The scene outside 57th Street and 7th Avenue on Wednesday evening was a glitzy display of tuxedos and satin dresses as distinguished guests and patrons trickled inside Carnegie Hall for opening night, one of the biggest events on the New York social calendar.
A swanky cocktail reception inside the venue’s Rohatyn Room preceded the main event at Stern Auditorium, where the Chicago Symphony Orchestra played under the baton of outgoing music director and conductor Riccardo Muti and alongside the violinist Leonidas Kavakos.
The program included a captivating performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and Mussorgsky’s Pictures of an Exhibition which received thunderous applause and a standing ovation from an audience that included Zac Posen, Patricia Clarkson, Jeremy O. Harris, Liv Schreiber, Gina Gershon, Ellen Burstyn and Ronan Farrow.
After the performances, guests got in their black cars and migrated over to Cipriani 42nd Street for a black-tie dinner gala. Over plates of branzino and potatoes, remarks by Carnegie Hall chairman Robert F. Smith outlined the many ways opening night benefits the concert hall’s artistic, educational, and social impact programming. Last night’s event raised more than $5.6 million.
“Andrew Carnegie once said, ‘A hall is a place where all good causes here may find a platform,” Smith said on stage. “The very core of our mission is to inspire and nurture a lifelong love of music, from students to educators, and everyone who walks through those doors.”
The 2023-24 season of Carnegie Hall will feature some 170 performances, including a series of Perspectives concerts from the pianist Mitsuko Uchida and the conductor Franz Welser-Möst, the music director of the Cleveland Orchestra.