THE CROWD:

The advancement of art and culture in Orange County is once again in the visionary hands of Henry SegerstromHenry Segerstrom.

Let there be no doubt that the legacy of this region is due in large part to a gentleman who sees things as they are and endeavors to transform them into the most that they can be.

In recent weeks Henry Segerstrom and his wife, Elizabeth, along with Philharmonic Society director Dean Corey concluded negotiations with Carnegie Hall executives in New York forging a partnership with America’s iconic standard of both classical and popular performance and Costa Mesa’s Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.

For the first time Carnegie Hall will present its programming outside of New York City at the Segerstrom venue offering West Coast audiences some of the finest presentations available on the cultural calendar. This is no small feat.

A partnership such as this puts the Segerstrom Concert Hall on international radar and also advances the reputation of Orange County as a bona-fide leader in the world of performance.

The ripple effect will bring audiences from Los Angeles, San Diego as well as many other locales in the western United States.

Not only will the arts be promoted, but local business, commerce in general and society at-large will be enhanced.

Nothing short of a modern-day Medici formula unfolding in a young concert hall that rose from a former bean field.

The news of the Carnegie alliance was celebrated last week at a late-night Philharmonic Society patron’s dinner at the romantic Tuscan-inspired Pinot Provence in the Westin South Coast Plaza Hotel.

Henry Segerstrom was absent, recovering from jet lag upon returning from the New York negotiations.

Elizabeth Segerstrom hosted the evening, welcoming the talented and passionate Michael Tilson Thomas conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra following a magnificent performance in the concert hall.

Tilson Thomas joined Elizabeth Segerstrom greeting the chic crowd of some 50 patrons of the Philharmonic Society including generous donor Elaine Weinberg of Newport Beach who took a lead role in underwriting the Tilson Thomas performance at the center.

It was the third in the 2008-09 concert season labeled as the Segerstrom Select Series which brings some of the world’s most outstanding classical music to Costa Mesa.

Dean Corey was on hand with his wife, Katy, charming the audience with praise of Tilson Thomas and the excellence of the San Francisco Symphony. He asked them to make the Segerstrom Concert Hall a regular stop on their future performances outside of San Francisco.

Tilson Thomas was gracious commenting on the outstanding acoustics in the concert hall. “It is a real pleasure to play in this hall because it allows one to make very sophisticated, colorful and subtle …and we hope…communicative music,” he said.

The maestro was joined at the dinner by his partner Joshua Robeson and the president of the Philharmonic Society Alan Beimfohr and his wife, Linda, the elegant Michael Rohé, Jerry Harrington, Dick Hausman, and the handsome young scion of one of Orange County’s prominent families, William Lyon and his wife, Christina. Also on hand were Donna Kendall, the young and hip English transplant Micky Dhillon and his stunning wife, Ishani, Ryan Burke, Justine von Winterfeldt, Lizzie and Charles McNairy, Clay Nolde, Jacqueline Reed, and Theresa and Steve Pollack.

The late evening dinner was underwritten by Pinot Provence and the concert series is sponsored by international jeweler Harry Winston.

The lively evening went on past the midnight hour as guests sampled a delicious vanilla bean panna cotta dessert with a midnight cup of coffee.

New York had indeed come to Costa Mesa on many levels.

THE CROWD runs Thursdays and Saturdays.