Vanessa Getty
Photo Credit: Ellian Raffoul for Moanalani Jeffrey Photography

Editors' Notes

Vanessa Getty looked stunning in a red beaded dress at the San Francisco Symphony's Salute to Gordon Getty in San Francisco.

Tatum Getty & Alexander Getty
Photo Credit: Moanalani Jeffrey Photography

Dede Wilsey & Sloan Barnett
Photo Credit: Moanalani Jeffrey Photography

Charlotte Shultz
Photo Credit: Ellian Raffoul for Moanalani Jeffrey Photography

Joy Venturini Bianchi
Photo Credit: Moanalani Jeffrey Photography

Gordon Getty, Vanessa Getty & Billy Getty
Photo Credit: Moanalani Jeffrey Photography

Ken Fulk, Alexis Traina & Madison Cox
Photo Credit: Moanalani Jeffrey Photography

Gavin Newsom & Jennifer Siebel Newsom
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Ann Getty
Photo Credit: Moanalani Jeffrey Photography

Allison Speer & Hosain Rahman
Photo Credit: Moanalani Jeffrey Photography

Nancy Pelosi, Joshua Robison & Alice Waters
Photo Credit: Moanalani Jeffrey Photography

Sabrina Buell & Yves Béhar
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Shirley Robinson
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Carolyn Chang
Photo Credit: Moanalani Jeffrey Photography

Denise Hale
Photo Credit: Ellian Raffoul for Moanalani Jeffrey Photography

Karen Caldwell
Photo Credit: Ellian Raffoul for Moanalani Jeffrey Photography

Randi Fisher
Photo Credit: Ellian Raffoul for Moanalani Jeffrey Photography

Frederica von Stade & Plácido Domingo
Photo Credit: Moanalani Jeffrey Photography

Michael Tilson Thomas, the San Francisco Symphony, and special guests including Plácido Domingo gathered for a benefit concert celebrating composer and philanthropist Gordon Getty’s 80th birthday at Davies Symphony Hall on Monday, January 6. Billy and Vanessa Getty hosted the celebration of the life and legacy of Billy’s father that also raised funds for the symphony’s education and community programs. They were joined by guests including his stepmother Teddy Getty Gaston, his wife Ann, Gavin Newsom, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Paul and Nancy Pelosi, Denise Hale, Jo Schuman, Ed Lee, Kamala Harris, Dede Wilsey, Randi Fisher, Bill Fisher and his wife Sako, Geoff and Hilary Callan, and Trevor and Alexis Traina, Bill Newsom, Todd Traina, Alex Chases, Craig Card, Marc and Lynn Benioff, and Seth Matarasso. The evening, A Salute to Gordon Getty, opened with a cocktail reception and dinner designed by Stanlee Gatti that was held at Zellerbach Rehearsal Hall A. The space was filled with red ribbons and fragrant red roses, and the display of blooms continued inside the concert hall where the evening’s performance included a motet, an aria, a duet, and a lied as well as the world premiere of Gordon’s newest composition, A Prayer for My Daughter, that was performed by the symphony and its chorus. Domingo sang an aria from Verdi’s La traviata, and then joined Frederica von Stade to sing a duet from Lehár’s The Merry Widow. Onstage, Domingo recalled that Gordon is also a baritone, like him (Domingo, a famous tenor, was hinting that he’s singing baritone roles in more recent years). Domingo also reminisced that he played the piano 40 years ago at a party at Gordon’s San Francisco house in an effort to get Gordon to sing along with him. Over the course of the evening, Domingo sang, conducted, told stories, and elicited wild applause from the audience and the honoree himself. Tilson Thomas concluded the night with the rousing fourth movement from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, and guests virtually danced out the doors of the hall and onto Grove Street.