A new year has begun, as well as one more national selection is ready to do… Lithuania is starting tonight their search for their 2019 Eurovision representative, with the first preliminary round of their annual competition Eurovizija.

The event will be consisting of 4 preliminary rounds (heats), at which half of the contestants will be proceeding to the semi-finals, two semi-finals and the Grand Final, which is scheduled for the evening of 23 February.

Heat 1 of the show was recorded on 20 December with the presence of a three-member jury, consisting of Ramūnas Zilnys, Vytautas Bikus and Jonas Nainys. The 2018 entrant Ieva Zasimauskaitė will appear as guest in the show.

The jury votes have already been cast for tonight’s show, but the final result will emerge by a 50/50 jury/public vote deliberation. Tonight’s contestants are:

1. Matas Ligeika – You came here to fly
2. Simona Klušienė – This day begin with love
3. Filtered tools – Survival
4. Rūta Statkevičiūtė – Paradox
5. Šarūnas Mačiulis – Traukinys (Train)
6. Aldegunda – I want your love
7. Gabriela Ždanovičiūtė – Home is in your heart
8. Migloko – Rožės (Roses)
9. Twosome – 1000
10. MaNNazz – Blind bird
11. Gebrasy – Acceptance
12. Glossarium – Anyone

How to watch

The show will air tonight at 20:00 CET and you may watch it through:

• LRT Lituanica
• LRT Televizija HD
• Live from LRT’s official page

As announced by broadcaster LRT, hosting the competition this year will be Gabrielė Martirosianaitė and Giedrius Masalskis.

Lithuania at Eurovision

Under the same national selection format, Lithuania decided to take part and send a representative to the 63rd Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. The young singer Ieva Zasimauskaitė was the lucky winner of Eurovizija 2018, with her ballad song When we’re old.

The rehearsals’ beginning in Lisbon and her qualification to the Grand Final, saw Ieva climbing much higher than probably expected to the bookers’ preferences, even inside the Top 5 of the contest. Following an extraordinary and romantic performance with her husband joining her on stage in the end, Ieva finally came 12th in the Grand Final, with a total of 181 points.

The 64th Eurovision Song Contest will be taking place on 14, 16 and 18 May at the EXPO Tel Aviv in Tel Aviv, Israel. The contest’s slogan will be Dare to Dream.