Target group:  General public

With an expected audience of 200 million, the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) will this year once again be a great TV entertainment show. Last year's winner came from Austria, so the 60th ESC will be taking place from May 18 to 23 in Austria. Spectacular stage and light shows are a traditional fixture of this major media event. As the Official Lighting Partner, OSRAM is responsible for the majority of the lighting this year.

In particular, this includes show lighting from our OSRAM subsidiary Clay Paky which will make the Eurovision Song Contest and its stars a glorious spectacle for the eyes. The products from the Italian event lighting specialist, which has an outstanding reputation in the international entertainment industry and has provided lighting for shows by such legends as Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams, will be in use in the Vienna Stadthalle not only in the final but also in the semi-finals. "We transform the largest entertainment spectacle in the world into the largest lighting technology event with our light systems," commented Hans-Joachim Schwabe, CEO of OSRAM Specialty Lighting. "We want to turn the show into a really unforgettable event for the audience." For many years Clay Paky products have been used for the ESC and continue to set new standards in event lighting. This applies also this year for the ESC, which has been designed as a green event where energy-efficient products are to be used.

OSRAM is the Official Lighting Partner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna, © Ralph Larmann (Osram/LEDinside)

Presentation of Lightify in the "Eurovision Village"

OSRAM is also showcasing its lighting expertise away from the venue in Vienna. OSRAM will be presenting its Lightify LED lighting system in the "Eurovision Village" at the Rathausplatz in the center of the city. Up to 20,000 visitors are expected here in the evenings to view the contest on huge screens. On a smartphone app they can try out the lighting control option in a unique way by using the app to to “vote” and show support for each of the contestants during the final shows on a scale from one to twelve. The results of the voting will be translated into a color and the Rathausplatz will then be bathed in light of this color. Red light signifies maximum points, and blue toward the other end of the spectrum indicates one point.

"The ESC is the ideal platform for Lightify. Young people can use light to boost the excitement of a major event and add another emotional layer", said Timon Rupp, Head of the Lightify Innoventure at OSRAM. "In this way, OSRAM and Lightify provide impressive confirmation of the company's powers of innovation."

The stage at the Vienna Stadthalle. (Photo Credit: ORF/Roman Zach-Kiesling)

About Eurovision stage lighting design

According to Eurovision press release, the stage's steles are equipped with LEDs, just like the stage floor, enabling very special shots when filmed from above. In the background there is an LED wall with a width of 30 metres and a height of 9 metres, which can be hauled apart in the middle.

The two photos shot by Andres Putting (EBU) show the tube materials used for the Eurovision stage design. (Photo Credit: Andres Putting (EBU))

Florian Wieder, Matthias Kublik, Al Gurdon, and Kurt Pongratz are the responsible artists behind the stage design. 

Up to 3,225 linear metres of tube material were built in the stage, and the circular main stage has 450 LED modules integrated in the floor.

For special effects, 45 metres of metal grids are placed next to the stage edges, and 300 metres of LED strips were used to highlight them.

The circular main stage has 450 LED modules integrated in the floor. (Photo Credit: Andres Putting (EBU))