Randy Edelman Honored @ Career Bridges 20th Anniversary Extravaganza @ Metropolitan Club NYC 5/7/24
Although he’s never slayed a dragon, fought a Civil War battle, hunted a ghost, or practiced martial arts, Composer Randy Edelman is responsible for creating the music for over 100 motion pictures and television soundtracks including Dragonheart, Gettysburg, Ghostbusters ll, The Bruce Lee Story, The Mask, Kindergarten Cop, While You Were Sleeping, the hit series MacGyver, NBC on-air Olympics, NASA’s Dare Mighty Things, and many others such as Last of the Mohicans which earned him a Golden Globe nomination.
Aside from television and film scoring, a tsunami of his original songs have been covered and recorded by artists including Barry Manilow, Patti LaBelle, The Carpenters, Hip Hop artist Nelly, Dionne Warwick, Olivia Newton-John, Willie Nelson, Blood, Sweat & Tears and a marathon of others. For these reasons and for the joy his music has brought to the world and his musical gifts that go beyond the ordinary, Randy Edelman was honored at the Career Bridges 20th Anniversary extravaganza with the Lifetime Achievement Award at The Metropolitan Club in New York City on May 7, 2024.
In a smashing display of high society glamour and dazzle, ladies were adorned in rhinestone and sequined evening gowns standing aside men garbed in rich silk lapeled jackets signaling the black tie Career Bridges 20th Anniversary. The Cinderella/ Prince Charming affair gave way to an exhilarating perfume of fairytales. While most present had never run from a giant, discovered an ancient temple, or spoken an incantation, for the recipients of the grants awarded and the honored guests tonight it was an enchanting fairytale come true.
The mission of Career Bridges led by founders David Schuyler Bender and wife Barbara is to “provide grants, expert mentoring, training, and performance opportunities over a period of three years to highly talented young classical singers, so that they will be ready to launch their careers. Additionally, their mission is to enrich the lives of young school children and adults through the presentation of live performances by their gifted young artists.”
The “marble palace’s” grande entrée was the opulent destination for the cocktail hour and silent auction. The Metropolitan club was described by historian Montgomery Schuyler as “the largest, most imposing, and most luxurious of the club houses of New York. Designed by Stanford White at the height of the American Renaissance and built in 1892, its grand staircase climbed upward in a glorious spiral, each step fanning out from the center core with exacting precision. Embracing the glorious flight was an exuberance of the finest marble, beckoned with intricacy, drawing a path upward from the depths of the mundane to the stacks of the celebrated imagination…. A decadent backdrop surrounding the social eloquence of the evening.
Introduced by Tribeca Records President John Pasquale, Randy sat at the grand piano and performed “A Weekend in New England” to an awestruck audience who demanded more. After an emotional Award presentation by David Bender, while Randy’s arm was gracefully draped upon Barbara Benders shoulder, he returned to the piano to an applauding crowd and played “The Woman on Your Arm”, the last song Bing Crosby recorded before his passing.
Cradled in the arms of admiration by all Randy’s award was read out loud:
“We are honored to present you with this award for the joy you give to all of us through your wonderful musical accomplishments as a brilliant composer and concert pianist. You are an inspiration to adaour aspiring young opera singers, and we welcome you to our Career Bridges family with our love and thanks.”
As one of the most accomplished musicians on the planet, a modern day Mozart, Randy steps out of the shade, a-flamed and unafraid. The pads of his fingers have become printing blocks to the past and the future, his hands, branding irons of the present, scoring his music onto our shoulders and under our skin forever. His melodies become a story and his songs a single force. He took his own pain and turned it into something beautiful….into something that people connect to. His music speaks to you… it changes you….