Athina Marturet, Maestro Marturet, and Christian Meischel

The Adrienne Arsht Center was packed to the rafters on Saturday January 21 for the Miami Symphony Orchestra’s (MISO) annual gala concert, An Evening in Vienna, where more than 3,000 of Miami’s social elite gathered to witness an unprecedented occasion.  On this special evening, the House of Swarovski presented MISO’s Music Director and Conductor Eduardo Marturet, with a one-of-a-kind crystal baton.   Christian Meischel, Swarovski’s project manager, flew in from Austria especially for this momentous occasion, as the baton is the first-ever of its kind.   

Throughout the evening, the charismatic and energetic Marturet, wearing royal blue crystallized Donald Pliner loafers to match the stage lights, encouraged the audience to share in his enthusiasm, which even resulted in a broken baton! Fortunately, said baton was not the Swarovski baton, which had yet to be presented.  The crowd obliged, clapping to the Polka, and dancing to the upbeat tempos, and delighting to the waltzes, and great overtures. 

Towards the end of the concert, with the pomp and circumstance of the prince and the Grand Duke from the Cinderella fairytale, MISO’s Chairman, Rafael Diaz-Balart and Meischel, ceremoniously carried the Swarovski baton to the stage on a black velvet cushion.  The Venezuelan conductor, in turn used the baton to direct the orchestra in the final piece, the Radetsky March, after which the audience went wild with applause.   

Model, Athina Marturet, wife/biggest fan of Maestro Marturet shared the following, “The night was wonderful, full of thousands of emotions and with such a special ending.  Marturet was amazing, continuously turning around to direct and animate the crowd, encouraging them to move to the beats of the music.  It was too much!  What made the evening even happier was the company of such illustrious friends and international personalities, such as Silvia Tcherassi and Iran Issa-Khan.” Other fabulous friends in attendance included MISO’s Advisory Board, comprised of Barbara Becker, Terry Cohen, Ali Mahalati, Sam Robin, Terry Schechter, and the aforementioned, Iran Issa-Khan.