7,634 bands across the globe fought it out for months to win through to the grand Emergenza finale at the Taubertal Open Air Festival in southern Germany. And, 10 months and 1,400 gigs into the 2006 worldwide band contest, there was a winner: "The Sessions" from Canada. Sennheiser, meanwhile, not only equipped the concerts worldwide with microphones and wireless systems, but the audio specialist also offered musicians 70 chances to win its products.

Since it was founded in 1992, the Emergenza Festival has been the big breakthrough chance for little-known bands, giving them a chance not just to get experience of playing for international audiences, but also to get to know clubs, record companies, managers and professional audio suppliers. The prize for the band winning the global contest is a professional studio recording, and at the 2006 final in the Taubertal in Germany, it was the Canadian band "The Sessions" who were celebrating that. Other attractive prizes also awaited at each of the concerts in the ten-month series of preliminary rounds. Audio specialist Sennheiser, for instance, sponsored the festival to the tune of some 70 prizes to set any musician's pulse racing.

"Sennheiser has supported Emergenza since 2001", says Michael Polten, director of product management at Sennheiser. "Firstly, we equip the concert stages with microphones and wireless systems. We also provide prizes at almost 70 concerts in the USA and Europe; the winners get microphones from the "evolution" series or complete "evolution wireless" RF systems such as the ew 135 G2. Tomorrow's bands should be working with the best available equipment, today."

20,000 music fans converged on the Taubertal Festival for three days in August to experience the grand international final. "For a company like Sennheiser, which is so closely linked to the music industry, it's always a great thing to witness how much fun and understanding come about through music " says Michael Polten. "That's exactly why Sennheiser supports Emergenza: it's about great opportunities, but it?s also about great music and great shows."

Since 1991, more than 10 million guests have enjoyed live Emergenza performances by almost 30,000 bands in 20 countries. The next round has already begun. There are 1,360 shows left until the next grand final in the Taubertal. And audio specialist Sennheiser will be there for the 2007 edition of the band contest too, to make sure that everyone is a winner here.

As one of the world's leading manufacturers of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems, the Sennheiser Group with its headquarters in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, had total sales of about €300 million in 2005. The export share is 82.5%. Sennheiser has a total workforce of more than 1,650 employees, of whom about 60% are employed in Germany. Sennheiser is active worldwide and, in addition to other partnerships, has its own sales subsidiaries in France, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, China, Singapore, Canada, Mexico and the USA.

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