Eurovision Eurovision 2018 Germany

Germany: International jury members announced

As you know, we love to report on a ‘first’ here at ESCplus! And this year – for the first time EVER – an international jury of experts is playing a part in Germany’s selection of its ESC entry.

As a massive fan of German music, I’m always desperate for Germany’s Eurovision entries not just to be great, but to do great on the Big Night as well. So this will, hopefully, help the country reverse its recent disappointing run.

As well as advising on song selection, the international jury has already helped to choose the six acts who’ll take part in Unser Lied für Lissabon – to be broadcast live on Thursday 22nd February at 20.15 CET. Along with members of the Eurovision panel and viewers from Germany, the jury will also have a say in which candidate wins the ticket to Lisbon. Panel, viewers, international jury – the votes of each of these will count as a third of the overall total.

So who exactly is on the international jury?

Filip Adamo (41): a musician and producer, and a product manager at Sony Music Entertainment in Sweden.

Einar Bardason (45): a songwriter, music producer and agent from Iceland. One of Einar’s albums was nominated as ‘Album of the Year’ in the 2008 Classical BRIT Awards.

Typh Barrow (30): a singer and composer, and a nominated ‘Artist of the Year’ at the D6bels Music Awards in Belgium. Her album ‘RAW’ (2018) is one of the best-selling albums in the country.

– Bruno Berberes (59): a casting director of popular musicals and TV shows in France, as well as a producer, composer and coach. From 2002 to 2012, Bruno was head of the French delegation to the ESC.

Margaret Berger (32): a singer, songwriter and DJ, and Norway’s 2013 ESC representative with ‘I Feed You My Love’ (4th place).

Argyro Christodoulidou (35): a composer and lyricist from Cyprus whose work has ranged from operas and film scores to music for theatre productions. In 2015, Argyro appeared in Cyprus’s national qualifying round for the ESC with her song ‘Stone In A River’.

Mark De Lisser (42): a vocal coach from the UK, Mark has been working for over 25 years with singers from all genres, as well as in the field of stage art and performance.

Henrik Johnsson (45): a TV presenter and producer from Sweden, and twice producer of content at the ‘Melodifestivalen’, which acts as Sweden’s ESC qualifying competition.

Rafailas Karpis (34): an opera singer from Lithuania. A soloist at the National Theatre for Opera and Ballet, Rafailas has appeared on stage in Finland, Sweden, the US, France and Slovenia.

Tinkara Kovac (39): a rock and pop singer and classically trained flautist from Slovenia. Tinkara has won numerous awards and represented her country at the 2014 ESC with ‘Spet (Round and Round)’, which made it to the Grand Final.

Anca Lupes (49): one of the most experienced professionals in the music business in Romania. Anca has worked for press, radio and TV, as well as for concert promoters and record companies.

Florent Luyckx (54): from the Netherlands, a Managing Director of the Q-Group and responsible for the Belgian/Dutch radio stations Q-Music and JOE fm. Florent began his career at Zomba Records (home to artists such as Faithless and Britney Spears).

Maria Marcus (38): a producer and songwriter who lives in Sweden and Spain. Maria’s songs and productions have sold over four million copies worldwide and she’s worked on top-selling albums in Spain and Japan.

Gore Melian (30): an Armenia-born award-winning singer, songwriter and producer. In 2009, Gore took third place in Cyprus’s national ESC qualifying round with his self-composed song ‘I Wanna Thank You’.

Rennie Mirro (46): a dancer, actor and choreographer from Sweden. Rennie has appeared on stage at a variety of Swedish theatres, including in musicals such as ‘Grease’,’Singin’ in the Rain’, ‘Cats’ and ‘Flashdance’.

Helga Möller (60): a singer from Iceland who represented her country at the 1986 ESC as part of vocal trio ICY – Iceland’s first-ever appearance at Eurovision. Their song ‘Gledibankinn’ finished sixth.

Ruth Lorenzo Pascual (35): a singer and composer who sang ‘Dancing in the Rain’ for Spain at the 2014 ESC and took tenth place in the Grand Final.

Sascha Reimann (44): a musician, actor and rapper from Germany who became famous as Ferris MC. Using the stage name Ferris Hilton, Sascha has been a member of Hamburg’s hip-hop and electro-punk band ‘Deichkind’ since 2008.

– Grzegorz Urban (34): a composer, arranger and pianist from Poland. Gregor studied instrumental jazz and popular music in Wroclaw and Krakow, and is currently focusing 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 programme: Das Erste, ONE and Deutsche Welle. Tickets are available for 49 euros at tvtickets.de

OK – come ON, Germany! Give us a good one! PLEASE get it right this year!

Further information about the ESC and the German decision is available at www.eurovision.de

Eurovision

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