Cellist Amit Peled performs at Palm Beach Symphony Fire & Ice gala

Cellist Amit Peled performed at The Palm Beach Symphony’s 15th annual gala, Fire & Ice: Symphony Beneath the Stars, Feb. 20 at The Breakers.

The event raised more than $550,000, a fundraising record for the symphony, thanks in part to a matching gift from the Klorfine Foundation. Symphony members were challenged by the foundation with a limited-time campaign to raise funds that would be matched up to $250,000 in support of gala efforts.

The funds will help the symphony “fulfill its mission of cultivating classical music and growing its community and educational outreach programs throughout the greater Palm Beaches.” More than 250 people attended.

Gala co-chairwoman and chairman Nannette Cassidy and Philip Reagan welcomed guests.

Dale McNulty, Palm Beach Symphony board president, thanked the gala co-chairs for creating an evening in honor and memory of Mercedes Cassidy, a longtime member of the symphony. David McClymont, executive director of the symphony, highlighted the organization’s educational and community outreach programs. Local high school student Victoria Bran-Lopez, who last year received a violin from its instrument donation program, spoke about her experience.

Guests included Maria Cassidy, Don and Mary Thompson, Marietta McNulty, Leslie Rose, Denise McCann, Leonard and Norma Klorfine, James Borynack, Adolfo Zaralegui, Leslie Blum, Jerome J. Claeys III, Don Ephraim, Paul and Sandra Goldner, Arlette Gordon, Joseph Andrew and Carol Hays, Charles and Ann Johnson, Michael and Amy McGowan, Herme deWyman Miro, Ellis J. and Nancy Parker, Lois Pope, Marguerite Rosner, Tom and Tricia Trimble, and Sieglinde Wikstrom.