The packed ballroom inside the Omni Fort Worth Hotel buzzed with anticipation as auctioneer Joey Quigley prepared to kick off the live auction at the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Gala.
Dozens of attendees gripped their paddles while they waited for the first item — a private dinner and concert with Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra musicians — to be called.
The Feb. 21 gala raised funds for the orchestra’s Adventures in Music program, an educational initiative that provides concerts and classroom curriculum to more than 20,000 students throughout North Texas.
“Who will open the bid at $1,000?” Quigley asked the 522 guests inside the Omni.
The first paddle shot up in the air. And then another. Multiple bidders faced off until the private dinner sold for $8,000.
Over the next half hour, several other luxury items were auctioned off and individual donations were made until a record-breaking $1,175,150 was raised for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
Last year’s gala at The Worthington Renaissance Fort Worth Hotel raised nearly $1.08 million.
For music director Robert Spano, the packed downtown ballroom proved that everyone, like him, believes in the power of music.
“It’s worth reminding ourselves how important our work is. It’s not a luxury. It’s not icing on the cake. It’s the cake itself,” he told guests at the gala. “The work that we do at the symphony is a critical and important part of the cultural life of Fort Worth. Without a cultural life, there is no life worth having.”
The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra has been a fabric of the city’s arts community since 1912. In recent years, Spano and the nonprofit’s president Keith Cerny have worked to elevate the orchestra’s visual and contextual elements through their Theater of a Concert concept.
This year’s gala kicked off with a concert at Bass Performance Hall starring Grammy Award-winning violinist Gil Shaham. Guests were then shuttled to the Omni for dinner.
Honorary gala chairman Mercedes T. Bass wrote in the event’s program that philanthropic support helps strengthen the organization’s presence as one of the “cultural gems of the state.”
Bass has served as the chair of the symphony orchestra’s board for several years and has frequently been coined as its “biggest fan.” In 2024, she donated $5 million to be allocated over five years to the nonprofit.
“We know the importance of music education extends beyond teaching musical skills; it encourages creative expression, builds discipline and confidence, and nurtures leadership abilities,” she wrote.
Following the auction, a party band took the stage with a cover of “Celebration” by Kool & The Gang. Guests hit the floor where they danced the night away.
Disclosure: Fort Worth Report board director Marianne Auld serves as chairman of the executive committee for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Board director David Porter’s wife, Dana Porter, also serves on the committee.
David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports.
The Fort Worth Report’s arts and culture coverage is supported in part by the Meta Alice Keith Bratten Foundation and the Virginia Hobbs Charitable Trust. At the Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
