It’s not every day that a school of music pulls off a gala that rivals its own dynamic performances, but when Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music turned 50, it did so with the kind of polish, artistry, and well-tuned emotional prowess that only half a century of dreams and translations could inspire.

Photo by Anthony Rathbun

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Sasha Cooke, and Pierre Jalbert.

On Saturday, November 8, the black-tie crowd arrived on a red carpet to Alice Pratt Brown Hall, kicking off an evening with a nod to history and momentum. With alumni flying in from across the country and a palpable current of reunion in the air, the event doubled as an electric homecoming and a rousing concert celebration.

The kind where tuxes met tunes, and no one’s excitement was tempered.

The evening began with a reception in the Grand Foyer, followed by a power-packed one-hour concert in Stude Concert Hall. Under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya, the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra wasted no time flexing its sonic muscle with Bernstein’s Overture to Candide, a new work by faculty composer Pierre Jalbert featuring Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano, Shepherd alumna Sasha Cooke (today a mega star in the classical music milieu), and Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio Italien.

And because no musical adventure is complete without a dash of pop culture glory, they sent everyone off with a swashbuckling encore of John Williams’ Raiders March, a cheeky nod to the wild ride of the school’s last five decades.

Matthew Loden, dean of the Shepherd School, kept the pace flowing with heartfelt reflections—and sometimes humorous — on the school’s journey and future. During his remarks, he honored Anne Duncan, the gala’s honoree, and unveiled a surprise: the Stude Concert Hall stage will now be named the Larry Rachleff Orchestra Stage, thanks to a gift from Dot and Rick Nelson. A meaningful 10-minute anniversary video offered a montage of nostalgia, humor, and familiar faces from across the Shepherd community, wrapping the concert in a bow of pride and sentiment.

The gathering moved to the Brockman Hall for Opera, which underwent a bit of a Cinderella moment. What’s normally an acoustically intimate performance space became an opulent dining hall, its Versailles-inspired interiors dressed in gold and ivory, and bathed in light from five jaw-dropping chandeliers. Blooms of roses, ranunculus, tulips, and hydrangeas filled the tables as guests dined on lump crab salad, prime aged tenderloin, and poached pear with crème fraîche gelato, all paired with standout wines and capped with a champagne toast.

Three surprise pop-up performances from Shepherd students punctuated the dinner, including a standout take on Glitter and Be Gay. Because what’s a gala without a little vocal pyrotechnics?

Co-chaired by Isabel and Danny David and Anne and Albert Chao, with Shawn Stephens and Jim Jordan as underwriter chairs, the evening raised a high-note-worthy $1.5 million to support the school’s mission. With 340 seated for dinner and many more filling the concert hall, the anniversary proved to be more than a look back. It was a rousing leap forward worthy of a standing ovation.

Celebrating the journey were Margaret Alkek Williams, James and Molly Crownover, Douglas and Cathryn Selman, Cece and Mack Fowler, Sara Morgan, Nancy Dunlap, Cindy and Tony Petrello, Lisa Rich and John McLaughlin, David Leebron and Y. Ping Sun and Mei Leebron, Winnie and Kevin Bonebrake, Chris and Kristy Bradshaw, Leigh and Reggie Smith, Caroline Baker Hurley, Ed and Deborah Koehler, Vicki West and Ralph Burch, Amy and Robert Dittmar, Frank and Cindy Liu, Chris and Heather Powers, James Gaffigan, Gary Ginstling, Sonja Kostich, Sarah Rothenberg, Alecia Lawyer, Khori Dastoor, and former deans Larry Livingston and Robert Yekovich. Plus one proud alum (yours truly), happily humming the Indiana Jones theme all the way home.