Baloise Session secured until 2025
The future of Swiss festival the Baloise Session is looking bright, as insurance group Basler Versicherungen extends its current presenting contract for another five years.
The deal means the event, which takes place each autumn at Basel’s club-like Event Halle, is secured for the years up to and including 2025.
The sold-out 2018 edition of Baloise Session saw performances from George Ezra, Buddy Guy, Lauryn Hill and John Legend.
“The Baloise Session is unique and brings fresh delights year after year,” says Basler Versicherungen chief executive Michael Müller. “We are proud to be presenting sponsor for the seventh time and to contribute to musical diversity in Switzerland through our engagement.”
“We are grateful that Basler Versicherungen, with whom we share a history that goes back more than 20 years, recognises the power and emotionality of music,” comments Beatrice Stirnimann, chief executive of the Baloise Session.
“The Baloise Session is unique and brings fresh delights year after year”
Stirnimann calls the partnership “a valuable commitment” that gives the Baloise Sessions team “the freedom to add further melodious chapters to the 34-year history of the festival and deliver unforgettable concert experiences to visitors.”
Stephan Werthmüller, chairman of the board of Session Basel, adds that the sponsorship renewal is “a testament to a solid partnership based on mutual trust and appreciation.
According to the chairman, “such a long-standing collaboration is extraordinarily important in the field of culture.”
The 2019 edition of Baloise Sessions takes place from 12 to 31 October. The line-up for this year’s event will be announced on Wednesday (21 August), with ticket sales beginning on Wednesday 28 August.
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Baloise Session announces 2018 lineup
Baloise Session, the intimate annual concert series held in Basel, Switzerland, has announced its 2018 lineup. This year will see big names including Ms. Lauryn Hill, John Legend and George Ezra perform in the candlelit club-like setting of Basel’s Event Halle.
Running from 19 October to 6 November, the indoor festival will host ten themed concerts, including nights dedicated to ‘Indie Chartbreakers,’ ‘Songpoets’ (featuring George Ezra), ‘Pure Blues’ and ‘Iconic Night’ (featuring Ms. Lauryn Hill). Also on the bill are two ‘Evenings with…’ John Legend.
Organisers hope “stars and newcomers [will conjure] up magic moments of music” together.
This year’s event will be the 33rd edition of the festival, and the third since the death of its founder, Matthias Müller, in 2016. By putting together a characteristically genre-bending lineup of artists both up-and-coming and legendary, organisers hope “stars and newcomers [will conjure] up magic moments of music” together, in front of a crowd of 20,000 people across the series.
Last year’s event saw a similar genre-bending lineup, as Alicia Keys, Madness, Kool & the Gang and Nelly Furtado all took to the Swiss stage to perform.
The full lineup for this year’s Baloise Session can be found below:
19 October – Sunrise Avenue / Veronica Fusaro
20 October – John Legend / Alina Amuri
21 October – John Legend / Nicole Bernegger
25 October – Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals / Jimmy Cliff
26 October – Lo & Leduc / Clueso
27 October – George Ezra / Jack Savoretti
30 October – Buddy Guy / Beth Hart
2 November – Tribalistas / Maria Gadú
5 November – Ms. Lauryn Hill / Marius Bear
6 November – Walking On Cars / LP
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New Orleans’ Essence draws ‘record’ 4bn impressions
Essence Festival – an annual celebration of African-American music at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome (76,468-cap.) in New Orleans – welcomed more than 470,000 attendees to its 24th edition last week, increasing attendance by 25,000 and garnering what organisers call a “record-breaking” four billion impressions on social media.
Complementing a night-time concert series (headliners were Diana Ross, John Legend, Chance the Rapper and Mary J. Blige), the festival once again featured “entertainment, empowerment and cultural experiences” targeted at black Americans, with actress Halle Berry, film director Ava DuVernay, civil-rights campaigner Al Sharpton and spiritual leader Iyanla Vanzant among the more than 100 speakers.
In addition to increasing attendance by ~6%, organisers say posts tagged with the #EssenceFest hashtag drew 4bn+ impressions on social media, with the festival also trending daily on Twitter.
This, say promoters, is a new record – although it should be noted iHeartRadio claimed its 2015 festival generated more than 6.5bn impressions. (New record or not, 4bn social engagements with an arguably fairly niche festival is undeniably impressive.)
Essence Festival is produced by Essence Festivals LLC, a division of Essence Communications (the publisher of the eponymous magazine), and New Orleans-based Solomon Group. Sponsors in 2017 included AT&T, Ford, McDonald’s, Walmart and naming partner Coca-Cola.
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