Margaret Phipps Award

From Bach … To Rock featured the clever pairing of symphony musicians and The Moderators, and between them, they covered all the bases and gave everyone a night to remember.

The after-dinner fun began on a sedate note with two or three couples waltzing to “Begin the Beguine.” Things picked up in a hurry, though, when The Moderators struck the first chords of such golden oldies as John Mellencamp’s “R.O.C.K. in the USA” and the Stones’ “Honky Tonk Woman.”

The Moderators are eight corporate executives whose day jobs have nothing to do with music. The group includes Mike Fries, president/CEO of Liberty Global; Ed Haselden, CEO of the construction company that bears his name; and Bob Deibel, president of OfficeScapes. Haselden and Deibel chaired From Bach … to Rock with their wives, Jenni Haselden and Lindsay Deibel; and Arrow Electronics vice president Rich Kylberg and his significant other, Jillian Parker.

“A little over” $850,000 was raised, according to Mary Rossick Kern, who chairs the symphony board with her husband, Jerry.

Nine hundred friends of the symphony were seated for dinner, catered by the Grand Hyatt Denver.

BJ Dyer and Guenther Vogt from Bouquets incorporated guitars and violins in the floral centerpieces. Dyer, a member of the CSO board, and Vogt invited their longtime friend Pam Cocker to join them at the Bouquets table; her husband, the legendary rocker Joe Cocker, was on tour and unable to attend.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock arrived in time to help master of ceremonies Ed Greene of CBS4 present the Margaret Phipps Award to the symphony musicians. Accepting were Margaret Hoeppner (cello), Terry Smith (percussion) and Yumi Hwang Williams (concertmaster) who between them have a 102-year history with the orchestra.

Gov. John Hickenlooper; former Mayor Wellington Webb and his wife, Wilma, and about a dozen members of the military were among the VIP guests, joining such other major backers as Liberty Media’s John Malone and his wife, Leslie; Merle Chambers and Hugh Grant; Izzy Abbass, director of the University of Colorado Denver’s Boots to Suits program for returning veterans; Denver Center for the Performing Arts chairman Dan Ritchie; Sage Hospitality’s Walter and Christie Isenberg; SCFD board chair Kathy Spuhler and her husband, Hanspeter; Carl and Carol Vogel; grocers Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane; Ballard Spahr partners Jeff Cowman and Kim McCullough; and Sandy Elliott with Dr. Bruce Paton.