Horse and Paris Hilton to star at Vienna Opera Ball

The stars of the Vienna Opera Ball on February 15, the highpoint of the winter ball season in the Austrian capital, will be a horse and heiress Paris Hilton, the organisers announced on Thursday.

For several days the Austrian gutter press has been full of the news that the hieress to the Hilton hotel chain has been invited to the 51th Opera Ball by real estate magnate Richard Lugner, who is fond of making a show at such events.

His escorts in previous years have included Pamela Anderson, Carmen Electra and Faye Dunaway.

Vienna Opera director Iaon Holender, who presented the programme for the ball to the press on Thursday, said his guest would be "a live horse".

The annual spectacular, which will be broadcast live on Austrian television, will include extracts from Massenet's opera Manon Lescaut, starring Russian-born soprano Anna Netrebko

Netrebko, the darling of the Viennese public, will perform from a real horse-drawn carriage, with Holender as coachman.

The singer, who acquired Austrian citizenship last year, has agreed to perform for free, as have the other artists.

"The horse and Paris Hilton are the only ones who will get paid," Holender quipped.

Tickets for the event cost 215 euros (278 dollars) and a box for eight to 10 people costs 16,000 euros. Donors who agree to contribute more than 36,800 euros per year to the prestigious Opera will be allowed to choose which box to sit in.

New Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer will make his first appearance as head of government at the ball, alongside his ministers and President Heinz Fischer.

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AFPEntertainment-Austria-people

AFP 251935 GMT 01 07

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