This morning the decision became public: ORF have chosen Nathan Trent to represent Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kiev!
ORF CEO Kathrin Zechner had the last word in this and she said ”yes” to sending the, to the Austrian music industry, quite unknown Nathan to Kiev. Funny detail is, though, that Nathan was in the running to represent Germany this year as well! Nathan had made it to the last 33 and was present with an introductory interview on video on the German website, but Nathan is now out of the running there as he’s representing his native Austria instead!
Nathan Trent was born 24 years ago in Innsbruck to an Austrian father, orchestral violinist to the Landestheater Reinhard Koll, and an Italian mother. Nathanaele, as his birth name is, was raised bilingually as a result and started to learn how to play both the violin and the piano from the age of three and played in musicals from a young age already.
He has graduated from the MUK (Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien), the Music and Art Private University of the city of Vienna, and has been developing ever since, recently even having come back from songwriting sessions in Los Angeles.
Below Nathan speaks a little bit about music himself:
Nathan himself says he’s very excited to be taking part and a little bit overwhelmed.
Watching the Eurovision Song Contest has been a tradition to him for ten years now but he became a real fan of the contest when Lena Meyer-Landrut won the contest for Germany in 2010 with Satellite.
About the contest itself he says:
I find it terrific that something like the Eurovision Song Contest even exists – it’s the best opportunity to connect music with culture and show unity in diversity, especially in these times.
This is the song that made the ORF people notice Nathan, as it was his debut single, being played on Austrian radio last summer:
The entry for Kiev was written by Nathan himself, together with a friend from Los Angeles, who is a music producer. It will be ready to be presented to the public in February 2017.
