Meredith says Resch award in Prague was Pansky tribute

Prof. Sarah Meredith Livingston, on sabbatical and at the 43rd Dvorak International Voice Competition in Prague, Czech Republic, sends word of a Green Bay connection. Meredith helped adjudicate the competition and assigned a travel award of approximately $1,200 to a promising young Czech mezzo-soprano, Luci Hilsherova, allowing her to participate in a future competition on this side of the Atlantic. It was the generosity of Green Bay philanthropist and fine arts benefactor Sharon Chmel Resch that made the gift possible. Resch authorized the award to honor the memory of Green Bay opera founder Miroslav Pansky, who passed away in 2007. “Mr. Pansky was a student in Prague with some of the people that I judge with, and with the director of the competition as well,” Meredith Livingston said. “They all had special memories of him… he conducted the women’s orchestra and the opera workshop when they were grad students.” P-G columnist Warren Gerds has a lengthier version of the story and tributes to Pansky.