WHOA-PUS!

In renovated Robinson, epic Opus raises $640,000 for ASO

522 guests snatch up tickets in 39 minutes, celebrate with ‘Taste of New Orleans’

Just days before, you could have heard a nail drop.

But by 8 p.m. on Nov. 12, the grand ballroom of the newly renovated Robinson Center reverberated with the sound of clinking stemware and the raucous laughter of a crowd happy to have tickets to the sold-out Opus XXXII, The Grand Symphony Ball.

Forget that the soiree was the first of its magnitude in the new center. Forget that it broke its previous fundraising record by nearly $200,000. Forget that it was the last event co-chairmen Chip and Cindy Murphy said they would ever lead. The party was billed as the biggest in a decade and lived up to that standard and then some. The ball raised about $640,000, topping the 2012 tally of $456,000.

"This is no ordinary Opus," one guest observed. Tickets to the soiree sold out in 39 minutes, with the first two buyers living two hours away. Sponsors snatched up the majority of tables; single tickets sold for $750. Exactly 522 people attended, with a waiting list nearly equal in number.

The evening began with one reception for Opus sponsors on the stage of the Robinson Center Performance Hall and a second for patrons in the foyer of the third-floor grand ballroom, near the silent auction. Then, guests were seated in the ballroom and treated to a "Taste of New Orleans" dinner sponsored by Galatoire's and Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits.

The menu included Galatoire's shrimp remoulade and crab meat maison, sauteed black drum meuniere amandine with Rockefeller spinach, grilled filet of beef with sauce Perigueux and truffle whipped potatoes, and New Orleans-style bread pudding with banana praline sauce. Glazier's Josh Cellars 2014 chardonnay and 2013 cabernet sauvignon complemented the meal.

At the end of dinner, master of ceremonies Craig O'Neill and auctioneer Thomas Blackmon coaxed another $33,000 from the crowd, which was matched by Simmons Bank for the Opus Ball Education Challenge. The money helps fund the symphony's youth orchestra and programs in schools. The silent auction garnered $25,000 and a live auction brought another $90,000. The biggest steal: a pearl mink coat and pearlized alligator handbag donated by New York designer Dennis Basso. The set was valued at $37,000 and sold for $10,500. Organizers rounded out the evening with dancing from 10 p.m. until midnight to music from the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Big Band in the adjacent DoubleTree Hotel ballroom.

Susan and Herren Hickingbotham, Opus co-chairmen from Opus XXII, were pegged to carry the torch for next year's ball as well.

-- Story and photos by

Cyd King

High Profile on 11/20/2016

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