UNITED NATIONS DAY CONCERT, MARKING 60TH BIRTHDAY OF ORGANIZATION, TO BE HELD IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY HALL ON 24 OCTOBER

Note to Correspondents

UNITED NATIONS DAY CONCERT, MARKING 60^TH BIRTHDAY OF ORGANIZATION,

TO BE HELD IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY HALL ON 24 OCTOBER

This year’s celebration of United Nations Day and the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations will be marked by a concert given by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in the General Assembly Hall next Monday, 24 October, beginning at 7 p.m.

The United Nations Day Concert is organized each year by the Department of Public Information, to mark the anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Charter on 24 October 1945.  This year’s concert is sponsored by the Government of Sweden.

The year 2005 is also the centenary of the birth of former United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld.  It was Dag Hammarskjöld who established the United Nations Day concert as an annual tradition when he took office at New York Headquarters in 1953.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan; the President of the General Assembly, Jan Eliasson of Sweden; and the Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation, Carin Jämtin, will make opening remarks at Monday’s concert.  Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, will introduce the programme, which features Nordic songs, as well as excerpts from symphonies by Mahler and Prokofiev, performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under its Chief Conductor and Musical Director Alan Gilbert.  Ms. Anne Sofie von Otter will be the featured mezzo soprano.

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1902 and headquartered at the world famous Blue Stockholm Concert Hall, has toured Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Romania and Spain and participates in the annual Nobel Prize ceremony.  The Orchestra entered the twenty-first century under the baton of Alan Gilbert, who also holds the position of Music Director of the Santa Fe Opera, USA, and Principal Guest at the Nordeutsche Rundfunk Orchester.  Born in 1967, Mr. Gilbert is one of the most sought after conductors of his generation.

A message will be broadcast to all United Nations staff regarding concert tickets.  One ticket per staff member will be available from the Staff Council, on a first-come, first-serve basis.  Tickets will be made available to the United Nations Correspondents through the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit in S-0250 A.  For further information on the concert, please contact Nancy Thio at 917-367-3541.

For information media • not an official record