Maria Manetti Shrem

Maria Manetti Shrem has had an influential career in the fashion industry establishing Gucci as a globally revered brand. Today, her focus is philanthropy, as she and her husband, Jan Shrem, plan to give away the bulk of their wealth during their lifetimes: “We are determined to give with warm hands, and not cold ones after passing,” Maria Manetti Shrem declared. “We intend to motivate youth and inspire other benefactors to do the same.” Since the mid-1990s, organizations, including Cal Performances, across the fields of fine arts, education, science, and music, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, the United Kingdom, and Manetti Shrem’s home country of Italy, especially Florence, have been the beneficiaries of their largesse. A deep admirer of performing artists, Maria Manetti Shrem has fostered many professional and personal connections among musicians and counts sopranos Renée Fleming and Nadine Sierra, and tenor Michael Fabiano, as personal friends. She was especially close to the late legendary tenor Luciano Pavarotti, whom she hosted as if he were a family member whenever he performed in San Francisco. Among her and her husband’s many gifts to Cal Performances are the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Orchestra Residencies in 2012 and 2015 featuring Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela; Renée Fleming’s Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Celebrity Recital in 2016; the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Great Artist Performance of Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Encuentros Orchestra with special guest esperanza spalding at the Greek Theater in 2022; and this season’s February 9 recital by Renée Fleming.

Maria Manetti Shrem has received numerous prestigious awards and recognition as an outstanding and influential cultural ambassador between Italy and the US including the Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy; the Keys to the City of Florence; the Angels of the Arts Award from Festival Napa Valley; the Spirit of the Opera Award from San Francisco Opera; the 2023 UC Davis Medal (honoris degree) as a major philanthropist for the arts at UC Davis. The City and County of San Francisco proclaimed June 22, 2022, as Manetti Shrem Day for Philanthropy.