Opera funder donates £34m to US

Vilar gave £10m to London's Royal Opera House

Alberto Vilar, the Cuban-born billionaire who gave £12m to the Royal Opera House, is to give $50m (£34.4m) to the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.

The gift is to fund 10 years of Opera performance, under artistic director Placido Domingo, as well as supporting visiting performances by the Kirov Ballet.

Vilar, 60, has donated about $150m (£103.4m) to international arts institutions, including the Salzburg Festival and the Kirov Ballet, but this is his biggest single gift to a performing arts organisation.

I am obviously committed to helping the classical performing arts in a philanthropic way

Alberto Vilar

He told the Washington Post: "I am one of those people who believe you should put things in context.

"I am obviously committed to helping the classical performing arts in a philanthropic way."

Vilar was penniless when he left Cuba with his family during Castro's revolution but now heads Amerindo Investment Advisors, a company he founded in 1980.

He invested in new technology stocks and shares and now estimates his portfolio at around $5bn (£3.44bn).

He is known as one of the most generous and influential arts patrons in the world.

At the Royal Opera House, Floral Hall was named after the philanthropist.

While at the Metropolitan in New York, for example, an operagoer may now sit in the Vilar Grand Tier or dine at the Vilar Grand Tier Restaurant.

Placido Domingo's travelling Operalia vocal competition also gives an Alberto Vilar Award.

Last December, Vilar gave £7.5m to the Royal Opera House in order to train young singers.