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NEWSLETTER MAY 2005 Read all about the first two months of the HCA 2005 celebrations. By HCA2005 - H.C. Andersen 2005 - 31 May 2005 The celebrations marking the bicentenary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen are under way. During the opening weekend a large number of foreign guests took part in the inaugural activities that took place in Copenhagen and Andersen's city of birth, Odense. A large presence of members of the Danish and international press covered the events extensively. The crowning event of the opening festivities was the televised show "Once Upon A Time" hosted at the Danish national soccer stadium, Parken. Unfortunately, ticket sales did not live up to expectation, and the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation suffered an immediate loss of revenue, which an austerity plan to be submitted to the Board of Governors on 31 May will seek to rectify. Luckily, most of the activities sponsored by the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation will not be affected by the economic loss suffered by the foundation, totalling 5 % of the budget. The celebrations marking the Andersen bicentenary will therefore continue as planned, and it is with great pleasure that the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation hereby presents a wide range of projects which during the first months of the Andersen celebrations have been received with great enthusiasm by audiences and the press alike. A newly published official programme features more than 250 Danish and international projects set to take place within the arts, culture, education and tourism. Read more about the book which is also available online at www.hca2005.dk
"This music performance is quite simply captivating but also terrifying and haunting." "The gallery of characters rendered to the stage by the Danish theatre Hotel Pro Forma harbours dream potential. The performance allows you to ponder the fact that every adult has also once been a child. (...) [Andersen's diaries] deal with a complex and bizarre man's encounter with the world at large. Intimacy is given a chilling reception. This is the painful process interpreted by Kirsten Dehlholm in her very imaginative staging. (...) Gregorianism-meets-modernity reflects the way Andersen met the world, which Dehlholm sketches in catalogue spread of diverse imagery (...) The Ugly Duckling rolls across the Plaza of Destiny. "Quack" and this highly poetical, playful performance of music, art and movement draws to an end to great opening-night applause." "The co-production between the Danish National Choir and Hotel Pro Forma offers the best evening at Shauspiel Kölns in a long time." "The poet is afforded the privilege to remain an enigma. (...) Dehlholm sets out many trails. LEGO bricks point to the very realm of the child to which Andersen contributed so greatly and in which he always to some degree seemed to belong. (...) The subdued, spacious and orchestrated set design is embraced by wonderful music, which like the set design itself avoids drowning its subject-matter." For more information visit:
One of Andersen's most famous fairytales "The Little Mermaid" inspires a great number of contemporary interpretations staged across the world during the bicentennial year 2005.
"Passion and great poetry - John Neumeier creates monumental work for the Royal Danish Ballet based on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" - Erik Aschengreen awarded the performance 5 out of 6 stars in national Danish daily Berlingske Tidende. "Deep Yearning - It's a scoop to have such a great narrator as Neumeier launch The Little Mermaid onto the deep waters of the stage" - Monna Dithmer awarded 5 out of 6 stars in national Danish daily Politiken. "Ravishing mermaid in distress - Where the mermaid in Andersen's tale is subjected to yet another metamorphosis and becomes a Spirit of the Air, Neumeier lets the mermaid and Andersen himself ascend to the starry celestial heavens - into the realm of immortality" - Lene Kryger awarded 5 out of 6 stars in regional Danish daily Fyens Stifttidende.
Under the heading "The Tragedy of Love", critic Søren Vinterberg of Danish daily Politiken awards the performance 5 hearts and writes: His enthusiasm is shared by critic Jens Andersen from Danish daily Berlingske Tidende, who awards the play 5 stars and writes: "What is crucially new about Wiedemann's staging of Hans Christian Andersen's Mermaid are the scenic qualities; the way in which she embodies love and its frantic players. She quite literally lets them sweat, wriggle and contort themselves - it's ingenious. There are many unforgettable images which will etch themselves onto the retina of those making their way from the theatre on Holmen. Kedelsmedjen is currently a place not to be missed." This overwhelmingly positive reception is mirrored by critic Henrik Lyding from national Danish daily Jyllands-Posten in his review entitled "Brilliantly Beautiful Mermaid" where he writes: Gregers Dirckinck-Holmfeld, national Danish daily Ekstra Bladet awards 5 out of 6 stars: Birgitte Grue, national Danish daily B.T. awards four out of six stars. Anne Middelboe Christensen, Danish national daily Information: Swedish critics also echo the enthusiasm. Critic Barbro Westling at national Swedish daily Aftonbladet writes: For more information visit:
Robert Lepage - The Andersen Project
The guest performance at the Royal Danish Theatre of Canadian theatre director Robert Lepage's "The Andersen Project" received critical acclaim. The play is based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales "The Dryad" and "The Shadow" as well as the personal life of the Andersen himself - references that are interwoven with the destiny of contemporary characters in Paris. The one-man performance stars Robert Lepage himself. Critic Vibeke Wern from national daily Berlingske Tidende also sprinkles stardust and writes: "In his many amazing changes of character, Robert Lepage constantly journeys between different places and times; a movement underpinned by magnificent video-clip visuals." She calls the performance "Nothing short of brilliant" and emphasises that "The Andersen Project" is rewardingly ironical and self-reflective since in a refined movement one narrative grows out of the next as from a Chinese box where all aspects mirror the life and authorship of Hans Christian Andersen". Critic Henrik Lyding from national daily Jyllands-Posten shares her enthusiasm: "This grand-scale performance, involving a host of stage visuals as well as music, video and lighting and moveable parts is a fabulously funny and sharp introduction to aspects of the life and passions of Hans Christian Andersen tied in with a couple of his fairytales, which effortlessly jump back and forth in time and space." Under the heading "Top Class", critic Claes Wallin of the Swedish national daily Aftonbladet calls the performance a "Sophisticated theatrical fairytale" that is "completely irresistible"... "But first and foremost it sucks its audience in; it persuades the audience to listen to the stories, whether fairytales or a series of exceptionally comical scenes, which constantly invite us to reflect on the interrelation between the story and our own part in it all." "The Andersen Project" premiered in Canada on 22 February 2005 where is was also very well received. Eve Dumas from Cyberpresse/ Le Soleil writes: "The Andersen Project is a performance in perpetual movement by a unique interpreter who has never performed better... the creator adapts himself to the given theme in a meaningful and convincing way." Mario Roy from La Presse of Montreal also writes enthusiastically: For more information visit:
Since then concert after concert have been staged worldwide. From Ho Chi Minh City, Madrid, Birmingham, Reykjavik, Aarhus, Warsaw, Flensburg, Oslo, Basel, Stockholm to Chile and the USA, symphony orchestras are performing for enthusiastic audiences at sold-out concerts. Music Director of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic states in relation to Bent Lorantzen's symphonic fairytale "The Tinderbox", which premiered with narration by actress Stina Ekblad: "Lorentzen's work is quite accessible. The music is amazingly well tied in with the lyrics, and with his great sense of form the composer reaches out to the audience with a fine and interesting story." Director of artistic planning, Mats Engström adds: Project coordinator, Else Torp from the Society for Publication of Danish Music, Edition Samfundet, states: "When you run down the list of contributing orchestras you must concede that this project is a marked international breakthrough for Danish symphonic music... Working with the orchestras on these many concerts is an immensely good experience. The individual organisations have given great emphasis to these concerts. This is not only reflected in the high standards of musical performance but also in the PR initiatives prior to the sold-out events as well as the prominent names that the orchestras have engaged as narrators. In England, the narrator was actor Simon Callow (known from "Four Weddings and a Funeral"), and in Stockholm it was actress Stina Ekblad. Hans Christian Andersen has quite clearly opened doors for the orchestra and the works have spoken to the imagination of the organisers. We have been given the opportunity to take part in their work with children and the young. Being able to take part in the developmental work of these orchestras marks an amazing opening for us, and we are already in talks with many of them on what our next project should be." For more information visit:
The educational website, which is accessible through the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 web portal, has been created in association with the Danish Centre for Children's Literature under the auspices of the Danish University of Education. Educational consultant Tina Krogh states: "Ask any child on the street who Hans Christian Andersen is and you will be given a prompt answer which is also professionally well sustained. Teachers, educationalists and children are now all familiar with Hans Christian Andersen - perhaps even from an entirely new angle. Danish elementary schools and many kindergartens have during the bicentennial year worked intensely with Andersen and his authorship, which is evident among Danish children. Schools have not only emphasised a literary approach to Andersen but certainly also adopted new approaches to the authorship and his personal character. A very interesting initiative I will mention is Andersen's view of nature and how he uses nature in his fairytales and stories. This initiative is accessible free of charge and is targeted at junior elementary school classes. The initiative, called Kriblekrable (Creepy Crawly) is sponsored by the Danish natural heritage association, Danmarks Naturfredningsforening, in association with the Danish Ministry of Education. www.kriblekrable.dk (in Danish only). For more information visit: ... .At Universities Too Andersen is also the focus at universities this year. Seminars, conferences, publications and Ph.D. scholarships have been established with support from the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation. Examples of the impressive range of events to be hosted are listed below: The Nordic Institute, Aarhus University The University of Southern Denmark / Hans Christian Andersen Conference Université Paris Sorbonne-Paris IV (France) Marc Auchet states: The University of Vienna (Austria) For more information visit:
"The Chinese interest in Andersen projects is quite daunting. For instance, we would have liked two extra copies of the itinerate [Andersen] exhibition to meet demands, and crowds have flocked to the exhibition in the six cities where the exhibition has been highlighted so far. Since January, three new collected works of Andersen's fairytales have been published. And that doesn't include the numerous minor publications on the market such as cartoon books. The same soaring interest applies to the conference initiatives, which have also been well received? and children's theatre performances have also experienced high audience attendance. This year I have attended premieres of four renditions of "The Little Match Girl": One musical version, two marionette performances and one melodrama. We are not talking of productions with a mere cast of four or five but large-scale performances with casts of up to 70 performers on stage, which we hope will have a chance to tour. The most extravagant production until now has been the movie "Peach Blossom" and the art exhibition "Body Temperature", which despite targeting a narrow audience is now subject to international distribution. In addition, several interesting and original documentaries have been aired by the national broadcasting corporation, CCTV. All these projects have received sponsorship from the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation. An inevitable highlight of the Danish productions is the successful tour last year of the Danish National Girls' Choir and the upcoming major concerts by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra where [Danish children's entertainer] Sigurd Barret it so perform with Zhang Jinlai, Asia's most cherished theatre character, at two major performances in Beijing on Children's Day, 1 June. Finally, the opening of the "Warhol on Andersen" exhibition was held in Shanghai in April and was very well received by the press and drew large crowds."
"The press coverage of the Andersen bicentenary in Russia is quite extensive. All national TV channels have produced one or more programmes on Andersen. Most of them relate the most formative events in Andersen's life - his childhood, youth, his first journey from Odense to Copenhagen, his international travels, his fame in Denmark and Europe. The programmes highlight Russian scholars and artists whose work is closely related to Andersen and feature musicians and writers who speak of the influence Andersen has had on their life and work. In TV talk shows on Andersen influential people from the Russian arts relate their often quite contrasting views on Andersen. Some emphasise Andersen's difficult nature while others see him as a kind of saint. But all agree that Andersen was a great author and a great fairytale storyteller and that his contribution to world culture is enormous."
The Tinderbox is the name of a children's cultural institution in Odense, which reaches out to those of all ages who are still children at heart. Here they become familiar with the fairytale world of Andersen through drama, narrative, visual art and music. These activities have been transplanted to Japan where the fairytale installation from The Tinderbox entitled "The Enchanted World of Thumbelina" is presented in Odense's twinned town, Funabashi. The institution in Odense has in 2005 created a new heart-shaped fairytale installation entitled "In the Heart of Andersen", which sends children (and grown-ups) on an enchanted fairytale journey into the life and literary world of Andersen, including the tales of "The Snow Queen", "The Fir Tree", "The Sweet Hearts" and "The Steadfast Tin Soldier". Director of the Tinderbox, Ulla English, states: For more information visit:
Cultural coordinator Sarah Maria Bogantes at the Royal Danish Embassy in Madrid states: Cultural and educational authorities throughout Spain have shown colossal interest in the travelling exhibition, which is a brilliant supplement to all the Andersen activities that these institutions have either created on their own initiative or created on the basis of the educational resources compiled by the Danish Centre for Children's Literature, which the embassy has provided to relevant institutions throughout Spain." For more information visit:
Enthusiasm for Hans Christian Andersen is also evident among Danish tourist organisations and museums which all report marked interest in a wealth of Andersen exhibitions currently featured. The interest in walking in Andersen's footsteps - quite literally or more thematically - is overwhelming. On the subject of the enormous interest enjoyed by the Hans Christian Andersen House, Head of Department at the Odense City Museums, Claus Koch, states: "We have during several periods reached the limit of our capacity and we have had to ask schools to postpone their school class visits until after the summer break. Currently, we have already experienced twice the amount of school class visits as all of 2004. As of 30 April, visitor's attendance at the Hans Christian Andersen House has increased with 275 % from 12,000 visitors to approx. 50,000. This figure is expected to skyrocket in the weeks and months to come when the tourist season sets in bringing visitors to town, the island and the country..." In Hans Christian Andersen's "second hometown", Copenhagen, Andersen interest is also high. Since the opening in November 2004, more than 20,000 people have visited the only Copenhagen home open to the public of the Danish author, namely a small garret apartment, which is today part of the Magasin du Nord Department Store, Vingårdsstræde. The streets of Copenhagen also offer the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of Andersen. In celebration of the Andersen bicentenary, the Golden Days in Copenhagen Festival has initiated a project where 50 Andersen portraits are featured on buildings and public squares relating the story of the many different homes Andersen had in town and his colourful circle of acquaintances as well as his way about town. Secretary General of the Golden Days in Copenhagen Festival, Ulla Tofte, states: Tivoli Gardens also experiences great interest in their Andersen fairytale show. The show draws a crowd of 2-5,000 people every evening. More than 40,000 visitors have attended the show since the premiere on 14 May. By the end of the opening season, several hundred thousand will have seen the show according to Tivoli Garden estimates. Both the public and press have shown great enthusiasm for the fairytale show, says Head of Communications at Tivoli Gardens, Stine Lolk. Journalists from countries such as Portugal, Japan, China, Spain, Germany, the UK, Ireland as well as the Benelux countries have all visited the gardens to write about the show. Furthermore, news footage on the fairytale parade has via Reuters and AP been broadcasted in 13 European countries.
For the museum, Hans Christian Andersen has been a good opportunity to forge contacts to international travel and lifestyle media and thus generate additional international awareness of the museum and Danish Romanticist pictorial art. The exhibition closes on 12 June. A short film about the exhibition is featured at www.smk.dk " The opening show in Copenhagen was not intended as a tourist magnet, but rather as an event designed to create wide-reaching awareness of the opening of the bicentennial year in Denmark. To facilitate this, the Danish tourism organisations issued edited news footage on the Fairytale Weekend events. The news feature reached an audience of 101 million viewers in the USA and other European countries subject to monitoring. Ratings showed that 58 different broadcasting corporations aired the story, including CNN, BBC, German ARD, RTL and ZDF, Swedish TV4 and TV2 Norway. EBU distributed the news footage to 40 TV corporations in Europe and North Africa. Major news agencies, such as Reuters and Associated Press, also issued the material through their news and entertainment bulletins in Europe and worldwide, including South America, the USA and Asia. Euronews, BBC, CNN, and a minimum of 13 national TV stations in Europe broadcasted the news. Ratings from China, Japan and a number of other countries are not available. Currently, VisitDenmark along with the regional tourism organisations are jointly hosting a group of journalists from Europe, Asia and the USA, who over a three-day visit will experience Andersen-related events in Copenhagen and Funen. In addition, there is sustained interest among journalists to visit Denmark on individual trips." For more information visit: Other Projects For further information, visit:
For more information on the contributing lyricists, singers and musicians visit:
From 28 May to 9 June, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra will tour China where they will perform their bicentennial programme, including works by Sheng, Stravinsky, Sibelius, Grieg, Brahms and Carl Nielsen. For further information visit: On 28 May, two international exhibitions will be featured at the art museums Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum and Brandts Klædefabrik in Odense. For further information visit: On 2 June the open-air stage will be re-inaugurated at The Funen Village. Throughout the summer, the venue will host a number of concerts, theatre performances and other popular events. For further information visit: On 8 June, the exhibition entitled "To Write is an Act of Love" will open at Thorvaldsens Museum in Copenhagen. The exhibition will later be featured at the UNESCO Building in Paris and at Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt. For further information visit: On 11 June, a castle concert will be hosted at the Danish country manor Lykkesholm featuring the Danish musical star Stig Rossen and his English colleague Elaine Paige. For further information visit: On 23 June a new nationwide feature travel route will be inaugurated for visitors and locals alike. The trail is called "Andersen Was Here" and includes a number of authentic sites related to the life and work of Andersen. Different places will be signposted which Andersen either visited or wrote about. For further information visit: On 8 July, a play by Jan Fabre will premiere entitled "L'histoire des larmes" (The History of Tears). The performance will be staged at the magnificent Cour d'honneur at the Papal Palace of Avignon in connection with the Festival d'Avignon. For further information visit: On 27 July, a performance by Chen Shi-Zheng entitled "My life as a Fairy Tale" will premiere at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York. The performance is a joint collaboration between musician Stephin Merritt, known from the rock group The Magnetic Fields behind the hit album "69 Love Songs". The all-female cast will include Fiona Shaw, Blair Brown and Mia Maestro. For further information visit:  Back |
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