Silent Auction

Congratulations to all of our Silent Auction Winners! 

1. Dinner at Eight for Eight—
A Private Dinner
by Chef Lydia Shire

Boston’s beloved Chef Lydia Shire will cook a private dinner for 8 in your own home! Lydia’s restaurants, including Biba, Excelsior, Scampo & Towne Stove & Spirits, have garnered world-renowned fame and justifiably so, but now you can share a private experience of her sumptuous cuisine with your closest friends without having to leave home. The package includes a mixed case of Donelan Family Wine. Select a mutually agreeable date on a Monday through Friday for a once-in-a-lifetime treat.

Valued at: $10,000; Opening bid: $5,500

2. “The Italian Lesson”

NEC Vocal Arts Chair and famed mezzo-soprano opera star, Luretta Bybee plays a society matron, taking an Italian lesson, whilst on the phone, doing her nails. The piece is by Lee Hoiby and is a one-woman opera. You and your guests will enjoy this private salon-style concert on a date to be chosen that matches your schedule and Luretta’s. (Suitable piano required)

Valued at: $6,000; Opening bid: $2,400

3. Borromeo
String Quartet

The world-famous Borromeo String Quartet, NEC’s own Quartet-in-Residence, will perform privately for you and your guests. This remarkable experience is paired with a tasting of the Donelan Family’s fine wines, many of which are served at our Guest Chef Lydia Shire’s restaurants. Accompanying your wines will be an array of delicious cheeses from Vermont Farmstead Cheese and crispy Castleton Crackers. A mutually agreeable date will be chosen. No piano required.

Valued at: $6,000; Opening bid: $2,400

4. Miriam Fried and Paul Biss

Miriam Fried, one of the world’s great violinists and a member of NEC’s faculty, will perform both with Paul Biss and along with some of her most gifted young artists, a special chamber music concert, including the Mendelssohn Two Viola Quintet in B-flat Major and a selection of other chamber pieces for you and your guests in the intimate setting of your home. (No piano required)

Valued at: $6,000; Opening bid: $2,400

5. Moon over Miami

You and your guest will enjoy a romantic overnight stay at the fabulous Loews Hotel in Miami Beach. But your Miami Beach experience will not end there! You’re invited to switch over to a private condominium in the exquisite Setai Hotel (in photo), where you will spend five nights, enjoying the delights of South Beach. Your Miami sojourn includes tickets of your choice to a New World Symphony concert. Some blackout dates do apply to the Setai Hotel.

Valued at: $18,228; Opening bid: $3,000

6. Tennis Hall of Fame

An exciting treat from Tennis Hall of Fame Sponsor Chubb Insurance. On Saturday, July 13, the lucky winner and a guest will watch famed tennis star Martina Hingis be enshrined in the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I. Your experience will consist of Executive Club Box Tickets for Two to watch the ATP Tournament Semi-Finals; attendance at the Enshrinement Ceremony and the private luncheon to follow. You will also be taken on a private tour of the Tennis Hall of Fame Museum.

Valued at $350; Opening bid: $150

7. America’s Left Bank

Cambridge can rightfully be considered America’s Left Bank, packed with fine restaurants, great educational institutions, venerable traditions. You and your guest are invited to attend one of the famed Chamber Music Dinners at Upstairs on the Square. Spend the night at Cambridge’s elegant Charles Hotel, where you might run into such luminaries as the Hasty Pudding’s Woman of the Year. Learn why Julia Child said that she always kissed her butcher by shopping with your $75 gift certificate at Savenor’s, Cambridge’s finest purveyor of prime meats, produce, and gourmet items. [Enjoy attending a performance at one of America’s most innovative and exciting theater companies: A.R.T.] Thanks to the generosity of Mary-Catherine Deibel, you and five of your friends are invited to return to Upstairs on the Square for lunch at the whimsically decorated and utterly charming restaurant.

Valued at: $960; Opening bid: $400

8. Golf at the Kittansett Club
in Marion

You and two of your friends are invited to join club member Francis Doran for a congenial round of golf at the Kittanset Club in Marion, Mass. The golf outing includes practice facilities (long and short game), 18 holes of golf, transport in the Club’s golf carts, with a snack at the end of 9 holes, and a beverage at the conclusion of play. Caddies are optional at the player’s expense, and they range in price from $60–$70 per player. The round can be played from June–September, 2013, at a mutually convenient date.

Valued at: $525; Opening bid: $250

2013-02-27