2021 Folger Gala

We are pleased to invite guests from across the country and around the world to join us for a complimentary virtual evening of wit, entertainment, and celebration accessible to all.  Stream this year's Folger Gala for free on Facebook, YouTube, or folger.edu.

The humanities have helped to sustain us during a long a difficult year and while we can’t be together physically, we will again gather virtually to celebrate the humanities and the Folger’s work at the 2021 Virtual Folger Gala.

About the Performers

Cyrus Chestnut is a composer, pianist and educator. Cyrus began honing his craft as a sideman with a number of legendary musicians including Branford Marsalis, Regina Carter, Chick Corea, Isaac Hayes, Kathleen Battle, Dizzy Gillespie and Aretha Franklin. As a bandleader, his work has been featured in films such as Robert Altman’s Kansas City (in which Chestnut also made his big screen debut portraying a Count Basie-inspired pianist) and Piano Grand: A Smithsonian Celebration. Cyrus is currently a master instructor of jazz piano and improvisation at Howard University.

Richard Clifford is a celebrated actor and director in both the UK and the US. His work at the Folger includes Measure+Dido, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, and Milton’s Comus with Folger Consort. He has directed numerous Folger Theatre productions, including Amadeus, Mary Stuart, The School for Scandal, The Game of Love and Chance, The Clandestine Marriage, Elizabeth the Queen (for which he received a Helen Hayes nomination), All’s Well That Ends Well, and She Stoops to Conquer.
 
Derek Jacobi is one of the world’s most respected and beloved theater and film actors. He is one of only two actors ever to receive two Knighthoods (along with Sir Lawrence Olivier).  His many film credits include Murder on the Orient Express, Cinderella, Hamlet, Henry V, The King’s Speech, Ironclad, Hereafter, Anonymous, and many others. His extensive television work has garnered him Emmy, BAFTA, and Golden Globe nominations. As a devoted actor of the plays of Shakespeare, he has performed in nearly 80 productions from Hamlet to King Lear. 

Register for Free

Sponsor the Gala

Honorary Gala Co-Chairs

Dame Karen Pierce DCMG, The British Ambassador, and Mr. Charles Roxburgh

Sponsors

Lead Sponsors

Vinton and Sigrid Cerf
J. May Liang and James Lintott

Prime Sponsors

Susie Sachs Goldman

Major Sponsors

D. Jarrett and Nora Arp
Florence and Neal Cohen
Louis and Bonnie Cohen
Thomas Cohen and Lisa Fuentes
The Honorable John D. Macomber
Timothy and Linda O'Neill
Gail Kern Paster

Friends 

Philip Deutch and Marne Levine
Gilbane Building Company
Diane M. Keppler
Scott and Liz Vance
Mike and Kathie Williams
 

Patrons

Derek and Leora Kaufman
KieranTimberlake
Terence R. Murphy O.B.E. and Patricia Sherman Murphy
Mary Augusta and George D. Thomas
Nyla and William G. Witmore