Barbra Streisand to open European tour in Zurich

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After canceling a Rome performance that would have launched an upcoming European tour, Barbra Streisand plans to kick off her first continental concert series in Switzerland, organizers said on Tuesday.

Streisand was scheduled to open her eight-city tour with a performance at the Hallenstadion in Zurich on June 18, followed by stops in Vienna, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, Manchester, Dublin and London, a spokeswoman for concert promoter CPI said.

The 65-year-old superstar, whose hits include "People" and "The Way We Were," originally planned to launch her European outing with a concert on June 15 at Rome's Flaminio Stadium. But organizers dropped the Italian capital from her itinerary last Friday, citing production delays.

A spokeswoman for the tour denied that the Rome cancellation had anything to do with an outcry from Italian consumer groups who complained that tour promoters were charging exorbitant prices for tickets, ranging from 150 euros ($201) to 900 euros ($1,210).

Streisand will be accompanied by a 58-piece orchestra on her first-ever European tour outside Britain. Her latest tour is scheduled to wrap up with three shows in London, on July 18, 22 and 25.

Streisand grossed $92.5 million from a 20-date North American tour that opened last October, her first live performances in six years.

Her 2006 outing was only the second national tour by Streisand in the four decades since she became the toast of Broadway, launched a Grammy-winning recording career and won her first Oscar in the 1968 musical "Funny Girl."