Paula Zahn Will Substitute for Julie Andrews as Host of PBS’ From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2011

News veteran Paula Zahn will now host Great Performances’ From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2011, PBS’ annual New Year’s celebration with the Vienna Philharmonic, to air on January 1 at 8pm ET (check local listings). Franz Welser-Möst will lead the concert. Zahn replaces the previously announced Julie Andrews, who has had to withdraw as she deals with family health issues in the U.S.

While Zahn is best known for her 30 years in network news, she has performed as a cellist on stages around the world. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1992 performing with the New York Pops orchestra and has performed there as a soloist many times since.

The performance will feature the Philharmonic playing some of the Strauss family’s most famous melodies, along with works by Liszt and Beethoven. In addition, the concert will feature a performance of Johann Strauss II’s “On the Beautiful Blue Danube” waltz, accompanied by a ballet.

A special aspect of the program will be video footage that will take viewers outside of the hall in which the concert will be performed and to such locations as Liszt’s living room, the Winter Riding School in the Hofburg Palace, home of the Lipizzaner Stallions, the former Lobkovitz Palace, and now the Austrian Theatre Museum, and Laudon Castle in the Vienna Woods, among others.

For further information, click here.