2024 Olympics in Paris: DR Pigekoret adds voices to Danish culture and values

The Olympic Games are the world's biggest sporting event. But there's much more than sport on the programme when over 15 million people gather in Paris this summer for the 2024 Olympics.

During the three weeks of the Games, the press and visitors to the city can explore a wide range of cultural experiences and activities, including a specially designed Danish pavilion at and behind the Danish house on the Champs-Élysées.

The sound and sight of DR Pigekoret will fill the Danish 'culture box' with the work Let your voice be heard, which is a tribute to the human voice with inspiration from N.F.S. Grundtvig.

DR Pigekoret will also perform live at the opening of the cultural pavilion on 25 July, and on 26 July, they will be part of DR Sporten's broadcast of the grand opening ceremony, followed by a church concert in Paris on 27 July.

It is the human voice that is in focus, both concretely and figuratively, when DR Pigekoret fills the Danish pavilion with the work Let your voice be heard.

The work consists of a three-dimensional video recording totalling 15 minutes and is inspired by a key figure in Danish culture, the poet, priest and politician N.F.S. Grundtvig. Grundtvig.

Anne Karine Prip, artistic director of DR Pigekoret, explains the idea behind the work:

- Grundtvig's ideas are fundamental pillars of our Danish culture and society - from the democratic idea of using your voice to the ideal of equal educational opportunities and equal cultural communities, where song is an important rallying point. That's why we think it's obvious that the DR Girls' Choir's part of the cultural programme at the Danish pavilion is based on Grundtvig's fundamental ideas about freedom and community," says Anne Karine Prip.

The music in the work Let your voice be heard is composed of songs and works written during DR Pigekorets lifetime by living female composers, including Louise Alenius, Annisette, Pia Raug, Anne Linnet and one of the choir's own singers, the 20-year-old Amanda Kluxen.

Anne Karine Prip talks about the choice of composers:

- Using your voice can mean many things, but for us at DR Pigekoret, there is a common desire to highlight some of the voices that may not always have been heard. That's why we've chosen eight female composers and writers who we believe have helped connect and empower young women throughout the choir's lifetime, since 1938. It's a great pleasure to give voice to music that really deserves to be heard and that expresses some of our Danish values and qualities," says Anne Karine Prip.

About the Danish pavilion at the Paris 2024 Olympics

The Danish pavilion at the Paris Olympics is entitled 'Land of Everyday Wonder' and showcases the best of Denmark through events, live concerts and a digital cultural programme.

The programme focuses on quality of life, Danish ideas and skills, and sustainable solutions to the global fight against climate change, declining health and well-being, etc. VisitDenmark is spearheading the programme together with the Ministry of Business and Industry, which is supported by the philanthropic association Realdania and implemented with grants from The Trade Council.

In addition to DR Pigekoret, the Natural History Museum of Denmark and H.C. Andersen's House in Odense.

The programme of exhibitions, activities and events runs from 26 July to 11 August and is open to the public from 11:00-22:00.

The DR Girls' Choir's participation in the Danish pavilion in Paris takes place with financial support from Konsul George Jorck og Hustru Emma Jorck's Fond, Knud Højgaards Fond, Drost Fonden and Toyota-Fonden.

Photo: © Emilia Therese