CEO Passions: Hosting Benefit Concerts

Steven Gluckstern, CEO of Ivivi Health Sciences, turns his apartment into a concert hall to raise money for charity.

Ken Schles

Tweet

There's a good reason Steven Gluckstern's New York City loft is often called Carnegie Hall South. In the past decade, Gluckstern and his wife, Judy, have hosted 34 concerts there to benefit Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS. The couple got involved with the charity in the late 1990s after Gluckstern's business partner, Michael Palm, died of AIDS. Since then, they have hosted thousands of guests for performances from Renée Fleming and Joshua Bell. In December, pianist Emanuel Ax headlined the final performance at the loft. This year, Gluckstern (pictured in foreground, before the Ax concert) is moving his family and his medical-equipment business, Ivivi Health Sciences, to San Francisco, where he plans to create Carnegie Hall West.

Money raised since 1999
$1.5 million

Performers
Roughly 70 classical musicians and Telly Monster from Sesame Street

Essential equipment
A Steinway Centennial grand piano, purchased from the estate of Gluckstern's late business partner, Michael Palm

Read more:

April Joyner

April Joyner is a reporter for Inc. magazine. She regularly covers sales and marketing topics and writes on start-ups for Inc.’s "Elevator Pitch" column. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Sign-up for our Leadership and Managing Newsletter

Email Address: