Birthday Icing : Yo-Yo Ma Collaborates on a Surprise Party for Irvine Barclay Supporter Arlene Cheng

Yo-Yo Ma got the second standing ovation on Monday night at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

The first was reserved for arts patron Arlene Cheng, whose husband, George, arranged for the superstar cellist to appear at a surprise private recital for her birthday.

George Cheng not only arranged for Ma to play for his wife, he also commissioned a musical tribute in her honor, gave an endowment of $100,000 to a music competition she helped found and kept mum about her age.

About 700 guests jumped to their feet, applauding wildly, as Arlene came on stage in Cheng Hall.

The ruse: George told his wife she was stopping at the Barclay to pose for a photograph with her niece, a house guest from London. Afterward, he said, they would all go to dinner at a posh Newport Beach restaurant.

This was no dinner. This was a once-in-a-lifetime birthday bash with a performance by a nine-time Grammy Award winner.

Seeing the auditorium packed with family and friends, Arlene Cheng slumped forward, as if her knees had buckled, then straightened up and wiped tears from her eyes.

In seconds, she was holding a bouquet of scarlet roses and being escorted to her seat: front row, center, in the hall named for the Chengs in 1990 after they made a $750,000 donation to the theater in Irvine.

“Tonight, on this auspicious occasion, I am honoring my wife’s birthday,” said Cheng, a retired ophthalmologist who lives in Newport Beach.

“I’m no gambler, but when I married Arlene I hit the jackpot,” he said. Then, after comparing his wife to a beautiful flower in full bloom, Cheng spoke of diamonds.

“As the saying goes, diamonds are forever,” he said, giving guests every reason to think he was about to present Arlene with a blinding bauble.

“But instead,” he said, “I have decided to set up a $100,000 endowment fund in the name of the Arlene Cheng Competition for Young Musicians.”

“This endowment fund will outshine and outlast the brilliance of a diamond. More importantly, it will fulfill Arlene’s lifelong mission of promoting classical music.”

The annual competition was organized in 1993 by Arlene Cheng to promote the careers of young classical musicians. The competition is sponsored by the Chinese American League, a support group of the Pacific Symphony.

Guests applauded again as they watched Cheng take her place beside her husband at the lectern. “I didn’t expect this,” she said, awe in her voice.

“I thought I was going to the Ritz for dinner. I am deeply touched by this show of love and caring and kindness by my husband, George. . . . This is a very special surprise for me.” Ma took the stage with Pacific Symphony cellist Timothy Landauer to play Barriere’s Sonata in G for Two Cellos.

Then Ma was on his own, thrilling the crowd with a masterful interpretation of Bach’s Suite No. 6 in D.

During intermission, Arlene Cheng was surrounded by well-wishers including UCI Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening, Pacific Symphony conductor Carl St.Clair and Tom Tomlinson, Orange County Performing Arts Center president. “Were you surprised?” they wanted to know.

“I heard a little bit, here and there,” admitted Cheng, who was dressed in a tailored Chanel suit. “But I didn’t realize Yo-Yo Ma was going to play! I was told by Louis Spisto, [executive director of the Pacific Symphony], that someone was underwriting Ma’s appearance with the symphony this season, but I didn’t know it was George.”

Ma kicks off the Pacific Symphony’s season tonight at the Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.)

After intermission, composer Bright Sheng came on stage to speak about the piece he had written to honor “Seven Tunes Heard in China.”

“It was only just finished,” said Sheng, who has created works for the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra. “I am so grateful to Yo-Yo Ma for learning it so quickly.”

Sheng cracked up the crowd when he added: “I feel very jealous of George, because he has made every man’s life miserable from now on!”

After joining violinist Sheryl Staples and pianist John Novacek for Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D minor, Opus 49, Ma received a standing ovation.

And, telling Cheng from the stage that he could “feel the love for her in this room,” he joined Staples and Novacek for two love-themed encores, “Salut d’Amour” by Edward Elgar and “Love’s Joy” by Fritz Kreisle.

Afterward, guests streamed onto the theater plaza for a post-performance reception that included champagne and birthday cake.

Inscribed on the cake: “Happy Birthday to Arlene, in Full Bloom.”