{"id":92384,"date":"2025-07-25T21:25:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T21:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/92384\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T21:25:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T21:25:17","slug":"cliburn-and-modern-art-museum-compose-sparkling-dinner-duet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/92384\/","title":{"rendered":"Cliburn and Modern Art Museum compose sparkling dinner duet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two prominent Fort Worth cultural institutions, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth<\/strong> and The Cliburn<\/strong>, f\u00eated the art of food and music with a French Champagne dinner and concert on Bastille Day, July 14.<\/p>\n

Celebrating France’s national holiday wasn’t necessarily the reason for the sparkling gathering (as if the French ever need a reason to drink Champagne), but it did lend jubilant elan to the evening.<\/p>\n

The stars of the night were Jett Mora<\/strong>, executive chef of Cafe Modern<\/a>, and pianist Fei-Fei<\/a><\/strong>, a laureate and fan favorite of the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Also sharing top billing was the French Champagne house Billecart-Salmon<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As the sun set outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Modern, guests were greeted in the foyer with a glass of bubbly and directed to an exquisite “butter board” table. Fresh-baked focaccia and Parker House rolls were presented alongside artful dollops and smears of fresh butter, vegetable crudit\u00e9, and flavored salts (sourced locally from The Spice & Tea Exchange<\/a> in the Fort Worth Stockyards).<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Modern\u00a0Guests gather around the artful “butter board” and Champagne wall.Photo by Rene Steffen<\/p>\n

At the appointed time, attendees sat down to several long tables decorated with flickering faux candles for a unique multicourse meal-and-concert in one.<\/p>\n

Cafe Modern manager Jamie Holderby<\/strong> and Cliburn president and CEO Jacques Marquis<\/strong> greeted the intimate crowd, announcing that the collaborative dinner had been dreamed up more than six months earlier but planned comfortably after the 2025 Cliburn Competition’s conclusion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One attendee who benefited from the event’s delay was Halona Norton-Westbrook<\/strong>, who, on July 1, began her tenure as the new director of the Modern. She had just completed a big move to Fort Worth from Hawaii, where she had been director and CEO of the Honolulu Museum of Art.<\/p>\n

The dinner, it was explained, would consist of a starter, four courses, and dessert prepared by chef Mora, chef Andrew Swanson<\/strong>, and the team from Wolfgang Puck Catering<\/strong>, paired with a Billecart-Salmon Champagne. Before each course, Fei-Fei would play a piece she carefully selected to correspond with the flavor and style of the next dish.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Fei-Fei\"\/\u00a02013 Cliburn Competition laureate Fei-Fei (pictured in a promotional photo) was the featured pianist for the evening.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of Fei-Fei \u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s so wonderful to be here to share some music, along with a lot of delicious-ness coming your way and the incredible wine pairings,” said the affable pianist, who flew in from New York to participate. “I’m not a connoisseur at all, so after a lot of online research and reading a lot of reviews, I hope I’ve picked out the right selections to go with each course.”<\/p>\n

As an appropriate starter, Fei-Fei opened with a sweeping prelude by French composer Claude Debussy. In a bit of culinary choreography while she played, servers walked single-file to the tables and placed the amuse-bouche in front of each diner.<\/p>\n

A rich Rachmaninoff prelude preceded pasta, and Debussy’s “crispy” Passepied came just before the fried chicken. This wasn’t merely background music; it was a delightful five-minute concert between each plate.<\/p>\n

The courses and Champagne pairings were as follows:<\/p>\n