The chic-ky gala dinner was hosted by the tres charmant French Ambassador Gilles Chouraqui at the elegant Mandarin Oriental, Manila.
The six-course dinner menu was meticulously prepared by Mandarin Oriental’s Executive Chef Norbert Gandler, palanggas. They included French foie gras, prepared as a goose liver parfait. This was served with smoked duck breast with Mesclun salad, tossed in raspberry dressing and grape fig relish.
Equally divine was the Brie de Meaux with Mache lettuce in walnut dressing and black pepper spiced plums. This was preceded by oven-roasted seabass topped with tomato compote set on capellini pasta; roasted pigeon breast in crepinette wrapped in savory cabbage, all accompanied by superb French wines.
Well-loved and respected Ambassador Chouraqui said, "The success of the French Spring Festival is the result of French and Filipino collaboration."
This year’s fantastic program equalled the luster of the nights that preceded it. The fabulous L’Orchestre de Contrebasses, composed of six talented virtuosi double-bass instrumentalists, performed jazz, Latin and soul-inspired numbers that absolutely delighted the high-brow artists in the audience, dahlings. Among them were National Artists Arturo Luz, Leonor Orosa Goquingco and the one and only Virgie Moreno, no less.
Mega banker Gigi Montinola, Alliance Francaise president; Le Club president, popular Roger Ferrari; and Conseillers de Commerce Exterieur’s Louis Paul Heussaff came with their attractive wives.
Mallie Golangco, the president of the newly-formed Philippines-France Professionals Association (composed of 700 former scholars and trainees, dahlings) led the pack of Filipino-French societies, palanggas, whose members presumably have been attending most – if not all – of the other super French Spring events.
Tres visible from the art world were Repertory’s Bibot Amador; CCP’s glamorous Gloria Angara; dedicated working socialite and Southern lady Mita Bantug-R. with her husband, tres charmant tycoon, Tony Rufino; NCCA’s Leticia Shahani; MCO’s Armando Baltazar; San Agustin Church’s Fr. Pedro Galende; Metropolitan Museum’s vibrant Cecille Mauricio; Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra’s el señor Ruggiero Barvieri; and fun Zenas Lozada. They surely must have discussed the CCP performance of the Junior Ballet of the Conservatory of Paris which is composed of 15 young dancers.
Hiraya Gallery’s Didi Dee and talented painters Allan and Ivi Avellana-Cosio were looking forward to the exhibition of six new French Figurative painters at the Metropolitan Museum.
From the world of fashion came world-class designers Jeannie Goulbourn; Lulu Tan Gan; Patis Tesoro with her husband, lawyer Tito T.; and MEGA editor brain-brilliant Sari Yap.
Also seen were Marixi Prieto; Nedy Tantoco and Patrick Jacinto; Lourdes Montinola; Josie Lichauco; Paz Yuchengco; Ces Drilon; Maan Hontiveros; Lydia Sarmiento; Henri Muzarelli; Paqui and Lilibeth Campos; and Andre Khan and his wife.
Naturellement, Mandarin Oriental’s well-loved and popular GM Helmut Gaisberger stood at the reception line to welcome the namedroppable guests like Belgian Ambassador Roland and Sylvia Van Remoortele; Dutch Ambassador Theo Arnold; Swiss Ambassador Werner and Susana Baumann; Ambassador of Malta Enrique and socialite Letty Syquia; Finnish Ambassador Raimo and Eija-Liisa Anttona; Italian Ambassador Umberto and Clara Colesanti; former Ambassador to Spain Isabel Caro Wilson; plus other top dignitaries like them.
SGV founder Washington Sycip; Central Bank Gov. Rafael Buenaventura and his talented wife, painter Marivic Rufino-B.; Presidential spokesperson Bobby Tiglao; Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo; Malacañang’s Chief of Protocol George Reyes; former DFA Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr.; and Beth Day-Romulo were seated together. We would venture a guess that their discussion partly bordered on the forthcoming piano-cello chamber music of Declics featuring Jerome Decros and Gauier Capucon held at the RCBC’s Plaza Theater.
The brains behind the successful festival, French Cultural Attaché Frank Hebert and his rah! rah! team and Alliance Francaise’s Renaud Fessaguet (who had worked on the French Spring Festival for many months in advance) were tres pleased over the chi-chi huge turnout, palanggas. They watched smiling as jazz trumpeter Alain Brunet regale the guests.
The Third French Spring Festival, dahlings, also included exciting activities throughout the month dahlings, like the baroque music by the Trompettes de Versailles at San Agustin Church; chamber music by violinist Frederic Pelassy with Filipina talent Luci Magali at RCBC Theater and St. Scholastica; and the return of the Fete de la Musique in Malate.
What a town huh? Be happy. See you.