Stage at ESC 2026 in Vienna will be charming and golden

The Golden Viennese Heart as a symbol for the 70th Song Contest in the heart of Europe: A heartwarming style dominates the ESC 2026. The gold of the Secession dome runs through the design of the stage, which is set to welcome around 170 million TV viewers in the Vienna Stadthalle. At the same time, ORF Director General Roland Weißmann emphasized during the presentation on Tuesday that in the debate about Israel's participation, his hand remains extended towards the boycotters.

"Let us celebrate a peaceful festival here"

"35 is a great number - and maybe one or the other will reconsider," Weißmann expressed confidence to the media after yesterday's announcement of the participant list, addressing Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Iceland, all of which had announced their withdrawal because of Israel. This step was taken after a respectful, almost exemplary discussion within the Broadcasting Union (EBU): "If we treat each other the way we did in the EBU, then I am not worried."

With all due understanding, one must also put things in the right perspective and not overdramatize: "Let's come back down to earth a bit. It is public broadcasters sending artists - not a country or a government," said Weißmann: "The world is cruel enough - let us celebrate a peaceful festival here." This also includes listening to other opinions and viewpoints, and "accepting that someone returns their victory trophy. That's okay."

Even though, given the development with 35 countries, Vienna now has the lowest ESC participation number in many years, thanks to cautious budgeting: "It is not a financial burden. Everything is in the green."

Responsible for the stage at the Vienna ESC again

Everything in the golden area, on the other hand, will apply on the stage, for which ESC veteran Florian Wieder is once again responsible. "We don't have just one stage, but we want the show to take place throughout the entire hall," said the 57-year-old. Stylistically, the stage network, which is supposed to run through the Stadthalle, is inspired by the floral ornamentation and the golden shine of the Secession dome. "For us, the Golden Viennese Heart was at the center," said ORF art director Michael Hajek, tying the cardiological concept to the venue.

Additionally, there is an element on the stage that vaguely resembles a treble clef, because "besides the Secession, the Vienna Opera was also a great inspiration," Wieder emphasized. A centerpiece will also be the musical design, for which Dorothee Freiberger and Martin Gellner are responsible. "For us, 'The Magic Flute' was the basis of the motifs," Freiberger outlined the concept: "We tried to build a bridge between modernity and the Viennese musical heartbeat." Thus, the Papageno whistle can be found in the recordings.

Groiss-Horowitz: "Incredibly Sophisticated Stage"

"It is an incredibly sophisticated stage that is very versatile," conceded ORF program director Stefanie Groiss-Horowitz. Whether this elaborate LED sculpture will be exclusively celebrated around or possibly also protested against remains to be seen. As a public broadcaster, they are committed to journalism and do not want to ignore anything, but must also maintain proportionality, Groiss-Horowitz emphasized: "If there are large protests, we will not hide it. But if there are smaller groups, we don't need to focus on every protester." There will definitely be no artificially added applause over the recordings. And Executive Producer Michael Krön also emphasized: "As far as I'm concerned, we won't sugarcoat anything, because our task is to show what is."

According to the ORF general director, not only the public media giant but also other journalistic flagships of the country should contribute. "Let's make a festival for Austria in Austria," Weißmann motivated the external colleagues for broad cooperation: "We have already put together a small rights package, which will be sent to all media in Austria in the coming days."

By the time decisions are made here, the question of the number of potential ticket buyers has long been clarified. The necessary pre-registration for interested parties is still ongoing for two more days. Anyone who has not registered by December 18th shortly before midnight cannot purchase tickets for the live shows. So far, over 200,000 registrations have been received, according to Krön, although these have not yet been cleaned of possible bot orders. However, this number is slightly above those for the shows in Basel this year.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.