(5 February 2016) Music, evening dresses, elegance, and grace as the fanfare greets the highest offices of state and their guests. The show begins with over 140 couples making their entrance in the hall: as the girls wear a stylish and elegant white dress, with a Swarovski wreath in their hair, the boys, however, are all in white tie. This was Vienna last night, raptured in the fabulous atmosphere that kicks off the annual Grand Ball (Wiener Opernball) at the Vienna State Opera, held every year the Thursday before Ash Wednesday. Along with the New Year’s Concert, the Opera Ball is one of the highlights of the Viennese carnival. The music accompanied the debutantes couples in their twirls, bringing old-timely magic and enchantment to life as every year. The event, screened live, brought together almost two million viewers from around the world. Representing Italy at the 79th Opera Ball in Vienna, there was Sara Spadaccini, a Roman student enrolled in the fifth year of the Liceo Classico “Anco Marzio” in Ostia. Sara, winner of the Grand Ball held in October in Rome was accompanied for the occasion by Lukas Weingartshofer, a pupil of Tanzschule, the most famous dance school of in Vienna, and conducted by Maestro Thomas Elmayer. Thanks to the combination and cooperation between Elvia Venosa, creator of the Italian edition, the Embassy of Austria and the City of Vienna, every year a young couple has the great privilege to participate in the “Ball of Balls”. (PO / Gil)
At the Grand Ball, the young Roman Sara Spadaccini makes her debut
