Marageret Berger, Tinkara Kovac and more! Germany reveals names of their international jury panel
Germany's national broadcaster NDR have revealed the names of their expert jury panel for their upcoming national final "Unser Lied fur Lissabon". Over the past couple of weeks, preparations for the event have been well underway with artists and composers being announced as well as a song-writing camp to hopefully pull Germany out of their recent slump at the contest. The international jury will vote alongside the German public in the final and their votes will count 33% towards the overall total score of the participants. All of them have been jurors in their individual countries and have been working closely with the competitors during the song-writing camps. Let's meet the faces who will be helping Germany choose their song and potential Eurovision winner:
Musician and producer Filip Adamo (41) is a product manager at Sony Music Entertainment in Sweden. Einar Bardason (45) from Iceland’s capital of Reykjavik has made a name for himself as a songwriter as well as a music producer and agent for concerts and other artists. One of his albums was nominated as “Album of the Year” for the 2008 Classic BRIT Award, awarded annually in Great Britain in the field of classical music. Last year, singer and composer Typh Barrow (30) was nominated "Artist of the Year“ at the D6bels Music Awards held in Belgium. Released this year, her album "RAW" is one of the best-selling albums in the country. Bruno Berberes (59) is the casting director of popular musicals and TV shows inFrance as well as a producer, composer and coach. From 2002 to 2012 he was head of the French delegation to the ESC and thus responsible for the French contingent. Pop singer Margaret Berger (32) from Norway works as a songwriter and DJ. In 2013 she represented her country at the ESC in Malmö and took 4th place with her song "I Feed You My Love". Composer and lyricist Argyro Christodoulidou (35) from Cyprus has a list of works ranging from operas and film scores to music for theatre productions. In 2015 she appeared on stage at the national qualifying round in Cyprus with her song “Stone In A River”. Vocal coach Mark De Lisser (42) comes from London, Great Britain. He has been working for more than 25 years with singers of all genres, also in the field of stage art and performance. Television presenter and producer Henrik Johnsson (45) was twice a producer of content at the "Melodifestivalen", the ESC qualifying round in Sweden. Opera singer Rafailas Karpis (34) from Lithuania is a soloist at the National Theatre for Opera and Ballet and has appeared on stage in Finland, Sweden, the USA, France and Slovenia. Rock and pop singer and classically-trained flutist Tinkara Kovac (39) has won numerous awards for her projects in Slovenia. At the ESC 2014 in Copenhagen she represented her home country with the song "Spet (Round and Round)" and made it to the final. Anca Lupes (49) is one of the most experienced professionals in Romania’s music business. She has worked for the press, radio and TV as well as concert promoters and record companies. Florent Luyckx (54) from the Netherlands is Managing Director of the Q-Group and responsible for the Belgian/Dutch radio stations Q-Music and JOE fm. He began his career at Zomba Records (home to artists such as Faithless and Britney Spears). Producer and songwriter Maria Marcus (38) lives in Stockholm (Sweden) and Palma (Spain). Her songs and productions have sold over four million copies worldwide, including work done on the top-selling albums in Spain and Japan. Gore Melian (30), born in Yerevan, Armenia, is an award-winning singer, songwriter and producer. In 2009 he took third place in the national ESC qualifying round in Cyprus with his self-composed song "I Wanna Thank You". Dancer, choreographer and actor Rennie Mirro (46) comes from Stockholm. He has appeared on stage at a variety of Swedish theatres, including in musicals such as "Grease","Singin' in the Rain", "Cats" and "Flashdance". Singer Helga Möller (60) from Iceland represented her country at its ESC debut in 1986 as part of vocal trio ICY. Their song “Gledibankinn“ took 6th place. Ruth Lorenzo Pascual (35) has also already appeared on the ESC stage: The singer and composer sang "Dancing in the Rain" for Spain in Copenhagen in 2014 and took 10th place in the final. German musician, rapper and actor Sascha Reimann (44) became famous as Ferris MC. Using the stage name Ferris Hilton, he has been a member of Hamburg’s hip-hop and electro-punk band "Deichkind" since 2008. Composer, arranger and pianist Grzegorz Urban (34) comes from Poland. He studied instrumental jazz and popular music in Wroclaw and Krakow, with his focus now on film and classical music. The participants in "Unser Lied für Lissabon" are Xavier Darcy, Ivy Quainoo, Ryk, Michael Schulte, Natia Todua and the band voXXclub. Elton and Linda Zervakis will be moderating the show live from Berlin. Three broadcasters will air the German decision for the ESC on Thursday, 22 February 2018, at 8:15 p.m.: Das Erste, ONE and Deutsche Welle.
Tickets for the show are still available so make sure that you secure yours if you want to see the competing acts battle it out for the honour of representing Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest!
[Source: NDR]
