Eurovision Song Contest 2011 – Eurovision Germany

Germany is hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, Europe’s biggest music festival.  Around 35,000 people are expected inside the Düsseldorf Arena to watch the competition live and joined by an estimated 120 million TV viewers when the Eurovision Song Contest winner is announced on 14 May 2011.

For Eurovision fans, there will also be lots of opportunities to get into Eurovision mood before the grand finale of the competition:

• 10 May 2011 – The first semi-final takes place with around twenty countries competing for a place in the final;
• 12 May 2011 – The second semi-final takes place with another twenty or so countries competing;
• 13 May 2011 – It’s the Jury Final: this is effectively a dress rehearsal, where all the finalists will be doing their best to try and win over the judges. This is the performance on which expert judges from all participating countries will base their preferences. The jury votes count towards 50 per cent of the final result the next evening;
• 14 May 2011 – Eurovision Final with the other 50 per cent votes being determined by Eurovision TV viewer votes cast during the live broadcast.

Germany won the right to host the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest when Germany’s entrant Lena won the Eurovision competition in Oslo in May 2010 with her song ‘Satellite’. Germany has hosted the European Song Contest on two previous occasions – in Frankfurt in 1957 and in Munich in 1983.

Düsseldorf was chosen to be the venue for Eurovision 2011. This city on the Rhine is not only best known for its rich cultural scene and as a centre for the arts, but it is also Germany’s fashion capital and has produced at least one German superstar: the actor and musician Marius Müller-Westernhagen. In fact Düsseldorf also breaks out into song during the carnival season, although the songs that are bellowed out by all and sundry don’t quite make the charts …

So, if you’re a Eurovision fan, plan on heading for Düsseldorf for this music extravaganza.

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