Wall Street Turns Out for Beethoven, Bradley Cooper, Osso Buco

(Bloomberg) -- It was Monday night at David Geffen Hall, and the New York glitterati were out in full force.

Alec Baldwin caught up with Broadway producer James Nederlander and Bradley Cooper had the women swooning. Richard LeFrak stuck close to his wife Karen, a composer and author.

The finance types, in their crisp tuxedos, were everywhere. There were the tall ones, Apollo’s Gary Parr and Citigroup’s Alan MacDonald; the hedge fund buddies John Paulson and Oscar Schafer; and the dashing one -- Chris Kojima of Goldman Sachs, squiring his adorable kids into the hall.

And so the New York Philharmonic’s fall gala unfolded, celebrating the city’s hometown orchestra with local pride right down to the apple and pear crisp and raising $3.7 million.

The maestro, Dutchman Jaap van Zweden, glowed not only after breaking his baton during Beethoven’s Fifth, but also because the Yankees were ahead.

Deborah Borda, the orchestra’s chief executive officer, noted that in 177 seasons, the composition of the orchestra has reflected New York’s immigration waves, with its Russian, Italian and Asian musicians.

“It’s the orchestra for our time and our town,” said Schafer, chairman emeritus, who with his wife Didi was honored for longtime financial support and friendships with musicians.

And yet, the Philharmonic has a reputation to maintain outside of New York. On Thursday the orchestra travels to Stillwater to open the McKnight Center for the Performing Arts at Oklahoma State University, named for Philharmonic board member Ross McKnight. After the satiny cushions, piles of white roses and tenderloin of beef with black trumpet dust at Monday’s gala, they may be ready for the “cowboy comforts” of Stillwater’s Ranchers Club restaurant.

The migration went the other way at Carnegie Hall’s gala on Thursday, when the Cleveland Orchestra came in to headline, also playing Beethoven. But make no mistake, international glamour reigned on the red carpets of the hall and at the dinner featuring osso buco at Cipriani 42nd Street.

Robert F. Smith and Sandy Weill reminisced about attending Lang Lang’s wedding at Versailles. Clive Gillinson, in his charming British accent, recalled spending time in London with Jessye Norman, dancing at Annabel’s and watching in amazement as the soprano did the washing up after a dinner at home. “Everybody sees her as this extreme goddess,” Gillinson said. “It was almost baffling.”

The spirit of Andrew Carnegie was strong as his portrait loomed over guests during cocktail hour. Smith and Weill discussed their recent big gifts -- Smith to Morehouse College graduates to cover their student loans, and Weill to medical students at Cornell University to take care of tuition and board. And of course they enthused about helping to fund Carnegie Hall’s music education programs, which include classroom instruction and a National Youth Orchestra that tours abroad.

“What we’ve built at Carnegie Hall, we have a chance to extend to the communities that really matter to us,” Smith said on a night that raised $5.3 million.

To contact the reporter on this story: Amanda Gordon in New York at agordon01@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Steven Crabill, Peter Eichenbaum

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