Festivals

Press Information
September 2007

Copenhagen - a City of Festival

In recent years, Copenhagen has become renowned for being northern Europe's largest festival city. As part of the city's flourishing cultural life all-year round, numerous festivals are held every year, with themes ranging from rock and jazz to film, ballet, design and the visual arts.

Summer is the high season for festivals, which add an extra touch of brilliance to the city's colourful streets and squares and many beautiful green oases. Copenhageners love to relax outdoors. As soon as the first warm spring sunshine appears, the city's pavement cafes fill with life, and families and friends relax in the parks with a bottle of wine and a picnic hamper. The festival organisers take people's love of the outdoors seriously, and many events take place in the open air, against the backdrop of some of the city's most beautiful settings. This gives the festivals a truly spontaneous, relaxed atmosphere that everyone loves. Many tourists actually plan their visits to Copenhagen to coincide with a festival and this year, one festival literally follows another.

The Copenhagen festival scene is internationally recognised for its high cultural standards, and consequently attracts the really big stars. The festival organisers are used to keeping an eye on the upcoming cultural scene and always present a wealth of new and exciting artists from Denmark and abroad.

Film Festivals
Denmark has a proud tradition as a film nation. In recent years, international attention has particularly been focused on such outstanding directors as Bille August and the founders of the much-acclaimed "Dogme" films; directors Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, Søren Kragh-Jacobsen and Kristian Levring. All five of them won a number of prestigious international film awards in the 1990s and most recently, Lars von Trier received the Palms d'Or 2000 award at the Film Festival in Cannes for his moving film "Dancer in the Dark". The flourishing Danish film world is centred on Copenhagen, which is the base for most film companies and major first-class cinemas.

Every year, a whole series of large and small film festivals is held in the Danish capital. And the Copenhagen International Film Festival (CIFF) will roll out the red carpet for a whole week with film experiences and festival activities. With an international jury for the main competition CIFF aims to join the league of international film festivals like the ones in Berlin, Cannes and Venice. CIFF appeals to both a broad audience and to the national and international film industries. The 2007 festival runs from 20 to 30 September. For more information please visit www.copenhagenfilmfestival.com

Also the very popular Night Film Festival will please many Danish film-lovers. The festival is held in Copenhagen and four other Danish cities, where the audiences can watch handpicked top-quality films from countries that rarely feature in cinemas, such as Asian films, which are always well represented. The festival also screens a number of new films that are premiered later in the cinemas, and also re-runs old classics and cult films. The Night Film Festival takes place in Copenhagen late March and features a vast number of films - in their original language. For further information please visit www.natfilm.dk

CPH: DOX is Denmark's first international documentary film festival. It aims to break away from mainstream and present new & innovative documentary. The serious and the political, the weird and the unexpected, the provocative and artistic is all welcomed at the festival. It is based on wide, international and cross cultural collaboration involving a range of activities such as seminars, directors' sessions, lectures, debates, happenings, music- and club-events. In 2004, the festival's second year, 17,000 admissions made the festival one of the biggest Scandinavian documentary film events. This year, the 5th Copenhagen International Documentary Festival, as it is also known, will be held in Copenhagen in November. For further information visit www.cphdox.dk

Copenhagen is also known for the Copenhagen Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (CGLFF), which is the oldest film festival in town. For the last seventeen years, the festival has brought numerous homosexually themed short films, feature films and documentaries to the Copenhagen cinema audiences. The film festival has become a fixture in the cultural life of Copenhagen, attracting the gay & lesbian subculture of Copenhagen, but increasingly also a non-homosexual audience, as well as the city's media, cultural institutions and businesses. This year's festival is late October. More information is available on www.cglff.dk

Cultural Harbour
The Cultural Harbour has become a yearly recurrent harbour festival. It shows cultural and leisure time activities throughout the harbour for the citizens of Copenhagen, as well as tourists, and others who wish to participate in a cultural festival. With four days of experiencing dance, music, theatre, artistry and a whole lot of sports events, in the harbour as well as on shore, for free. In 2007 the Cultural Harbour is held from 3 - 5 August. For more information visit www.kulturhavn.dk

The Roskilde Festival
The most famous festival in Greater Copenhagen is the Roskilde Festival. It is one of the biggest rock events in the world, and without doubt a spectacular event for young rock fans. The Roskilde Festival is held from 5 to 8 July 2007 on a huge field near the city of Roskilde, half an hour's drive from Copenhagen City. In 2006 the Festival celebrated its 35th anniversary, but there are no signs of ageing. In fact, it just seems to become more and more popular. The 70,000 tickets available are usually sold out long before the programme is published. The secret of its success is that the Roskilde Festival is famous for presenting a really exciting programme of music - every time. Artists such as U2, REM, Coldplay, Metallica, David Bowie and Robbie Williams have all played.

However, it is important to realise that the festival is much more than just music. The Roskilde Festival is a huge party, where people eat and drink in vast quantities. Apart from the concerts, there are hundreds of stalls selling everything from jewellery and clothes to massage and tattoos. There is a computer café, cinema, theatre, dance hall, and much more. The festival mainly attracts a young crowd: a motley crew from all over Europe - yuppies, colourful punks with their mohicans, and ageing hippies. It is an unforgettable experience, but not for delicate souls. Four days in a tent with a minimum of sleep, an amazingly high noise level, enough people to populate an Indian city, and few chances for a hot bath are the essence of the festival.

Yet it is possible to experience the Roskilde Festival in less primitive conditions; you can travel to and from Copenhagen in half an hour and manage to enjoy a proper bed and other comforts. Another option is to buy a one-day ticket for the last day of the festival, when the average age of the audience rises considerably. Further information is available on www.roskilde-festival.dk

In Mid-July - right in between two Christmases - Santa Clauses from all over the world convene at Bakken, the amusement park just north of Copenhagen, for the annual Father Christmas Congress. This has been going on for the last 42 years and is an event with lots of weird and fun traditions. It will be held for the 44th time around 24 July 2007. For more information, go to www.bakken.dk

The Copenhagen Jazz Festival
One of Copenhagen's biggest and most popular festivals is the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, held from 6 - 15 July 2007. Copenhagen has a long tradition as a jazz metropolis. Over the years, many of the great international jazz musicians have been based permanently in Copenhagen. Together with the city's own wealth of skilled professional jazz musicians, this has created a unique environment for jazz that can be experienced live every day, all year round, in Copenhagen. During the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, jazz simply comes bubbling out of every corner of the city.

Squares, parks and a wide range of cafes and clubs are involved in the biggest jazz event of the year, featuring around 450 concerts. Many of the concerts are free. The festival has become immensely popular and attracts jazz fans not only from Denmark and its neighbouring countries, but also from countries as far away as China and Australia. Throughout the years, Copenhagen Jazz Festival has presented a line of important international artists like Sonny Rollins, Oscar Peterson, Ray Charles, Michel Petrucciani, The Brecker Brothers, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Salif Keita, Django Bates, and numerous other jazz greats, who indicate the quality of the festival. Hence, in Copenhagen you can hear any type of jazz, from the traditional to the more experimental.
The programme for the festival is normally published in May and can be obtained by visiting www.festival.jazz.dk

Copenhagen Distortion
‘A celebration of Copenhagen nightlife', Copenhagen Distortion is the biggest annual clubbing and nightlife event of the year - a massive party lasting five days and nights! The festival always starts on the Wednesday before the first Sunday in June, in 2007 from 30 May - 3 June. The difference between Distortion and other music festivals is that Distortion is not only a music festival. It celebrates urban landscapes, mobility, improvisation, late-night chaos, nightlife clichés, fashion, hype, community networks, even cutting-edge marketing as much as it does music. For further information, go to www.cphdistortion.dk

Wednesday ConcertsDuring the spring and autumn classical concerts are held every Wednesday with performances by students from the Royal Danish Academy of Music. The concerts take place at The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, The Theatre Museum and in churches across Copenhagen. All concerts offer free admission. For more information, go to www.onsdagskoncerter.dk

Copenhagen International Ballet
Copenhagen is also proud to have a ballet festival. From the first to the third week of August, principal dancer and festival founder, Alexander Kølpin, resides in the Arne Jacobsen architecture, Bellevue, in Klampenborg, just north of Copenhagen. After 12 years, the programmes have moved towards modern choreography, and for each new season Kølpin develops new forms of expression with choreographers and dancers from all over the world. Tickets go on sale in the beginning of May. For further information visit www.copenhageninternationalballet.com

Copenhagen Summerdance
In unique surroundings - the inner courtyard of the Copenhagen City Police headquarters - Tim Rushton and Danish Dance Theatre each year in August offer a number of outdoor dance performances of high standard. Admission is free, and approx. 800 persons can be accommodated per evening. For more information, go to www.copenhagensummerdance.dk

Every year in August the Royal Opera soloists, choir and orchestra present the coming season repertoire at an immensely popular open air Opera Concert. It has been necessary to change the venue to Fælledparken next to the national football stadium, PARKEN, because of the growing number of spectators who make a picnic out of the occasion. Normally the first Saturday in August is chosen. For further information visit www.kglteater.dk

Likewise the Royal Danish Ballet gives an outdoor performance, to finish off the ballet season. This takes place every year in 'Kastellet', the fortification by Langelinie, in 2007 it will be on 2 June. To read more, go to www.kglteater.dk

KIT (Copenhagen International Theatre) is behind international performances at various venues during the summer months. In 2007 it will be six performances of New Circus from many parts of the world. www.kit.dk

Hamlet Summer
Every summer the outdoor courtyard of Kronborg Castle in Elsinore hosts a homage to Shakespeare and other playwrights. For further information visit www.hamletsommer.dk

Golden Days in Copenhagen
One of the most elegant and varied Copenhagen festivals is Golden Days in Copenhagen with its historical focus. The aim behind the Golden Days festival is to increase people's knowledge of a particular historical period, through exhibitions, music, theatre, ballet, and literature. It has been possible to get an impression of one of the most fascinating periods in the history of Denmark, the Danish Golden Age, which has been the topic of four festivals. But also the end of the 19th century has been covered.

In 2007 focus will be on the Bombardment of Copenhagen by the British Fleet in 1807. Normally the Golden Days Festival is in September. In 2007 it will run from 1 September. For more information visit www.goldendays.dk

Design and Fashion Festivals
During the last five years, Copenhagen has moved up the ladder in the world of design and fashion. Simultaneously the architecture of the city has reached a level, which places Copenhagen in a league of its own compared to other Nordic cities. The works of people like Henning Larsen, Daniel Liebeskind and Arne Jacobsen have earned international recognition and placed Copenhagen among other quality-conscious cities.

The annual Copenhagen Architecture & Design Days, Cph ADD, is held from 18 - 20 May 2007. Again this year Copenhagen celebrates the unique architecture and design of the capital by inviting the public to show rooms, guided city walks, design attractions, lectures, workshops, auctions, special events as well as the international furniture fair in Bella Center. www.cphadd.com

Copenhagen Catwalk is a brand new festival celebrating fashion and trends in the clothing industry. It will be held in stores and shopping centres in Copenhagen and greater Copenhagen, connected by the metro stations. The festival runs from 29 - 31 March 2007, and throughout the festival shoppers and audiences can watch exclusive fashion shows, get stylish make-overs and try their luck a castings with Unique Models. The festival programme will be published in February. For further information visit www.copenhagencatwalk.com

Copenhagen Cooking
Copenhagen is also the proud presenter of the annual Nordic Food and Drink Festival, Copenhagen Cooking. The week-long festival of mouth watering gastronomic experiences from Denmark and the other Nordic countries runs from 24 August - 2 September 2007 and invites everyone to take a bite of the city. It takes place in restaurants, Tivoli Gardens and public spaces across the centre of Copenhagen. For further information go to www.copenhagencooking.com

Further information:
Wonderful Copenhagen®, Tel: (+45) 33 25 74 00
Director of Public Relations, Mette Dahl-Jensen, mdj@woco.dk
Project Manager, Connie Maria Westergaard, cwe@woco.dk
International Press Officer, Mr. Henrik Thierlein, hth@woco.dk

For the latest update please visit www.visitcopenhagen.com/press



Øresund Region Meetings & Conventions Hotels Cruise Town areas Fashion, Design & Shopping Gastronomy & Night life Sights & Events Six Copenhagen Extras Copenhagen specialities Gay Press > Press information > Sights & Events > Festivals Festivals Press Information September 2007 Copenhagen - a City of Festival In recent years, Copenhagen has become renowned for being northern Europe's largest festival city. As part of the city's flourishing cultural life all-year round, numerous festivals are held every year, with themes ranging from rock and jazz to film, ballet, design and the visual arts. Summer is the high season for festivals, which add an extra touch of brilliance to the city's colourful streets and squares and many beautiful green oases. Copenhageners love to relax outdoors. As soon as the first warm spring sunshine appears, the city's pavement cafes fill with life, and families and friends relax in the parks with a bottle of wine and a picnic hamper. The festival organisers take people's love of the outdoors seriously, and many events take place in the open air, against the backdrop of some of the city's most beautiful settings. This gives the festivals a truly spontaneous, relaxed atmosphere that everyone loves. Many tourists actually plan their visits to Copenhagen to coincide with a festival and this year, one festival literally follows another. The Copenhagen festival scene is internationally recognised for its high cultural standards, and consequently attracts the really big stars. The festival organisers are used to keeping an eye on the upcoming cultural scene and always present a wealth of new and exciting artists from Denmark and abroad. Film Festivals Denmark has a proud tradition as a film nation. In recent years, international attention has particularly been focused on such outstanding directors as Bille August and the founders of the much-acclaimed "Dogme" films; directors Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, Søren Kragh-Jacobsen and Kristian Levring. All five of them won a number of prestigious international film awards in the 1990s and most recently, Lars von Trier received the Palms d'Or 2000 award at the Film Festival in Cannes for his moving film "Dancer in the Dark". The flourishing Danish film world is centred on Copenhagen, which is the base for most film companies and major first-class cinemas. Every year, a whole series of large and small film festivals is held in the Danish capital. And the Copenhagen International Film Festival (CIFF) will roll out the red carpet for a whole week with film experiences and festival activities. With an international jury for the main competition CIFF aims to join the league of international film festivals like the ones in Berlin, Cannes and Venice. CIFF appeals to both a broad audience and to the national and international film industries. The 2007 festival runs from 20 to 30 September. For more information please visit www.copenhagenfilmfestival.com Also the very popular Night Film Festival will please many Danish film-lovers. The festival is held in Copenhagen and four other Danish cities, where the audiences can watch handpicked top-quality films from countries that rarely feature in cinemas, such as Asian films, which are always well represented. The festival also screens a number of new films that are premiered later in the cinemas, and also re-runs old classics and cult films. The Night Film Festival takes place in Copenhagen late March and features a vast number of films - in their original language. For further information please visit www.natfilm.dk CPH: DOX is Denmark's first international documentary film festival. It aims to break away from mainstream and present new & innovative documentary. The serious and the political, the weird and the unexpected, the provocative and artistic is all welcomed at the festival. It is based on wide, international and cross cultural collaboration involving a range of activities such as seminars, directors' sessions, lectures, debates, happenings, music- and club-events. In 2004, the festival's second year, 17,000 admissions made the festival one of the biggest Scandinavian documentary film events. This year, the 5th Copenhagen International Documentary Festival, as it is also known, will be held in Copenhagen in November. For further information visit www.cphdox.dk Copenhagen is also known for the Copenhagen Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (CGLFF), which is the oldest film festival in town. For the last seventeen years, the festival has brought numerous homosexually themed short films, feature films and documentaries to the Copenhagen cinema audiences. The film festival has become a fixture in the cultural life of Copenhagen, attracting the gay & lesbian subculture of Copenhagen, but increasingly also a non-homosexual audience, as well as the city's media, cultural institutions and businesses. This year's festival is late October. More information is available on www.cglff.dk Cultural Harbour The Cultural Harbour has become a yearly recurrent harbour festival. It shows cultural and leisure time activities throughout the harbour for the citizens of Copenhagen, as well as tourists, and others who wish to participate in a cultural festival. With four days of experiencing dance, music, theatre, artistry and a whole lot of sports events, in the harbour as well as on shore, for free. In 2007 the Cultural Harbour is held from 3 - 5 August. For more information visit www.kulturhavn.dk The Roskilde Festival The most famous festival in Greater Copenhagen is the Roskilde Festival. It is one of the biggest rock events in the world, and without doubt a spectacular event for young rock fans. The Roskilde Festival is held from 5 to 8 July 2007 on a huge field near the city of Roskilde, half an hour's drive from Copenhagen City. In 2006 the Festival celebrated its 35th anniversary, but there are no signs of ageing. In fact, it just seems to become more and more popular. The 70,000 tickets available are usually sold out long before the programme is published. The secret of its success is that the Roskilde Festival is famous for presenting a really exciting programme of music - every time. Artists such as U2, REM, Coldplay, Metallica, David Bowie and Robbie Williams have all played. However, it is important to realise that the festival is much more than just music. The Roskilde Festival is a huge party, where people eat and drink in vast quantities. Apart from the concerts, there are hundreds of stalls selling everything from jewellery and clothes to massage and tattoos. There is a computer café, cinema, theatre, dance hall, and much more. The festival mainly attracts a young crowd: a motley crew from all over Europe - yuppies, colourful punks with their mohicans, and ageing hippies. It is an unforgettable experience, but not for delicate souls. Four days in a tent with a minimum of sleep, an amazingly high noise level, enough people to populate an Indian city, and few chances for a hot bath are the essence of the festival. Yet it is possible to experience the Roskilde Festival in less primitive conditions; you can travel to and from Copenhagen in half an hour and manage to enjoy a proper bed and other comforts. Another option is to buy a one-day ticket for the last day of the festival, when the average age of the audience rises considerably. Further information is available on www.roskilde-festival.dk In Mid-July - right in between two Christmases - Santa Clauses from all over the world convene at Bakken, the amusement park just north of Copenhagen, for the annual Father Christmas Congress. This has been going on for the last 42 years and is an event with lots of weird and fun traditions. It will be held for the 44th time around 24 July 2007. For more information, go to www.bakken.dk The Copenhagen Jazz Festival One of Copenhagen's biggest and most popular festivals is the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, held from 6 - 15 July 2007. Copenhagen has a long tradition as a jazz metropolis. Over the years, many of the great international jazz musicians have been based permanently in Copenhagen. Together with the city's own wealth of skilled professional jazz musicians, this has created a unique environment for jazz that can be experienced live every day, all year round, in Copenhagen. During the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, jazz simply comes bubbling out of every corner of the city. Squares, parks and a wide range of cafes and clubs are involved in the biggest jazz event of the year, featuring around 450 concerts. Many of the concerts are free. The festival has become immensely popular and attracts jazz fans not only from Denmark and its neighbouring countries, but also from countries as far away as China and Australia. Throughout the years, Copenhagen Jazz Festival has presented a line of important international artists like Sonny Rollins, Oscar Peterson, Ray Charles, Michel Petrucciani, The Brecker Brothers, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Salif Keita, Django Bates, and numerous other jazz greats, who indicate the quality of the festival. Hence, in Copenhagen you can hear any type of jazz, from the traditional to the more experimental. The programme for the festival is normally published in May and can be obtained by visiting www.festival.jazz.dk Copenhagen Distortion ‘A celebration of Copenhagen nightlife', Copenhagen Distortion is the biggest annual clubbing and nightlife event of the year - a massive party lasting five days and nights! The festival always starts on the Wednesday before the first Sunday in June, in 2007 from 30 May - 3 June. The difference between Distortion and other music festivals is that Distortion is not only a music festival. It celebrates urban landscapes, mobility, improvisation, late-night chaos, nightlife clichés, fashion, hype, community networks, even cutting-edge marketing as much as it does music. For further information, go to www.cphdistortion.dk Wednesday ConcertsDuring the spring and autumn classical concerts are held every Wednesday with performances by students from the Royal Danish Academy of Music. The concerts take place at The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, The Theatre Museum and in churches across Copenhagen. All concerts offer free admission. For more information, go to www.onsdagskoncerter.dk Copenhagen International Ballet Copenhagen is also proud to have a ballet festival. From the first to the third week of August, principal dancer and festival founder, Alexander Kølpin, resides in the Arne Jacobsen architecture, Bellevue, in Klampenborg, just north of Copenhagen. After 12 years, the programmes have moved towards modern choreography, and for each new season Kølpin develops new forms of expression with choreographers and dancers from all over the world. Tickets go on sale in the beginning of May. For further information visit www.copenhageninternationalballet.com Copenhagen Summerdance In unique surroundings - the inner courtyard of the Copenhagen City Police headquarters - Tim Rushton and Danish Dance Theatre each year in August offer a number of outdoor dance performances of high standard. Admission is free, and approx. 800 persons can be accommodated per evening. For more information, go to www.copenhagensummerdance.dk Every year in August the Royal Opera soloists, choir and orchestra present the coming season repertoire at an immensely popular open air Opera Concert. It has been necessary to change the venue to Fælledparken next to the national football stadium, PARKEN, because of the growing number of spectators who make a picnic out of the occasion. Normally the first Saturday in August is chosen. For further information visit www.kglteater.dk Likewise the Royal Danish Ballet gives an outdoor performance, to finish off the ballet season. This takes place every year in 'Kastellet', the fortification by Langelinie, in 2007 it will be on 2 June. To read more, go to www.kglteater.dk KIT (Copenhagen International Theatre) is behind international performances at various venues during the summer months. In 2007 it will be six performances of New Circus from many parts of the world. www.kit.dk Hamlet Summer Every summer the outdoor courtyard of Kronborg Castle in Elsinore hosts a homage to Shakespeare and other playwrights. For further information visit www.hamletsommer.dk Golden Days in Copenhagen One of the most elegant and varied Copenhagen festivals is Golden Days in Copenhagen with its historical focus. The aim behind the Golden Days festival is to increase people's knowledge of a particular historical period, through exhibitions, music, theatre, ballet, and literature. It has been possible to get an impression of one of the most fascinating periods in the history of Denmark, the Danish Golden Age, which has been the topic of four festivals. But also the end of the 19th century has been covered. In 2007 focus will be on the Bombardment of Copenhagen by the British Fleet in 1807. Normally the Golden Days Festival is in September. In 2007 it will run from 1 September. For more information visit www.goldendays.dk Design and Fashion Festivals During the last five years, Copenhagen has moved up the ladder in the world of design and fashion. Simultaneously the architecture of the city has reached a level, which places Copenhagen in a league of its own compared to other Nordic cities. The works of people like Henning Larsen, Daniel Liebeskind and Arne Jacobsen have earned international recognition and placed Copenhagen among other quality-conscious cities. The annual Copenhagen Architecture & Design Days, Cph ADD, is held from 18 - 20 May 2007. Again this year Copenhagen celebrates the unique architecture and design of the capital by inviting the public to show rooms, guided city walks, design attractions, lectures, workshops, auctions, special events as well as the international furniture fair in Bella Center. www.cphadd.com Copenhagen Catwalk is a brand new festival celebrating fashion and trends in the clothing industry. It will be held in stores and shopping centres in Copenhagen and greater Copenhagen, connected by the metro stations. The festival runs from 29 - 31 March 2007, and throughout the festival shoppers and audiences can watch exclusive fashion shows, get stylish make-overs and try their luck a castings with Unique Models. The festival programme will be published in February. For further information visit www.copenhagencatwalk.com Copenhagen Cooking Copenhagen is also the proud presenter of the annual Nordic Food and Drink Festival, Copenhagen Cooking. The week-long festival of mouth watering gastronomic experiences from Denmark and the other Nordic countries runs from 24 August - 2 September 2007 and invites everyone to take a bite of the city. It takes place in restaurants, Tivoli Gardens and public spaces across the centre of Copenhagen. For further information go to www.copenhagencooking.com Further information: Wonderful Copenhagen®, Tel: (+45) 33 25 74 00 Director of Public Relations, Mette Dahl-Jensen, mdj@woco.dk Project Manager, Connie Maria Westergaard, cwe@woco.dk International Press Officer, Mr. Henrik Thierlein, hth@woco.dk For the latest update please visit www.visitcopenhagen.com/press