A Red Carpet History

A sprawling red carpet, crowded with excitement and anticipation, leading to the doors of the Lyric Opera House, ready to welcome another season filled with artistic innovation and creativity. As the curtain descends a few hours later, opera goers head to Michigan Avenue to dine and dance all night long with the production's stars and Chicago’s brightest socialites. Can you imagine a more iconic way to begin our 2018/19 Season?

Now a 400-person, black-tie fête at the Hilton raising an average of one million dollars annually, Opera Ball came from more humble beginnings. Less than two months after the first meeting of the newly established Women’s Board in 1955, the inaugural Opera Ball was held.

In its first year, the event raised a total of $17,000 and had no underwriters. The cost to attend was a mere $25 per couple. It was not easy bringing in those funds, and the Board ended up holding a fashion show to promote the event (Mrs. Peter Bensinger dazzled as a model in a black satin dress with a white fox stole). Dancing took place in the foyer, with dinner tables on what is now known as the American Airlines Mezzanine. Life Magazine even came to photograph the night!

By 1960, the event was sponsored by Texaco and came to be known as the Guarantors Opera Ball. Opening Night took place in what is now the Ardis Krainik Theatre, and the Ball was moved to the Chicago Hilton as a partnership between Lyric and the American Opera Society. It was 1963 when the Women’s Board reclaimed the Ball and became its exclusive organizers, which still holds true today.

Opera Ball has been host to the world’s leading operatic talent. On October 8, 1965, Mrs. Edgar J. Uihlein served as Ball Chairman, celebrating the opening of Mefistofele. Star-studded with the likes of Renata Tebaldi as Margherita, Mrs. Uihlein was “swept into the Hilton’s grand ballroom on the arm of Alfredo Kraus, one of the world’s outstanding tenors.” Mr. Kraus stole the spotlight onstage as Faust in that production. This year, Michael Fabiano makes his long-awaited Lyric debut as Alfredo in La bohème beside Maria Agresta as the ill-fated Mimì.

This year's event marks 16 years of sponsorship from ITW, and 20 years that Northern Trust has cosponsored Opera Ball. The Opening Night Gala Benefit in the Lyric Opera House has been generously sponsored by Aon for 34 years. We are deeply grateful to ITW, Northern Trust, and Aon for their outstanding generosity and support of this beloved Lyric tradition. 

The Women’s Board organizes a myriad of projects to secure critical funding for Lyric, and in their hands the Opening Night Opera Ball has become the most revered event on Chicago’s annual social calendar. This year’s Co-Chairs, Erica L. Sandner and Mrs. Alejandro Silva, continue the tradition of Opening Night with an evening that will mirror the French romanticism of La bohème. We hope that you, too, will walk down that iconic red carpet with us on October 6th.