Vienna, 9 June 2010 – Last night Europe and much of the world watched the majestic Summer Night Concert at the Schönbrunn palace in Vienna.  A crowd of approximately  120,000 people watched it live from the gardens of the palace. 40 European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Members* broadcast the event either live or time-delayed.   

The EBU also supplied the satellite signal for the broadcast to television stations outside of the European region, enabling audiences across more than 60 countries worldwide to watch the concert.

Jørgen Franck, Eurovision TV Director at the EBU, comments, “The Summer Night concert is such a unique musical experience which combines mainstream and classical music culture in an innovative way.” He continues, “This year’s “Moon, Stars & Planets” theme, with highlights from the music of the Star Wars film, written by the illustrious composer John Williams, encompasses this broader theme opening the concert to a large and varied audience”.

The EBU signed a four year distribution agreement in 2009 for the TV and radio broadcast rights with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for a package of three classical concerts which include the New Year’s Day concert, the annual Schönbrunn Summer Night Concert at Schlosspark, Vienna and  a third special concert in different international locations yearly. 

The Summer Night concert is produced by the Austrian public broadcaster ORF, in cooperation with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.


* The concert is broadcast by 40 EBU Members including:
Albania (RTV), Andorra (RTVA), Azerbaijan (Ictimai), Belarus (BTRC), Belgium (RTBF & VRT), Bosnia Herzegovina (BHRT), Bulgaria (BNT), Croatia (HRT), Cyprus (CYBC), Czech Republic (CT), Denmark (DR), Egypt (ERTU), Estonia (ERR), Finland (YLE), France (FR2), Georgia (GTVR), Germany (3Sat), Greece (ERT), Hungary (MTV), Iceland (RUV),  Kosovo (RTK), Latvia (LTV), Lebanon (TL), Lithuania (LRT), Macedonia (MKRTV), Moldova (TRM), Montenegro (RTCG), Netherlands (NOS), Norway (NRK), Poland (TVP), Portugal (RTP), Romania (TVR), Russia (RTR), Serbia (RTS), Slovenia (RTVSLO), Spain (RTVE), Sweden (SVT),Turkey (TRT) and UK (BBC).

Note to Editors:
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) serves 86 national media organizations from 56 countries in and around Europe. It represents its Members and promotes the values and distinctiveness of public service media in Europe and around the world. The Eurovision and Euroradio networks deliver news, sports, events and music to EBU Members and other media organizations. Services to Members range from legal advice, technical standardization and development to co-production and exchange of quality European content.  For more information about the EBU: http://www.ebu.ch

Eurovision TV collaboration at the European Broadcasting Union offers its Members a unique platform to exchange programme ideas and best practices resulting in high quality coproductions in all genres including animation series, music and dance, documentary, science and education, fiction, and of course the annual mega-show the Eurovision Song Contest. 86% of EBU Members are involved in Eurovision TV coproductions.