Artistically Social with Amy Rosenberg By Amy Rosenberg Amy Rosenberg is an attorney and arts advocate who founded the Overtown Music Project and the Arsht Center's young patrons group. She is the co-founder of the environmental non-profit Dream in Green. Amy is a member of Art Basel's Junior Host Committee and sits on the Board of the Funding Arts Network. She also serves on the New World Symphony's Friends Committee as well as The Wolfsonian-FIU's Visionaries Committee. This month was all about ivory tickling, and let me tell you, it was no staid affair. Marvin Ross Friedman, Adrianne bon Haes and Lisa Versaci Garrick Ohlsson, the first American to win the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition (this is a BIG deal!) performed at the Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center with Poland's Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jacek Kaspszyk (try pronouncing that). Mr. Ohlsson's rendition of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 was, dare I saw, on par with Arthur Rubinstein's (widely considered the greatest piano player of the 1900s). The Cleveland Orchestra opened its sixth season with acclaimed pianist Yefim Bronfman and a program of Brahms and Shostakovich. The highlight for me was Wanderlust, the 2009 new work by the orchestra's Young Composer Fellow, Sean Shepherd. The work was brave, vivid, and occasionally dissonant. Community luminaries Norma and Irma Braman were in attendance along with the lovely Judy Weiser. YoungArts’ annual An Affair of the Arts Performance and Gala brought together more than 500 philanthropists for an evening of performances, dining and dancing. The National Association for Advancement in the Arts created the YoungArts program to identify emerging artists and assist them at critical junctures in their educational and professional development, and to raise the appreciation for, and support of, the arts in the United States. The performance featured the extraordinary Shelly Berg, dean of the Frost School of Music at University of Miami and a piano player capable of bringing swagger to nursery rhymes. Dean Berg performed alongside enormously talented students and his jazzy, evocative transformation of West Side Story's melodies was a triumph. The gala that followed was one of the most fun I've attended. My friends and I barely ingested our colossal shrimp entree before we were on our feet dancing the night away. Jayne and Ashley Abess with Stephen Brunell at Fairchild Over 300 guests attended Splendor in the Garden at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and enjoyed an afternoon of fashion and philanthropy alongside artist Will Ryman installations. I was lucky enough to be seated at honoree Jayne Abess's table and had a bird's eye view of the fashion show curated by Neiman Marcus Senior Vice President Ken Downing. Jayne, who was asked to walk the runway (and rocked it), was honored alongside other notable women for her service to Fairchild and to our community. Friends of South Beach Wine and food got a sneak peak at Edge Steak and Bar, formerly Acqua at The Four Seasons. The room has been fabulously redone with whitewashed oak tables and white banquettes. The food is glorious as well: 24 ounce Tomahawk steaks, quinoa and roasted corn salad and cheesecake lollypops. Meaty bliss. Friends is a group that has the privilege of attending six exclusive members-only "behind the scenes" events throughout the calendar year featuring high profile restaurant openings and unique tastings not open to the general public. Until next time...