antiquity
08-09-2002, 02:03 PM
August 9, 2002
Alberto Vilar: master of giving
Veronica Whitney
Editor's note: This is part I of a three-part series on Alberto Vilar, one of the most generous philanthropists in the Vail Valley and the United States.
When he met Alberto Vilar, Hunter Cherwek was an orderly at Vail Valley Medical Center struggling to get into medical school.
Vilar, who was at the hospital for surgery after a ski accident, asked Cherwek how he was going to pay for his education. Cherwek told him he would borrow money.
"I told him, "I want to give you an education, I'll pay for your studies'", says Vilar sipping coffee in his living room of his Beaver Creek home.
Now a doctor, Cherwek, is among hundreds of people in the country and across the world who has benefited from meeting Vilar , and the thousands who enjoy his gifts to the performance arts.
Vilar, 61, a part-time resident of Beaver Creek and president and founder of Amerindo Investment Advisors, is considered the most generous philanthropist in the world supporting the classical performing arts, especially opera. In the past seven years, he has given more than $300 million to the arts, health and education in the United States and across the world. Part of that endowment, $6.5 million, has partially paid for the Vilar Center for the Arts in Beaver Creek. He also supports the annual Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. Another $3.5 million went toward the overhaul of the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail.
Last year, Vilar made the largest contribution in the history of Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center, giving $25 million for the construction of a research center for asthma and other inflammatory lung diseases.
"Money to me is giving it away. Unfortunately, I also have to give a lot to Uncle Sam," he says with a grin.
Vilar visited Beaver Creek in July with his fiancée, Karen Painter, a professor of music at Harvard University.
"It feels good to be back in the valley, I haven't been here for one year," he says. "Now I'm also working on buying a house in Cambridge (Mass.), close to Karen's work."
Saturday morning, Vilar woke up at 6, went to Starbucks - "That's the first thing I do every morning in New York", he says - and then listened for more than two hours to Gluck's opera, "Orfeo and Eurudice."
Paintings and sculptures fill Vilar's house along the fairway of the Beaver Creek golf course. There are paintings everywhere - even in the breakfast nook.
"I love playing with houses," he says. "I remodeled this house completely and now I'm working in a new one."
The house in Beaver Creek he bought more than 10 years ago is now for sale. An English team of architects is working on his new 16,000-square-foot house at the base of Beaver Creek Mountain.
Vilar spends most of his time in New York City, taking care of his company which manages institutional portfolios. He also travels to his houses in San Francisco and London where he also attends performances.
"I'm still very involved with my business," he says. "I go to my office every day and I see an opera almost every night. That's the big thrill of my life. Nothing in my life gives me more pleasure than classical music. About 95 percent of my friends share my passion for music."
The Art of Giving
Alberto Vilar has given more than $300 million over the past seven years to education, health care and the classical performing arts in the United States and Europe, including:
Performing Arts Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Vilar made the largest one-time gift of $50 million to the center in 2001. The gift will be used to fund 10 years of annual visits by the Kirov Ballet and Opera Companies of St. Petersburg, Russia, and to establish and operate the Vilar Institute for Arts Management.
Washington Opera
Vilar's gift of $8 million was used to establish a Young Artists Program and the production of several operas.
Metropolitan Opera, New York
Vilar made the leadership gift to the Metropolitan Opera Endowment Campaign. In return, the Met renamed the Grand Tier the Vilar Grand Tier.
Carnegie Hall, New York
Vilar has made a major contribution to restoration of the Seventh Avenue façade of Carnegie Hall for the new underground theater.
The Maazel/Vilar Conductors' Competition
Vilar recently contributed $5 million to fund the three year Maazel-Vilar Conductor's Competition, to be held in September at Carnegie Hall.
Los Angeles Opera
Vilar provided funding for three operas at a cost of $6 million and has funded the launch of a Young Artists Program. He also funded opera perfomances in New York and Chicago.
Vilar Center for the Arts, Beaver Creek
Vilar's donation of $6.5 million was used to build the Vilar Center for the Arts in Beaver Creek. He has also provided a separate annual budget to promote the Vilar Distinguished Artists Series to enable world-class artists to perform at the center. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Vilar Center.
Vilar also helped build the Vilar Pavilion at the outdoor Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater. Additionally, Vilar funds a day care center in the community and has commissioned feasibility study to build a music school for grade school and high school students.
Vilar also has underwritten productions in Russia, London, Milan and Berlin.
EDUCATION
New York University
In 2001, Vilar pledged $20 million for the creation of an arts scholarship program that will be open each year to as many as 20 incoming students from around the world who are studying voice, music, dance, composition, film and acting.
Washington & Jefferson College, Washington, Penn.
Vilar has made the largest donation in the 218-year history of his alma mater. His gift will be used to build the 65,000-square-foot Vilar Center for Technology, which will house the school's computer science center.
HEALTH CARE
National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver
In July 2001, Vilar donated $25 million, the largest gift in the hospital's history, to fund the Alberto Vilar Research Center. The Center will house research laboratories and core supporting facilities for basic science, translational and clinical research into asthma and inflammatory lung diseases conducted at the hospital. National Jewish is the only medical and research center in the United States devoted entirely to the research and treatment of respiratory, allergic and immune diseases.
Columbia University, College of Physicians & Surgeons
In 2001, Vilar established: the Alberto Vilar Professorship of Neurological Surgery; a neurological scholar program, which will be awarded every two years to launch the academic career of a newly certified neurosurgeon; and a research endowment, which initially will launch The Spinal Cord Regeneration Research Program.
Hospital for Special Surgery, New York
Vilar established the Alberto Vilar Center for Research of the Hand and the Upper Extremity. A subsequent gift was established two years later to triple the size of the research facility. The hospital's hand service cares for thousands of patients each year with birth conditions, injuries, arthritis, tumors, neurological injury and disorders.
Vilar also funds research and medical programs at the University of Salzburg, Austria.
- Source: Amerindo Investment Advisors
Alberto Vilar: master of giving
Veronica Whitney
Editor's note: This is part I of a three-part series on Alberto Vilar, one of the most generous philanthropists in the Vail Valley and the United States.
When he met Alberto Vilar, Hunter Cherwek was an orderly at Vail Valley Medical Center struggling to get into medical school.
Vilar, who was at the hospital for surgery after a ski accident, asked Cherwek how he was going to pay for his education. Cherwek told him he would borrow money.
"I told him, "I want to give you an education, I'll pay for your studies'", says Vilar sipping coffee in his living room of his Beaver Creek home.
Now a doctor, Cherwek, is among hundreds of people in the country and across the world who has benefited from meeting Vilar , and the thousands who enjoy his gifts to the performance arts.
Vilar, 61, a part-time resident of Beaver Creek and president and founder of Amerindo Investment Advisors, is considered the most generous philanthropist in the world supporting the classical performing arts, especially opera. In the past seven years, he has given more than $300 million to the arts, health and education in the United States and across the world. Part of that endowment, $6.5 million, has partially paid for the Vilar Center for the Arts in Beaver Creek. He also supports the annual Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. Another $3.5 million went toward the overhaul of the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail.
Last year, Vilar made the largest contribution in the history of Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center, giving $25 million for the construction of a research center for asthma and other inflammatory lung diseases.
"Money to me is giving it away. Unfortunately, I also have to give a lot to Uncle Sam," he says with a grin.
Vilar visited Beaver Creek in July with his fiancée, Karen Painter, a professor of music at Harvard University.
"It feels good to be back in the valley, I haven't been here for one year," he says. "Now I'm also working on buying a house in Cambridge (Mass.), close to Karen's work."
Saturday morning, Vilar woke up at 6, went to Starbucks - "That's the first thing I do every morning in New York", he says - and then listened for more than two hours to Gluck's opera, "Orfeo and Eurudice."
Paintings and sculptures fill Vilar's house along the fairway of the Beaver Creek golf course. There are paintings everywhere - even in the breakfast nook.
"I love playing with houses," he says. "I remodeled this house completely and now I'm working in a new one."
The house in Beaver Creek he bought more than 10 years ago is now for sale. An English team of architects is working on his new 16,000-square-foot house at the base of Beaver Creek Mountain.
Vilar spends most of his time in New York City, taking care of his company which manages institutional portfolios. He also travels to his houses in San Francisco and London where he also attends performances.
"I'm still very involved with my business," he says. "I go to my office every day and I see an opera almost every night. That's the big thrill of my life. Nothing in my life gives me more pleasure than classical music. About 95 percent of my friends share my passion for music."
The Art of Giving
Alberto Vilar has given more than $300 million over the past seven years to education, health care and the classical performing arts in the United States and Europe, including:
Performing Arts Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Vilar made the largest one-time gift of $50 million to the center in 2001. The gift will be used to fund 10 years of annual visits by the Kirov Ballet and Opera Companies of St. Petersburg, Russia, and to establish and operate the Vilar Institute for Arts Management.
Washington Opera
Vilar's gift of $8 million was used to establish a Young Artists Program and the production of several operas.
Metropolitan Opera, New York
Vilar made the leadership gift to the Metropolitan Opera Endowment Campaign. In return, the Met renamed the Grand Tier the Vilar Grand Tier.
Carnegie Hall, New York
Vilar has made a major contribution to restoration of the Seventh Avenue façade of Carnegie Hall for the new underground theater.
The Maazel/Vilar Conductors' Competition
Vilar recently contributed $5 million to fund the three year Maazel-Vilar Conductor's Competition, to be held in September at Carnegie Hall.
Los Angeles Opera
Vilar provided funding for three operas at a cost of $6 million and has funded the launch of a Young Artists Program. He also funded opera perfomances in New York and Chicago.
Vilar Center for the Arts, Beaver Creek
Vilar's donation of $6.5 million was used to build the Vilar Center for the Arts in Beaver Creek. He has also provided a separate annual budget to promote the Vilar Distinguished Artists Series to enable world-class artists to perform at the center. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Vilar Center.
Vilar also helped build the Vilar Pavilion at the outdoor Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater. Additionally, Vilar funds a day care center in the community and has commissioned feasibility study to build a music school for grade school and high school students.
Vilar also has underwritten productions in Russia, London, Milan and Berlin.
EDUCATION
New York University
In 2001, Vilar pledged $20 million for the creation of an arts scholarship program that will be open each year to as many as 20 incoming students from around the world who are studying voice, music, dance, composition, film and acting.
Washington & Jefferson College, Washington, Penn.
Vilar has made the largest donation in the 218-year history of his alma mater. His gift will be used to build the 65,000-square-foot Vilar Center for Technology, which will house the school's computer science center.
HEALTH CARE
National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver
In July 2001, Vilar donated $25 million, the largest gift in the hospital's history, to fund the Alberto Vilar Research Center. The Center will house research laboratories and core supporting facilities for basic science, translational and clinical research into asthma and inflammatory lung diseases conducted at the hospital. National Jewish is the only medical and research center in the United States devoted entirely to the research and treatment of respiratory, allergic and immune diseases.
Columbia University, College of Physicians & Surgeons
In 2001, Vilar established: the Alberto Vilar Professorship of Neurological Surgery; a neurological scholar program, which will be awarded every two years to launch the academic career of a newly certified neurosurgeon; and a research endowment, which initially will launch The Spinal Cord Regeneration Research Program.
Hospital for Special Surgery, New York
Vilar established the Alberto Vilar Center for Research of the Hand and the Upper Extremity. A subsequent gift was established two years later to triple the size of the research facility. The hospital's hand service cares for thousands of patients each year with birth conditions, injuries, arthritis, tumors, neurological injury and disorders.
Vilar also funds research and medical programs at the University of Salzburg, Austria.
- Source: Amerindo Investment Advisors