A Day At The Opera 2

After speeches by Metropolitan Opera general manager Joseph Volpe, Metropolitan Opera Association managing director Rise Stevens, and tenor Luciano Pavarotti, US Postal Service Vice President for Engineering William Dowling dedicated the stamps. He noted that the last time he had filled this role had been for the Arturo Toscanini stamp at New York's Carnegie Hall "so I've established a very high standard for myself."

The stamps were unveiled. Looking on, from left to right, Barry Tucker, son of Richard Tucker; singers Luciano Pavarotti and Robert Merrill; Dowling; Volpe; singer Roberta Peters; Teri Tibbett, granddaughter of Lawrence Tibbett; and Elayne Duke, president of the Rosa Ponselle Foundation and a friend of that singer.
(Click any picture for a hi-resolution view)

The family members and then Luciano Pavarotti were presented with plaques of the new stamps by US Postal Service Vice President for Engineering William Dowling. Looking on in this photo is Metropolitan Opera general manager Joseph Volpe.

What would a first day ceremony for opera stamps be without singing? Unusual, but that was almost the case on September 10th at the Metropolitan Opera. It wasn't until the end of the ceremony that music was heard: A selection from "Don Giovanni" performed by Jennifer Welch and Alfred Walker of the Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Development Program. They were accompanied by pianist John Churchwell.

The Metropolitan Opera building was flanked by two mobile post office trucks selling the new stamps.

After the ceremony, many of dignitaries sat at a table to sign autographs. Luciano Pavarotti was not among them, however, but Robert Merrill (not shown) and Rise Stevens (in the foreground) were.

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