Ed Waffle Posted June 8, 2003 Share Posted June 8, 2003 Not sure if this has been posted--I didn't see it in links--so here it is. More intriging than the Met removing his name from the Grand Tier and the Opera House, the article also details that Placedo Domingo fronted 2 million dollars to cover pledges that Vilar had made to the Washington Opera and the the L. A. Opera, but hasn't heard from Vilar since then. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/07/arts/mus...c/07MET.html?th Link to comment
Alexandra Posted June 8, 2003 Share Posted June 8, 2003 Thanks for posting that, Ed. It's of interest to D.C. residents, too -- Vilar had given generously to Kennedy Center programs. Link to comment
mbjerk Posted June 8, 2003 Share Posted June 8, 2003 I feel sorry for Villar. His heart was definitely in the right place, but his business went belly up and he was caught having to fulfill pledges without funds. Kennedy Center had the right approach to this, keeping silent and respectful. I guess the MET counted its "checkens" before they cashed. In any case Villar made a splash, forwarded the idea that arts administrators need to be educated and advertised that the arts were as valuable as other causes. All of this received a great amount of press, which brought the arts to the public's attention. Link to comment
carbro Posted June 8, 2003 Share Posted June 8, 2003 I'm a little more cynical about Vilar's motives. Not to say that he was not sincerely committed to supporting the arts, but I think his greater motive was self-glorification. (See Selling of ABT thread.) I worked for a family foundation that supported programs in universities. There were offers to name things (including buildings) in honor of the patriarch, who resisted the offers. Many tens of millions of dollars later some scholarship programs incorporate the name of the foundation, but at his insistence not his own, and one single chair (at the university in his home city), bears his name. It took much cajoling to get him to accept even that honor. This is a model of giving that to me reflects honest generosity. Gosh, Placido always seemed to be a real mensch. Good to know I was not swayed by his handsome face and gorgeous voice.;) Link to comment
Maxi3D Posted June 8, 2003 Share Posted June 8, 2003 I guess the arts world just yet another one of the casualties when the tech stock bubble exploded. People at the Met and LA Opera should have seen this coming. In an article in LA times it stated that both Domingo and Vilar were longtime friends. Boy that gotta hurt some. Here's the link: http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/c...ith7jun07.story Link to comment
dirac Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 I think you're right, Maxi 3D. The arts world got carried away like virtually everyone else, and assumed they'd have money that turned out not to be there. Live and learn. (Although I seem to recall that there were questions of the who-is-this-guy-really nature about Vilar from the beginning. I could be mistaken.) carbro, I agree that the example you've given is indeed a model of the modest, self-effacing philanthropist, but it's a reality of the art world that people often give money in order to bring attention to themselves, see their names on stuff, and climb the social ladder. People will be people, I guess. Link to comment
Mel Johnson Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 It's Yiddish, grace. It means "someone set apart by unusual intelligence or high moral fiber or both". It's a great compliment to be called a "mensch". Link to comment
grace Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 thanks, mel - it just doesn't 'look' like it's a complimentary word, somehow. Link to comment
abatt Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 A little bit of news on Alberto Vilar. His curfew was lifted so that he could go to the opera to see Onegin. Ticket given to him by his pal Valery Gergiev. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/12/nyregion/for-a-night-a-convicted-donor-can-stay-late-at-the-opera.html Link to comment
Birdsall Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 I think I read that the mother of Phoebe Cates (an actress that had a big splash in her teen and early years) brought Vilar's securities fraud to the government's attention. She discovered he was using her money for his own personal use. He was not squeaky clean by any means judging from all the articles I have read. His desire to have his name on everything he paid for did seem like self glorification as Carbro says above. There is no doubt that he had a love of opera and helped a lot of opera companies for a while (and had replicas of the Met's chandeliers made for his huge apartment in NY according to one Opera News article I read years ago), and I remember that period, and it seemed too good to be true. Someone willing to spend millions at multiple opera companies around the world? In my opinion, there was something odd going on, and then it burst like a bubble. Link to comment
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