By Nino Pantano
Special to Brooklyn Daily Eagle

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — On Saturday, April 10, in the beautifully renovated David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, after a marvelous matinee performance of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly with soprano Yunah Lee as a stunning Cio-Cio-San and a promising debut of mezzo Krysty Swann as Suzuki, we went to the orchestra lobby where an assortment of champagne and sweets awaited.

Family, friends and colleagues past and present, gathered to honor two esteemed members of the New York City Opera Company, basso Don Yule and baritone William Ledbetter.

Don Yule made his debut with the New York City Opera in 1960 as “Gluttony� in Hugo Weisgall’s Six Characters in Search of an Author and has sung 1,720 performances of 83 roles with the company. William Ledbetter, who resides in Leonia, N.J., made his debut as Marullo in Verdi’s Rigoletto in 1963 and has sung 1,358 performances of 61 roles. Ledbetter played the imperial commissioner in the afternoon performance of Madama Butterfly.

With Don Yule’s 50 years with the company and William Ledbetter’s 47, it adds up to nearly a century of service. Guinness book of records take note! Both gentlemen spoke next to a collage adorned with photos of both artists from virtual youngsters to the present in various roles and casual shots. Both artists sang with Placido Domingo, Beverly Sills and Norman Treigle, as well as many other legendary singers of the New York City Opera.

The formal part of the ceremony was presided over by the company’s brilliant conductor, George Manahan, who spoke about the importance of two such splendid singing actors as Don Yule and William Ledbetter. Legendary internationally revered conductor Julius Rudel, who also served as director of the New York City Opera from 1957 until 1979, spoke of the glory years, Don Yule’s important contributions in that golden time, and how every role large and small contribute to the whole. Rudel will soon be 90 and recently served as a special guest conductor for the New York City Opera. Company general manager and artistic director George Steel spoke not only of the past but of his plans for future engagements for Don Yule and William Ledbetter.

This was not a farewell ceremony by any means. Yule spoke with great feeling not only about his years of service, but made a special mention of his colleague and friend the late beloved Beverly Sills and her affection for Don’s son Seth. When Seth was just a baby, Beverly Sills would hold him in her arms as if he was her own. Beverly was not only an extraordinary artist but a gallant colleague and later Don’s “boss� when she was the director of the New York City Opera from 1979 to 1990. Seth Yule spoke touchingly about his memories of Beverly Sills as well as his pride in his father’s accomplishments.

Ledbetter spoke of his pride on this special occasion, and what a joy it was to have his wife Norma and so many family, friends and colleagues to share it with him.

Both honorees received inscribed Tiffany silver clocks dedicated to their years of service to the New York City Opera.

We also spoke to the promising young Russian tenor Konstantin Stepanov, who, still in make-up as Pinkerton from the Butterfly performance, came to share in the happiness of the occasion. Yule was born in Enid, Oklahoma, but has been a solid Brooklyn citizen for half a century. His rich beautiful basso has also been an anchor at Grace Church in Brooklyn Heights for decades. He has also sung with the New York Grand Opera under the baton of Maestro Vincent La Selva as well as with Brooklyn’s Regina Opera.

We quote Sir Winston Churchill, whose mother Jennie Jerome was born in Brooklyn Heights, in a wartime message to the people of Britain: “It’s not the beginning of the end. It is rather, the end of the beginning!� The careers of Don Yule and William Ledbetter like their new clocks have plenty of time left. The New York City Opera goes back to the late Mayor Fiorello La Guardia who founded it as “The People’s Opera� in 1943.

We are happy to see that new company director George Steel has steered this vital and valiant company through hard times and troubled waters. The New York City Opera will have a great future, especially with such sturdy steersmen as Don Yule and William Ledbetter aboard to counsel and inspire the younger artists and still contribute their own unique talents as well.

Bravo to both and many encores.

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