An "Over the Top" Opera Ball : K Street Magazine

Widely recognized as one of Washington’s top tier social events, the annual Spring Opera Ball draws in a long list of notable art patrons (Chief Justice John Roberts and Jane Sullivan Roberts (credit Russell Hirschon)). Held at various embassies in year’s past, 2010’s over 600 guests got a particularly icy reception from the warm Ambassador and Mrs. Kislyak of the Russian Federation – at an Opera ball that was oft described throughout the night as “over the top.”

In fact, the Ice Lounge (Petrovskiy Hall seen at right) was but one of the themed anterooms and visual displays that guests enjoyed that evening, although remarkable sculptures, authentic vodkas and imported caviars set the stage for the spectacle.

The Yellow Hall was transformed into a Russian Tea Room complete with cheese blinchicki and vatrushki on the menu. The main ballroom was a believable extension of St. Petersburg’s Winter Palace, decorated with 200 Feberge eggs doubling as delicious cakes!! Palekh Hall became Tolstoy’s Library, adjacent to performances by members of the Russian and Bolshoi opera companies.

Guests marveled at the whimsical details and cultural displays of the Embassy of the Russian Federation, which held the Opera Ball for the first time in the event’s decades-long history. Though they had dined at intimate formal dinners at 22 participating embassies prior to the main event, the draw to Russia was most intoxicating.

(Images: Left to right, descending – Three hundred Faberge eggs commissioned by Sylvia Weinstock were cut and served to more than 600 guests throughout the evening; Kate dances with Liam Bonner, “Hamlet” in the current production at the Kennedy Center (Russell Hirschon), The Embassy of the Russian Federation (Russell Hirschon); Veronica Sarukhan, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Ambassador to Mexico Arturo Sarukhan; Entertainers perform in the Embassy’s evening “Snowglobe” — an enclosed courtyard complete with magical falling snow (imijphoto.com); Ambassador of Great Britain Nigel Sheinwald, Lady Julia Sheinwald and Ambassador of France Pierre Vimont (Russell Hirschon)