Opera Chic

Belles of the Ball

Competition this year was tough. How could the classiest, most elegant beauties not wilt and pale against the incandescent beauty of Berlusconi's favorite (then) underage ~dancer~, Ruby, who was also saggy, rich dude and arbiter of taste Richard Lugner's official escort for this year's Wiener Opernball.

Belle of the ball award goes to tux'd & groomed Erwin Schrott -- best dressed, best humored, and best a$$.

Also in attendance -- appropriately random for the event: Elīna Garanča, Lang Lang, Larry Hagman, Bob Geldoff, Franz Welser-Moest.

(Above: Larry Hagman and Ruby)

(Above & below: Elīna Garanča)

(Above: Dominik Meyer & Franz Welser-Moest)

Out of all the ball memories, ~~sweet dreams are made of this~~

Click for more photos...

The Wiener Opernball Just Got a Little Skankier

Usually at the opera theaters we see whores on stage as epoch-old leading ladies like Violetta Valéry -- and more recently Anna Nicole Smith (although we're fiercely endeared to the Playboy hooker with the heart of gold). Leave it to creepy old rich Richard Lugner to turn art into life. The Viennese socialite has invited, literally, a whore to be his ~date~ to the annual Wiener Opernball.

In an embarrassingly dated escort-disguised-as-ambassador trick played every year, Lugner invites a trashy celebrity to attend (he actually pays them) one of Vienna's most prestigious social events of the year at the Vienna Staatsoper. Previous escorts have included Pamela Anderson, Dita Von Teese, and Paris Hilton (yeah, there's a pattern here).

This year, Lugner's invited Karima El-Mahroug -- aka Ruby -- an 18-year-old nightclub "dancer" who is one of the main characters of Italy's latest scandals. The Moroccan immigrant kicked-off the official bunga-bunga investigations surrounding Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his harem of whores who showed-up like clockwork from February to May 2010 to his famous orgies at his private villa.

Berlusconi will stand trail in April for charges of paying a then-underage Ruby for sex (she was a minor, only 17) and for abusing his power (he sprung her from police custody on shoplifting-related charges). And let's not forget about gifts totaling in more than $300,000.00 USD (two rolexes, a necklace, and a Valentino gown).

Lunger shafted Bo Derek for Ruby after he refused to pay Derek's fee. But at what cost comes Ruby? It's reported that Lugner's paying her €35,000 ($50,000.00 USD), a private jet for transportation, and luxury hotel accommodations.

As if Lunger's yearly tradition wasn't joke enough at this point, organizers of the Opernball are soooo not thrilled.

Lindsay Lohan Will Attend the 2010 Wiener Opernball But Probably Won't Remember a Thing

American, um, actress (??) (although we won't deny it on a stack of chocolate-covered bibles that we have a thing for The Parent Trap & Mean Girls) Lindsay Lohan was chosen by Richard Lunger, the Austrian business-dude and biggest pimp ever who decides every year which young, female celebrity to personally invite to the high-profile Wiener Opernball at the Vienna Staatsoper as his date.

Lunger previously choose for the Wiener Opernball soirée in 2009 Nicollette Sheridan; 2008 was the American burlesque lover, Dita von Teese (who competed in the cleavage department with a then pregnant la Netrebko); and in 2007 we had a jaded and bored Paris Hilton who notably yawned as the young debutants and escorts fancy-danced. 

Lohan, who was appointed recently as ~artistic adviser~ to the house of Italian fashion Ungaro, had better be wearing an Ungaro gown to the event! She's already pissed-off poor Emanuel enough!

 

Here's the most recent photo of la Lohan, taken two days ago where she was spotted in a glittered hoodie for the Golden Globes.

 
  

Because You'll Never Get Sick of Anna @ The 2008 Opernball

 

(click me click me yeah, everyone is waiting.)

Although we've already covered it extensively (here, too), we came across another video from the 2008 Vienna Opernball that we rilly rilly wanted to share. The raisin? A clip of José Carreras singing at the ball (unfortunately under some vary v a r y bad lighting), and then dancing a lovely waltz with Anna Netrebko in the Emperor's box.

Direct linking of the media is basically impossible, but you can try your luck here. If that didn't work, start here, and look for the video link called, "Video: Walzer und Fußball beim Wiener Opernball" in the middle of the page. Below are some screen shots for souvenirs, and OC included an idiot's guide to finding the easter egg below.

 

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Moah Opernball Goodness: Because U Know U Want It

[Update 1: Now with NEW & IMPROVED watermarking...suck it h8rs.]

[Update 2: Anna in Aktion: Faz.net is streaming a two minute video, which interviews the lovely, newly plump Netrebko arriving on the red carpet, about :30 seconds in. *~*You can watch it here.*~*]

Moah images from last night's Opernball extravaganza in Vienna: Anna Netrebka and her  new chins entertain chubbychasing fans, splendid Dita Von Teese makes us sorry she can't sing opera (but then many working sopranos with big record company deals can't sing either), Teri Hatcher spreads some much-needed mannish charm.

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(above: "Startenor" José Carreras)

Dita Von Teese Veel Teese Your Opernball

Last year it was Anna Netrebko and Paris Hilton.

Tomorrow night, the bright star burning brightly @ the Wiener Opernball will be Dita Von Teese, photographed above at the press conference in Vienna earlier today.

Paris in Vienna: Opera is BØring

Surprisingly, Paris Hilton got bored the other night
@ the Vienna Opera Ball (she had been -- as OC reported -- previously booed by a bunch of unruly Viennese Bolsheviks).

Live TV coverage repeatedly showed her looking bored as she sat in her luxury box at the State Opera House.

As debutantes in white dresses and their escorts in black tuxedos and tails marched into the ornate ballroom, Hilton was seen resting her head in her hands, absentmindedly flipping through the program and fiddling with her mobile phone.

Opera Chic says, u0tevs! Because Paris was holding in her rapacious, bony hands a secksylicious obsidian-black Leica D-LUX 3 -- ah, if only we hadn't just bought a (beautiful, don't get us wrong) Canon SD900! We love our cute little (1-year) old Leica C-LUX 1, aiight, but for this girl at least, pixel size matters.
We assume it matters for Paris, too.

Paris Goes to the Ball; Rowdy Viennese Fans Get Arrested. Why? Because They Are Communists!!!

This just in: in the photo above you can see Paris Hilton on her way to the Wiener Opernball.

A few minutes after this picture had been taken, Viennese protesters have been arrested by the Austrian police. Apparently they were demonstrating against the capitalist extravaganza -- a ball made to measure for about 4,500 rich elderly Austrian industrialists and the usual suspects of such occasions, ie their second wives & their plastic surgeons, loserish TV personalities, high-end escorts, various skanks -- and to protest Hilton's presence at the ball (in the past, the Opernball had welcomed such luminaries as Geri Halliwell -- aka Whatevs Spice -- and Carmen Electra).

That's why earlier in the day Hilton had gotten pelted by tissues, lipstick, and cigarette packs -- it was the same unruly bunch! Viennese commies do not dig her (& they probably got scammed by some eBay seller the time they tried to buy one of her dozens of secret superhawt "stolen" lol video to boot).

The PR fiasco ruined Hilton's day and she canceled her visit to the Kunsthistorisches Museum (she's a HUGE Bruegel fan) and to Beethoven's tomb (just kidding!).

Now, Opera Chic does not smoke and thinks it's an ICKY habit. And she is against violence in any form. But twenty years ago America used to send Lenny to Vienna (Opera Chic usually stays at the Sacher and they still have on display a fantastic photo of a caped Lenny exiting the hotel and walking towards the Staatsoper); now we send them Carmen and Paris & her fakea$$ passport. You cannot really really blame the Austrian commies for being p'ed off, can you.

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Good story/pic here.

Chaos in Vienna: Netrebko Does Marilyn; Paris Hilton Gets Lost (and, unfortunately, found)

You already know that Anna Netrebko (who often plays a whore in Traviata) and Paris Hilton (who has yet to appear in Traviata but) are the stars (heh) of the Wiener Opernball in Vienna TONITE!!!OMGrofl.

And lucky Austrians were almost saved by sheer dumb (huh, yeah) luck: Hilton 's passport had expired but the US government came to the rescue!!!

Let's hear it from the International Herald Tribune, that went totally "gaga" (lol) for the heiress:

Hilton ran into a problem in Munich, Germany, Wednesday when it turned out her passport had expired. Susan McCaw, U.S. ambassador to Austria, had to vouch for Hilton to get her across the border, APA reported.

"Oh nothing, just my passport expired," Hilton said when asked to explain what happened.

Oh, OK. See, if you represent the US government in Iraq you get to "lose" 12 billion dollars in cash (it's 363 tons); you represent us in Austria, you end up arguing with some German immigration cop who wants to arrest Paris Hilton because her passport just expired without warning her first. lame! (Opera Chic is already the unofficial Honorary Consul to La Scala and this is more than enough for her -- and she doesn't have to bail anybody out of jail. Well, she hasn't yet. But she'd certainly love to "lose" a few tons of US govt cash shopping around via S. Andrea!)

Anyway, trying deperately not to be upstaged, Netrebko is doing a Marilyn impersonation, a All That Jazz number, and she'll arm wrestle Arnold "Bibendum" Schwarzenegger, too.

GO ANNA GO!

love, OC

Netrebko and her Wiener Opernball (sorry)

Anna Netrebko will be joining Paris Hilton at this years Wiener Opernball, previously touched-upon by Opera Chic here. But Netrebko wants everyone to know that she isn't getting paid, like a certain American socialite. From The Scotsman:

"Austro-Russian soprano Anna Netrebko will also add glamour to the red velvet splendour of the world famous Opera House when she comes on stage in a horse-drawn carriage at the ball to sing a Manon aria, State Opera Director Ioan Holender said."

"Celebrity heiress Paris Hilton is expected to appear on the arm of Viennese entrepreneur and socialite Richard Lugner. Every year Lugner pays a celebrity to sign autographs in his shopping centre and adorn his private box at the ball."

"In a shot at Lugner, Holender said Netrebko had decided to come and sing at the ball without taking money."

No words. I just hope Paris is wearing underwear, and that she and Netrebko don't wear the same dress.

PANIC AT THE OPERA! Kristin Chenoweth and Paris Hilton Appearing At Your Favorite Opera Venues

Today is a fluffyprettypony post...because my posting styles are as fickle as the morning dew.

Tonight is Kristin Chenoweth's recital at NYC's Metropolitan Opera House, where I suspect half the audience will be teenaged scensters, who experienced their first girl-crush on the pint-sized piccola via the ubiquitous fame/cult that has illuminated her spunky Glinda in Stephen Schwartz's Wicked on Broadway. Tonight's Kristin Chenoweth: Live at the Met performance will be the actress's solo debut at the MET Opera house, where she will be backed by a 12-piece orchestra and a handful of dancers.

Actress and Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth is no stranger to the stage, and had made her mark in the NYC Broadway scene with, well, way too many performances to name. Her lyric soprano was previously heard in in NYC a few years ago at Avery Fisher Hall, with Marin Alsop conducting the New York Philharmonic in Leonard Bernstein's Candide. Chenoweth's "Glitter and be Gay" Cunegonde was memorable, and and has become a popular mainstay of her repertoire.

Chenoweth always goes on the record concerning her love of opera, and has a master’s degree in Opera Performance from Oklahoma City University to prove it. The anecdote is that Chenoweth (who stands without stilettos at like 4-foot-something) was told early in her career that such a petit woman would never make an impression as a credible opera singer. Well, Chenoweth shows everyone wha'ts what, as she was invited by Gelb to return to the MET in 2010, to interpret Samira in John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles.

As a weekend treat, and in adherence to the skanky/sex4y that has plagued Opera Chic as of late, I've uploaded a couple of hi-res (but heavily airbrushed) shots from FHM Magazine's March 2006 issue, where Chenoweth adequately modeled a pink bikini. You can find the photos here (possibly NSFW).

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From Austria, official this week: At a news conference in Vienna on Wednesday, Austrian businessman Richard Lugner, a 74-year-old entrepreneur, announced that 25-year-old Paris Hilton has accepted his invitation to attend the Wiener Opernball soirée with him (and his wife Christina seen below) on Thursday, February 15th 2007. Kinky.

Every year, Richard Lugner entices a trashy/hawt celebrity to attend one of Vienna's most prestigious social event of the year at the Vienna Staatsoper. Previous escorts have included Pamela Anderson, Ivana Trump, Sophia Loren, and Farrah Fawcett, cuz that's how he rolls.

The 25-year-old socialite will arrive in Vienna with her parents and three girlfriends...but has recanted her original decision to take recently departed BFF4e&e Britney "TEH ANIMAL" Spears after their late December 2006 break-up.