Vienna's glitzy Opera Ball can count on the rich and famous again on February 19, despite the global financial crisis, organiser Desiree Treichl-Stuergkh announced Thursday.
"Tickets for the 2009 edition have already been sold out," she told a press conference.
"The Ball has a long tradition and has already survived several crises," she noted, following reports that several top bankers and insurance company directors had decided against attending this year's event.
The Opera Ball -- the highlight of the Austrian social calendar -- attracts every year some 5,000 guests from around the world, from starlets to politicians, sport stars and businessmen, all come to sip on champagne and waltz the night away.
But this year, at least two banks, Austria's Volksbank and Constantia, both of which have been severely hit by the financial crisis, gave back the loge they had booked in recent years.
Such a space officially costs 17,000 euros (22,300 dollars) but companies wishing to guarantee a loge this year had to fork out 42,000 euros for the honour.
A simple ticket meanwhile costs 230 euros.
After Teri Hatcher last year, another "Desperate Housewife" from the hit US TV show, Nicollette Sheridan, will attend the ball next month, invited by 76-year-old local businessman and notorious attention-seeker Richard Lugner.
Copyright 2009 AFP Global Edition
