The Matthew Bucksbaum family of Chicago has made a conditional grant of $2 million to support the local and national broadcasts of Lyric Opera of Chicago, Lyric general director William Mason announced Saturday. The condition is that Lyric raise an additional $2 million from other sources directly in support of the broadcasts, Mason said. Richard P.
Kiphart, Lyric's board president, said he is confident the company can meet that goal. The Bucksbaum grant and matching funds would guarantee the broadcasts at least through the 2011-2012 season, Mason said. The Bucksbaum Family Lyric Opera Broadcasts were to begin at 7 p.
m. Saturday on Chicago station WFMT (98.7) with the opening-night performance of ''Salome'' by Richard Strauss, starring soprano Deborah Voigt in the title role.
The broadcasts are expected to reach a total audience of more than 20 million listeners annually through local broadcasts and nationally syndicated broadcasts available through other stations. Opening night broadcasts of each Lyric production were long a staple on WFMT and other stations, but ceased at the conclusion of Lyric's 2001-2002 season because of insufficient funding to meet musicians' salary demands. But Mason announced in September that a new contract with the Chicago Federation of Musicians allowed the company to return to the airwaves.
Matthew Bucksbaum has been a Lyric board member since 2004 and an avid subscriber and donor for more than a decade. He is chairman of General Growth Properties, Inc. (GGP), a publicly traded real estate investment trust listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
In 1954, after managing a retail supermarket business, Bucksbaum moved into the real-estate development field by pioneering the construction of shopping centers. During the past four decades, Bucksbaum has been a principal in the formation of two real estate investment trusts, as well as the purchase of shopping centers totaling more than $22 billion.
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