The lavish dinner outdoors on the Music Center Plaza.
LA
Opera celebrated PlácidoDomingo's
four decades of Los Angeles performances with a special Plácido
Domingo 40th Anniversary Gala Concert on Friday, April 18
at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The concert was also filmed
for broadcast to twenty-two nationwide Landmark Theatres on Sunday,
May 11 at 2pm. Plácido Domingo, who holds the title
of Eli and Edythe Broad General Director of LA Opera, performed
selections from many of his signature roles, including Otello,
Siegmund (Die Walküre) and Gherman (The Queen
of Spades). He was joined onstage by internationally
renowned soprano Patricia Racette, who performed
several arias and duets with Mr. Domingo including selections from Otello, West
Side Story and The Merry Widow. The evening
was conducted by LA Opera's Music Director, James
Conlon, who led the LA Opera Orchestra.
Over 600 guests attended the Gala, chaired by Eva and Marc
Stern and by Carol and Warner Henry,
which raised over $1.5 million for the Company making it the most successful
Gala in the Company's history. Among celebrities and attendees
at the concert and dinner included; Plácido Domingo and Marta
Domingo, James Conlon and Jennifer
Conlon, Leslie and John Dorman, Selim
Zilkha, Milan and Milena Panic, Alfred and Claude
Mann, Paul and Marybelle Musco, Robert and Ann
Ronus, Henry and Elizabeth Segerstrom, Warren and Alyce
Williamson, Roger and Angelle Wacker, Marilyn Ziering and Howard
Walter, Harold and Geraldine Alden, Barbara Davis,
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky and Barbara
Yaroslavsky, Culture Commissioner Olga Guray, Michael and Jane
Eisner, Michael and Pat York, Antonio Banderas and Melanie
Griffith, Jane Seymour, Gena Rowlands, Kelly Lynch and Mitch
Glazer, Stacy Keach and Buzz and Lois
Aldrin.
Also attendance; Robin and Elliot Broidy,
Fred and Betty Hayman, John and Colleen
Morrissey, Nancy and Barry Sanders, Robert and Carol
Shahin, Nancy Daly Riordan, Judith and Thomas Beckman,
Donna and Walter Conn, Mrs. Roderick Devin, Eloisa and Chris
Haudenschild, Lawrence Kern, Edward and Madeline Landry,
Anita Lorber, Harold and Penny Ray, Maggie Russell,
Dr. and Mrs. Armin Sadoff and Ellen and Arnold
Zetcher.
The festivities continued with a black tie Gala benefit, featuring
a lavish dinner and dancing outdoors on the Music Center Plaza. The
menu created by Patina Catering began with appetizers of merguez sausage, gambas
a la plancha with roasted aioli, manchego cheese-potato croquette
and gazpacho, followed by the main course of grilled rack of lamb,
saffron risotto, baby eggplant and tomatoes in port honey reduction. Dessert
was a walnut sponge and dulce de leche mousse with honey macerated
blackberries. Featured wines donated by The Henry Wine Group
included Juan Gil, Spain 2005 and Naia, Spain 2005 along with Cristalino
Cava Brut and Cristalino Cava Rose Brut. Guests at the dinner received
a commemorative engraved crystal box by Tiffany & Co.
Chairman and CEO of the LA Opera Marc I. Stern with wife Eva Stern, Opera
tenor Placido Domingo, president of the LA Opera Carol Henry and her husband
Warner Henry.
Jennifer Conlon, daughter Emma Conlon, music conductor James Conlon and
Jane Seymour.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, wife Lois Aldrin, Elizabeth and Henry Segerstrom.
