Un Ballo in Maschera

Pittsburgh Festival Opera brings Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera to Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland on Sunday, December 6, 2026, at 3 PM. It's the company's marquis concert of the season, and they're presenting it as a concert performance with a full orchestra. The afternoon doesn't end with the final curtain, either: there's a masked ball reception afterward, so you can keep the party going after the music stops.

If you're not familiar with the story, Un Ballo in Maschera is a three-act opera based on the real-life assassination of the King of Sweden in 1792. It's a plot full of twists—love, betrayal, murder, a magic herb, and the masked ball that gives the piece its name. It's one of Verdi's big, dramatic works, and the concert format keeps the focus on the music and the singing rather than a full stage production.

The cast is a deep one. Aubrey Ballarò takes on Riccardo, with Oscar Michael Chioldi as Giuseppe, Marianne Cornetti as Renato, Luiz-Ottavio Faria as Ulrica, Greg Kunde as Tom, Alexandra Loutsion as Amelia, Sam Wei Wu as Silvano, and Gina Lapinski as Gina. Christopher Franklin is the director and conductor leading the full orchestra.

It's a good window into what Pittsburgh Festival Opera does. The company focuses on innovative opera, producing American works, reinterpretations of older pieces, and new compositions, with a commitment to diversity in programming and casting. Their mission is to make opera up-close, personal, and relevant to today's audiences—and a marquis concert like this, paired with a reception, fits right into that. The performance is Sunday, December 6, at 3 PM at Carnegie Music Hall, 4400 Forbes Ave, in Oakland.