HCA NEWS Danish TV stars as warm-up for HCA show

The Danish candidate for the Eurovision Song Contest Jakob Sveistrup and five of this year's finalists from the Danish talent show Stjerne for en aften are to feature warm-up performances prior to the Andersen opening show on 2 April.

By on - H.C. Andersen 2005 - 16 March 2005

Turning up early for the grand opening show of the Hans Christian Andersen bicentenary will be especially rewarding for fans of the Eurovision Song Contest and the talent show "Stjerne for en aften" aired by Danish national broadcaster DR. From 7 pm and an hour on, six of the top finalists from this year's talent show on DR TV will swarm the huge stage at the Danish national soccer stadium to thoroughly warm up the audience prior to the televised Andersen bicentenary opening show at 9 pm. Five of the six performers are talent show finalists and include Lene Matthisen, who came in second, Gudrun Jacobsen, Jan Nielsen, Martin G. Pedersen and the top winner Jacob Andersen - the man with the raw voice who brought Herning Congress Centre to the boiling point with his version of "Hey Jude". The sixth and final warm-up performer will be this year's Danish entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, Jakob Sveistrup, who is a former talent show winner. He is to represent Denmark in Kiev on 19 May with the song "Talking to You".



Jakob Sveistrup at the Danish edition of the European Song Contest

The show, entitled "Once Upon A Time", will be televised live to the Danish home audience on DR1 and to the wide world. The 120-minute show relates the life and work of Hans Christian Andersen in music, dance and film. For the occasion, the Danish national soccer stadium, Parken, will be transformed into an enchanting fairytale universe where a number of newly produced short films will relate the story of Andersen's life. Each fairytale will be conveyed in dance and music. Audiences at home and at the stadium will experience Connie Nielsen as hostess, Jean Michel Jarre, the world-famous American opera singer Renee Flemming, Safri Duo, the Italian quick-change artist Ennio Marchetto, Sir Roger Moore, Harry Belafonte and Isabel Allende. The cast of 600 performers including a children's choir of 350 boys and girls, 28 ballet children from the Royal Danish Ballet, the Chinese acrobatics troupe, the Shenyang Acrobatic Troupe, and a large ensemble of dancers and singers.

The prominent guest attending the show will include the Danish Royal Family, the Danish Government and the Hans Christian Andersen Ambassadors from around the world.

Tickets for the show are available from BilletNet at Tel.: +45 70 15 65 65 or www.billetnet.dk and Billetlugen at Tel.: +45 70 263 267 or www.billetlugen.dk


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