This year’s Washington National Opera Midwinter Fete switched venues and formats for the first time in its seven-year history—drawing more than 380 guests to the cultural center at the Embassy of France on Saturday for a cocktail reception with an “Evening in Paris” theme.
The Midwinter Fete’s theme focuses on a different city each year, but the event has always been held at the Mellon Auditorium as a seated dinner. Budget considerations inspired the opera’s women’s committee to try something new; they turned to La Maison Française in Georgetown, which Feats Inc. decorated with red lighting, flickering votive candles, black and white tablecloths, and low white banquettes.
Staff at La Maison recommended a tasting station format, and members of the committee reached out to local restaurants and caterers like Eat and Smile Foods, Plume, Café Bonaparte, and Belga Café to donate small plates. To evoke a Parisian scene, street signs displayed the name of each restaurant. Mimes, supernumeraries dressed in elaborate costumes, a caricature artist, and even an Eiffel Tower made of Louis Vuitton luggage added to the evening’s Parisian feel.
“We wanted people to have something to see everywhere they turned. They could dance in one spot and see caricature artists and mimes in another spot,” said opera special events manager Deana Taylor. “I like the mix-and-mingle feel, where people walk around and say, ‘Did you like this? Did you try the cupcakes?’”
The evening’s relaxed format gave guests time to peruse the silent auction tables, sample foie gras from La Maison’s in-house caterer, Sodexo, and listen to performances of French arias by members of the opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists Program in La Maison’s auditorium.
In addition to helping differentiate the Midwinter Fete from the opera’s other seated galas, the new format may have drawn a younger crowd, as guests danced until 11:30 p.m. to mixes of pop songs that were decidedly non-opera, like David Guetta’s “Sexy…” and Pitbull’s “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho).” As for whether the format will return next year, Taylor said, “It’s entirely up to the committee, but judging from the feedback tonight, I’ll say yes.”