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Opera Ball to waltz with new cultural flair

  12:03

New organizers hope to spin the Opera Ball in a new direction while keeping many of the traditional elements

The main floor of the State Opera will be transformed into an open space for dancing when the seats are removed. foto: C&B Communication GroupČeská pozice

The Opera Ball will take place Feb. 5 under the patronage of the Cambodia’s Princess Norodom Arunrasmy, the youngest daughter of former King Norodom Sihanouk.

The link between Prague and Cambodian royal family dates to 1962, when then-Prince Norodom Sihamoni, who is now the king of Cambodia, came here to study. He spent 13 years in then-Czechoslovakia.

This year the ball has new organizers, C & B Communication Group. “The tradition — those are the things you want to count on when going to this unique event. Opera arias, classical dance music, midnight can-can, the charitable raffle. This is the basic skeleton which will be completed with new powerful muscles — a tasty new menu, delicious French wine, an army of helpful hostesses,” Roman Pazderník, a consultant at C & B Communication Group, told Czech Position. “These are all little things but they have the power to make the experience great.”

 Opera Ball

State Opera

Feb. 5, 2011

www.plesvopere.cz/2011/

Along with these elements, this year will also be host to a unique cultural twist on account of the patroness, Princess Arunrasmy, who will open the ball with the first dance. There will be a performance of Cambodian dancers and half the proceeds of the raffle, which includes a tour package for two of Cambodia, will be donated to charitable projects in the country.

The Tereza Maxova Foundation is the charity partner of the event and its project Under the Wings (Pod křidly) will receive the other half of the proceeds and use them to support English-language education for disadvantaged children.

Lavish budgets and distinguished meetings

The budget for the event is in the millions of crowns, and as Pazderník said it is increased by the fact that catering and drinks are covered by organizers. “We invest into the real enjoyment of the guests — services, food — rather than in [headliner] celebrities. …We are strongly committed that the guest comes first,” he said.

The event does have a history of high profile names in attendance including Ivana Trump, Alain Delon, Ian Gillian, Karel Gott and Tomáš Baťa.

Though not necessarily of celebrity status, distinguished guests this year will be Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda, who will meet with the Vienna Mayor Michael Häupl for the first time.

“This year’s challenge of the Opera Ball is to deepen the ties of Prague and the Czech Republic with the societal life of Europe. The Austrian metropolis and Michael Häupl … are indeed, partners who will set truly high standards in achieving this challenge,” organizers said in a statement.

Vienna hosts the world’s most famous opera ball, though the origin of the tradition is widely attributed to events in Paris in the late 19th century.

Wooing the international crowd

So far, the makeup of guests for the Opera Ball is largely Czech, however other European countries will be represented.

“We are happy to confirm reservations from Austria, Germany, Sweden and the UK. Given our mission to make the Opera Ball one of the bridges toward the outer world, this brings us a bit closer to it. We expect guests from outside [the Czech Republic] to make about 10 percent of the visitors,” Pazderník said.

In all, organizers are expecting around 600 guests and maintain that they try to keep the venue well-occupied but not crowded.

“It is a small alchemy to have the house full but not overfilled so that it does not feel empty but is not overcrowded, which makes the experience a bit annoying,” Pazderník said.

The transformation of the Prague State Opera house includes removing the 364 seats on the ground floor to convert the space into a fully functioning classical dance hall. Pazderník said that for the increased comfort of guests, no standing room tickets are sold.

The first official opera ball in Prague was held in January 1948 and the second did not take place until after the revolution in 1992. After 1996, there was another stretch when the event was not organized and only in 2009 did the opera ball appear again on Prague’s cultural calendar.

 

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