Arts center events surpass glamorous

Patrons of the Orange County Performing Arts Center attending the Candlelight Concert and Candlelight Encore last week were treated to a very special presentation of great artistry. Natalie Cole, the Grammy-winning chanteuse, transfixed her audience with a sublime performance that had the crowd silent in their seats.

The subtle movement of her body draped in a fitted floor-length black sheath, her forearms adorned in shimmering diamond cuffs, mesmerized as Cole delivered a retinue of classic songs many originally performed by her father, the late Nat King Cole.

"I came here tonight with the belief that Nat King Cole was the greatest singer of our time. I've changed my mind. His daughter is the greatest singer of our time," said one Candlelight patron following the performance.

His sentiment was echoed by many in the crowd.

At one time in the performance Cole spoke to her audience and asked, "Is everyone all right out there?"

It was so quiet in Segerstrom Hall that Cole must have thought that the audience was either asleep or dead. The silence was, in fact, simply sheer awe at her remarkable voice and stage presence.

In addition to all the classic songs, including a duet with her late father on a video screen, Cole also performed some sentimental Christmas favorites. She began with a rendition of Mel Torme's "Christmas Song" and ended with one of the most beautiful Christmas songs written in recent years entitled "My Grown-up Christmas Wish."

Cole told the crowd that the song, written by David Foster, had been created for her. At the end of her session she slowly and gracefully disappeared off stage with no return for an encore. The Orange County crowd gave Cole a standing ovation as Joan Riach, chair of the 2005 Candlelight Concert, took the stage and greeted the elegantly dressed crowd in Segerstrom Hall.

It was the 32nd anniversary of the Candlelight Concert and the eighth season for Candlelight Encore, performed the following evening.

The most important fundraiser of the year for the center was certainly one of the most elegant evenings ever created on the California Riviera. A year in the planning, Riach worked with her co- chairwoman, Sally Crockett, who will assume the lead role in 2006.