We’re late in getting this to you but deserves notice for several reasons including the fact that it’s an interesting event. Yum.
This was the third "Paris After Dark" now an annual, sold-out culinary and musical collaboration between composers and master chefs -- all in support of Copland House. This year's event took place on September 21 at Le Bernardin, which was filled to capacity with 130 guests, and presided over by Chef Eric Ripert himself. If you don’t know already, Le Bernardin is incomparable in its culinary choices.
The event referred to the great American composer Aaron Copland's days in 1920s Paris. The evening also launched the 10th Anniversary season of Copland House, the unique creative center for American music based at Copland’s restored, longtime northern Westchester home.
Guests began the evening in the second floor salon, surrounded by a silent auction. Passed canapés included Shitake and Herbs in Phyllo, Marinated Slivers of Salmon with Yuzu Kosho Vinaigrette, Grilled White Tuna with Herbes de Provence and Olive Oil, White Soy-Yuzu Marinated Fluke on “Rice Crispies,” Poached Quail Egg filled with Smoked Salmon and Crème Fraîche, and Asian Tuna Tartare on Endive – all complemented by Champagne Pol Roger, provided, as were all of the sumptuous wines throughout the evening, by Frederick Wildman and Sons.
Following hors d’oeuvres, guests moved to the restaurant’s main dining room, where everyone was seated at long country farm tables accented with luminescent candles and votives, and rustic twig cylinders filled with an array of orchids designed and arranged by Let’s Have an Affair (Warwick, NY). Guests were greeted by an effervescent performance of a 4-hand piano work by Francis Poulenc performed by Copland House Artistic and Executive Director and pianist Michael Boriskin and Emmy Award-winning composer-pianist John Musto.
Chef Ripert talked about how the evening’s musical selections inspired the composition of the 5-course tour-de-force that was about to be served.
The menu included layers of thinly pounded yellowfin tuna, foie gras and toasted baguette, with shaved chives and extra virgin olive oil, served with Zette Blanc 2007 (Domaine de Lagrezette); stuffed zucchini flowers with peekytoe crab in a black truffle sauce, served with Chablis 1er Cru Vaillon 2006 (Domaine Christian Moreau Pere et Fils); bread crusted red snapper, marinated heirloom tomatoes, and basil-scented tomato consommé, served with Pascal Jolivet Sancerre 2007; pan roasted monkfish with Israeli couscous tabbouleh in a black garlic and Persian lemon sauce, served with Cuvee Dame Honneur 2003 (Domaine de Lagrezette); and rum scented carrot cake with golden Raisins, sicilian pistachio, and condensed Milk Ice Cream, served with Muscat de Beaumes de Venise 2006 (Paul Jaboulet Aine).
Each course was preceded by musical compositions by Copland, his legendary teacher Nadia Boulanger, Virgil Thomson, Ned Rorem, William Bolcom, and Leonard Bernstein. In addition to Boriskin and Musto, the award-winning performers from the Music from Copland House ensemble included violinist Adela Pena, cellist Willhelmina Smith, and baritone Philip Cutlip.
The gala’s co-chairs were Dr. Ezriel Kornel and Kartherine Petitti-Kornel and O. Anthony Maddalena. The event’s Guest of Honor was Rosamond Bernier, founder and editor of the influential French art journal L’Oeil, former European Features Editor of Vogue, longtime Metropolitan Museum of Art lecturer extraordinaire, and lifelong friend of Copland.
Guests included at the eagerly-anticipated event included gala underwriters Carol and Robert Morris, lead benefactors Teri and James Babcock, Copland House Board President and Phelps Hospital Vice President Lawrence Faltz and his wife Elyse, Westchester Arts Council Executive Director Janet Langsam, actress Mary Stuart Masterson, Jaime Bernstein (daughter of Leonard), Deputy County Executive Susan Tolchin and her husband Lawrence Tolchin, Caron and Geoffrey Johnson, Ann and Thomas Scheuer, Fortunate magazine’s Carol Loomis and husband John, Ruth and David Schwab II, Susan Geffen, Marian Hamilton, Bonnie Trotta, Phelps Hospital CEO Keith Safian, Lincoln Center Chairman Emeritus Martin E. Segal, Calvin Tomkins of The New Yorker, Vogue editor-at-large Dodie Kazanjian, Art in America’s editor-at-large Elizabeth Baker, James and Helen Stambler Neuberger, Northern Westchester Hospital Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center’s Alain deLotbiniere, and Neuberger Museum of Art Executive Director Thom Collins. |
