Welcome to the Big Top!

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the big top! Step right up and experience the most outrageous Carnevale orchestrated by Kentucky Opera. The event will take place in the magnificent Medallion Ballroom of the grand Seelbach Hilton Hotel on Saturday, January 17, 2009. Individual tickets are $225. Your ticket entitles you to grand wine tastings, a delectable dinner, live and silent auctions, musical entertainment and dancing! To join the circus, contact Michael Miller at 502.584.4500 or log on to kyopera.org.

The jubilant event starts at 6pm and will feature flowing wine and daring acts of philanthropy. Prepare yourselves for an amazing array of high flying live and silent auction items that will make the young girls blush. One of the perfectly packaged highlights include a limo which will transport you to dinner prepared and staffed by Kentucky Opera board members at the home of Opera Trustee, Paula Harshaw, with entertainment by Kentucky Opera Studio Artists.

Of course the evening will have a variety of high-end and hard to find wines for which the event for has become known. Carnevale committee chair, Pete Walton said “There are a lot of Carnevale patrons that attend just for the wine, myself included.” For the last two years, Walton has donated dinner for 8 at his home with wine parings from his extensive wine cellar.

In the center ring you will be stunned by the incredible talent of soprano Anya Matanovič! Matanovič will give a preview of her thrilling vocal color at Carnevale; she will return for the 2009-10 Season to sing the role of Gretel in Kentucky Opera’s production Hansel & Gretel.

This year’s Carnevale is dedicated to Mason C. Rudd who was the initial benefactor of the Studio Artists’ program (which was called the Rudd Young Artists Program for the first three years). Rudd was the founder of Rudd Equipment Company and was Chair of the Louisville Metro Board of Health for over three decades.

To join the circus, contact Michael Miller at 502.584.4500 or log on to kyopera.org.