Salzburg Festival holds benefit gala

Russian superstar soprano, Anna Netrebko, will headline a special benefit concert at this year's ultra-exclusive Salzburg Festival to raise money for flood-hit Pakistan, organisers said. Netrebko will appear alongside many of the stars of this year's festival including her Uruguayan partner, baritone Erwin Schrott, at a gala performance on Thursday evening in Salzburg's swish Haus fuer Mozart theatre, according to a statement released late Sunday.
Tickets, which go on sale Monday, will cost between 40-280 euros (51-356 dollars). The proceeds will go to victims of the flooding in Pakistan, the worst in the country's history affecting 20 million people and an area the size of England.