Munich Gala Event
Every year from January to March is the Gala Event season in Munich. The most prestigious balls take place in the Deutsches Theater (German theatre) near Hauptbahnhof (central station).
One of the outstanding gala events is the Ball der Silbernen Rose (Silver Rose Ball), which is organized by the Gesellschaft Opernball München and claims itself to be the Munich pendant to the famous Vienna Opernball.
The first time we intended to visit the Silver Rose Ball, I had given the tickets to Tobias as a Christmas present.
We were both waiting eagerly for the date of the Gala Event, I had already decided, which dress to wear and bought the
matching shoes, when I broke my leg in early January (but that's another story).
Still hoping for a miracle, I waited til the last moment, but finally realized that I didn't want to go to a ball and
watch other people dance. Therefore I had to sell the tickets on and later received raving reviews from
the person who bought the tickets.
Two years later, we finally managed to go to the ball. All the time from the decision to buy the ticket until the date of the Gala, I was nervous if something would happen again.
But this time, everything went just fine and we arrived to the Ball der Silbernen Rose "dressed up for the night"
and ready to dance...
But first the official program, a children's ballet and the Gala Performance with terrific arias from different operas and famous musical songs took place.
The outstanding program included famous songs like "Don't cry for me Argentina" from Evita and "Maria" from West Side Story as well as celebrated arias from operas like Zauberflöte (Magic Flute), Rigoletto and Barbier de Sevilla.
It lasted about 1,5 hours and was performed by Anna-Maria Kaufmann and Francisco Araiza, two internationally renowned opera stars.
After hearing so much great music, we couldn't wait for the Big Band Hugo Strasser, the most famous German orchestra for dance music. Finally we could go to the dance floor and dance ourselves until exhaustion.
The first one or two hours after midnight were too many people on the dance floor to dance comfortably. But if you have patience, you'll soon have plenty of space to dance as much as you want, because many people go to the Ball der Silbernen Rose primarily to enjoy the Gala Performance.
We were totally thrilled and will definitely attend next year again!!
Off course, there are many more Munich Gala Events in the German theatre. You can find all of them here and make ticket reservations.
Just make sure, you're properly dressed: as the ball season is during carnival, some of the galas require costume, while others require formal dressing (also called black and white).
