After months of auditions, Israel’s Rising Star for Eurovision 2016 is going into the final phase. A total of 16 acts have advanced to the final team, and only four will qualify to the final that is reported to be held on 3 March.
The auditions have been screened in two weekly episodes of 30 minutes each on Friday and Saturday nights. All shows, except for the grand final have been pre-recorded, means the final four are already known, and as the deadline for submitting songs to the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 is less than two weeks after the final, the four finalists will perform actual songs and not just cover versions as happened in last year’s final. Teddy Productions, who produces Rising Star, is now looking for suitable entries for the four finalists.
Twelve out of the sixteen in the final team have been already revealed during a three-hour long show that was broadcasted last weekend. They are:
- Chiara Duple
- Ella Daniel
- Gil Hadash
- Hovi Star
- Naomi Azran
- Nofar Salman
- Oded Sharabi
- Ofir Haim
- Sharon Partuk
- Shevahya Bat-Israel
- Uriel Aharoni
- Velma
One of the guests in the semi-final recording was Yoav Ginai, who was the Israeli spokeperson in 1998-2001 and co-wrote the Israeli entries Diva (1998) and Light a candle (2002)
