Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending The Dallas Opera‘s One Night Only Spring Gala feature three internationally acclaimed tenors: Michael Fabiano, Bryan Hymel, and Matthew Polenzani. The talented trio sang selections from Turandot, Pagliacci, Werther, L’elisir d’amore, Fedora, Eugene Onegin and La Gioconda accompanied by The Dallas Opera Orchestra, conducted by the adorable Italian guest conductor Carlo Montanaro, who was a delight to watch.

I took my friend Jessica as my date. This was her first ever opera experience! It was a neat introductory of opera since many different languages were sung.

I was really stressed about what to wear, as the invitation said cocktail attire but my brain associated gala with formalwear. I’m happy to report that we were not underdressed. There were a few formal gowns but most everyone was in shorter, cocktail-length dresses. I wore my favorite one-shoulder little white dress with a dramatic sleeve. I don’t believe in wearing a dress just once. Who are we, the Queen of England? I paired it with gold jewelry, red heels comfortable enough to dance in, and styled my hair in the “Megara” fashion with a dramatic curled bang and curly ponytail.

I was surprised and delighted that there was an entire portion of the program dedicated to Broadway hits. Why yes, I would love to hear three of the best tenors in the world sing hits from Carousel, Oklahoma, West Side Story, South Pacific, and The King and I, thank you for asking!

The program began at 7 pm. We grabbed some wine – adult sippy cups are available to take into the house – and got settled in our orchestra seats. The concert lasted about an hour and a half and  the crowd went wild between songs, cheering and shouting, “BRAVO!” like they were at a classy Super Bowl.

Afterwards, patrons with dinner tickets sat down to dinner in the lobby and those with the after party tickets (like yours truly) headed to the band to dance the night away and enjoy complimentary wine. It turns out that the band was comprised of Booker T. Washington students and they rocked. We have so many talented performers in Dallas-Fort Worth! I loved the song choices too: lots of Bruno Mars and other great dance music to keep the crowd on their feet all night.

It was such a lovely evening and I’m already excited for The Dallas Opera’s 2019-2020 season! Who knows, maybe I’ll see some of you at the Winspear.