A Kodosky Party

At the Long Center on the east side before the ring stretches around to meet the west side you may have noticed a glass-enclosed room. This is the Kodosky Donor's Lounge. In this picture you can see the glass facade of Long Center reflecting Auditorium Shores. If you saw 'The Bat' (Austin Lyric Opera's and Esther's Follies take on "Die Fledermaus"), you know that the character throwing the party at the Driskill was "Jefferson Kodosky." So, yeah they kind of took off on a real person. But in name only. Above are the real Jeff Kodosky and his wife Gail, dear friends of ours, of opera and of the community of arts and education. Jeff is a graduate of U.T. and a founder of National Instruments. I have NEVER seen him in cowboy boots! But he laughed out loud at the character on stage sharing his name who was this bantam rooster guy in outrageous cowboy garb organizing a costume bash for 'the bat' to work his operatic drama of mistaken idenity and faux pas. Of course, the lounge was their gift to the Long Center.