Benefactor Marcel Desautels with Faculty of Music students at the reception. // Photo by Mike Latschislaw
None shall sleep!
‘None shall sleep!’
That’s a translation of the title of one of the best-known arias in all of opera, Nessun dorma, from the final act of Puccini’s Turandot. It’s also the piece performed by faculty and scholarship benefactor Dr. Marcel A. Desautels at a reception event on the afternoon of Monday, Mar. 10, to the surprise and delight of students and other attendees.
Marcel Desautels ‘belts out’ an aria accompanied by dean Edmund Dawe on piano. // Photo by Mike Latschislaw
The impromptu opera performance by our benefactor — who also happens to be a pretty decent tenor — was accompanied by faculty dean Edmund Dawe on piano.
An attendee said that he just “belted out this opera piece with Edmund Dawe on the piano.”
The reception was held at the Desautels Faculty of Music to honour Desautels Scholarship recipients. President and Vice-Chancellor David Barnard was also in attendance at the moving event, where many of the student recipients of the scholarships were overwhelmed by the gift.
Including Monday’s recipients, 485 students and some faculty have received a total of $794,275 in scholarships because of Desautels’ gift to the university since 2009.
For more stories on how philanthropy helps our students, see here, here and here. The annual Faculty, Staff and Retirees Campaign runs all month.
>>See more photos from the event on our Facebook page.