SFGate – To kick start its 102nd season, the San Francisco Opera held a masked ball that was like a bar crawl through marble halls for the tuxedo-clad and high-heeled gentry.
The event began with a reception and dinner at City Hall, which featured an epic surprise performance of the San Francisco Opera Chorus on the steps of the rotunda.
Guests then crossed Van Ness Avenue to the War Memorial Opera House for a production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera,” which translates to, “a masked ball” (the synchronicity is delicious).
This is the first time music director Eun Sun Kim has conducted this particular Verdi opera, part of her initiative to showcase major works by Verdi and Richard Wagner — “Tristan and Isolde” starts Oct. 19 — each season.
After the show, the masked revelers returned to City Hall for a party with drinks, dancing to local band Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers.
If there’s a common thread uniting the princes and paupers of San Francisco, it’s that many people enjoy viewing photos of affluent people wearing a month’s rent in designer clothing. To that end, here are images from this year’s event.
“Ballo,” which the opera describes as “a political drama of hidden agendas, treachery and all-consuming passions” — ideal for an election year — runs through Sept. 27. Tickets start at $28.
