Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AustriaSong: 28 February 2017
| Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2017 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) | |||
| Country | Austria | |||
| Selection process | Internal selection | |||
| Announcement date | Artist: 19 December 2016 Song: 28 February 2017 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Running on Air" | |||
| Artist | Nathan Trent | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Qualified (7th, 147 points) | |||
| Final result | 16th, 93 points | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Austria was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Running on Air" written by Nathan Trent and Bernhard Penzias. The song was performed by Nathan Trent. On 19 December 2016, the Austrian broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) announced that they had internally selected Nathan Trent to compete at the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine, while "Running on Air" was presented to the public on 28 February 2017.
Austria was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 2, "Running on Air" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 13 May. It was later revealed that Austria placed seventh out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 147 points. In the final, Austria performed in position 4 and placed sixteenth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 93 points.
Prior to the 2017 contest, Austria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-nine times since its first entry in 1957.[1] The nation has won the contest on two occasions: in 1966 with the song "Merci, Chérie" performed by Udo Jürgens and in 2014 with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" performed by Conchita Wurst.[2][3] Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Austria has featured in only five finals. Austria's least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on eight occasions, most recently in 2012.[4] Austria has also received nul points on four occasions; in 1962, 1988, 1991 and 2015.[5]
The Austrian national broadcaster, Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), broadcasts the event within Austria and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. ORF confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 28 May 2016.[6] From 2011 to 2013 as well as in 2015 and 2016, ORF had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Austria, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. For the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, ORF held an internal selection to choose the artist and song to represent Austria at the contest. This method had last been used by ORF in 2014.
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
Artists were nominated by the ORF Eurovision Song Contest Team led by ORF chief editor Stefan Zechner, which collaborated with music experts Christof Straub and Eberhard Forcher who also worked on the selection of the Austrian entry in 2016, to submit songs to the broadcaster. On 19 December 2016, ORF announced that they had internally selected Nathan Trent to represent Austria in Kyiv.[7] Trent was also among the 33 artists shortlisted to compete in the 2017 German national final but later withdrew in favour of representing Austria.[8] Prior to the announcement of Nathan Trent as the Austrian representative, the band Russkaja was rumoured to have been selected by the broadcaster.[9]
On 26 February 2017, the song "Running on Air" written by Nathan Trent himself together with Bernhard Penzias was announced as the Austrian entry for the contest. While its release date was given as 28 February, the song leaked online through Spotify and YouTube the same day as its announcement.[10] The official presentation of the song took place on 28 February 2017 during the radio show Ö3-Wecker, aired on Ö3.[11] Nathan Trent also recorded an Italian version of the song titled "Fino a che volerò",[12][13] and a Spanish version titled "Aire" which was remixed and produced by Vincent Bueno.[14][15][16]
Promotion
Nathan Trent made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Running on Air" as the Austrian Eurovision entry. On 2 April, Trent performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French. Between 3 and 6 April, Trent took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel and performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.[17][18] On 8 April, Trent performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir.[19] On 15 April, Trent performed during the Eurovision Spain Pre-Party, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.[20]
