As many of you now know, Barbara Tober was recently honored at the Metropolitan Opera’s annual On Stage at the Met Gala (for the full scoop, click here). Over 400 guests, all champions of Barbara, were seated on stage surrounded by Franco Zeffirelli’s Turandot set. Puccini’s final opera, an Italian fantasy set in a fairy tale China ends in a grand wedding, a fitting nod to the former editor of Brides magazine.
Peter Marino served as gala Chair while Frank Sciame served as Co-Chair. Leadership Committee members included Deborah Borda, Joel Ehrenkranz, Isabelle Harnoncourt Feigen, Carole Bailey French and John French III, Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang, Judy and Leonard Lauder, Daisy M. Soros, and Henry Timms.
Ann Ziff, Chairman of the Metropolitan Opera’s Board of Directors, announced that this year they raised over $1.6 million! “While we are here basking under the glow of the Donald Gibbs Tober chandeliers, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize our gala leaders who have helped bring this evening together and make it such a success, including Elizabeth Segerstrom, who joined Barbara and me as Gala Underwriter. Quite a few of you here tonight are regular attendees of On Stage at the Met. I want you to know how much we appreciate your dedicated support of this unique event.”
Chairman of the Metropolitan Opera, Ann Ziff.General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Peter Gelb.
“We’re honoring a legend in her own time, one of the Met’s most loyal patrons and a true Renaissance woman, Barbara Tober,” said Peter Gelb, the Metropolitan Opera’s Maria Manetti Shrem General Manager. “It was on this historic stage that Barbara and her beloved late husband Donald danced the night away at past galas, and where Luciano Pavarotti and Leontyne Price once reigned. The Met will continue to flourish thanks to the support, devotion, and generosity of Barbara and everyone in this room.”
Barbara’s past Conde Nast colleagues filled a table and her personal staff, who she endearingly calls “Toberville,” filled another.
The capacity crowd included Afsaneh Akhtari, Marika and Neil Bender, Gigi and Harry Benson, soprano Angel Blue, Millie Bratten and John Bratten, Tina Berrero, City Council Member Gale Brewer, Joan Hardy Clark, Bonnie Comley and Stewart Lane, Suzi Cordish, Judith-Ann Corrente, NYC Cultural Affairs Commissioner Laurie Cumbo, Machine Dazzle, Layla Diba, Joel Ehrenkranz, Elizabeth and Jean-Marie Eveillard, Alexandra Fairweather and Eric Goodman, Prudence Fairweather, soprano Renée Fleming, April Gow, Susan Gutfreund, Sylvia Hemingway, Marifé Hernandez and Joel Bell, Soloman Howard, Susan Jaffe, Yue-Sai Kan, Angela and Thomas Keesee, LaVon Kellner and Tom Roush, Michele Gerber Klein, Helen Little, Tinu Naija, Philippe Petit and Judith Friedlaender, Sana Sabbagh, Adrianne and William Silver, Tommy Soros, Ruben Toledo, Andrew Martin Weber, Jacqueline Weld, Damian Woetzel, and Marcella Guarino Hymowitz (dressed in a vintage 70’s Bob Mackie creation originally for Lauren Hutton).
Allan Pollack, Elizabeth Segerstrom, Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, Nikki Haskell, Yue-Sai Kan, and Marshall Watson.L. to r.: Barbara Tober and Joan Hardy Clark; Beverly and Laurie Cumbo.Renée Fleming, Soloman Howard, Ann Ziff, Ailyn PerezL. to r.: Renée Fleming and Ann Ziff; Patricia Shiah, Meriel Lari, and Ann Van Ness.Ron Linclau, Cece Cord, and Damian Woetzel.L. to r.: Margo Langenberg; Michele and Marty Cohen.Renée Fleming, Charles Letourneau, Elizabeth Segerstrom, and Susan Jaffe.Suzi Cordish, Margo Langenberg, Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, Barbara Tober, and Tina Beriro.L. to r.: Laurie Cumbo and Patrick Trettenero; Kara and James Moore.Stanford and Sandra Warshawsky, Ron Linclau, CeCe Cord, Dr Joel KassimirL. to r.: Elizabeth Segerstrom and Susan Jaffe; Erica Jackowitz and Marcella Hymowitz.L. to r.: William Haseltine and Maria Eugenia Maury; Tinu Naija and Huguens Noel.Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia and Galina Novikova.L. to r.: Nadja Sayej and Jacqueline de Jong; Patricia Shiah and Erica Jackowitz.L. to r.: Maria Eugenia Maury and Michele Gerber Klein; Meghan Klopp.L. to r.: Joan Hardy Clark, Galina Novikova, and Elbrun Kimmelman; Julia Ferguson.L. to r.: Guillaume Kientz and Gabriel Rivera-Baraza; Eric Goodman and Alexandra Fairweather.Yue-Sai Kan, Barbara Tober, Elizabeth Segerstrom, Jeremy Geffen, and Christopher Forbes.L. to r.: Christopher Mason and Michele Gerber Klein; Chase Cornett and Carla Jablonski.Kara Moore, James Moore, and Lindsey Howard.L. to r.: Barbara Tober, Machine Dazzle, and Tinu Naija; Cory Toeves and Daisy Soros.Allan Pollack, Yue-Sai Kan, Barbara Tober, and Anthony Roth-Costanzo.L. to r.: Robin Brown and Anthony Roth Costanzo; Stewart Lane and Bonnie Comley.Sana Sabbagh, Barbara Tober, LaVon Kellner, and Afsaneh Akhtari.L. to r.: Jonathan Marder, Gigi Benson, Ruben Toledo, and LaVon Kellner; John and Millie Bratten.Kip Forbes, Sana Sabbagh, Elizabeth Segerstrom, and Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia.L. to r.: Afsaneh Akhtari and Angela Chen; Charles Letourneau and Elizabeth Segerstrom.L. to r.: April Gow and Barbara Tober; Barbara Sciame, Michael Elliot, and Fionna Elliot.Peter Marino and Bob Colacello.William Hapworth Jr. and Tina Beriro.L. to r.: Noel V. Lateef and Sana Sabbagh; Mikki Sodergren and Morgan James.Jacqueline Weld Drake and Daisy Soros.Dennis Basso, Gigi Fisdell, Kenneth Koen, and Margo Langenberg.Christopher Forbes, Sana Sabbagh, Elizabeth Segerstrom, Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, Sandra Warshawsky, and Nikki Haskell.Marcella Guarino Hymowitz.Patricia and Edward Falkenberg.Angel Blue, Jeffrey Hirsch, Gigi Benson, and Harry Benson.
Photographs by Jared Siskin/PMC; Yvonne Tnt/BFA; & Rob Rich
