San Diego Opera Assn. Ends Season on a Viennese Note

Iris Strauss said she designed the dinner preceding Saturday’s opening night performance of “The Magic Flute” to capture some of the surrealistic nuances of the sets and costumes designed by artist Maurice Sendak.

In fact, the sense of anticipation among the 220 guests assembled in the Versailles Room at the Westgate Hotel rose to such a pitch that, had she chosen to pursue a line of Mozartian mischief, dinner chairman Strauss could have followed the opera’s story line and served water and stone rather than wine and salmon without provoking too much of a commotion.

As it was, the poached salmon with cucumbers and the apple strudel, both nods to the German overtones of the piece, went over well. Because of the 7 p.m. curtain at the Civic Theatre, guests were forced to sit down at 5:30 p.m., a dinner hour that many of them found sufficiently surrealistic in itself.

In the midst of the sedate glee that pervaded the ballroom and foyer, San Diego Opera Assn. President Esther Burnham, nearing retirement after three years in the post, said she felt a touch of melancholy--not that she blamed it on Mozart.

“I’m always sad at the end of a season, and especially this year since it’s the end of our 25th anniversary season,” she said. “But Ian (opera general director Ian Campbell) planned very well for the occasion by scheduling an opera that would send all of us home happy.”

For his part, Campbell expressed utter satisfaction with the close of his seventh season as general director.

“Tonight’s opera is a superb way for us to close,” said Campbell. “It’s been our most successful season ever, and the San Diego Opera is on a roll, there’s no doubt about that. The 25th anniversary season was given a great boost by opening with “Boris Godunov” and the Soviet Arts Festival, and tonight is a great finish. I couldn’t be more pleased.”

Campbell spoke to the crowd during dinner and exhorted it not to behave too well at the performance. “We had 2,000 schoolchildren at the final dress rehearsal the other night,” he said, adding, “They raised the roof, and I want you to do the same.”

The evening was a long one for some of the guests (many of whom observed Campbell’s prohibition of inhibitions and loudly exhibited their pleasure with the performance), since a number were invited to a post-opera cast party at a Banker’s Hill home. Among those invited to join “Magic Flute” stars Hei-Kyung Hong and Denes Gulyas for an hour of Viennese gemutlichkeit were weight-loss magnate Jenny Craig and her husband, Sid; Opera Assn. President-elect Steven Wall with Franne Ficara; Wendy McBride with Dennis Muckerman; Arlene and Newt Pollock; Dorene and John Whitney; Trude and Hermann Zillgens; Lee and Frank Goldberg, Irene Allis, Mary and James Hickey, and Marion Bateson.

The guest list at the Westgate dinner included Joan and Irwin Jacobs, Patty and Dan Evatts, Matt Strauss, Barbara and Neil Kjos, Allison and Robert Price, Shelia Davis with Larry Lawrence, Sophie and Arthur Brody, Sandra and Douglas Pay, Lee and P. J. Maturo, Charmaine and Maury Kaplan, and Athena and Charles May.

The calendar has been a little slow of late, and one reason may be that many are catching a bit of breath before plunging into the planned social maelstrom that, if it goes according to schedule, will make the last 10 days of April seem like one endless party. Just why this decade of days should be so crowded with events is unclear, but it is a schedule that offers something for anyone who wants to go out to support a cause, or simply to share a dance floor with a crowd of like-minded souls.

This miniature social season starts April 21 with the 1990 University Ball, the first-ever gala fund-raiser to be given for the newly founded California State University, San Marcos. University President Bill Stacy will serve as honorary chair, and the evening will honor Carol Cox, chairman of the sponsoring President’s Advisory Council. The reception in the ballroom at the Rancho Bernardo Inn will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be followed by dinner and dancing. Tickets to the black tie event cost $125 per person; for further information, telephone the university.

Four men have been invited to break the gender barrier that excluded men from participation in the first 15 annual “Spirit of San Diego” fashion luncheons given by La Jolla’s All Hallows Women’s Guild. The 16th such event, titled “The Way We Are!” will be given April 26 in the Aventine Ballroom at the Hyatt Regency and will honor 42 community volunteers from as many organizations, including Mercy Hospital Foundation President James Mulvaney and San Diego Boys and Girls Clubs President Michael Alessio. The luncheon will open with an 11 a.m. reception, to be followed by lunch and a fashion show to be coordinated by Neiman Marcus West Coast fashion director David Cardoza. Tickets to the event cost $45 per person; for further information, call the All Hallows Catholic Church office.

Also on April 26, the first annual “Tradition of Caring” award dinner will be held in the Marina Ballroom at the San Diego Marriott under the sponsorship of the Central Advisory Board of the Salvation Army in San Diego County. Banker Robert Adelizzi and his wife, Tommi, will receive the first “Tradition of Caring” award in recognition of their community service, and guests at the black tie-optional dinner will be entertained by the San Diego Master Chorale. The evening will commence with a reception at 6:30 p.m. Tickets cost $125 per person; for further information, call the Salvation Army.

The week will draw to a frantic close Saturday, April 28, when three major galas and several dinner dances will compete to draw the largest attendance.

The longest-running of these, the annual “Celebrities Cook for the UCSD Cancer Center,” will present its ninth version as “A Feast of Flowers” and will open with an elaborate presentation of hors d’oeuvres prepared by seven professional women chefs and as many amateurs, all also women.

Among the professionals will be Evan Kleiman of the Angeli Caffe in Los Angeles, Anne Rosenzweig of Arcadia in New York and Joyce Goldstein of San Francisco’s Square One. Dinner and dancing will follow the tasting. Tickets to the black tie event, which will begin with a 7 p.m. reception and will be given in the Champagne Ballroom at the Sheraton Harbor Island, cost $200, $350 and $500 per person; for further information, call the UCSD Cancer Center.

The San Diego Regional Board of the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California will present the eighth annual “Orient Express Gala” on April 28th in the Grand Ballroom of the U.S. Grant hotel.

As always, this formal event will take a fantasy excursion aboard the “The King of Trains and Train of Kings” as its theme, and the program and dinner will suggest a journey from London to Istanbul. Tickets cost $250, $500 and $1,000 per person, and guests are invited to substitute 1920s attire for black tie. The gala will begin at 7 p.m.; for further information, call the Kidney Foundation.

Also on April 28, the University of San Diego will stage its annual USD Deans’ Ball at the San Diego Hilton.