To the Editor:

We would like to thank all of those who made the 14th Annual Princeton Festival Gala on April 21 such an enjoyable and successful event. The Gala helps support our 2018 season of performing arts presentations, from opera to jazz to Broadway, and our free community educational programs, which this year include four workshops and over a dozen lectures and presentations (www.princtonfestival.org has all the details and ticket information).

Our thanks go first to the members of the Princeton community who supported us with such enthusiasm. We had the largest crowd ever, and the busiest dance floor. Gala goers really got into the spirit of the event, from the pre-dinner cocktail hour through the live and silent auctions. We were also honored to have Governor Philip Murphy join us.

Of course we are enormously grateful to our Gala chairs: Marcia Bossart, Helene Kulsrud, Anastasia Marty, and Susan Rhoda-Hansen. Their planning and hard work paid off with a wonderful event, ably executed by executive chef Chris Krail and the banquet staff at Cobblestone Creek Country Club. Susan Hoover deserves special credit for her decorations.

We also want to recognize Harry Fini’s contribution as both cocktail pianist and auctioneer. He set the perfect mood in both roles. Our guest artists, Jordan Bunshaft and Janara Kellerman, entertained everyone with wonderful songs from opera and the Broadway stage, accompanied by pianist Akiko Hosaki. Jordan will be in this season’s musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, opening June 10, while Janara takes a major role in Madama Butterfly, opening June 16.

This kind of support makes it possible for the Festival to bring the best in performing arts to central New Jersey year after year, and to conduct community enrichment programs around the region. Our sincerest thanks go to everyone involved.

Richard Tang Yuk

Executive and Artistic Director

Costa Papastephanou

Board Chair, The Princeton Festival