A Whole Lotta Benefit

Now that the last chair, granita glass and salad tong has finally been returned to its proper resting place, the last bit of rib scrubbed off the last bit of plate and the last throat cold in the wake of the benefit gotten over ... now I can truly say, WOW. That was quite an event. Thank you so much to everyone who came (some from as far as Oberlin, Philadelphia and New York, and let's not forget Naperville), who donated, who ate, drank, and laughed with us. I think we're well on our way to Oberlin this coming February.

The evening began with pairings of appetizers & art on the ground floor. The theme for the event was pairings, so everything--right down to which art went with which appetizer--was planned in advance. We chitted ...



... and chatted ...


... perused the silent auction offerings (or smiled graciously at the camera :) ...


... and some of us wasted no time in kicking back ...


I didn't see this, but with the aid of photographic evidence, apparently someone was doing magic tricks on the side.


In general, one could say festivities ensued.


Then, a small, strange voice inside my head ...


Compelled me to perform the Berio Sequenza III for voice. In the middle of the ground hall stairwell ...


... after which we all headed upstairs to the ballroom ...


...where Alex Overington had spent hours laying the groundwork for a truly spectacular lightshow.


And we feasted.


Performers included Amelia Lukas (flute) ...


... Teddy Rankin-Parker (cello) ...


... a Wolf/Mörike quartet (Amelia, Teddy, Nick and myself on flute, cello, accordion and voice) and Nick DeMaison, who made a compelling speech involving an accordion, a large projection of his head on the ceiling above, and some complicated mathematics.


Thanks, of course, are due to Anna Viertel (right), our hard-working and totally excellent chef (I needed to use gang signs to convey our excitement about working with Anna).



Still more thanks are due to Alex Overington, who drove all the way from Oberlin on no sleep in order to make seriously amazing things happen on the ballroom ceiling ...




... and to David Levin, for a guest appearance and mini-lecture on culinary opera ...


... to the artists who donated to the auction: Sidney Nagel, Rose DiSalvo ...


... Danielle Klinenberg (seated left) ...



... to Anna, for a meal fit for a gang of avant-garde-opera-craving fiends ...


... to Anna's diligent kitchen staffers, Hallie Kushner, and Jessica Feldman (and also to our servers, Molly Feingold and Meghan, our amazing intern!!) ...


... and to Martin Kaster for contributing his installation, "Eight Minutes of Air," which, alas, was actually only 6 minutes of air when we ran out of time on Sunday.


But of course, the evening's photo tour just wouldn't make any sense without a very special acknowledgment of our hosts for the benefit, Sidney Nagel and Young-Kee Kim, who bent over backward to open their home to us, and without whom none of this would have been possible. (With apologies to Jedediah and Nobbie who spent the evening in the back bedroom. Sorry guys.)