The Spanish Institute Reina Sofia awarded on Wednesday December 12 in New York to tenor Placido Domingo and ophthalmologist Elena Barraquer for their excellence and for being \u201can example of how wisdom can be used for the benefit of humanity,\u201d as Do\u00f1a Sofia stressed in reference to her Greek name.<\/p>\n
Queen Sofia presented her awards this Wednesday at the Metropolitan Club, an elegant space located on Fifth Avenue in front of Central Park, in an event that included a reception and a subsequent meal, and during which videos were broadcasted about the careers of the outstanding Spaniards.<\/p>\n
Dr. Fernando Aleu, president of QSSI, acted as master of ceremonies for the gala. He praised the tenor\u2019s vocal cords as a \u201cmedical greatness\u201d without equal \u201con the planet\u201d and thanked him for attending the event, as the Metropolitan Opera was performing that same afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no other opera star that five hours before getting into the paper comes to a meal,\u201d he joked, to which Domingo replied that, fortunately, after 50 years of singing in the United States, they have not had to change the strings \u201clike a guitar.<\/p>\n
About Elena Barraquer, Do\u00f1a Sof\u00eda said that her medical achievements are \u201cequally impressive\u201d: \u201cShe has embarked on an incredible mission to restore vision to those blinded by cataracts and without resources, and has become an exemplary model for many doctors.<\/p>\n
Elena Barraquer , who performs nonprofit cataract operations \u201cout of passion\u201d for her work and for people, stated that, of the 40 million blind people in the world, half are blind because of this \u201ceasy, or relatively easy\u201d disease to intervene surgically.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to think about children, because in Africa, especially, if a grandfather is blind it is usually a girl who comes out of school to take care of him. If you give that grandfather back his vision, you give the girl back the possibility of an education and with it the possibility of improving her quality of life,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
The QSSI was created in 1954 under the name of Instituto Espa\u00f1ol and was renamed in 2003 in honour of Queen Sofia. In view of its 65th anniversary this year, the monarch considered it an \u201cexample of friendship\u201d. and declared herself \u201chonored\u201d for giving the awards of excellence to outstanding people.<\/p>\n
\u201cSophia means wisdom in Greek. It\u2019s not my fault, my parents put it on me,\u201d she said, snorting laughter from the public, \u201cbut these awards are examples of how wisdom can be used for the benefit of humanity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Spanish Institute Reina Sofia awarded on Wednesday December 12 in New York to tenor Placido Domingo and ophthalmologist Elena Barraquer for their excellence and for being \u201can example of how wisdom can be used for the benefit of humanity,\u201d as Do\u00f1a Sofia stressed in reference to her Greek name. Queen Sofia presented her awards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,105,52],"class_list":["post-750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-avoidable-blindness","tag-humanitarian-aid","tag-nomorecataracts"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n