The 59th Consecutive Viennese Opera Ball hosted a night of waltzing, opera and culture with honored guests Carmen Dell’Orefice and Sherrill Milnes to benefit and launch Carnegie Hall’s three-week all-borough NYC Austrian Cultural Festival. The Ball began with a Grand March, followed by Colors, horses in ballroom with captive maiden, debutantes entrance, Alles Waltzer. The guests enjoyed dinner as an adaptation of Mozart’s Opera “The Abduction from the Seralgio (Harem)” was performed by an outstanding opera. The night continued with dancing, the Schuhplattlers a rarely seen in the US Austrian folkdance with acrobats.
Long considered the most prestigious Viennese Opera Ball outside of Vienna, the Ball is a nonprofit association that has benefitted other worthy nonprofit institutions in the 59 years since it began in 1955. This year’s beneficiary is Carnegie Hall, and the Ball launches their three-week festival, “Vienna, City of Dreams.” In a signed letter, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo hailed the event as a "cultural alliance between New York and the Austrian community." In support of the event, which benefits Carnegie Hall, CharityBuzz.com hosts an online auction of items ranging from a tennis lesson with Martina Navratilova to a batting practice with the Yankees to a one-week trip to Vienna and Graz.
Photos by Marsin Mogielski
Carmen DellOreifice
