Brass Shines, Furs Fly at Center Show and Dinner

The Scene

Dinner at the Center Club after a concert by the Canadian Brass. The quirky, irreverent quintet came to the Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, compliments of the Orange County Philharmonic Society, 40 of whose members sipped sauvignon blanc post-encore and dined beside the boughs of a silver-ribboned Christmas tree.

Canadian Style

The Brass perform an eclectic program--ranging, for this Christmas show, from “Frosty the Snowman” to Kurt Weill to Vivaldi--in anarchic formal wear: black tails and white gym shoes. The five virtuosi showed up at the party in sweaters and slacks and black leather shoes. Tuba player Charles Daellenbach wore a rumpled white T-shirt, untucked, with an unbuttoned black shirt over it. “This is my, um, Japanese look,” he said with a sweet smile. All but trumpeter Frederic Mills and french horn player David Ohanian split before dinner.

Reviews

“They are just darling ,” said Floss Schumacher, en route to the private dining room. “What’s great is how they establish their virtuosity,” said Eva Schneider, “and then get into their shtick.” Louis Gluck likewise raved, concluding: “When they go from Bach to Dixieland it sounds like the most natural thing in the world.” For Cynthia Illingworth, the concert recalled family ties. “My father plays the trumpet, and he played in a little hometown band with my grandfather and uncle and my aunt, who played drums,” she said. “So I’ve always liked this kind of music.”

Repast

Salad of diced vegetables in apple-walnut vinaigrette, angel hair pasta with prawns, frozen key lime souffle.

Also Seen

Joannand Ed Halvajian, Susan and Robert Beechner, Bonnie and Roger Smith, Kazuko and Masahiko Arimoto, Grace and Mike Chitjian, Jane and Stan Grier, and Linda and Stephen Wagner, who mingled through the crowded room in their full-length fur coats (mink for him, silver fox for her).

Quote

Fred Schneider to the furry Wagners: “Is this like his-and-hers T-shirts?”