Foreign Affair at Post-Concert Bash : Philharmonic Society: Leningrad orchestra and conductor delight Orange County aficionados.

Perestroika Party Animals

They came. They played. They ate and drank and smoked. It was enough to thaw the frozen heart of the chilliest Cold Warrior.

The 150 members of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra crowded Birraporetti’s restaurant in South Coast Plaza on Sunday with about as many Orange County Philharmonic Society supporters. Shoulder to shoulder, fork to fork, the musicians and the well-heeled aficionadoes turned the post-concert party into a lively international affair.

Greetings

Or Zdrastzujte, as the icing on a Kahlua-and-cream-filled cake read. The cake--also frosted with tasty replicas of the Soviet and American flags--disappeared faster than you can say zdrastzujte , as did heaps of lasagna, veal cannelloni, sausage linguine and pizzas. As the long line at the buffet and the healthy portions attested, music-making is a hungry business. And a thirsty one, judging by the four-deep crowd at the bar.

The Mingling Maestro

While orchestra members shuttled from the Performing Arts Center to the mall via bus, maestro Yuri Temirkanov rode the quarter-mile in a limo. From the moment he arrived, the expressive Temirkanov was the center of attention. He did not disappoint. Plucking a small U.S. flag from the decorations and sticking it into the breast pocket of his jacket, the conductor enthusiastically got to the business of pressing the flesh and posing for photos.

Temirkanov made his way from table to table with a tumbler of vodka in his left hand and his right hand extended in friendship. He chatted with the locals--and thrilled party planners.

“I wish they were all like him,” said Carol Heywood, the Philharmonic Society’s director of marketing. “Look at him! He’s so won-der-ful.”

Cindy Searles agreed. “I told him he brought tears to my eyes during the Prokofiev,” said Searles, whose husband, Robert, is president of society. “He said, ‘It’s not me, it’s the composer.’ ” Searles said, laughing. “It’s the composer and the maestro. He’s a genius.”

You Say Wodka, We Say Vodka

As the first blush of the party faded and guests settled in, the banquet area divided into distinct if not impenetrable camps: mostly Soviets standing around drinking and smoking by the back bar, statesiders sitting up front by the door.

Language barriers limited small talk between the two--except in the case of the maestro, who jumped into dialogue with the same kind of abandon that serves him so well at the podium.

How was Temirkanov’s English?

“He knows sort of social English,” said his secretary, Marina Stokes. “He understands compliments.”

Faces

Among guests were Bill Gillespie, Audrey Burnand, Joann and Ed Halvajian, Cindy and John Stewart, Marilyn and Stan Crandon, Elaine and Bill Redfield, Jane and Stan Grier, Nancy and Frank Posch, Kathy and Bob Sangster.