Buona sera Italia! Tonight is the first night of the 65th Sanremo Song Festival. The legendary competition will run for five nights, with the Grand Final to take place on Saturday 14 February.
About the Show
A total of twenty acts will contest the Campioni (Big Artists) category, and the winner of this category will represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest if they are agreeable. If the winner is not agreeable, article no. 27 in the Sanremo Song Festival rules states that the organisers of the event reserve the right to choose another participant via their own criteria.
The first ten of the twenty acts will perform this evening, and those acts are listed below next to their Sanremo Festival entries:
- Annalisa – Una finestra tra le stelle
- Malika Ayane – Adesso è qui
- Alex Britti – Un attimo importante
- Chiara – Straordinario
- Dear Jack – Il mondo esplode
- Grazia Di Michele e Mauro Coruzzi (Platinette) – Io sono una finestra
- Lara Fabian – Voce
- Gianluca Grignani – Sogni infranti
- Nek – Fatti avanti amore
- Nesli – Buona fortuna amore
Read about all twenty Sanremo participants here.
Voting will consist of a combined vote; 50% televote and 50% press vote. At the end of the show, the Top 6 of the combined vote will be revealed in alphabetical order with the 4 other acts being at most risk of leaving the contest during the semi-final.
Whilst none of the acts will be leaving tonight’s show, the results of the combined televote and press vote will be carried over to Friday’s semi-final stage where 16 of the 20 acts will qualify to the Grand Final on Saturday.
The 8 artists participating in the Nuove Proposte (Newcomers) section of the event will also be presented during today’s show.
How to watch
[alert-info]Sanremo 2015, an RAI production, will commence at 20:20 CET. The show will be aired live on:
- RAI webcast
- Rai HD
- Rai Radio 1
- Rai Radio 2
[/alert-info]
Carlo Conti will present, assisted by Italian superstar and former Eurovision Song Contest participant Emma Marrone (La mia citta, 2014) and the singer and actress Arisa.
Guest performers
Tonight’s guest performers include the 1976 and 1985 Italian representatives Al Bano and Romina Power, Tiziano Ferro and Imagine Dragons.
Follow all the action here with us at ESC Today, and be sure to check out the official Sanremo Festival website, Facebook page, Twitter page and Instagram.
The Sanremo 2015 Agenda
- 10/02 – Sanremo Notte 1
- 11/02 – Sanremo Notte 2
- 12/02 – Sanremo Notte 3
- 13/02 – Sanremo Notte 4 (Semi-final of Campioni Category with twenty acts)
- 14/02 – Sanremo Notte 5 (Grand Final of Sanremo 2015 with sixteen acts)
The Story so Far
Founded in 1951, the Sanremo Festival was first won by Tony Dallara and Renato Rascel with Romantica.
Italy has traditionally used the Sanremo Festival to determine their Eurovision Song Contest representative. Raphael Gualazzi (2011), Nina Zilli (2012) and Marco Mengoni (2013) were all selected via their Sanremo success.
As a “Big Five” country, Italy will qualify automatically for the Grand Final of the Vienna extravaganza on 23 May. Italy last won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1990, with Toto Cutugno’s Insieme: 1992.
ESCToday would like to give a special thank you to eurofestivalitalia.net.
