The stage design for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest was created by John Casey, an Emmy and World Award winning production designer from New York. His roots are in Ireland, though, where he already created the stage for the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin. This year, he was hired to design the most impressive and shiny stage in the history of Europe’s favourite TV show. Today, he found some time to talk to Eurovision.tv, and he revealed more about his ideas and his work.

Eurovision.tv can exclusively reveal the first artist impression of the stage of the 54th Eurovision Song Contest to you. The impressive structure, which radically breaks recent Eurovision Song Contest traditions, has been designed by New York-based set designer John Casey and has been revealed to the Heads of Delegation of the 43 participating countries earlier tonight.