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2008 OPERA BALL CELEBRATES
AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN
* * *DETROIT, Michigan, September 5, 2008...Michigan Opera Theatre’s 22nd annual Opera Ball, celebrating African-American women, will be held Saturday, October 4, 2008, 6:00 p.m. at the Detroit Opera House. Entitled “Sacrifice, Struggle, Success: A Celebration of African-American Women,” the Opera Ball honors some of Detroit’s most noted African-American women with Michigan Opera Theatre’s largest annual fundraiser. An opulent black-tie affair, the 2008 Opera Ball is Michigan Opera Theatre’s kick-off gala to the fall opera season. Revenue from the Opera Ball is used to support the company’s main stage productions, as well as educational programs and community outreach throughout the state of Michigan and beyond, with a goal this year to raise $500,000. Sponsors for this year’s Opera Ball include Platinum Sponsor Ford Motor Company, and Gold Sponsors General Motors and Germack Pistachio Company. This fall, Michigan Opera Theatre’s 2008-09 opera season opens with the triumphant return of Richard Danielpour’s Margaret Garner at the Detroit Opera House. The world-renowned mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves is the Opera Ball’s guest of honor. Ms. Graves will reprise her title role in the opera, in which librettist Toni Morrison, the celebrated African-American author, tells the story of perhaps the ultimate struggle faced by an African-American woman, an escaped slave and mother who must decide the fate of her children: a life of slavery, or death and freedom. In addition to Denyce Graves, the Opera Ball will honor fourteen African-American women from the metro Detroit area, all of whom have made substantial contributions to the community. A complete list of honorees can be found below. Reservations for the black-tie gala are $500 per person, and include valet parking along with dinner and entertainment. Celebration sponsorships are available from $800 to $100,000; and tables for $5000. To reserve, please contact Heather Hamilton at (313) 237-3425. # # # Guest Honoree
Denyce Graves Community Honorees
Pamela G. Alexander,
Director, Community Development
Ford Motor Company Fund Patricia Bennett
Vice President, Healthcare & Government Professional Services
Compuware Corporation Monica E. Emerson
Executive Director, Corporate Diversity Office
Chrysler LLC Linda D. Forte
Senior Vice President, Business Affairs
Comerica Carol A. Goss
President & CEO
Skillman Foundation Karla Hall
Vice President
DTE Energy Foundation Kathryn B. Harrison
Vice President & Chief Public Affairs Officer
Auto Club Group Barbara J. Mahone
Executive Director, Human Resources, retired
General Motors Faye A. Nelson
President & CEO
Detroit Riverfront Conservancy Juliette Okotie-Eboh, Ph.D
Senior Vice President, Community Affairs
MGM Grand Detroit Vivian Pickard
Director, Community & Philanthropic Events
General Motors Glenda D. Price, Ph.D
President, retired
Marygrove College Shirley R. Stancato
President & CEO
New Detroit, Inc. Kimberlydawn Wisdom, M.D.
Surgeon General
State of Michigan | 
