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Elton
John and his band Opening Night Concert and Gala Dinner at
Radio City Music Hall
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Kim
Heirston
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Amy
Hoadley
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Mary
Rodgers Guettel
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Dylan
Lauren
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Amanda
Hearst
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Last
Tuesday night, Elton John and his Band wowed the audience at
the opening night of their five-concert series at Radio City
Music Hall with a program of 23 songs, including some from
their brand new album “Peachtree Road,” all backed
up by a full symphony orchestra made up of 99 talented young
artists from The Juilliard School and The Royal Academy of
Music and 62 singers from an augmented Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
The finale was a rendition of Elton’s first big hit, “Your
Song,” which he sang as a duet with Juilliard alum Renee
Fleming.
The concert was followed by a benefit dinner for 550 in the Rainbow Room which
along with 100% of the proceeds from the concert that Elton donated, raised $1.3
million to be split evenly between The Juilliard School and The Royal Academy
of Music, where Elton studied beginning at the age of 11.
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Elton
John and his Band at
Radio City Music Hall
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The gala evening was chaired by Cornelia Guest and David
Furnish. The Honorary Chairmen included Cynthia and Dan Lufkin,
Lord Jacob Rothschild, and Evelyn and Leonard Lauder.
Other chairs included Elizabeth Polisi and Joseph Polisi, the
President of Juilliard, Joan and Michael Steinberg, John Demsey, Eva
Dillon, Michèle Gerber Klein, Maria Olivia and Jim Judelson, Dayssi Olarte
de Kanavos, Annie Churchill, Bettina Zilkha, Lauren Bush, Gillian and Lydia Hearst-Shaw,
Amanda Hearst, and Jill and Robert Zarin.
Among the guests leading the standing ovation were Barbara Walters, Mario
Buatta, Candice Bergen, William Ivey Long, Sharon and Ashley Bush, Frank Langella,
Mary Rodgers and Henry Guettel, Lorraine Bracco, Deborah Norville and Karl Wellner,
Ron Delsener, Dylan Lauren, Audrey and Martin Gruss, Aileen Mehle, Gerald Tsai,
Dr. Howard Sobel, William Goodman IV and Christine Schott, Lisa McCarthy, Jamie
Johnson, Kim Heirston, Coco Kopelman, Joe Armstrong, Paul Kanavos, and Alice
Weil Judelson, fashion designer Gustavo Arango, Ralph Destino,
Jeffrey Klein, interior designer Richard Mishaan, Fred and Carole Guest, Allan
Beeber, Robert
Tartarini, and David Greenough.
Elton studied at The Royal Academy of Music as a young musician. The scholarships
supported by this event will make it possible for talented young musicians who
could not otherwise afford it, to benefit from the extraordinary training these
premiere music schools offer.
Joseph W. Polisi, President of Juilliard says, "Our two institutions have
a history of artistic exchange, and the funds raised from this event will be
used to promote joint artists programs and further exchange between them. In
addition, Elton's decision to establish a music scholarship at The Juilliard
School underscores his firm belief in the importance of conservatory education
and classical training."
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Elton
John Set List
• 60 Years On
• Greatest Discovery
• I Need You to Turn To
• Border Song
• The King Must Die
• Burn Down The Mission
• Believe
• Come Down In Time
• Tell Me When The Whistle Blows
• Tiny Dancer
• Madman Across The Water
• Holiday Inn
• Levon
• Freaks In Love
• Sorry
• This Train Don't Stop • Here Anymore
• Philadelphia Freedom
• Have Mercy on The Criminal
• Carla Etude / Tonight
• Take Me To The Pilot
• Saturday Night (Click
for video footage)
• Don't Let the Sun
• Your Song |
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Elton
John, Cornelia Guest, and David Furnish
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Deborah
Norville and Elton John
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Cynthia
Lufkin with Joseph Polisi and Elizabeth Marlowe Polisi
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Jamie
Johnson and Amanda Hearst
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Coco
Kopelman
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Julia
Wallace
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Candice
Bergen, Elton John, and Evelyn Lauder
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John
Demsey
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L.
to r.: Debbie Bancroft and Christine Schwarzman; Lauren
Bush; Bettina Zilkha; Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos.
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Renee
Fleming and Elton John
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Paige
Boller, Dr. Howard Sobel, and Jill Brooke
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Ashley
Bush, Sharon Bush, Lauren Bush, and Gillian Hearst
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Mr.
and Mrs. Frank
Langella
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| Photographs
by Billy Farrell/PMc |
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