor, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany; and the Medal of the Order of Arts and Letters, awarded by the French Minister of Culture. He has also been recognized for his humanitarian and philanthropic efforts, and has contributed and worked to raise funds and awareness for earthquake relief efforts in China and Haiti.

Reed David Auerbach, IF '81, MIA ’82, ’85LAW and Adrienne Petite Auerbach

Mastercard International, Inc.

Juan Navarro

Michael Brandmeyer IF ’94, '94BUS, MIA ’95 and Polly Brandmeyer

Anla Cheng Kingdon and Mark E. Kingdon ’71CC

Michael M. Roberts MIA ’86 and Patricia Roberts

Romita Shetty MIA ’89 and Nasser Ahmad

Joan E. Spero MIA ’68, ’73GSAS and C. Michael Spero

Amy L. Abrams IF ’78, MIA ’80, ’80BUS and David C. Abrams

Charles S. Adams, Jr. MIA ’83 and Georgia Serevetas Adams MIA ’83

Anonymous

Lisa Coleman MIA '85

Carnegie Corporation of New York

Anuradha T. Jayanti

Edward S. Knight and Amy S. Knight

Robert I. Kopech ’76BUS, MIA ’77

KPMG

Jian Ni MIA ’01 and Zhe Sun

David B. Ottaway IF ’63, '63GSAS, '72GSAS and Marina S. Ottaway ’74GSAS

Amelia E. Prounis-Raftopoulos MIA ’87 and Haralambos Raftopoulos

Juan A. Sabater

Tiffany & Co. / Anisa Kamadoli Costa ’97BC, MIA ’98 and Len Costa MIA ’98

Ruben Vardanyan

Hongyuan Wang MPA ’04

Lan Yang MIA ’96

Hussain Aga Khan

Hana Debs Akkari and Nabil Akkari

Mir M. Alam MPA '20

Jeremy Amias / Standard Chartered Bank

Lisa S. Anderson ’76GSAS, ’77GSAS, ’81GSAS and Marc S. Rauch ’69CC

Mulan Ashwin MIA ’93

Magzhan M. Auezov MIA ’98

Roger R. Baumann IF ’84, MIA ’85 and Julie Baumann

Sophia Brenner and Michael Brenner

H. Eric Chiang MIA '99, '99BUS

Abu Bakar Chowdhury

Terence Culver '20BUS

Juan Pablo del Valle and Bárbara Fernández Gutiérrez

Judith Edstrom MIA ’72, IF '72

Habib M. Enayetullah MPA ’91

Alexander Georgiadis MIA ’95

Susie Gharib MIA ’74 and Fereydoun F. Nazem ’75BUS

Richard Goldberg and Jill Miller

Coco Han

Zach He ’12CC and Claire Jin MIA ’19, ’19BUS

Richard B. Jones MIA ’80

Shinta Widjaja Kamdani ’89BC

Jeehae Kim

John R. MacArthur ’78CC and Renee N. Khatami

Peter N. Marber MIA '87

Catherine Mulder MIA ’81

Hiroko Murase MIA ’91 and Satoru Murase

Takeshi Niinami and Yuki Niinami

John H. Porter IF ’82, MIA ’83

Daniel Rose and Joanna Rose

Robert Rosenkranz and Alexandra Munroe

Peter Sang MPA '10

Sandra Shahinian MIA ’76

Gregory A. Stoupnitzky

Bela Szigethy IF ’80, MIA ’81 and Alice Szigethy

Melisa Tapan MIA ’20

Colleen Toomey

Seran M. Trehan MIA ’83

Shirley F. Wang ’93BUS

Tracy Wilson MIA ’86

Annie Y. Zhou MPA ’13