Hotel de Pontalba, built in 1855, is the residence of the US ambassador

Madame Ambassador and very elegant Stanford Warshawsky

« Madame Ambassador » was hosting a concert with five soloists from the New York Philharmonic, what a treat to be invited! A small group of French politicians including President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, former Minister of Health Roselyne Bachelot and diplomats Benoît d’Aboville and Jean David Levitte were happy to celebrate with her.

Clarinetist Anthony McGill

British Ambassador Sir John Ricketts and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing

Jane Hartley, who has since her arrival last November, been a flamboyant and excellent diplomat, mastering the « Je suis Charlie » events with discretion, is always wearing colorful dresses and her husband, Ralph Schlosstein, who works in New York, was there with his right leg in a cast. Sir and Lady Ricketts, the British ambassador and his wife Suzanne, who teaches at Sciences Pô, had walked down

a few meters from their residence. The food was fabulous with mini hamburgers and all sorts of hors d’œuvres served with champagne in the garden and in the vast rooms decorated with white and gold wood paneling. Hotel de Pontalba had never looked so good with huge bunches of flowers and impeccable lawns. The surprise guest, barytone Thomas Hampson, who is rehearsing « Le roi Arthus » by Chausson at the Bastille Opera, had a long conversation with Roselyne Bachelot, a fervent opera lover, who is publishing a book of Memoirs.

Roselyne Bachelot and Thomas Hampson

Fifty patrons of the New York Philharmonic (the orchestra first came to Paris in 1920) had travelled especially from the US for a three day music marathon at the new Philharmonie concert hall and a private visit of Versailles on the following Monday.

We were lucky to hear a Ravel string quartet and a Mozart clarinet quintet with magical Anthony McGill. The evening ended with a dinner at Caviar Kaspia. What a beautiful life !