Monday, November 6, 2017
Co-Chairs: Thomas J. Reid and Christina M. Pae
On Monday, November 6th, Colin B. Bailey, director of the Morgan, and the Trustees hosted the Evening Benefit, the Morgan’s annual gala which featured a performance by Emmanual Ceysson, the Principal Harpist for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. For this special night, the iron gates of the Morgan were opened and guests could ascend the steps at the 36th Street entrance past Edward Clark Potter’s Assyrian lionesses and into the marble Rotunda.
The evening began with a cocktail hour held in the Library and Study, then led to dinner and a concert in Gilbert Court, part of the 2006 expansion of the museum by Renzo Piano. The Court was transformed into a resplendent red and gold dining area, with tables decorated with floral arrangements and candles.
Emmanuel Ceysson, called the “enfant terrible of the harp,” performed works by Henriette Renié, Gabriel Fauré, and his own arrangement of the "Fantaise on Carmen (fragment)". The First Prize winner of the USA International Harp Competition and the ARD Music Competition has played concerts in Carnegie Zankel Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Berlin Philharmonie, and more. As he played his striking red harp, projected above was a series of medieval illuminated manuscripts featuring harp players.