Rising Stars

Istvan Vardai, Julia Novikova, Ning Feng, Irina Nikitina, Jaesig Lee, Ayyub Guliyev, and Johannes Fischer at The International Musical Olympus Festival's Six Rising Stars at Carnegie Hall.

Alex Hitz of the Bevelry Hills Kitchen (http://www.thebeverlyhillskitchen.com/ [1]) held a pre-Oscar dinner for friends from out of town and in town at his hilltop villa in the Sunset Plaza area of the Hollywood Hills.

Percy Gibson, Joan Collins, Alex Hitz, and Dennis Basso

Doris Brynner and Peter Dunham

Joan Collins and Nikki Haskell

Carolina Herrera, Alex Hitz, Wendy Goldberg, and Lauren King

Denise Hale

Alexandra and Billy Kimball

Dr. Alan Malouf and Denise Hale

Carly Steel and Tamsin Lonsdale

Michele Herbert, Kathy Hilton, and Barbara Davis

Frances Schultz, Tom Dittmer, and Marin Hopper

Patrick McMullan, and Barbara Davis

Beatrice Reed and Reinaldo Herrera

Michael Green

Carlos Mota, Andrea Dellal, Alex Hitz, and Carlos Souza

Lisa Fine and Karen Santo Domingo

Farhad Farman-Farmaian and Marin Hopper

Lisa Reuben, Simon Reuben, and Joyce Reuben

Andrea Dellal

Amanda Goldberg

Karina Fields

Michele and Larry Herbert

Eric Bushard and Degen Pener

Rick Hilton

Shell and Craig Cardon

Trey and Jenny Laird

Emilia Fanjul and Dennis Basso

Barbara Davis, Bronson Van Wyck, and Nikki Haskell

Victoria Brynner, Michael Green, and Doris Brynner

Michele Herbert, Larry Herbert, and Barbara Davis

Glenn Hinderstein and Diana Nathanson

Waldo Fernandez and Konstantin Kakanias

Wendy Goldberg and Denise Hale

Marymount Manhattan College Writing Center held its 17th Anniversary dinner at Doubles last Wednesday night.

The Writing Center, which opened in February 1995 encourages the craft of writing through instruction, programs, and user-friendly facilities.

Paul Andrejo, Grace Chang, Barbara Goldsmith, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, Jeannette Watson, and Alex Sanger

Its resources include a literary library, publications, audio and video archives and a number of writing carrels with personal computers. The Writing Center also features many unique events, courses and workshops including the Best Selling Authors Series with writers such as Tom Wolfe, William Styron, Dominick Dunne, Gloria Steinem and others; monthly workshops celebrating different heritages and various aspects of the writing business; clinics designed to assist writers with works-in-progress; plus the annual Writers' Conference - a full day of informative panel discussions along with a celebrated keynote speaker.

Carola Frumkes, Bel Kaufman, and Joyce Eichenberg

John Calicchio, Jane Levine, and Arthur Indursky

Tina Flaherty and Peter Karadimas

Grace Edwards

Sharon Green and Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas

Susan Isaacs, Peter Scardino, Susan Barash, and Judith Kelman

George and Margie Marks

Bettye Musham and Denise LeFrak

Stephen Jacoby, Cygall Dias, and Richard Rubenstein

\Hyatt Bass and Lewis Frumkes

Felice Ross, Rozalind Jacobs, Betsie Von Furerstenberg Reynolds, and Mimi Levitt

Richard Lederer and Betsy Bartlett

Ethel LeFrak and Regina Peruggi

Lawrence Block, Judith Greenburg, and Dan Greenburg

Malachy and Diana McCourt

Stanley Schulman and Armel Flood

Amber Frumkes and Scott Daspin

Elly Tatum, Charlyn Goins, and Pola Rosen

Barbara Taylor Bradford, Mary Higgins Clark, and Bob Bradford

The Musical Olympus Foundation, led by Irina Nikitina, presented an international festival at Carnegie Hall featuring six International Music Competition winners. German percussionist Johannes Fischer, South Korean tenor Jaesig Lee, Chinese violinist Ning Feng, Hungarian cellist Istvan Vardai, Russian soprano Julia Novikova and Azerbaijani conductor Ayyub Guliyev performed to a sold-out audience at Carnegie's Zankel Hall. The performance was followed by a cocktail reception at the Helen Yarmak studio, where guests toasted the young musical prodigies. The evening also featured the Olympus Chamber Orchestra, a group formed under the auspices of the Musical Olympus Foundation, featuring some of the most promising young musicians in New York City.

The Musical Olympus Foundation was established in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1995. The foundation develops and implements a range of international cultural projects, and is producing unique international musical presentations. The International Musical Olympus Festival has come to be known as a showcase of winners. For more information, visit www.musicalolympus.com [2].