Soprano Leontyne Price; composer Carlisle Floyd; the general director of the Santa Fe Opera and co-founder of Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Richard Gaddes, and the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, James Levine, are the first four recipients of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Opera Honors, NEA president Dana Gioia announced today.

Speaking at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Mr. Gioia said, “The new NEA Opera Honors award recognizes that American opera has truly come of age with our singers, musicians, composers, directors, designers, and opera companies, who are second to none in the world. The time has come for the U.S. government to honor our great living artists with the high C of official praise.”

The NEA Opera Honors awards ceremony will be held on Friday evening, October 31, at the Harman Center for the Arts in Washington, D.C., with performances by the Washington National Opera and members of its Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program. Other cities will host the event in future years.

NEA Opera Honors recipients are nominated by the public and chosen by an NEA-convened panel of opera experts. These are the first new NEA awards in 25 years to celebrate lifetime achievement and individual excellence. In addition to an awards ceremony in the fall, the designation includes a onetime grant award of $25,000.