Release date: 14/03/2016

The final rehearsals for the official opening ceremony took place today ahead of Friday’s celebration for the ten year anniversary of LGCT and the inauguration of the recently developed state of the art Tops International Arena. Revealed for the first time will be the new anthem for the Longines Global Champions Tour, created by the famous Dutch composer Erwin Steijlen, and the evening ceremony performance will feature the 11 year old singing sensation Amira Willighagen.

Speaking following her rehearsal, Amira said about the upcoming event: "I'm very excited to perform with this show and I'm looking forward to it. I'll be singing 'Nessun Dorma' which I love very much. It's very special to sing in The Netherlands in front of local fans and it's special that people are buying tickets and will come to see me sing, it's very nice.” 

Amongst the performers who will take part in the opening ceremony this Friday are the Zo Gospel Choir, the percussion group 'The Drum People’, DJ Robert Feelgood and break dancers who will combine to create a sensational sound and visual feast for the visitors to the arena. 

Also debuting for the first time will be the new music specially composed for the opening show and for the forthcoming LGCT events. Written by the famous Dutch composer Erwin Steijlen, the ‘DJ meets orchestra’ soundtrack will become the signature anthem for the Longines Global Champions Tour events and includes classical, urban, pop and dance music for the show. Featuring over 100 artists, the new anthem was recorded in the world famous Wisseloord Studios, situated in The Netherlands, and has previously been used for recording by Madonna, Sting, Celine Dion, The Rolling Stones and Damien Rice to name a few.  

This specially created soundtrack will be used during competitions for clear rounds, the lap of honour, and prize giving ceremony. 

Erwin Steijlen, composer: "I normally compose music for brands and events, but creating something for a big show like this with over 100 artists is quite unusual. The key words were 'DJ meets orchestra' and so that's what I wrote. It had to have a little bit of an Olympic feeling, and a sporty feeling mixed with a DJ, and we needed a platform for all these musicians to play on. 

"In terms of finding inspiration, I usually start very early in the morning - around 06:00 in the morning. I start a beat, I play a few chords and then I start signing; to me everything is a song. For this I used the key words 'Olympic', 'orchestra', 'sport' and of course the sound had to be big, as we're in such a big stadium , with some big names here. We have a choir, strings, horns and percussion, then there are break dancers for example, and everything had to be in it and to sound as one song.

"When I started work on this I spent some time researching Jan Tops and the Longines Global Champions Tour, and one of the elements that stuck out was that it is a worldwide concept, and that's what truly inspired me. Everyone in the world loves music, everyone in the world loves sport.”

A behind the scenes glimpse of the rehearsal will be available online tomorrow. 

To watch the making of the new anthem, please click here.

For tickets and more information, please click here.