GEORGE CHRISTY
George Christy
Steve Cohn and Dan Steinberg
Emmy Rossum, LA Opera
music director James Conlon
with Mercedes Bass
Pat and Michael
York
LA Opera
President and
CEO Christopher
Kate Walsh Koelsch (right)
Philanthropist Dr.
Harold Karpman
with husband
with wife Molinda
Todd Bentjen
Celebrity
hairstylist
Yuki Takei
to $300 million.
A
Demi-mondaines.
Flourishing during
the
days of
France’s Second
Empire (1850-1914). “We are
dealing not with simple prostitutes,” says Marta (Mrs.
Placido) Domingo, “but with
women of a much higher
class.
“D
emi-mondaines
achieved high social positions
and enormous political power
… loved by kings, princes,
maharajahs and aristocrats, by
politicians, military men. And
last but not least, musicians
and painters whose art was
influenced by their existence.
Separate, of course, from their
miserable sisters, the common
prostitutes.”
Truth
to tell, demimondaines, or ladies of the
night as they’re also called,
have conquered and remain in
high society. Even today.
Perhaps you may guess one or
two.
This
is prelude to the
seductive performances in our
L.A. Opera’s Art Deco-esque
production of La Traviata,
clearly a grand revival directed and designed by Marta
Domingo at the Los Angeles
Music Center.
V
ioletta, in this most
popular romantic opera from
the prolific Giuseppe Verdi,
composer of 30 operas, is a
demi-mondaine. Verdi based
her on a young woman dying
of consumption from the
novel, The Lady Of The
Camellias, by Alexandre
Dumas. No doubt that Verdi
knew, first hand, the world
Page 6 | September 19, 2014
that he was describing in La
Traviata.
A
fter premiering at La
Fenice in Venice in 1853, the
opera faced considerable controversy.
Attacked by the
Church and others for its
improprieties and immorality,
although defended by critics,
nodding to Don Giovanni as
“much worse with its rampant
lechery.”
O
n opening night last
Saturday, Nino Machaidze, the
world-renowned soprano from
the Republic of Georgia,
received ovations with her
arias, and her second-act duet
with Placido Domingo, co-starring as her father Giorgio
Germont, met with raise-theroof applause.
A golden
moment in the annals of L.A.
Opera. Unforgettable, and not
to be missed.
O
pera patron Louise
Danelian said that friends seated in the Founders Circle were
moved to tears. It goes without saying that every cultural
event encounters a nitpicker or
two, as there were on opening
night, leaving one guest to suggest, “Off with their heads!”
J
ames Conlon conducted
with his long-admired suavity.
T h e
Opera
Ball supper party
w a s
meticulously
planned
by Mary
Hayley,
with the
creativity
of
Ed Ruscha
M
“D
I
n the evening’s
mix
were
Zev
Yaroslavsky,
the
termed-out
L.A.
County Supervisor
and major supporter
of the arts; Emmy
Rossum; Kate Walsh,
Ayn Grinstein
David
Hockney
Frank Gehry and Norman
Lear
Hammer Museum director Ann
Philbin with San Francisco’s John
and Gretchen Berggruen
Gemini G.E.L.
Nino Machaidze (Violetta) and Arturo Chacon-Cruz
(Alfredo) partied during the L.A. Opera Ball after the opening night performance of La Traviata at the L.A. Music
Center
lso: philanthropist Dr. Harold
Karpman
with
wife
Molinda;
Opera
board
chairman
Marc
Stern with wife
Eva; philanthropist
Lennie Greenberg;
Opera president
Philanthropists Mary
and
CEO
Philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad and
Jane and Michael Eisner
Hayley and Selim
Christopher
John Hotchkis
Zilkha
Koelsch with husband Todd Bentjen; Lois and
Jerry
Magnin
discussing
Stephen Sondheim’s Into The
Woods arriving soon at the
Wallis; Katie and Arpad
Domyan; Selim Zilkha, the
partner of Mary Hayley – Selim
contributed the Laetitia Pinot
Noir wines that accompanied
the Omaha beef tenderloin;
Joel Briskin; celebrity hairstylist Yuki Takei; Marilyn Ziering;
LA Opera Board Chairman Marc Stern (left) with LA Opera
La Traviata
underwriters Barbara Augusta
general director Placido Domingo (right), honored LA County director and
Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky for his contributions to the arts in designer Marta
Teichert, Joyce and Audrey
Los Angeles
Domingo
Chernick, Milan Panic; Stana
chorus director Grant Gershon whose opera-loving mom Katic; Bruno Bichir and
and choreography by Kitty christened their pup Puccini; Stephanie Sherk.
McNamee, acknowledged by New Yorker Boaz Mazor, here
ore than $1.5 million
Placido
Domingo,
who’s with his Oscar de la Renta
extended his tenure as general trunk
show,
escorting was raised.
manager for several more Mercedes Tavacoli Kellogg Online at
years.
Bass, whose divorce settle- www.bhcourier.com/georgechristy
ment
from
on’t bother writing Texas oil
about us tonight,” grinned the billionaire
jovial and beloved philanthro- Sid Bass
pist Bernie Greenberg. “Just amounted
La
report
about
Traviata.”
Sorry
Bernie.
Why not
write about both?
Joni Moisant Weyl with husband Sid Felsen,
who founded the Gemini G.E.L. gallery in
1966 on Melrose Avenue with a stable of
leading American artists. Joni hosted a 90th
birthday party with 250 guests for Sid at the
Hammer Museum. We were privileged to
attend their wedding in 1986.
BEVERLY HILLS