Fifty Rotarians and guests arrived to welcome the new president of the Rotary Club of Burlingame, Cary Koh. Many others joined via Zoom. He was in formal attire to welcome his adoring fans.

 

His first order of business was to ask Cheryl Fama to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, which was physically there.

 

He then called on Rabbi Jay Miller to deliver the Invocation.

 

The blessing of the boats on opening day of the sailing season sounded so true of the life of a Rotarian.

 

 

Next up were introductions of visiting Rotarians. Joining us were Steve Wright from Pacifica and Denis Fama from Millbrae. Rarely seen Burlingame Rotarian Mike Harvey, introduced San Mateo Rotarian Tom Stucker, who put in a plug for his Club’s upcoming 100-year anniversary.

 

Guests of Rotarians were then recognized. Susan Baker introduced Lina Yang. Alex Buljan was accompanied by his mother, Liz Buljan. Cary had an entire cadre of friends and co-workers who joined us in support of his inaugural meeting.

 

Cary gave a shoutout to the Rotarians retiring from the board, John Delaney, Jennifer Pence, Marc Friedman and Joe La Mariana. Continuing on the board are Mark Lucchesi, Doug Person, Jerry Winges and Christine Krolik. Joining the board for a two-year term are Suzanne Juptner, Carol Tanzi, Sheryl Young, and Nancy Bush. Officers are Past President Fritz Brauner, President-elect Phil Siegle, Treasurer Chris Ramirez and Secretary Marilyn Orr.

 

 

Past President Joe LaMariana announced that he was the first to join Cary’s President’s Club. He encouraged others to follow his lead. Mark Johnson, Nancy Bush, and Mike Horwitz heeded the call and joined. Even non-Rotarian Liz Buljan wrote a check and became a member. With that, Cary informed members that he was reintroducing the Recognition Fine. Remember that as a member of the President’s Club you can pass this fine on to another member. He will also match, dollar for dollar, whatever fine is assessed.

 

Susan Baker announced the upcoming Burlingame on the Avenue. It will be held August 19^th and 20^th. Rotarians have worked the beer and wine booths for this event for many years. Susan hopes to get many of us to do so again. She began circulating a sign-up sheet.

 

 

Doug Person welcomed two new members to the Club. Alan and Charlene Drummer are Burlingame residents. They have recently retired and are looking forward to getting involved in all the workings of our Rotary Club.

 

 

 

To begin his year as Rotary President, Cary did a little multiple choice “Getting to Know You”. We learned that he completes several NYT puzzles each morning and he doesn’t like mushrooms or kale.

 

 

 

Former concert master Cary then amazed us with his incredible skills as a violinist. He first introduced us to his accompanist, Monica Chew. Monica is an Oakland pianist and composer. She is a gifted player with an affinity for deeply sensitive expression.

 

This duo began with the first movement from the collection of Four Romantic Pieces, opus 75 by the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak. 

 

They next delighted us with one of his childhood favorites. In fact, it is the first piece he heard in performance and came away thinking: “I want to play that!”  It was the first movement of the sonata in G Major for piano and violin, K. 301 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. 

 

The third piece was titled “Melodie”, by Cristoph Willibald Gluck, who was a contemporary of Mozart.  This piece comes from Gluck’s opera “Orfeo e Euridice”, based on the myth of Orpheus. 

 

Their final selection was written by Fritz Kreisler.  To market and publicize his compositions, Kreisler would claim that he had discovered long lost works by other composers. Only much later was it revealed that he had actually written the compositions himself.  This one is “Tempo di Minuetto” in the style of Gaetano Pugnani, a violinist and composer who was a contemporary of JC Bach. 

 

 

It was an extraordinary afternoon for all of us in attendance. If you would like a sampling of the magical music we heard, click on the link below.