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 Summer Lovin'
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Coffee reception at the fourth annual “Early Birds & Bookworms,” to benefit the Jane Addams Senior Caucus in Chicago. |
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On Wednesday, June 27th Henri Bendel played host to an ethical shopping event featuring new arrivals at the store and Same Sky jewelry. Same Sky is a trade-not-aid initiative that employs African women living with HIV/AIDs as artisans, teaching them to make beautiful hand crocheted necklaces and bracelets and provides a platform to sell in the global marketplace.
During the event, Same Sky presented their latest summer colors and resort collection including the new Fabric Wrap bracelets ($30 - $40), Prosperity seed bead bracelets ($60 - $95), and Same Sky's signature hand-blown glass beaded bracelets and necklaces ($160 - $400). Same Sky will also be selling their newest collection of Hope necklaces ($395), Unity bracelets ($145) and Men’s cuff links ($100), which are hand crocheted by artisans in Africa.
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Same Sky founder Francine LeFrak was joined by co-hosts including Shelley Goldberg, Jennifer Bandier, Margo Catsimatidis, Francine Leinhardt, Janet Malpeso, and Lavelle Olexa, and Miss USA 2012, Olivia Culpo among others who were on hand on Wednesday, June 27th for shopping and champagne.
100% of all net-proceeds from the sale of Same Sky's jewelry go to employing more women artisans and expanding into other regions. Same Sky jewelry is worn by many celebrities including Meryl Streep, Alicia Keys, Fergie, Queen Latifah, Goldie Hawn, and Jessica Alba, among others and retails in a variety of price points making it the perfect fashion accessory. Same Sky began in 2009 with 4 artisans and now employs over 75 artisans in Rwanda and Zambia. |
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| Sharon Sternheim, Janet Malpeso, Same Sky Founder Francine LeFrak, and Margo Catsimatidis |
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| Francine LeFrak and Lucia Hwong Gordon |
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| Miss USA 2012 Olivia Culpo with President of Henri Bendel Chris Fiore |
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| Miss USA 2012 Olivia Culpo, Chris Fiore, Margo Catsimatidis, Shelley Goldberg, Francine LeFrak, Jennifer Bandier, Francine Leinhardt, Lara Werner, Janet Malpeso, and Lavelle Olexa |
MacKenzie-Childs was the setting for a lovely late Saturday cocktail pre-gala fundraiser for the Southampton Animal Shelter hosted by this year’s gala chair Jean Shafiroff and her husband Martin Shafiroff. A portion of sales from the shopping-cocktail was donated to Southampton Animal Shelter.
This year’s gala, the 3rd Unconditional Love Party, will be held at the beautiful waterfront home of Sandra McConnell and will honor Ellen and Chuck Scarborough
Allen and Company and Barclays are the Corporate Chairs. Board Chair Susan Allen heads up the Vice chair Club. The evening will feature cocktails, auction and dinner and dancing to the Alex Donner Orchestra. Jane Hanson is the Master of Ceremonies for the event which takes place Saturday, July 21, 2012. |
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| Board chair Susan Allen with honorees Chuck and Ellen Scarborough |
Busily shopping for hostess gifts and new home furnishings from MacKenzie-Childs’ one of a kind collectibles were NancyJane and Jeffrey Loewy, Melanie Wambold, Joy Marks and Leif Bringlesmark, Sharon Kerr, Sandra McConnell, Lucy Puig Neis, Robin Cofer and Domenick D’Alleva, Gary and Katherine Andreassen (fresh off the set of the TV show “Royal Pains”), Gregory D’Elia, Southampton Animal Shelter Board Chair Susan Allen, Board President Jonathan McCann and Board Vice President Sony Schotland, Raya Keis Knight and Dr. Neil Saddick.
Southampton Animal Shelter recently was named best “Best Shelter of the Year” by the Philanthropy Circle. |
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| Melanie Wambold |
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| Sony Schotland and Jewel Morris |
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| Jeffrey and Nancy Jane Loewy |
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| Domenick D'Alleva and Robin Cofer |
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| Sandra McConnell and Jonathan McGann |
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| Katherine and Gary Andreassen |
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| Sharon Kerr and Robin Cofer |
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| Jamie Devault, Jonathan McCann, and Susan Madison |
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| Jean Shafiroff and Felicia Taylor |
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| Sharon Kerr, Dawne Marie Grannum, and Joy Marks |
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| Sofia Gordon, Lucia Hwong Gordon, and Sabrina Gordon |
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| Richard Lewin and Lucy Puig Neis |
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| Jewel Morris |
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| Paola Rosenschein |
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| Shail Upadhya, Karen Bass, and Richard Arnold |
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| Sandra McConnell, Charles McConnell, and Emma Jesberg |
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| Karen Bass, Leif Bringelsmark, and Joy Marks |
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| Clif and Raya Knight |
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| Susan Allen, Cathy and Leigh Duemler, and Marlene Cooney |
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| Shail Upadhya and Karen Bass |
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| Gregory D'Elia |
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Last weekend in the Hamptons Joan and George Hornig hosted an intimate evening with a cocktail hour and concert performance by the Polyphony Youth Orchestra, a group of young Arab and Jewish musicians from Nazareth. Polyphony was founded in 2011 by renowned concert violinist Nabeel Abooud-Ashkar, Craig Cogut (Founder and Managing Partner of Pegasus Capital), and Deborah Cogut (Lawyer and Civic Leader) to bring equal opportunity to Arab youth in Israel and help bridge the divide between the Arab and Jewish communities, by using music to transcend the social boundaries, humanities, and the arts, which they believe is essential to creating tolerant,societies and encouraging dialogue between both communities.
The evenings concert, which was held in the Hornig's restored barn, was introduced by Inside the Actors Studio host, James Lipton. |
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| Musicians with Nabeel Abboud Ashkar (Director of Polyphony) and Conductor Karin Ben Josef |
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| James Lipton with Polyphony Youth Orchestra |
The student musicians, who range in age from 9-17 are on a three-week tour, with performances in Aspen, Detroit, Connecticut, and New York at various venues including private homes, synagogues, and churches.
Polyphony’s music programs help bridge the divide between Israel’s Arab and Jewish communities and help to facilitate cultural exchange, dialogue and partnership. Part of their initiative includes the US-based youth concert series which they feel will foster shared social values through this cultural exchange, as they share their music and stories with communities across the U.S. |
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| Everybody helped bring the seating into the barn for the concert |
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| The performance was held in the intimate setting of the Hornigs restored barn |
The guests were moved not only by the children’s music, but by Nabeel Abboud Ashkar, the group’s director, who spoke about his excitement for the opportunity to bring children from conflicting religious and cultural backgrounds together to create beautiful music (ranging from Mozart concertos to Israeli composers) and to be a part of a truly unique, life-changing experience where the common goal is their love of music and not of the strife that surrounds them.
The Polyphony Foundation achieves its goals by providing grants to music education organizations in Israel. For additional information go to Polyphonyfoundation.org. |
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| Nabeel Abboud Ashkar, Co Founder and Director of Polyphony, and Karin Ben Josef, Conductor |
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| Some of the young musicians |
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| George Hornig, Deborah Cogut, Joan Hornig, and Craig Cogut |
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| Riki and Jerome Shaw, and James and Kedakai Lipton |
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| The Siegal Family |
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| Deborah Cogut, Imogen Lloyd Webber, and Peter Brown |
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| Chef Louis Bavaro with some of his creations |
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| Joan Hornig and Linda Gelfond |
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| David Haber and Julia Hornig with Libby |
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| Joan Hornig, Irina Protopopescu, and George Hornig |
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| Summer Huntington, David Krzypow, and Lauren Turner |
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| Jennifer Lebovitz and Deborah Cogut |
The Santa Fe Opera, the premiere summer opera festival in North America, opened its 56th Season on June 28. The Opening Weekend Celebration was a four-day event that kicked off with a black-tie dinner attended by 175 on Thursday evening at the Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado.
Friday followed with private dinners in some of Santa Fe’s most beautiful homes followed by the opening of a new production of Puccini’s Tosca starring Amanda Echalaz. On Saturday morning, guests were treated to a backstage tour and lunch. With an in-house Scene Shop, Prop Shop and Costume Shop, The Santa Fe Opera fabricates nearly all of its original designs in over 80,000 square feet of workspaces behind and beneath the theater. |
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| Guests enjoy dinner in a private home on Friday evening |
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| On Saturday, Gala guests were treated to a backstage tour and lunch |
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| On Saturday evening, guests enjoyed a pre-performance dinner at Gaddes Hall |
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| On Sunday, guests enjoyed brunch in the gardens of the Nedra Matteucci Galleries in downtown Santa Fe |
Saturday evening featured an elegant dinner on the grounds of the opera followed by the opening performance of a new production of Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers starring Nicole Cabell. Finally, Sunday concluded the weekend’s festivities with a lavish brunch in the gardens of the Nedra Matuecci Galleries in downtown Santa Fe.
The Gala Weekend celebration raised more than $400,000 and benefits The Santa Fe Opera’s acclaimed Apprentice Program for singers and technicians – the oldest such program in the country. There were 800 applicants for the singing program alone, with 600 singers auditioned and only 40 who were selected. |
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| The Santa Fe Opera |
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| Raymond Aceto, Brian Jagde, Amanda Echalaz, Tosca, Act II |
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| Brian Jagde as Cavaradossi, Tosca, Act I |
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| The Pearl Fishers |
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| Nicole Cabell, The Pearl Fishers |
The 2012 Santa Fe Opera Festival Season features five new productions. New to the company repertory are Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers, Rossini’s Maometto II and Szymanowski’s King Roger. Returning to the repertory are Puccini’s Tosca and Richard Strauss’s Arabella.
The Santa Fe Opera, which is the premiere summer opera festival in North America. It was founded in 1957 and has grown to an $18 million annual operating budget, with 36 performances this summer serving over 70,000 audience members. The Santa Fe Opera’s mission is to advance the operatic art form by presenting ensemble performances of the highest quality in a unique setting with a varied repertoire of new, rarely performed, and standard works; to ensure the excellence of opera's future through apprentice programs for singers, technicians and arts administrators; and to foster and enrich an understanding and appreciation of opera among a diverse public. More than 1,600 performances of nearly 140 different operas have been given, including nine world premieres and 40 American premieres. |
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| William C. Morris, Ann Ziff, Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer, and Joseph Neubauer |
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| Andrew von Oeyen, Catherine and Luca Pisaroni, and Raymond and Rebecca Aceto |
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| Elaine and Kenneth Cole |
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| Board President Carey Ramos, Edgar Foster Daniels, and Catrina Bentley |
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| Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer, Frédéric Chaslin, Paula Heil Fisher, and Joseph Neubauer |
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| Maxime Ohayon, Catherine and Luca Pisaroni, and Leah Crocetto |
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| James R. Seitz with Ashlyn and Dan Perry |
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| Cindy Aloi and Irwin Sugarman |
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| Miryam and Robert Knutson |
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| Susan and Philip Marineau |
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| Jerry Fischer, John G. Turner, and Lee Blakeley |
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| Stephen Wadsworth, Catrina Bentley, and Francesca Faridany |
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| Daniel Meyer and Frederick Haas |
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| General Director Charles MacKay speaking with former General Director Richard Gaddes |
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| Board Chair Susan F. Morris and Peter Townsend |
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| Coke Ann and Jarvis Wilcox |
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| Barbara and Chuck Moore |
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| Joseph M. Bryan, the auction’s highest bidder, received a Magnum of Dom Pérignon Champagne Vintage 2002 courtesy of Moët Hennessy USA |
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Chicago, IL: On June 5, an intimate group gathered at RL for the fourth annual “Early Birds & Bookworms,” an exclusive book signing and author breakfast hosted by Bunky Cushing to benefit the Jane Addams Senior Caucus (JASC).
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| Bunky Cushing and Cornelia Guest |
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Cornelia Guest, the featured author at the breakfast, regaled guests with anecdotes about her family, her four-legged friends, including her dog, Olive, and a pig which she rescued as a child, and her new book, CORNELIA GUEST’S SIMPLE PLEASURES: Healthy Seasonal Cooking and Easy Entertaining.
The event raised more than $20,000 to support the mission of the Jane Addams Senior Caucus (JASC).
“We are honored that Bunky once again extended his generosity to Jane Addams Senior Caucus by hosting this event,” said Emily Byrd, Board Chair. “His continued kindness enables us to help improve the quality of life for older adults living in Chicago.”
Jane Addams Senior Caucus (JASC) is an organization of Chicago-area older adults organizing to build relationships, develop leaders, educate people and create the power necessary for older adults to play a central role in determining their quality of life. The primary goal is to develop senior leadership and organized power for social justice. For more information visit http://www.seniorcaucus.org/. |
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| Cheryl Bollinger |
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| Cornelia's cousin Alexander Cochrane and Wendy Wood-Prince |
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| Michelle Crowe, Phyllis Collins, and Tom Flint |
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| Lori Daniels and Peggy Martay |
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| Mamie Walton, Tom Gorman, and Judith Lee |
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| Stanley Paul, Melissa Babcock, and Bill Zwecker |
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| Sherren Leigh and Zarada Gowenlock |
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| Linda Heister |
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| Sarena Weil and Candace Jordan |
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| Spence Jennings and Sheila Swann |
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| Kathy Fox and Dori Wilson |
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| Mark Olley and Kerrie Kennedy |
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| Mitchell Hatcher, Marcy Gookin, and Kyle DeSantis |
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Edeyo Foundation founder Unik Ernest welcomed over 200 guests to his birthday celebration and 5th Annual Gives Hope Ball at The DL on Wednesday, June 27th. The night, hosted by Kelly Killoren Bensimon and Boris Kodjoe, raised much needed funds to improve the future of children in Haiti by rebuilding schools and providing students with a safe learning environment, as well as healthy food and water on a daily basis. Kelly Killoren Bensimon was presented with the Edeyo Humanitarian Award for your endeavors and Nigel Barker was presented with the Edeyo Hope Award for his humanitarian efforts and documentary work exposing the conditions in Haiti.
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Guests, including Consul General to Haiti Charles Forbin, Tyson Beckford, Cara Castronuova of The Biggest Loser, Harper Dimmerman, Tracy Stern, Leesa Rowland, Larry Wohl, Cassandra Seidenfeld and Jason Binn, enjoyed cocktails by Medea Vodka, Avion Tequila, Voss water, Radeberger, and Veev, hors d'oeuvres, a live and silent auction and music by Etienne Deyans.
In June 2007, Unik Ernest decided to utilize his birthday to give back. In lieu of gifts, he encouraged guests to dig into their pockets and donate towards a greater cause. This year marked his Edeyo Foundation’s 5th Anniversary and keeping with tradition, this birthday party for both Edeyo and Unik Ernest, carried the same ritual. The evening raised much-needed funds for the Edeyo Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the future for children in Haiti through education. |
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| Leesa Rowland and Larry Wohl |
Eva Szymanski and Matt Sandy |
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| Cristen Barker, Nigel Barker, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Boris Kodjoe, and Unik Ernest |
| Jason Binn |
Cassandra Seidenfeld |
Charles Forbin |
| Tracy Stern and Harper Dimmerman |
Cara Castronuova |
| Photographs by Lisa Tamburini (Polyphony); Matt Messner & Dan Rest (Early Birds).
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