S.F. Opera's opening gala a resplendent red smash

Positioned just 24 hours prior to the world premiere of "Heart of a Soldier" and 48 hours after the San Francisco Symphony's Centennial celebration, the San Francisco Opera's 89th opening-night gala Friday was no mere placeholder on the city's inaugural fall arts and social season calendar.

The swell soiree, An Evening in the Forbidden City, unfolded at the Opera House and City Hall where some 1,200 Opera Ball patrons and Bravo! members joyfully promenaded in a peacock's parade of top hats, tails and cascading tulle trains.

That theme was the perfect palette for swans, many of whom chose regal red as their hue du jour and accessorized glamorous gowns (Oscar de la Renta, Alexander McQueen, Karen Caldwell, Lily Samii) with dazzling hot rocks for their sartorial swirl during cocktails amid the marble splendor of the Opera House foyer.

But former Secretary of State George Shultz, there with his missus, Protocol Chief Charlotte Shultz, stuck with the tried-and-true as he expertly demonstrated the unfurling of a top hat.

"I guess you could say it's vintage," he said, with laugh. "There were so many white-tie dinners during the Nixon administration that I finally invested in my own top hat."

Of course, there was actual opera, too. And that beloved Puccini chestnut, "Turandot," conducted by Music Director Nicola Luisotti and starring David Hockney's eye-popping sets, proved a pitch-perfect opener for S.F. Opera General Director David Gockley.

"This is a proven production, and the singers are great. So I can devote 80 percent of my attention to 'Heart,' " said Gockley, who recently signed on for another five years as the Opera's head honcho. "There's nothing like the charge, anticipation and the risk factor of doing a new work. It really fires me up."

Also fired up, Opera Guild President Ann Girard and Opera Ball chairwomen Susan Tamagni and Anne Marie Massocca, from whose efforts the gala's proceeds fund the Opera's ARIA music education programs for Bay Area students.

"Tonight reminds me of a question once asked of Linda Ronstadt, 'What do you like about being famous?' She replied, 'You get to work with the best people,' " said Massocca. "And tonight is because of our great people, designer Robert Fountain, (caterers) McCall Associates and the Opera's impeccable staff."

The ladies were assisted in their efforts by honorary chairwomen Cynthia Fry Gunn, Jeannik Littlefield and Opera Trustee Dede Wilsey, who for the last nine years has underwritten the Opera's entire opening weekend events - including the towering urns of plump red roses and Stanlee Gatti-designed red-hot carnation medallions adorning the Opera House boxes.

Among the first-nighters: Opera Board Chairman John Gunn; Mayor Ed Lee and his wife, Anita; Chairman emeritus Pitch Johnson and his wife, Cathie; Nicola Miner and Robert Mailer Anderson; Maureen and Craig Sullivan; Mary and Bill Poland; Marissa Mayer and Zach Bogue; Maria Manetti Farrow and Jan Shrem; New Yorker cartoonist William Hamilton and his wife, Lucy; author-editor Lewis Lapham; Timothy and Athena Blackburn; Doreen and James Ho; former Mayor Willie Brown and Sonya Molodetskaya; Keith McWilliams and his mom, Anne Giannini McWilliams; Dr. Alan Malouf with (Paris' parents) Cathy and Rick Hilton; and Leslie Hume and her husband, Opera Board President George Hume, who made a brief fly-by before heading to the Pacific Union Club for the wedding rehearsal dinner of their nephew George Hume and his fiancee, Roxanne Schlumberger.

Channeling the luxe setting of "Turandot," a red carpet lined with traditional Chinese drummers led guests to the patrons' dinner tent, which Fountain imagined as an imperial court framed by royal red fabric, glowing lanterns and pistachio-draped table-tops set with orchid centerpieces, each crowned by gold-painted terra cotta soldiers, which the designer flew over from China.

McCall Associates Executive Chef Lucas Schoemaker served up an emperor's banquet (Chioga beet salad, filet mignon, Ghirardelli chocolate tranche) followed by a post-performance late-night nosh of dim sum and sweets as guests rocked out to the tunes of Bill Hopkins Rock'n Orchestra.

Even Wilsey's guest, Boaz Mazor, enjoying his first San Francisco opening-night at-bat, was impressed.

"Of course in New York, we have the Met. But opening night is not this elaborate," said the dashing Oscar de la Renta exec-at-large. "I love how everyone goes all out. San Francisco really gets into the spirit of opening night."

E-mail comments to datebookletters@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle