{"value"=>"<p>Lois Kirschenbaum (1932-2021) was widely recognized in the opera world as one of its most enthusiastic and long-standing fans. Starting in the 1950s, she was a constant presence at performances of the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Opera, and other companies, and would appear backstage regularly to meet the artists, many of whom became her friends. In addition to the Met, Kirschenbaum regularly attended other operatic and vocal performances, instrumental concerts, dance performances, and plays around New York City, and occasionally in other cities.</p> <p>Usually acquiring a ticket cheaply or for free just before performances, sometimes in standing room, Kirschenbaum brought memorabilia with her for the vocalists or dancers to sign while she conversed with them, including programs, photographs, and recordings. She also had photographs taken of her with artists she enjoyed the most. Kirschenbaum maintained an ever-growing collection of such items, particularly the programs and photographs, almost all of which were signed by vocalists or conductors. Kirschenbaum also took notes on the programs that specified the exact cast that appeared, evaluated the performances, and offered anecdotes about pre- or post-performance events. She collated and circulated information to her fellow opera fans regarding upcoming performance schedules, vocalists, and other news she acquired from the artists and other contacts in the opera and music industry.</p> <p>Kirschenbaum was born and raised an only child in Brooklyn, New York. A fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers from a young age, she was exposed to opera for the first time in the late 1950s after hearing a recording of the soprano Renata Tebaldi in a record shop. With the departure of the Dodgers for Los Angeles in 1957, Kirschenbaum focused her enthusiasm on opera and music, as well as other performing arts such as dance and theater. For decades, she worked at the International Rescue Committee as a switchboard operator, a job which allowed her to quickly spread news about last-minute scheduling and cast changes to other opera buffs.</p> <p>Kirschenbaum's performer friends included Beverly Sills, Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, Frederica von Stade, Samuel Ramey, Aprile Millo, Leonie Rysanek, Régine Crespin, and the conductor James Levine, among many others. Later in her life, she was honored at Metropolitan Opera fundraisers for her friendship and fandom.</p> <p>Kirschenbaum retired from her job in 2004. She never married or had children and was very frugal, living in a rent-controlled apartment in Manhattan, spending most spare funds on opera or other performances, and saving the rest. After Kirschenbaum died of pneumonia in 2021, her estate was revealed to be worth about $4 million, and she left $1.5 million to multiple arts organizations, including the New York City Opera, the American Ballet Theater, Carnegie Hall, and the Public Theater, as well as to organizations such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the American Foundation for the Blind (Kirschenbaum was legally blind), and the International Rescue Committee.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>The Lois Kirschenbaum papers, dating from 1955 to 2010 (bulk dates 1955-1965), document opera, music, dance, and drama performances in New York City, mainly through autographed and annotated programs and photographs. The collection also holds notes, autographed periodicals, a signed poster, and letters and memorabilia. The bulk of the collection pertains to the Metropolitan Opera (commonly referred to as the Met, or the Met Opera).</p> <p>Autographed and annotated programs for Metropolitan Opera performances, and post-performance photographs, form the heart of the collection. Nearly all of the Met programs are signed by at least one vocalist, and quite often more than one. Some are also signed by conductors, or by dancers appearing in the production. Kirschenbaum usually made at least a few notes on each program regarding details of the performance, including cast changes or performer quality. Parts of the collection were not acquired due to condition issues. As a result, the bulk of the programs date from the late-1950s to 1965, with only a few programs from later years (though good amounts are from 1976 and 2005). Some of the programs are accompanied by clippings of reviews of the performance. Kirschenbaum also produced a few typed or written notes regarding upcoming Met repertoire and featured vocalists; these date from the late-1960s and mid-1970s.</p> <p>Programs for events Kirschenbaum attended in addition to the Met include the American Opera Society, the Concert Opera Association, the New York City Opera, the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company, the San Francisco Opera, and the Sutherland-Williamson International Grand Opera Company. Not all of those programs are annotated, and Kirschenbaum may have acquired some from other opera collectors. Dance companies covered include the Bolshoi Ballet, the Leningrad Kirov Ballet (now known as the Mariinsky Ballet), the New York City Ballet, and the Royal Ballet; Kirschenbaum also saw dancers perform with the Metropolitan Opera. There are programs for New York Philharmonic concerts, and countless events of all kinds at Carnegie Hall, Lewisohn Stadium, and at smaller venues and music schools around the city, as well plays on and Off-Broadway. Some programs are arranged by venue; these encompass many different types and combinations of instrumental, choral, or vocal performances. Others are arranged by genre (opera, dance, and drama). These are for many smaller music ensembles and dance companies or ensembles, vocal recitals, and plays or musicals.</p> <p>The photographs date from 1966 to 2010, though most date from 1989 forward. Most were taken backstage at the Metropolitan Opera near the stage door, and feature Kirschenbaum with vocalists, dancers, and conductors. The dancers most often appeared in operas, but some shots were taken backstage after American Ballet Theatre performances. Nearly all the prints are signed by the subjects, with Kirschenbaum's notes on the back. In addition to the backstage snapshots, there are a few signed headshots or performance images; photos of Kirschenbaum alone or with friends; and a set of pictures of Kirschenbaum's 2004 retirement party at the International Rescue Committee.</p> <p>Opera vocalists and conductors pictured include Marcelo Alvarez, June Anderson, Charles Anthony, Marco Armiliato, Cecilia Bartoli, Kathleen Battle, Carlo Bergonzi, Richard Bernstein, Harolyn Blackwell, Angela Brown, Sandra Browne, Montserrat Caballé, Patrick Carfizzi, Régine Crespin, Samuel Cristler, Dwayne Croft, Diana Damrau, Mark Delavan, Natalie Dessay, Julianna Di Giacomo, Stephen Dickson, Joyce DiDonato, Plácido Domingo, Kallen Esperian, Maria Ewing, Franco Farina, Giuseppe Filianoti, Lauren Flanigan, Renée Fleming, Juan Diego Flórez, Mirella Freni, Elizabeth Futral, Gwynne Geyer, Marcello Giordani, Susan Graham, Denyce Graves, Anthony Dean Griffey, Derek Hammond-Stroud, Thomas Hampson, Wendy Bryn Harmer, Ben Heppner, Hong Hei-kyung, Marilyn Horne, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Vesselina Kasarova, Jonas Kaufmann, Simon Keenlyside, Philip Langridge, Jennifer Larmore, Margaret Lattimore, Richard Leech, James Levine, Lise Lindstrom, Željko Lučić, Christa Ludwig, Aquiles Machado, Catherine Malfitano, Christopher Maltman, Alessandra Marc, Marvis Martin, Ana María Martínez, Karita Mattila, Angela Meade, Aprile Millo, Sherril Milnes, Kurt Moll, James Morris, Ricardo Muti, Anna Netrebko, Mark Oswald, René Pape, Earle Patriarco, Luciano Pavoratti, Jeannette Pilou, Dmitri Pittas, Matthew Polenzani, Frank Porreta, Emily Pulley, Sondra Radvanovsky, Samuel Ramey, Curtis Rayam, Regina Resnik, Julien Robbins, Martile Rowland, Julius Rudel, Leonie Rysanek, Bidu Sayão, Gabriele Schnaut, Graziella Sciutti, Renata Scotto, Irmgard Seefried, Teresa Stich-Randall, Teresa Stratas, Ruth Ann Swenson, Renata Tebaldi, Michael Tilson Thomas, Terrani Lucia Valentini, Ramón Vargas, Marcello Viotti, Deborah Voigt, Frederica von Stade, Jon Fredric West, Wendy White, Willard White, and Delores Ziegler.</p> <p>Dancers pictured include Nina Ananiashvili, Julio Bocca, Gil Boggs, Roberto Bolle, Ethan Brown, José Manuel Carreño, Herman Cornejo, Angel Corella, Elena Evseeva, Alessandra Ferri, Marcelo Gomes, Nancy Fabiola Herrera, Paloma Herrera, Robert Hill, Susan Jaffe, Julie Kent, Gillian Murphy, Johan Renvall, Keith Roberts, Diana Vishneva, and Svetlana Zakharova.</p> <p>Other collection contents include personal letters and cards, the senders of which include the vocalists Leonie Rysanek, Régine Crespin, and Frederica von Stade; a 1969 poster advertising a performance of Rossini's <span class=\"title\">L'Assedio Di Corinto</span> at Teatro Alla Scala, autographed to Kirschenbaum by Marilyn Horne and Beverly Sills; a few autographed periodicals, including issues of <span class=\"title\">Opera</span> magazine; ticket stubs; newsletters from the fan clubs for Irene Dalis and Regina Resnik; and a rolled copy of a hand-drawn, faux-brochure for the fictional Society of Forgotten Operas, including a season schedule and ticket information.</p>"}