On Demand
Mad About Music
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Mercedes T. Bass
Mercedes Bass was recently front page news announcing a $25 million gift she and her husband Sid had just given to the Metropolitan Opera, the largest gift in the Met's 123-year history. As she reveals to host Gilbert Kaplan, "It took only a few minutes to decide."
About Mercedes T. Bass
Mercedes T. Bass, a philanthropist, is active in many nonprofit organizations. Mrs. Bass affiliations include Aspen Music School, Advisory Board; Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Association, Board of Directors Vice Chairman and Executive Committee; Van Cliburn Foundation, Board of Directors and Executive Committee; Carnegie Hall Corporation, Board of Trustees and Executive Committee; Metropolitan Opera, Board of Trustees and Executive Board; American Academy in Rome, Board of Trustees and Executive Committee Vice Chairman; American Friends of Covent Garden, Board of Trustees; Museum of Modern Art, Co-chair of the Chairman’s Council; Metropolitan Museum, Member of the Chairman’s Council. Mrs. Bass received her education in England and her B.A. Degree in Business in Switzerland.
Bass is one of the most visible New Yorkers, serving on the boards of the Met and Carnegie Hall. It would be hard to open the society page without encountering her photograph, always glamorous, always dressed in designer gowns, always leading the charge to raise money for her favorite institutions. But beyond the glamour, the wealth, even the philanthropy, is one of the most committed and passionate music lovers.
Most of her musical selections connect to personal moments in her life:
Bach's Concerto for Two Violins, which consoled her in her youth, night after night, after "an unsuccessful and sad romantic experience."
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, whose third movement is a musical portrait of her husband.
Barber's Adagio for Strings, which was partly composed at the American Academy in Rome, on whose board Bass sits.
And yes, she can fantasize about stepping out on the stage herself -- her first choice would be to sing Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata (with Placido Domingo as her Alfredo): "Actually, I would probably like to do all of it. I would like to direct it, I would like to produce it, I would like to design the costumes." Would she be one of those impossibly demanding divas? "You ask [Met general manager] Joe Volpe, he would say yes!"
