Sandy Weill's Opening Night Cheer: Carnegie Hall's Endowment Is Up 4%

Joan and Sandy Weill meet and greet in the Rohatyn Room during a pre-concert reception. FOR MORE PHOTOS, CLICK HERE * PHOTOS ARE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE HERE

Speeches at galas are often barely heard, but not so at Carnegie Hall's opening night: The executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall, Clive Gillinson, and its chairman, Sandy Weill, commanded a captive audience and they made the most of it.

Mr. Weill, a pace setter in philanthropy in tough times, knows how to get the fund-raising job done, and it isn't with platitudes. The gala raised $3 million, a record, he said. Well, that used to be typical gala-speech fare but these days, mentions of gala proceeds are extremely rare. (How had they done it? The gala chairs were fresh faces: Bostonians, legends of philanthropy, and owners of the Patriots, Bob and Myra Kraft; and Ed and Susan Forst -- Mr. Forst just finished a stint at executive vice president at Harvard). But the report got juicier: The year ending June 30, 2009 was a profitable one, not only because of cost cutting and support of donors, but because "we do well with our money." He gave credit to the co-chairs of the investment committee, Josh Nash and S. Donald Sussman. In the past two-and-three-quarters years, the endowment grew at 4% a year compounded. In 2008, the endowment lost 21.8% -- but in the first six months of 2009, it has made 15%. "So when you give your money to Carnegie Hall, it's managed by people who know what they're doing," Mr. Weill said, before announcing a $200 milion construction project. Rarely do these kinds of specific figures come up at a black-tie gala supper. But it could only please this crowd of prominent investors and bankers -- the chief executive of Goldman Sachs sat smack in the center of the room.

Mr. Gillinson was the soul at the podium launching his remarks with a reference to the Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning," to note that the way to success is not to strive to achieve it, but rather to pursue the work one loves. Mr. Gillinson said the artists on stage that night -- the Boston Symphony Orchestra, pianist Evgeny Kissin, harpist Ann Hobson Pilot, conductor Daniele Gatti -- had clearly demonstrated the truth of that idea.

When the applause died down, a few musicians playing from the balconies of the ballroom launched into "Some Enchanted Evening."

The speeches came about five hours into Thursday evening, just after 720 guests in the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria had been served their "entree trio," which seems to be a trend in gala dining designed for health and economy, consisting of a plate with almost exactly three bites of three different entrees: ginger-crusted chicken with buckwheat soba noodles, miso-glazed cod with Asian vegetable slaw, and lemongrass-spiked sesame beef brochette.