Saturday, May 3, 2008
2008 Annual Benefit Concert and Dinner

On May 3rd, 2008, The Perlman Music Program welcomed friends and patrons to a concert at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Annual Benefit Dinner at Daniel honoring musical artist Billy Joel with The Perlman Music Program’s 2nd Annual PMP Arts Make Music Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts. The chamber music concert, performed by the Program’s alumni led by Itzhak Perlman, began with a delightful selection of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto. Mr. Perlman took a break from conducting to play along with the Program’s young prodigies and treated the audience to a powerful violin performance in Mozart’s Quintet in C Major and Schumann’s Quintet for Piano and Strings in E Flat Major.

After the concert, guests shuttled to Daniel for a four-course, gourmet dinner of green asparagus with poached egg dressing, herb salad, roasted black sea bass, basil-tomato compote, fennel, artichokes, arugula salad, red wine braised short ribs with young beets, seared tenderloin, and parsnip-potato gratin prepared by Chef Daniel Boulud. Dinner guests included Elizabeth and Christopher Belisle, Christine and Ran Blank, Michael and Ann Bunyaner, Heidi Castleman, Christina and David deForest Keys, Lisa deKooning, Shoshana and Jay Dweck, Gary and Dorian Fuhrman, Jeff Greene and Mei Sze Chan, Sylvia Hassenfeld, Helen Lee Henderson, Todd Kamelhar, Gerald Lennard, Phyllis Mailman, Howard Maisel and Eve France, Eilene and Ronald Oehl, Merry Peckham, Patrick Romano, Carol and Lawrence Saper, Herbert and Jeanne Siegel, Laura Sloate, Sidney and Morgan Stark, Herbert and Svetlana Wachtell, Jody Wolfe and David and Hillary Zeltner. Dinner ended with a towering chocolate dessert, and guests got to thank Chef Boulud in person when he stepped in for a quick visit and pictures with Mr. Joel.

Toby Perlman, bubbling over with joy reminiscing at the accomplishments of her “kids” at the Program’s Summer Music School, gave a memorable speech thanking each and every person responsible for The Perlman Music Program’s continued success. She then turned attention to the guest of honor, Mr. Joel, and Itzhak Perlman awarded him the 2nd Annual PMP Arts Make Music Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts. Upon acceptance, Mr. Joel spoke of his personal connection with the Program and the Perlmans. He joked that the first time he met Mr. Perlman at a Hamptons’ party he thought he was meeting “the Revlon guy,” Ron Perelman. Mr. Joel talked about his visits to Shelter Island, saying, “I wish I’d been able to go to a program like that. I studied classical piano for twelve years, but I didn’t practice enough. I was supposed to be learning Mozart, but I’d write my own stuff.”

Overall, this festive evening was a huge success and helped to raise a record $400,000 for The Perlman Music Program.

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