Social Circuit
The Philadelphia sound The Philadelphia Orchestra held its Opening Night Concert and Gala Oct. 4 at the Kimmel Center. Charles Dutoit, chief conductor and artistic adviser of the orchestra, led a program of works by Ravel, Prokofiev and Mussorgsky. The black-tie gala, cochaired by Stephanie Brandow and Richard Worley, continued with dinner for 825 guests and dancing. The evening raised $625,000.
The Philadelphia sound
The Philadelphia Orchestra held its Opening Night Concert and Gala Oct. 4 at the Kimmel Center. Charles Dutoit, chief conductor and artistic adviser of the orchestra, led a program of works by Ravel, Prokofiev and Mussorgsky. The black-tie gala, cochaired by Stephanie Brandow and Richard Worley, continued with dinner for 825 guests and dancing. The evening raised $625,000.
Seeing green
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society launched its first public endowment campaign at a cocktail party Sept. 24 at the Haverford home of PHS chair Harry Hill and his wife, Louise. Funds raised for the $12.1 million Legacy Landscapes campaign will support the maintenance of designated public gardens, gateways and civic sites such as the circle at Logan Square and Las Parcelas at Norris Square in North Philadelphia. The campaign has raised $6.9 million to date, including $2 million from Dodo Hamilton, a $2 million challenge grant from Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest, and $500,000 each from Betty Moran and Penny Wilson.
On track to succeed
The Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation held its eighth annual fund-raising gala, Philadelphia Stars Shine for Ovarian Cancer, Sept. 27 at 30th Street Station. Dr. Stephanie King of Drexel University College of Medicine and ovarian cancer survivor Terri Loring of Conshohocken were honored at the dinner. The 330 guests raised $125,000.
Bravo!
The 14th annual Barrymore Awards were held Oct. 6 at the Crystal Tea Room. Among the award winners were actor-director Matt Pfeiffer, who won the $10,000 F. Otto Haas award for an emerging artist; Dolly Beechman Schnall, who was given the lifetime achievement award by Mayor Nutter; and Hugh Panaro, a Broadway actor who grew up in Philadelphia and won best musical actor for his portrayal of Jean Valjean in the Walnut Street Theatre's production of
Les Miserables
.
A touch of glass
Vernon Hill, founder and former chairman of Commerce Bank, and his wife, Shirley, hosted a party for 100 Sunday at their Italianate home, Villa Collina, in Moorestown. The party, a fund-raiser for the Murano Glass Museum in Venice, Italy, featured glass works of art on display for auction throughout the Hills' "Four Seasons" Italian gardens, with Italian sculptures, lemon trees and a working vineyard. Among the guests were Corning Museum of Glass director David Whitehouse and Italian glass artist Giampaolo Seguso, whose work
Time Is a Place
was commissioned by the Hills.