Symphony Holiday Party Hits a High Note at BeDesign

Daniel Ortiz
Symphony Holiday Party Hits a High Note at BeDesign

Courtney Thiel and Lanie Markham

THE HOUSTON SYMPHONY toasted a successful first half of its historic season at a holiday bash hosted by Adrian Duenas and Marcelo Saenz at their Montrose furniture showroom BeDesign.


More than 150 members and guests of the Houston Symphony’s Young Associates Council joined chairs Carrie Brandsberg-Dahl, Laurel Flores, Kirby Lodholz and Shane Miller for the event, which featured a brass quintet playing Christmas tunes — and an appearance by the big man himself! Santa showed up with sweet treats toward the end of the evening.

Among the merry musical supporters: Beth Wolff, Debbie Festari, Nina Magon, Chris Goins, Amber Elliott and Carey Kirkpatrick.

Anna Kaplan and Carey Kirkpatrick

Cristina Romeu and Claudio Gutierrez

Eric Brueggeman and Lanie Markham

Marcelo Saenz and Adrian Duenas

Mandy Graessle and Joel Luks

Stephanie Weber and Paul Muri

Mariana and James O. Huff, III

Kirby and David Lodholz

Andrew and Liana Schwaitzberg

Parties

Brunch at Hamsa

ON A PRETTY spring Sunday, the retractable wall of windows by Hamsa’s bar open onto its patio, filled with cool people, fab food and immaculate vibes. The Rice Village Israeli resto just debuted its inventive new brunch menu, and people are already raving. Recently nominated for the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurateur, owners Itai Ben Eli and Itamar Levy continue to retool their modern Israeli cooking for the discerning Houston foodie.

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Food

Michelle Reyna Wymes, Owner of The Reyna Group

WHAT'S THE SECRET to running a successful business? It is so important to stay present every day. With the fast-paced patterns of today’s society and ever-evolving technologies, I stress to our agents how important it is to continue to learn. If one reaches a point at which the ego takes over or burnout sets in and progress takes a back seat, things will get stuck. Regardless of what field you are in, I believe in starting with the basics to set and strengthen your foundation. I treat everyone we work with from our contractors, clients, to our inspectors with respect, patience and care.

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