Charities for children, opera education, a Nobel Prize and more

Exclusive bridal gown designer and Larchmont resident Cocoe Voci’s design studio on Robertson Boulevard in Beverly Hills was the spot for champagne, macarons, shopping and giving on March 29. Voci shares half of her showroom with another designer brand, Chloe Colette, one of 111 local businesses that have partnered with Make March Matter (MMM), an annual fundraising event benefitting Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA).

Founder and creative director of the Paris-, Geneva-, and Los Angeles-based Chloe Colette, Jenny Rizzuto, recently opened her new showroom with head designer Victoria Zito and looks to make a splash with their bubblegum pink sweaters, tops, skirts and dresses, as well as other eye-popping spring colors that will make you say “au revoir!” to all of that winter rain.

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Around the Town with Sondi Toll Sepenuk

Champagne servers wore Chloe Colette hot pink fuchsia tracksuits to dole out the bubbly as guests opened their wallets for a good cause. CHLA took in 10 percent of sales at the shopping event.

“Make March Matter is a way for community and businesses to come together to support the mission for the hospital,” said MMM official Dawn Wilcox. Also enjoying the event from MMM was Jillian Green.

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The early part of April included a special treat for music lovers in the area. In the exquisite lounge of the 1927 Ebell Club, a full house experienced the 1994 work, “ Impressions of Pelléas for Voices and Two Pianos” arranged by Marius Constant. “Impressions” is based upon the 1898 opera by Claude Debussy (his only opera), “Pelléas et Mélisande,” which is a musical rendition of the

MAKE MARCH MATTER for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is the cause for Dawn Wilcox, left, and Jillian Green, who attended the benefit event in Beverly Hills at the design showroom of Cocoe Voci and Chloe Colette.

CHLA SUPPORTERS at the March 29 benefit included, from left: Michelle Lucas, Cocoe Voci, Elizabeth Beristain and Jenny Rizzuto.

1892 five-act play of the same name by Maurice Maeterlinck. First performed in 1902 in Paris, the opera is often overlooked in repertoires, according to LA Opera Music Director (and Windsor Square resident) James Conlon. To remedy that, local opera goers had six opportunities to attend LA Opera’s first presentation since 1995 of what LA Opera describes as “Debussy’s enigmatic operatic masterpiece [that] captures an exquisitely nuanced dream world where forbidden love blossoms.”

Those performances at The Music Center were in addition to a citywide celebration — “Discovering Debussy”

(Please turn to page 4) mezzo-soprano Madeleine Lyon (Genevieve), bass Alan Williams (Arkel, seated), soprano Deepa Johnny (Mélisande), baritone Ryan Wolfe (Golaud), and baritone Anthony León (Pelléas, seated. The four pianists who accompanied the singers were Yanfeng Tony Bai, Vijay Venkatesh, Hyejin Park and Ryota Yamazaki.

Around the Town

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— curated and directed by Conlon in March and April, of which “Impressions of Pelléas” at The Ebell was the concluding event.

Spotted at The Ebell on April 4 were locals Patty Lombard and Bill Simon, Donna Russell, Janet Ciriello, Robert Ronus and many more. Some of Maestro Conlon’s thoughts on Debussy are included in the LA Opera’s printed program at: tinyurl.com/94y5s3jy.

AFTER THE PERFORMANCE, locals discussing Debussy included, from left, Robert Ronus, Janet

Jennifer and Ms. Ringo’s husband, conductor James Conlon.

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It was a real achievement, just up on Vine Street, across from Vine Street Elementary School — in the kitchen of Project Angel Food (PAF) — when the sixteen millionth medically tailored meal was prepared and delivered on April 10th.

Equipped with a hair net, apron, and gloves, Mayor Karen Bass joined the assem- bly line for that day’s meal of stir-fry chicken and fresh vegetables. Next, as the meal containers emerged from the sealing machine and were labeled, the mayor took the one with label “16,000,000,” and handed it to a grateful PAF client, Leon Williams.

As longtime PAF CEO Richard Ayoub watched approvingly, Mayor Bass said, “It is my honor and pleasure to present this 16 millionth meal to a member of our community, Leon Williams. He told me he’s a heart patient. A lot of times when people think of health care they think of doctors and medicine, but they don’t necessarily think of food, which is so important. That is why Project Angel Food is so important.”

Project Angel Food was founded in 1989, and it feeds 2,500 seriously ill people each day, providing more than 1.5 million meals per year.

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What to do for a big birthday?

Spike Booth (Franklin Otis Booth III, to be precise) chose to give a gift to several dozen of his good friends. On April 13, he provided them a VIP lunch and a guided tour of the many levels of the fantastic new Sofi Stadium, a two-team football, concert and event venue unparalleled anywhere in the world (for the time being, at least). Joining the Booth party were a half-dozen men from this neighborhood, including Hancock Park’s Dick Lowry and Bob Baker and Windsor Square‘s Peter Ziegler, John

Welborne and Bill Fain.

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One of the older institutions in Los Angeles is the downtown Jonathan Club. Its opulent main dining room was a fitting setting to be talking about the age of the universe and the discovery of black holes that exist within it. Andrea Ghez, professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA (with multiple other (Please turn to page 6)

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