(Photos by Anthony Almeida}

Attracting a good turnout for any event at Salmagundi during the summer off season is a daunting task indeed. When Mitch Kahn approached Chris Nunnally about picking a date for a reception to dedicate the new piano he was donating to the club for the gallery, Chris came up with the only logical suggestion: piggyback the event with the Nocturne Exhibition Awards Reception and Anne Kullaf’s demonstration, already on the calendar for Friday, July 18th and likely to draw a good crowd.

The combination of the three events did indeed result in a truly warm, artistic, innovative and vibrant evening, with an excellent turnout to match. Many past and present club officers, members and their guests, including Salmagundi’s first woman president (1983-87), piano enthusiast Ruth Reininghaus, were in attendance. Keeping the music flowing were SCNY regulars Kevin Olson, Michael Pilofian, Bob Trien and Mitch Kahn, plus Raul Santiago, David Winkler and Ted Silver. “Baby” was the belle of the ball.

Anthony Almeida’s glorious photographs tell the story better than Hemingway ever could. Click on the first thumbnail to begin and use keyboard or rollover arrows to navigate (swipe on mobile devices).

(by Anthony Almeida)

Ahhh, what an enchanting night it was! — “The Noble Nocturne, A Plein-aire Demonstration by Pastelist Anne Kullaf” was staged on Salmagundi’s two balconies with a live audio and video feed to a large screen TV placed just inside the parlor windows so the audience could watch the artist, the model and the easel simultaneously (kudos to Chris Nunnally for this extremely innovative setup).

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(by Anthony Almeida & Mitch Kahn)

As part of Salmagundi’s ongoing makeover and in anticipation of the club’s upcoming centenary at 47 Fifth Avenue in 2017, Musical Artist member Mitch Kahn felt the new gallery deserved a new soul mate to take over for Montague Glass’s fairly long in the tooth gift of 1918, which has stoically endured more than its fair share of battles during its century at the club.

At exactly 10:15 AM on Saturday, July 12th, and with not a single car parked on the entire block – as if the street itself was anticipating her arrival – the Bates Bros. (piano movers) truck pulled up directly in front of the stoop. Minutes later a second truck arrived, bringing the two extra “sets of hands” needed to escort “Baby” on the red carpet.

A baby only in relationship to her big brother (the 1100 lb. 9′ concert grand), “Baby” is technically called a semi-concert grand – 7’6″ long and a more petite 900 lbs. She is a handmade Shigeru Kawai, ranked by piano experts as one of the top four makes worldwide.

These photos tell only part of the story. Absent is Kawai piano dealer Camille Scheidemann, who worked diligently and enthusiastically behind the scenes to pull all the pieces of this difficult puzzle together, making sure our elegant debutante was properly outfitted and chauffeured to the palace in time for the ball – but that’s a story for another day. For now, just enjoy the pictures.

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