Houston’s Hottest Young Professionals Invent New Ways to Party

What: Houston Grand Opera Encore Kick-Off Party

Where: Forty Five Ten in River Oaks District

PC Moment: As chairs of the Houston Grand Opera Ball “Encore” after party, Carrie and Sverre Brandsberg-Dahl are not taking the expected path to the young professional, late-night bash. “It has to be interesting and exciting,” Carrie tells PaperCity. “Ultimately, it has to be surprising.” And with that, she demurred on revealing any of those surprises for act two of the April 8 “Carnevale di Venezia” gala. “Sverre and I put a lot of thought into everything we say yes to and we are thrilled at the opportunity to chair the after party Encore,” she says. “We hope to bring our version of Encore to everyone.” 

Without tipping the hands of the chairs, Forty Five Ten did its part for the carnevale theme by dressing store mannequins in couture white and white carnival-inspired masks. Trés chic!

More than 140 guests, members of the ON young professional group and Brandsberg-Dahl friends, turned out for the preview that filled the luxe retailer with opera enthusiasm. On this spring-like night, guests spilled over onto the terrace where bartenders mixed signature cocktails and served champagne splits with straws to thirsty partygoers. Waiters from Toulouse, just across the plaza, swarmed through with trays of tempting hors d’oeuvres.

Who: Valerie Dieterich, Meredith and Liam Bonner, Kimberly Lombardino and Kendall Hanno, Emily Schreiber, Mario Gudmundsson, Ray Dennison, William Finnorn, Shannon Smith, Francesca Francois, Josue Salazar,  Ruchi Mukherjee, Laura Velez, Sara Starry de Mendoza, Caroline Starry LeBlanc, Brian McCulloch, Jeremy Garcia, and Gary Nguyen.