Holiday Party

Well, it's that time of year again... time for Cindy's work holiday party. This year she's with a different firm, so the party was not at Neiman Marcus but rather at the Myerson Symphony Center, home of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and designed by none other than renowned architect I.M. Pei. It was a nice night.

Since Cindy's firm endows the Dallas Symphony, not only was the event held at this great site, but the Dallas Symphony itself performed for our enjoyment. (Not, however, directed by Andrew Litton; I guess he had better things to do than to debase himself in such a manner). It was a nice program mixing contemporary (such as "White Christmas") with the traditional (Miniature Nutcracker Suite). The Dallas Symphony Choir also performed, or at least a subset of them.

I recommend looking at pictures of the Myerson from the official website linked above (direct link here) and/or taking the virtual tour of the Myerson found here, but here's some low quality pics I took with my camera phone:

This is the East lobby of the Myerson (the after party was held here... hor's d'oeurves, wine and beer, mingling, etc):



Here's a shot looking straight at the orchestra area, from the floor (orchestra) seats:

The organ is raised above in the back center, and there are three sections raised above in back for a choir and/or extra seating for visitors. Raised above on either side is further room for performers, etc. The first number had trumpeteers standing there.

As decorations, they had huge ornaments hanging from the ceiling above the orchestra, barely visible in this picture, along with white christmas lights as you can see, and colored lighting. The organist had a video monitor so she could see the director (since her back is to him, obviously), and the carolers (who stood in front of the orchestra facing the audience) had them as well.

The ceiling of the Myerson is very ornate and interesting. Here's a shot that doesn't do it justice, but oh well:


Here's a side view, showing some of the box seating, etc:


We were allowed to sit wherever we wanted, so Cindy and I sat on the floor, about 18 rows back (whatever "O" is... that's about 18) and right in the center. However, the most expensive seats are the first row of seats visible in this picture (actually the second section up, but this picture doesn't show the first section up). If the ground level/orchestra level is level 1, then this expensive section is level 3. The interior is in a U shape, with the orchestra being at the opening of the U, as opposed to many venues that are half-circle in shape. Lighting created the candy cane-like effect seen here.


After the concert, which lasted about an hour, we all exited the theater and went in the lobby, where various tables had been set up with chaffing dishes containing eggrolls, chicken sate, philo-dough spinach hor's d'oeurves, etc. There were also dessert tables with stuff such as little tarts, chocolate covered strawberries, and little itty bitty canoles.

For beverages, we had an open bar (wine and beer, only, however), along with coffee, hot chocolate, hot tea, etc. The coffee was very good.

There was also a live band for dancing.

All in all, the food wasn't as good or as extensive as her former firm provided at their Holiday Parties, but the entertainment, The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, was much better. Also, I think the location was better, too. Cindy's former Firm had the event at three different locations while she worked there, and there were problems with each: The first, and best, was at the Dallas Museum of Art. This was a nice location, and we got to look at all the art exhibits, but it was too small: the food, etc, was set up in the narrow hallways. There was really no large open area. One year it was held in a ballroom of some big hotel. This was large enough, but architecturally ugly, with nothing whatsoever to look at. Last year it was held at the downtown Neiman Marcus. This provided a bit more room than the Museum (though not much) but not as much as the hotel. It was nicer to look at, but then you worried about accidentally soiling some very expensive merchandise.

The event this year at the Myerson Center was the best of all worlds: plenty of room, architecturally interesting, and something interesting to do other than make small talk with partners and people we don't really know.

It just needed better food and a more varied bar.