Sarah Todd reports from Lenox.The romance of salon music--intimate and dramatic, ideally accompanied by fluttering lace fans and curlicued mustaches just barely masking bold passion--isn't often on display in this day and age. So it was all the more remarkable to behold on Sunday, April 14, at Close Encounters with Music’s annual luncheon musicale benefit at Blantyre. Under the leadership of artistic director Yehuda Hanani (left, with executive director of Berkshire Film and Media Commission Diane Pearlman and Jeff Diamond), the organization brings live chamber music to audiences with the goal of creating a close-knit, participatory musical experience. On Sunday, soprano Sarah Wolfson and pianist Renate Rohlfing bewitched a small crowd with swoon-worthy love songs in honor of springtime. The program included American classics like “They Can’t Take That Away from Me" along with selections from Carousel and Follies. The highlight, though, was Wolfson’s mesmerizing rendition of Joaquin Turina’s Poema en forma de conciones, Opus 19. With her rich, expressive vibrato, Wolfson gave the kind of performance that burrows deep into your bones. Afterward, dazzled guests shuffled into Blantyre's kingly dining room for another kind of transportive experience: lunch prepared by Blantyre chef Arnaud Cotar.
Pianist Renate Rohlfing and vocalist Sarah Wolfson; Barrington Stage artistic director Julianne Boyd, Close Encounters With Music board president Marcie Setlow, and Nancy Kalodner of Benchmark Real Estate.
Attorney Allan Streichler and artist Ronnie Streichler with Dr. Faanya Rose, the first woman elected president of the Explorers Club; Kentshire Galleries directors Fred Imberman and Marcie Imberman.
Ilona Weisman and Close Encounters with Music vice president Hannah Hanani; Georgeanne and Jean Rousseau of Lenox.
Michele and Steve Mestman; Hancock Shaker Village board chairman Ron Walter and law professor Marilyn Walter.
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Matteline deVries-Dilling, founder of Lite Brite Neon, one of the evening's honoree of this year's Upstate Benefit adresses the gala from the Caboose's caboose.
- Karen Pearson. Courtesy Art Omi.
Olana senior vice president and landscape curatorMark Prezorski, president Sean Sawyer, The evenings honoree Kristin Gamble and New York State Assemblymember Didi Barrett.
- Oxygen House Photo
