Susan Gutfreund opened her magnificent Fifth Avenue duplex for the Friends of the Budapest Festival Orchestra last week, and it was a night to remember.
Daisy Soros, who founded the Friends organization and is currently chairman emeritus, was there to celebrate, as well as this year’s gala co-chairs Kathryn Livingston Forgan and Christine Schott Ledes.
By the way, her stunning grandiose home which has 20 rooms — 7 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms and then some, happens to be on the market for a cool $76 million.
The finest wine and champagne with delectable hors d’oeuvres including scrumptious mini-hot dogs were passed around her one-of-a-kind abode while Stephen E. Benko, their Chairman, who flew in from Hungary to attend, toasted and thanked Mrs. Gutfreund for her kindness and generosity, and brought important news for classical music lovers.
“In October of this year, the Orchestra Maestro Fischer will be unveiling the inaugural Vicenza Opera Festival at the magnificent Teatro Olimpico, in Italy, the birth place of modern opera.” Maestro Fischer hopes this new festival will bolster the international opera scene and highlight Italy’s hidden treasures.”
“This Saturday,” Benko continued, “the Orchestra is holding its first sensory-friendly Cocoa concert outside of Hungary at Lincoln Center. Maestro Fischer designed these concerts for young people on the autism spectrum and with other developmental disabilities and their families. I’m thrilled to tell you that the event sold out within hours of its announcement in December and the waiting list is still growing!”
Other guests included Steven Aronson, Tony Bechara, Stephen and Radka Benko, Cornelia Bregman, Janna Bullock, Cece Cord, Steve and Rebecca Greenwald, Sylvia Hemingway, Geoffrey and Caron Johnson, Richard Johnson, Michèle Gerber Klein, Andrew and Heidi-Lee Komaromi, Liz Peek, Monika McLennan, Christopher Mason, Sana Sabbagh, Dame Jillian Sackler, Laine Siklos, Stephanie Stokes, Kathy Roder, Elizabeth Segerstrom, Jean Shafiroff, Barbara Tober, and David and Julie Tobey.
The Friends of the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s mission is to support programs of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Members have the unique opportunity to build a closer relationship with the Orchestra both in the United States and in Budapest through special events with Maestro Iván Fischer and the Orchestra. The Friends support major programming initiatives of the Orchestra including Dancing on the Square, Community Weeks, U.S. touring, and the Juilliard Apprentice Program, as well as chamber music concerts with important visiting Orchestra members in Manhattan residences.
Pictured:
Kathryn Livingston Forgan, Susan Gutfreund, Daisy Soros, Christine Schott Ledes