As the official lighting partner of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), we had already given excellent support to the mega show business event in 2015 in Vienna and in 2016 in Stockholm. As a powerful company for modern, digital lighting technology, OSRAM was continuing the successful cooperation this year in Kyiv.

The capital of the Ukraine was staging the competition for the second time, having done so back in 2005. This year’s ESC slogan was “Celebrate Diversity” and ran through all aspects of the event. It built on last year’s slogan of “Come Together” and focused on diversity as an essential part of the Eurovision set of values.

Lighting is central to a fascinating show, all the more when it comes to a show that is as important as the Eurovision Song Contest. Therefore we are proud that we could provide a majority of the lighting technology for this world's largest TV entertainment event. Most of the cutting edge lighting technology in the show was provided by OSRAM's subsidiary Clay Paky.

There had never been a performance at the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) quite like the one by Sergey Lazarev for Russia. He climbed a wall, seemed suspended in mid-air and flew through space on an asteroid – perhaps the most spectacular stage show in the entire 60 year history of the competition. It may not have been enough to secure top spot in the public vote at the 2016 ESC in Stockholm – that accolade went to Jamala from the Ukraine with her moving ballad “1944”. But in terms of the three-dimensional combination of state-of-the-art video, lighting technology, stage set, choreography and singing, the show by Sergey Lazarev certainly set new standards.