THE CROWD:

Salon society arrived in Costa Mesa last week as Elizabeth and Henry Segerstrom Elizabeth and Henry Segerstrom hosted a swank dinner on the roof of The Westin South Coast Plaza Hotel.

The occasion marked a late-evening celebration post finale of The Segerstrom Select Series of Concerts in the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.

The London Symphony conducted by Valery Gergiev impressed local symphony aficionados with a magnificent program that included Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 featuring pianist Alexi Volodin. Absolutely spellbinding.

Gergiev, conducting with his trademark fluttering right hand, also led the orchestra in two selections by Sergei Prokofiev.

At nearly 11 p.m. on a Wednesday evening, more than 100 guests departed the concert hall, walked across the plaza to The Westin and rode the hotel lifts to the sky.

On the roof a magical tent, lit with vivid blue-colored lights welcomed an international crowd brought together by the “salon society” hostess Elizabeth Segerstrom, very tan and glowing, resplendent in a blue floor-length gown accenting her formidable décolletage.

On hand to dine with conductor Gergiev, piano soloist Volodin and other outstanding musical talents associated with the London Symphony was Clive Gillinson, executive director of Carnegie Hall in from New York to visit with the Segerstroms and to plan very special events at Segerstrom Center for the Arts next season.

British Deputy Consul General David Wild, acclaimed film director William Friedkin, Tim Vreeland and Jacqueline Bisset were among the celeb guests mingling with Philharmonic Society president and artistic director Dean Corey and his wife, Katy Corey, and Center President Terry Dwyer and his wife, Amy Carson-Dwyer.

Dinner in the tent was catered by L.A.’s Crustacean Restaurant. It was in fact a sneak preview of what will become an O.C. dining experience later this year when Crustacean opens in Bloomingdale’s, South Coast Plaza.

Crustaceans owner, founder and Master Chef Helene An worked with the Westin culinary team preparing her signature garlic noodles with grilled veggies as the first course. Black cod rolled in Vietnamese herbs followed as a main entrée.

Elizabeth An, Catherine An and Danny An were front and center along with RJ and Gloria Brandes, Charles Fabius, Gavin and Carry Herbert, Betty and S.L. Huang, Gen. William Lyon and his wife, Willa Dean, Victoria Tennant and Kirk Stambler, and in from Beverly Hills, movie producers Annie and Arnie Kopelson.

Henry Segerstrom made a brief and elegant toast to his special guests and the honored maestro Valery Gergiev.

Mingling with the musical stars were Dee Highby, Judy Morr, Sharon McNalley, Annie Freedland, Nancy and Jim Baldwin and Eric and Deborah Keillor.

THE CROWD runs Thursdays and Saturdays.