The 69th annual Viennese Opera Ball once again transformed Cipriani 42nd Street into a gilded portal to imperial Vienna, channeling Old World glamour, but with a modern mission. Billed as the oldest Austrian charity ball outside of Austria (and the most prestigious Viennese ball beyond Vienna’s city limits), the annual event draws a singular mix of philanthropists, diplomats, business elites, politicians and society mainstays. This year’s edition, under the direction of co-chairs Jean Shafiroff and Denise Rich with vice chairs Peter Thomas Roth and Lola Abigail Koch, celebrated the 200th anniversary of Johann Strauss II, the “Waltz King” who turned the Viennese waltz into an international art form. More than just another velvet-rope gathering, this particular pretty party raised money for the music therapy program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center with support from Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation for Cancer Research, adding noblesse to a noble soirée.
The night began with the traditional and much-anticipated presentation of white-clad debutantes and their tuxedoed escorts, introduced to society via a stately waltz choreographed by Sandra Stockmayer with the Svabek Dance School. Officers in the U.S. Army then presented the Colors, adding a touch of patriotic flair to the proceedings, before an orchestral tribute to Strauss conducted by Rainer M. Sulzgruber and led by artistic director Daniel Serafin. From there, the program put the ‘opera’ in Viennese Opera Ball, with a lineup of international vocal luminaries from the Metropolitan Opera, including María Barakova, Mikayla Sager, Daniel Berryman, Aigul Akhmetshina, Maritina Tampakopoulos, Adam Smith, Johanna Will and two-time Grammy Award winner J’Nai Bridges, who filled the hall with selections from Strauss’s best-loved works.
The assembled crowd was particularly enthralled by Christine Shevchenko, principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, who appeared adorned in Sisi’s Stars—the historic jewelry of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, sent especially by famed Austrian jeweler Koechert. She was joined by young ballerinas from Youth America Grand Prix in Waltz, a new piece choreographed by Arsen Mehrabyan of the Royal Swedish Ballet. The piece captured the romantic tension and elegance of Strauss’s music, and left attendees—among them philanthropist and arts patron Elizabeth Segerstrom, television personality Star Jones, New York real estate mogul Janna Bullock, “Chocolate Queen” Maribel Lieberman, working royal Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe, Austrian politician Peter Hanke, President of the Vienna State Parliament Ernst Woller and Austrian Ambassador to the United States Dr. Petra Schneebauer—utterly spellbound.
Following a multi-course Viennese-inspired dinner paired with Austrian wines and a successful silent auction, the mood shifted from reverent to festive as guests swirled onto the dance floor to waltz before the traditional midnight Quadrille, led by costumed instructors, brought everyone together in a whirlwind of joyous precision.
