26.5. First round continues

I came to work for nine this morning, Saturday, and the whole neighbourhood seemed to be asleep, so deserted were the streets. One tends to forget what day of the week it is in a competition lasting over two weeks with no allowance for weekends. There were lots of people in the audience today – more than yesterday. By contrast, it has been extremely quiet in the office.

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25.5. Getting the timing right

Today we’ve been practising such things as the best way to get the contestants on stage at the right time. They have to report at the office one hour before they are due to perform. They are then assigned a classroom from where we fetch them when it is their turn. In other words we have to keep a very close eye on the monitor in the office so that we know when to fetch the next player.

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25.5. The music has begun

The first morning of the competition proper got off to a brisk start. By about half past nine the office was already full of visitors – people who had come along to listen, host families, media folk, VIPs and other curious callers. When the first contestant finally got up on stage, it really felt as if we were at last getting down to business, i.e. the music.

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24.5. The first evening

The first evening at work went without a hitch. I was on duty alone in the office for the last few hours and contestants dropped in now and then to read their email or ask all sorts of things.

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24.5. Draw completed

At precisely 12 o’clock the contestants assembled in the Concert hall to watch the draw. Tradition has it that the youngest contestant has the honour of drawing the name; this time the youngest is Roope Gröndahl from Finland.

Maj Lind

Sisältö

Organization blog