New York Philharmonic hosted its annual Lunar New Year Concert & Gala, welcoming the Year of the Snake in David Geffen Hall, and honoring philanthropist and NY Phil Board Member and International Advisory Board Co-Chair Angela Chen.
Conductor Tianyi Lu, in her NY Phil debut, led the Orchestra in a program of Asian and Western orchestral music, opening with Li Huanzhi’s Spring Festival Overture, followed by the Prologue to A Mad Tea-Party from Unsuk Chin’s opera Alice in Wonderland, and Casella’s La donna serpente, Suite No. 1, in honor of the Year of the Snake. Violinist Inmo Yang made his NY Phil debut as soloist in Chen Yi’s Chinese Folk Dance Suite, with three movements inspired by traditional dances from regions across China. The program concluded with Bizet's Carmen Suite No. 1.
Upon arrival, Gala guests were invited to walk the red carpet in the Karen and Richard LeFrak Lobby and to explore an interactive Celestial Silver Lexus TX display. Guests then proceeded upstairs to a cocktail reception on the Leon and Norma Hess Grand Promenade, where drinks and passed hors d’oeuvres were served. After the concert, guests returned to the Grand Promenade for a three-course dinner, where tables were set with Artiste red print linens, burgundy and mandarin florals, royal purple pillar candles, and East-Asian inspired decor inspired by the Year of the Snake. NY Phil President & CEO Matías Tarnopolsky and Co-Chairman Oscar Tang gave remarks at dinner, honoring Board Member Angela Chen, who also spoke. Tarnopolsky and Tang presented Chen with a framed Lunar New Year Gala Playbill signed by the concert’s guest artists.
The evening's attendees included Matías Tarnopolsky (President and CEO, New York Philharmonic), Oscar L. Tang (Co-Chairman, New York Philharmonic and Lunar New Year Gala Co-Chair) and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang (Lunar New Year Gala Co-Chair), Angela Chen (Lunar New Year Gala Co-Chair, NY Phil Board Member, and the evening’s honoree, Misook Doolittle (NY Phil Board Member and Lunar New Year Gala Co-Chair), Jackson Tai (NY Phil Board Member and Lunar New Year GAla Co-Chair) and Kay Tai (Lunar New Year Gala Co-Chair). Tianyi Lu (conductor), Inmo Yang (violin), Chen Yi (composer), as well as Afsaneh Akhtari, Consul General Chen Li, Peter and Maria Kahng, Esther Kim, Beverly Nguyen, Kim Shui, Dylana Lim Suarez, Natalie Lim Suarez, Barbara Tober, Allison Ecung von Arnim, Mary J. Wallach, Jun Wei, and Wei Wei.
The event was designed by OhFleur and Andrew Grant and catered by CxRA.
Image credit: Eugene Gologursky/Getty
