Inaugural Great Stages Gala finds perfect harmony

The Great Stages Gala: A New Tradition took place along the Kimmel Cultural Campus on Tuesday, and it was a wild success — a dynamic show of community gathering in the name of local arts.

Something that, in its presentation of a diverse wealth of musical styles and genres — all of which were presented on the stage of the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall — lived up to what Philadelphia Orchestra Music and Artistic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin said from the night’s podium: “Music begins when words stop.”

With that, the opera and Broadway song of soprano vocalist Renée Fleming and the night’s original compositions with Beninese-French singer-songwriter and activist Angélique Kidjo were presented in full by conductor Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Starting with cocktails at the Academy of Music, a glittering march past the Miller, and a concert in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel, The Great Stages Gala hit all of the bases for the sake of the KC-Campus.

Hosted by longtime 6ABC news anchor Jim Gardner, the music of The Great Stages Gala concert ran the gamut from Rodgers’ opulently playful ‘The Carousel Waltz’ from ‘Carousel’ to Florence Price’s African-inspired ‘Third movement from Symphony No. 1’. Renée Fleming, a favorite of Philadelphia classical audiences, offered several of her greatest hits in performing Rodgers ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone,’ from Carousel and Puccini’s ‘O mio babbino caro,’ from Gianni Schicchi.

Angélique Kidjo’s ‘Ominira’ (translated as “Freedom” in Yoruba) got a sweeping, percussive-heavy arrangement from Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestra. After their solos, Kidjo and Fleming joined forces for a joyous take on Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ and Burt Bacharach’s ‘What the World Needs Now Is Love’ before allowing Yannick and an energetic Orchestra to dance and shout their way through the ‘Mambo’ piece of Leonard Bernstein’s ‘West Side Story’.

Along with being an aesthetic triumph, this debut Great Stages Gala went beyond musical celebration in order to benefit the Academy of Music, the Miller Theater, and the Kimmel Center, the venues and their ability to book and curate varied arts and musical forms.

Considering that such benefit was forever the business of the Academy Ball — a Philadelphia tradition which ran for 163 editions with celebrity vocalists and orators until Covid hit — The Great Stages Gala is a “new annual tradition that celebrates everything The Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center, Inc., represents… an expression of love for the great buildings and stages of our campus and the world-class art performed there,” said Matías Tarnopolsky, president and CEO of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center, Inc. preceding the gala.

“We heard from patrons that one of the things they enjoyed most about the Academy Ball was the chance to mingle with fellow fans of the arts,” said Tarnopolsky. “So, in lieu of a seated dinner, we’ve captured the magic of the Academy Ball’s pre-concert reception for friends to be able to mix and mingle and enjoy food and drink. We’re taking this opportunity to revisit how we do these types of important fundraising events to ensure they are meaningful for the community and successful financially. The Academy Ball is an iconic Philadelphia institution, but it was not massively successful as a fundraiser. Already the Great Stages Gala has raised more money than the Academy Ball would.”

Speaking to the future of the Kimmel’s Great Stages program—the next one is booked for February, 2024—Tarnopolsky’s job is just getting started.

“This is a new annual tradition,” said the CEO. “In the days after this year’s Great Stages Gala, we’ll be reaching out to solicit feedback from our guests so we can be as responsive as possible to the many fans of arts and culture who love to support our organization, and to find out how we can make the event even more fun and successful next year.”