The American Friends of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra joined black tie festivities in London for the Orchestra’s annual Summer Party at the Wallace Collection. This year’s event included a salute to the 20th anniversary season. The evening began with a champagne reception at the top of the museum’s grand staircase, followed by a concert in the Great Gallery.
Players from the Orchestra performed with celebrity artist Nicola Benedetti who played her Stradivarius, along with 5 principal violin players in the orchestra also playing Stradivari loaned by Beare’s Violin Society.
The summer solstice dinner was served under the stars in the garden room accompanied by Chene Bleu’s wines donated by Nicole Rolet’s La Verriere.
The Dinner Chair and underwriter was Sana Sabbagh who grew up in London and brought many friends with her from New York, London and Paris including Dame Jillian Sackler, Baroness Veronique Bich, Fran & Ros L’Esperance, CeCe & Lee Black, Evelyn Tompkins, Roddy & April Gow, Frances Osbourne, Victoria Wyman, Luce Churchill, Susan Gutfreund, Yvonne & Bjarne Rieber, Nicole Rolet, Louis Perlman & Julie Vacca, Inge Margulies, Richard Perry, Michael Whealon, Zenouska Mowatt, Raymond Blanc, Donald Fothergill, Jolana Vainio, Bruno Wang & Cyril Gonzales, Yvonne & Pierre Winkler, Sir Win & Lady Bischoff, Geoffrey & Caroline de Jager, Christopher Wright, Matthew Rycroft, and Honorary President of the Oxford Philharmonic, Lord Patten of Barnes, Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Lord Patten presented Sana with a bouquet of flowers thanking her for her generous support of the Orchestra.
On the evening of August 18th, the Preservation Society of Newport County entertained 530 guests at a memorable dinner dance at The Breakers (1895). The black-tie event in the legendary Vanderbilt “summer cottage” overlooking the ocean in Newport, Rhode Island, was the highlight of A Weekend of Coaching, a triennial event that brings historic coaches and horses from around the country for a four-day “meet” including daily coaching parades throughout the city. The dinner dance was held to honor the drivers, or “whips” as they are referred to in the sport of coaching, who participated in the weekend.
The Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island is a non-profit organization accredited by the American Association of Museums and dedicated to preserving and interpreting the area’s historic architecture, landscapes and decorative arts. Its 11 historic properties—seven of them National Historic Landmarks—span more than 250 years of American architectural and social development.
Photographs by AnnieWatt.com (Oxford); Susan Scovill (Newport).
