Join the Legacy
The Ariel Bybee Endowment at the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts
“Opera is important to me because, as a participant in this strange art, I am able to express those emotions which are otherwise inexpressible, exhibiting the influence of the Lord’s spirit through my music. I have stood on the stages of some of the world’s great opera houses and borne my testimony through the gift which the Lord gave to me. I have witnessed singing in unknown languages bring some people to tears, united thousands of people as spirits are cleansed and tenderness is invoked. Releasing oneself to the opera is releasing oneself to all that is absurd, imagined, or inexpressible.”
“I believe that all truly great art contains in it the seeds of religion: goodness, beauty, love, and the Spirit of God…. Classical music reflects these virtues, and as members of the LDS church we should play an urgent role in spreading these virtues through involvement in the arts.” —Ariel Bybee
“I believe that all truly great art contains in it the seeds of religion: goodness, beauty, love, and the Spirit of God...”
“...She communicated most powerfully through the simple hymns of her faith...”
My mother’s engagement in the performing arts was all consuming. A day rarely passed when she didn’t sing for herself or others, attend a performance, learn new music, fundraise, work on an upcoming program, teach, or research. To know my mom was to love music because music was the shared platform upon which she built her relationships. Even though her hundreds of operatic performances testify of her abiding love for the grandest and most complex of art forms, she communicated most powerfully through the simple hymns of her faith. Her greatest joy was to bring together the music of her people with her hard-earned technical skill and God-given passion. Those who witnessed that combination never forgot it.
I can think of no better way to honor my mother’s unique spirit than through this endowment: a mechanism to nurture that same combination of LDS community, world-class skill, and manifest passion.—Neylan McBaine, Ariel’s daughter
“How right it feels to house an endowment...to advocate for creative artists...and to explore the cultural legacy of our artistic pioneers like our beloved Ariel Bybee.”
When Neylan approached the Center with the idea of establishing an endowment in honor of her mother, our initial reaction was jubilation. How right it feels to house an endowment with an annual prize that accomplishes two vital purposes: to advocate for creative artists who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by funding new works, and to explore the cultural legacy of artistic pioneers like our beloved Ariel Bybee. The endowment is being established in perpetuity, which means that each and every year there will be a new artist creating a work in one of nine artistic disciplines on a rotating basis. —Glen Nelson, co-executive director, Center for Latter-day Saint Arts
“...It was her natural empathy for others and her strong commitment to her craft that made her an artist in the truest sense of the word.”
“While Bybee sang on stages that most aspiring artists only dream of, it wasn’t her success that meant most to her colleagues, friends and family. For them, it was Bybee’s dedication to inspire, her natural empathy for others and her strong commitment to her craft that made her an artist in the truest sense of the word.” —Danielle Christensen, Deseret News (2018)