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HCA2005 projects launched in Aarhus The Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation in association with the Municipality of Aarhus presented the 2005 Hans Christian Andersen bicentenary events scheduled for Aarhus. The presentation took place at a press conference on Friday 22 October 2004, (9:00 am - 10:30 am) in the foyer of the Aarhus Museum of Art, ARoS. By ms - H.C. Andersen 2005 - 26 October 2004 The Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation has entered partnership with the Municipality of Aarhus in ensuring that major events within theatre, visual art, and music will take place in the city in connection with the Andersen bicentenary. The Mayor of Aarhus, Mrs Louise Gade, opened the press conference where after Secretary General of the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation, Mr Lars Seeberg, introduced the organisers of the events. Furthermore, Danish singer Thomas Helvig was appointed Danish Hans Christian Andersen Ambassador. Mayor of Aarhus, Mrs Louise Gade, stated the following regarding the Andersen bicentenary celebrations in Aarhus: "2005 will be an enchanting year for Aarhus. I am both proud and pleased of what Aarhus in association with the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation has to offer in 2005, including international guest performances and other cultural events. Many events are scheduled to take place at the Concert Hall Aarhus, at the Aarhus Museum of Art (AroS), and at the Aarhus Festival, but there will also be exciting local contributions to the Andersen bicentenary. We will seek inspiration from abroad but will have the opportunity to show what we can do in Aarhus too. I am also pleased that the Old Town in Aarhus will be included in the marketing of the Andersen bicentenary within tourism and will feature on the tours on offer to many international visitors. I believe 2005 will be an enchanting year for Aarhus!" Secretary General for the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation, Lars Seeberg, expressed his satisfaction with the partnership with the Municipality of Aarhus in relation to the Andersen bicentenary: "Although the celebration in Denmark has Copenhagen and Funen as its main platforms, I am very pleased that Denmark's second-largest city, among such places as China and South Africa, has decided to put its weight behind the Andersen bicentenary. Aarhus will feature some of the most interesting international guest performances to be staged in Denmark as well as a major international exhibition inspired by Hans Christian Andersen. These are initiatives that would not have come about without the help of Aarhus, which also has created the perfect framework for this feat - a modern concert hall, a high-profile arts festival and Denmark's most magnificent new art museum." Director of the Aarhus Museum of Art, Jens Erik Sørensen, presented the upcoming Hans Christian Andersen exhibition Fairy Tales Forever, which pays tribute to Hans Christian Andersen. The museum has asked 25 internationally acclaimed artists from around the world to focus on Andersen's life, his amazing oeuvre, and on imagination and the universal realm of magic. The exhibition title Fairy Tales Forever seeks to emphasise the universal character of Andersen's storytelling, but also to relate how his fairytales are a constant source of artistic inspiration for contemporary artists with very different approaches to their art, highlighting existential and artistic issues. Director of the Aarhus Museum of Art (AroS), Jens Erik Sørensen, stated: "We are very pleased that the Andersen bicentenary offers the opportunity to pay homage to the storyteller and the fairytale as genre. ARoS aims to bring the world to Aarhus, and this will be the case the exhibition Fairy Tales Forever with contributions from visual artists from around the world. The opening of the exhibition will coincide with the opening of the Aarhus Festival on 27 August 2005 and will close on 4 December 2005." The Director of the Concert Hall Aarhus, Hans Hansen, presented the projects scheduled at the venue for 2005. Director of the Concert Hall Aarhus, Hans Hansen, stated: "The Concert Hall Aarhus looks forward to celebrating the Andersen bicentenary with a range of national and international productions. We have concocted a very exciting and widely embracing and varied programme for adults as well as children." In 2005 the Concert Hall Aarhus will feature: The Little Mermaid. Cirkus Cirkör / Kaleidoskop Theatre director Katrine Wiedemann has formerly with great success staged Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at the Swedish Royal Theatre, Dramaten, in Stockholm, featuring actors and performers from the Swedish new circus Cirkus Cirkör. Once again she forges ties with Cirkus Cirkör in an interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen's moving story about The Little Mermaid staged as a magnificent, visual fairytale featuring a young actress from Dramaten, Melinda Kinnamann, as the Little Mermaid. Katrine Wiedemann (born 1969) is self-taught and one of the most prominent directors of her generation behind stagings such as Wilson/Waits' Black Rider and Alice in Wonderland. Cirkus Cirkör has since 1995 become one of the most popular new circus troupes in the Nordic countries and performs worldwide.
The South African music theatre group, directed by British-born Mark Donford-May, interprets Andersen's fairytale The Snow Queen. The style is down-to-earth, humorous, spontaneous and musically overwhelming - rough, 'primitive' theatre in the best sense of the term. The performers have been selected from nationwide auditions held throughout South Africa, and only a fraction of the 50 performers onstage are professional singers. It may seem strange that a South African company chooses to interpret a fairytale set in a world of ice and snow, but the choice is obvious. The positive message suits the company well. They have formerly enjoyed great success with performances of Carmen and the medieval Mystery Games, adapted to television by the BBC. The performance will premiere in New York in the fall of 2004 as part of a South African festival. It will be staged in South Africa in March.
One of the most eminent storytellers of dance, John Neumeier, will pay tribute to the Andersen bicentenary with a modern rendition of the classic fairytale about the Little Mermaid. The entire company of the Copenhagen-based Royal Danish Ballet will stage a full ballet production in Aarhus of The Little Mermaid created especially for the company by John Neumeier, who will not only direct and choreograph the ballet but also create the set and costume design. Such a performance has been the dream of the Royal Danish Ballet for years. The music will be composed by Linda Auerbach. In 1973, the American-born choreographer John Neumeier (born 1942) became Artistic Director of the Hamburg Ballet, which soon became one of the principal companies in Germany with international recognition to match. Prior to this, he was Artistic Director of Ballett Frankfurt where he caused sensation with his new renditions of classics such as The Nut Cracker and Romeo and Juliet.
Deborah Warner belongs to the international elite of theatre directors. With her chosen actress, the charismatic Fiona Shaw, she has set herself the task of creating a family performance based on a selection of Andersen's fairytales. Deborah Warner (born 1959) is acclaimed for her modern and excruciating renditions of great classics, and for experimenting with theatrical presentation. Her breakthrough performance was Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus (Royal Shakespeare Company 1988), which was performed at Ridehuset in Aarhus as part of 'The British are Coming' Festival. Since then she has staged plays and operas around the world. Her style is direct, evocative, and accessible. Warner has an exceptional ability to reach to the universal core of a text. She has also directed the feature film entitled Last September (1999) staring Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon. Irish-born Fiona Shaw is one of the most acclaimed actresses in Britain with four Laurence Olivier Awards to her credit. With Deborah Warner she has created a unique rendition of Shakespeare's Richard III and Medea and a monologue based on T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland.
The title is a critical paraphrase of Hans Christian Andersen's own biography, The Fairy Tale of my Life. Was his life really a fairytale? What about the nightmares that haunted the storyteller? What about the anxiety which almost had the better of him? Johan Kresnik was born in Austria in 1939. Following an extensive career as dancer he started to choreograph in the late 1960s. Up though the 1990s he was the Artistic Director of the Academy of Dance at the prestigious Volksbühne in Berlin. He has formerly created choreographic portraits of as different artists as Frida Kahlo, Leni Riefenstahl, Goya, and Picasso and of Rote Arme Fraktion member Ulrike Meinhof. His Francis Bacon performance was staged during the Aarhus Festival in 1994. Kresnik and his company have been the resident company at the theatre in Bonn since 2003 where the Andersen performance will premiere in November 2005. Rock concerts. A star-studded performance with Danish pop and rock artists will pay tribute to Hans Christian Andersen with a number of tracks written especially for the Andersen bicentenary. The concert will take place over two evenings at the Concert Hall Aarhus.
'She was no use'. That is what Hans Christian Andersen wrote, with sympathy, about his alcoholic and worn out mother in a short story. The author Dorrit Willumsen has with great empathy created a touching monologue about Hans Christian Andersen's mother, which tells the story of her world-famous son from the perspective of the washerwomen in Odense. She relates the story of the childhood that was to provide inspiration for a lifetime for Hans Christian Andersen. The mother shows her pride of her famous son whom she however does not understand. We are rendered insight into her harsh existence in an age before modern social welfare. The play has been especially created for the actress Lise Schrøder. Jan Hertz will direct the performance, which will be staged nationwide during the Andersen bicentenary. The Rhyme Devil On 2 April 2004, the Aarhus-based composer Hans Sydow and the singer and actress Ulle Bjørn Bengtsson released a CD with Andersen's lyrics set to music. Modern and highly contemporary renditions of Hans Christian Andersen's poems set to electronic, rhythmic, and classic arrangement. The reception was overwhelmingly positive.
Secretary General for the Aarhus Festival, Martin Lumbye, introduced the events slated to take place during the festival week in 2005. Secretary General for the Aarhus Festival, Martin Lumbye, states: "It is with great pride and pleasure that the Aarhus Festival takes part in the nationwide celebration of the Andersen bicentenary. There is probably no other Dane who has wheeled such influence internationally within literature and storytelling as Hans Christian Andersen. We celebrate one of the great Danish ambassadors. The Aarhus Festival seeks to prove to the Danes and the international community that we can successfully stage cultural events of such international scope."
The Belgian multi-talented artist Jan Fabre has created a performance entitled History of Tears, which is the second part of Fabre's trilogy that seeks to uncover the mystery of man and his body. The modern dance performance centres on the many tears that feature in Andersen's fairytales. The performance will be staged in Aarhus shortly after it has premiered at the prestigious Cour d'Honneur at the Papal Palace in Avignon where it will feature as one of the highlights of the city's annual festival, which is the most prestigious festival in France. Jan Fabre was born in Antwerp in 1958 and was one of the major stars of the performing arts during the 1990s. Although he chooses not to define himself as a choreographer his performances focus on the body as an expressive media. His performances draw on a wide range of artistic genres - among them dance, spoken drama, and visual art. The result is choreographed and highly visual and dynamic performances.
The Argentine director Alejandro Tantanjan and set designer Oria Puppo create a modern story of power and corruption based on Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairytale The Emperor's New Clothes. The long-standing Latin American tradition for antidemocratic dictatorship is central to the play. The narrator is the impressive Nigerian actor Hassane Kassi Kouate, who has formerly worked with Peter Brook. The multi-artist Alejandro Tantanjan (born 1966) is an actor, singer, and director based in Buenos Aires. This is where the performance will premiere as part of the city's theatre festival. He has written many plays and librettos and has formerly worked with the celebrated theatre group El Periferico del Objectos. His theatre is vividly surreal, socially conscious and focuses on the interplay of sensory perception.
The raving mad English musical trio, Tiger Lilies, will host a Victorian vaudeville based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Seller - accompanied by brass band! This tragic story of Andersen's little heroine is the perfect match for a band that prefers the dark side of life and obscure salon macabre. An evening with the London orchestra Tiger Lilies transports you to the age of cabarets in the 1920s. The stories are charged with eccentricity, poetry, and magic - and dark British humour. It sounds like Victorian music hall entertainment and call on images of smoky speakeasies. When accompanied by his diabolic accordion, a worn-out bass, and the remnants of a drum set, the eerie high-pitched voice of Martin Jacques, the lead singer and songwriter, makes your hair stand on end. From fringe cult status the group moved on to achieved enormous success with their own version of the uncanny - and horribly funny - version of Struwwelpeter.
'The Fairy Tale of my Life' was the title of Hans Christian Andersen's autobiography. The Chinese-American director Chen Shi-Zheng takes it very literally creating a story that weaves the famous fairytale characters together with elements from the poet's own enchanted, yet tortured, life's story in his performance The Fairy Tale of my Life. What is fairytale and what is fiction? The performance is virtually invented as you watch, in a theatrical game which seeks to capture Andersen's magic. The bitter-sweet songs are by the New York composer Stephin Merritt, from the rock band The Magnetic Fields behind such successful albums as 69 Love Songs. The blue tone of Merritt's music has lead critics to liken him with Cole Porter.
The world's best Andersen children's theatre performances! In all, nine international children's theatre performances based on the life and fairytales of Hans Christian Andersen will be staged in Aarhus. The performances have been carefully selected among the many hundreds of Andersen children's theatre performances which can be experienced worldwide. Andersen's stories appeal to both children and adults. The selected performances share this wide appeal for the simple reason that it is good theatre. Most are already existing productions, but the festival will also feature new stagings by some of the world's best children's theatres. The festival will be staged in a collaboration between BaggårdTeatret in the town of Svendborg on Funen, the International Children's Theatre Association, ASSITAJ, and the West Zealand County Regional Theatre Council The opening show of the Aarhus Festival will be publicised at a later date. LOCAL PROJECTS IN AARHUS Senior Arts Councillor, Torben Brandi Nielsen, also spoke of the opportunity to stage local activities. Apart from the many visiting performances to be presented in Aarhus in 2005, a number of local projects and activities will be organised throughout the year. Some of these have been made possible through sponsorship from the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation, but art grants will also be made available from the Municipality of Aarhus. DKK 500,000 has been allocated to projects related to Hans Christian Andersen. Applications should be submitted by 1 January 2005. The association Århus Arrangementer will also host a number of activities throughout the year. Senior Arts Councillor Torben Brandi Nielsen states: With the allocating of funds for local Hans Christian Andersen projects, we hope to provide a wide spectre of cultural events for the citizens of Aarhus. The Aarhus Festival, the Concert Hall Aarhus, and the Aarhus Museum of Art will all feature grand international productions. Local groups and artists will also relate to Hans Christian Andersen appearing on smaller stages and exhibition venues and on the streets of the city. Furthermore, children and the young will experience new approaches to his authorship at elementary schools and upper-secondary schools. I am sure that the cultural spectre will be wide and varied featuring many exciting experiences. TOURISM / THE OLD TOWN With sponsorship from the Fyntour Foundation, the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation offers a wide programme, including package holidays, which follow in the footsteps of Hans Christian Andersen. The tours focus on cultural experiences with focus on authenticity and a true Hans Christian Andersen atmosphere. Fyntour has launched an entirely new programme of tours on offer to tour operators and travel agents in numerous countries. Aarhus also features in some of these tours allowing visitors to stroll through the city in Andersen's footsteps and visit the city's cathedral, which Andersen described in his dairies following a visit there. The open-air urban heritage museum in Aarhus, the Old Town, is an important highlight of the tour offering an authentic experience of Danish towns in the day and age of Andersen. The museum features the building that originally was located across from Hans Christian Andersen's childhood home in Odense and following relocation to the Old Town in Aaarhus it will be ready to receive visitors from April 2005. "This was the first cultured home where I found a home," Andersen wrote. Here he visited Madam Bunkeflod and her sister - two elderly ladies who encouraged him to read Shakespeare and poetry. Here he heard the word 'poet' for the very first time. HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN AND EDUCATION Apart from the projects presented at the press conference, the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation has initiated a number of nationwide projects, which naturally also will benefit elementary schools and upper-secondary schools in Aarhus. Education is a key element of the 2005 Hans Christian Andersen bicentenary, which is why the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation has sponsored two major educational projects aimed at elementary and upper-secondary schools. The following educational resources have been made available by the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation:
Professor Torben Weinreich from the Danish Centre for Children's Literature, under the auspices of the Danish University of Education, heads a major educational project involving elementary schoolteachers. The project aims to introduce all schoolchildren at elementary school level to new aspects of Hans Christian Andersen during 2005. The compiling of inspirational educational resources and the mobilising of elementary schoolteachers are central to the activities of the centre. This is conducted through pilot projects and the surveying of children's awareness of Andersen. The project includes:
- Different publications issued free of charge to all Danish schools and regional educational resource centres. The publications include "Børnene kyssede mig kærligt" ('The Children Kissed me Lovingly' - Andersen's relation to children), Pen og Blækhuus ('Pen and Ink Well' - on Andersen's fairytales featuring animated objects) Det er ganske vist! ('It is Quite True' - Andersen in education). - The exhibition: H.C. Andersen på ny (Hans Christian Andersen Re-addressed) which is scheduled during the bicentenary and will feature nationwide so that no one has more than 50 km to the nearest exhibition. The exhibition also features in a web-version where 14 Danish illustrators have illustrated Andersen's fairytales. - The centre will host a number of teacher's seminars on Hans Christian Andersen (featuring biographical and bibliographical approaches). Seminars will also be held for consultants from the regional educational resource centres as well as professors at teacher's seminar, etc. All events will be free of charge. - The Hans Christian Andersen group, under the auspices of The Danish Centre for Children's Literature, will tour Denmark offering assistance with Andersen-related education.
Educational project for upper-secondary schools in Denmark with the aim of reaching all students. A working group under the Danish Institute for Upper-Secondary Education, The University of Southern Denmark, headed by Professor Finn Hauberg Mortensen: - Two positions have been opened for Ph.D. students studying textual education and media education with focus on Hans Christian Andersen. The positions involve the planning and compiling of educational material for upper-secondary schools. The aim is to open up for new, multi-disciplinary approaches to Hans Christian Andersen and his authorship. - Multi-disciplinary research project where researchers and upper-secondary teachers compile Danish educational resources that encompass visual art, history, geography, and social studies. - Award project. Danish and international upper-secondary students will be given the opportunity to enter essays on different subjects related to Hans Christian Andersen. Four categories will be open to entry, each promising a first prize of DKK 10,000 and a second prize of DKK 5,000. - In association with a major Danish daily newspaper, a special educational newspaper will be issued to all upper-secondary schools in Denmark.
The Gyldendal publishing house will edit a Selected Works of Hans Christian Andersen with new illustrations. The book will be distributed to all school classes of 12-year-old children sponsored by the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation and the Danish Ministry of Education. For further information visit hca2005.com. Apart from the projects and initiatives listed above scheduled for Aarhus in 2005, the city will also benefit from a number of Danish theatrical productions and large summer concerts which are yet to be publicised. See below for factual information on the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation, the Hans Christian Andersen Ambassadors, the HCA-abc Foundation, and Thomas Helmig.
Hans Christian Andersen 2005 is to promote a wider appreciation and awareness of the life and work of Hans Christian Andersen in celebration of the bicentenary of his birth in 2005, which is set to happen through numerous projects within film, TV, literature, theatre, opera, dance, multimedia, rhythmic and classical music, entertainment, visual art, museum exhibitions, education and tourism. The stated aim is to promote a more variegated image of the poet and storyteller among as many as possible in Denmark and internationally, children and adults alike. In 2005, Hans Christian Andersen will be celebrated with both large and small productions with international impact as well as small, local events. The Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation has been established by the Kingdom of Denmark represented by the Danish Ministry of Culture, the Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, the Municipality of Odense, the County of Funen and the Bikuben Foundation. Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is patron of the activities of the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation.
Hans Christian Andersen Ambassadors are celebrated artists, politicians, journalists, business people and athletes from around the world, who have been asked by the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation to represent the bicentenary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen. All are highly respected within their field and are acclaimed and credited for their contributions to the world. The Hans Christian Andersen Ambassadors are to help generate awareness of the bicentenary celebrations in their home countries, either by their presence at different events related to the 2005 bicentenary or by conveying their view of Hans Christian Andersen to the world.
Hans Christian Andersen 2005 is to promote a wider appreciation and awareness of the life and work of Hans Christian Andersen in celebration of the bicentenary of his birth in 2005, which is set to happen through numerous projects within film, TV, literature, theatre, opera, dance, multimedia, rhythmic and classical music, entertainment, visual art, museum exhibitions, education and tourism. The stated aim is to promote a more variegated image of the poet and storyteller among as many as possible in Denmark and internationally, children and adults alike. In 2005, Hans Christian Andersen will be celebrated with both large and small productions with international impact as well as small, local events. The Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation has been established by the Kingdom of Denmark represented by the Danish Ministry of Culture, the Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, the Municipality of Odense, the County of Funen and the Bikuben Foundation. Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is patron of the activities of the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation.
Hans Christian Andersen Ambassadors are celebrated artists, politicians, journalists, business people and athletes from around the world, who have been asked by the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation to represent the bicentenary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen. All are highly respected within their field and are acclaimed and credited for their contributions to the world. The Hans Christian Andersen Ambassadors are to help generate awareness of the bicentenary celebrations in their home countries, either by their presence at different events related to the 2005 bicentenary or by conveying their view of Hans Christian Andersen to the world.
The HCA-abc Foundation was established in April 2004 by the Bikuben Foundation. The aim of the HCA-abc Foundation is to support already existing initiatives and projects that aid children and the young in developing countries to learn to read and write. A partnership has been forged with the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation that is to ensure that all commercial enterprises that seek to brand the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 logo on bicentenary merchandise must pay a royalty to the HCA-abc Foundation.
Danish singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. Born on 15 October 1964 in Aarhus. Dropped out of high school in 1981 to concentrate on a career as a musician. In 1983, he became the lead singer of the Danish band Elevatordrengene. He experienced his commercial breakthrough with the debut album Thomas in 1985 and also took part in the Danish version of Aid for Africa. He recorded the soundtrack for the Danish film Den Kroniske Uskyld along with Danish singer Anne Linnet. In 1986, Helmig paired up with another famous Danish singer, Søs Fenger, on their successful Christmas song Når sneen falder and the AIDS-support single Den jeg elsker, elsker jeg. Helmig released his first English-language album Rhythm in 1992 followed by Say When in 1993, which received three Danish Grammys. The return of commercial success came with the 1994 album Stupid Man, which sold 250,000 albums and was awarded six Danish Grammys. Helmig has furthermore written songs for Danish singers, such as Hanne Boel, Lis Sørensen, and Sanne Salomonsen. Privately Helmig lives in Risskov just outside Aarhus with the former model Renée Toft Simonsen and their children.  Back |
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