Following Hungary, the Balkan state of Romania is the second country to bring their national selection for Eurovision 2018 to a start this weekend. Get ready and enjoy the show, as Selecția Națională is all set to begin!

As with every year, the national broadcaster TVR revealed that Selecția Națională would once again be their national selection mechanism. The show will consist of five semi-final evenings, each of them taking place on Sunday in a different city around the country.

How to watch

The show will air live from 20:00 CET (21:00 local time) on the following:

• TVR 1
• TVR HD
• TVR International
• TVR Moldova
• TVR +
• Live webcast via tvrplus.ro

A live webcast will also be available via the official TVR YouTube channel:

So, what will happen tonight?

Thus, tonight’s semi-final evening will be airing from the city of Focșani, whilst only the Grand Final will be held in the capital Bucharest on 25 February.

Tonight sees a total of 12 acts perform, in the hope of a place in the final evening. As determined by the broadcaster, tonight we are going to witness the following acts:

1. Lina – A love worth falling for
2. Johnny Bădulescu – Devoted
3. Hellen – From underneath
4. Eduard Santha – Mesom romales
5. Echoes – Mirror
6. Alex Florea – Nobody told me it would hurt
7. Waleska – Reborn
8. Liviu Anghel – Rise up
9. CornEL – Take me away
10. Tom Hartis – Teardrop rain
11. Elena Turcu – The perfect fall
12. Alexia & Matei – Walking on water

12 performing acts, only 3 spots available for the final. The 3 qualifying entries from each semi-final evening will bring the final number of contestants on 25 February to 15. The winner of the final will have the honour to defend the Romanian colours in Lisbon next May.

A surprising opening act!

According to TVR, the opening act of the 1st semi-final will be the famous singer Luminiţa Anghel, who represented Romania in 2005 with the band Sistem with the song Let me try. They earned an honorable 3rd place, the country’s best result to date.

As previously reported, hosting the show will be the model and actress Diana Dumitrescu and the opera countertenor Cezar Ouatu, who represented Romania back in 2013 with the song It’s my life.

The two artists will be joined by Anca Medeleanu, a TVR Iaşi presenter, who will convey the feelings and reactions of the participants from the Green Room.

Here are the hosts inviting us all to join the party tonight! (in Romanian)

 

Stay tuned on ESCToday for the show’s results, as well as all news regarding the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest!