The Song of the Lush: CLHOF’s Annual Cocktail Party Fundraiser

The theme of this year’s cocktail fundraiser was a play on Willa Cather’s great 1915 novel, The Song of the Lark, a title which is taken from Jules Breton’s 1884 painting. In the novel, Thea Kronborg, a voice artist prodigy, has moved to Chicago to further her training as an opera singer; once there, she finds inspiration in the Art Institute’s modern painting collection, specifically the Breton painting. Though this was a costume-optional party, quite a few guest dressed in strikingly similar ways to figures in various  Art Institute paintings. The and cocktails were top shelf. Mixologist Ryan Prindle created a special drink menu and explained how the drinks are made. Michael Burke and Robert Charles led a brief program highlighting aspects of the Cather novel, including short remarks by Jesse Raber. Beatriz Badikian-Gartler read her poem, “The Song of the Lark.” Rita Dragonette gave a toast. The Poems While You Wait team wrote around 30 commmissioned poems during the course of the evening. 

Program PDF