Who will fly the flag for Portugal at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest?  Do not miss a minute of the Festival da Canção action here with us at ESC Today, as Portugal decides upon its next Eurovision representative.

About the show

A production of national broadcaster RTP (Rádio e Televisão de Portugal), Festival da Canção 2015 promises some exciting new features.  Comprising of two semi-finals and one Grand Final, each semi-final will adhere to a different theme.  The first semi-final, taking place this evening (Tuesday 3 March) will showcase the history of Festival da Canção (which is celebrating its 51st year) and the second semi-final (on Thursday 5 March) will pay tribute to the 60th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest, which is held this year at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria, on 19, 21 and 23 May.

Festival da Canção 2015 has a total of six hosts to preside over the three shows this week.  Tonight’s semi-final will be presented by Joana Teles and Jorge Gabriel.

Six acts will perform tonight, and three of these acts will proceed to Saturday’s Grand Final.  Two of the acts will be selected via public vote and the third act will be chosen using an expert panel.  A system of 100% public voting will be used to crown the winner of the Grand Final of Festival da Canção 2015.

The acts performing tonight are listed below, next to their competition entries, and the composers of their entries:

1. Rita Seidi – Lisboa, Lisboa (Sara Tavares/Kalaf Epalanga)
2. Leonor Andrade – Há um mar que nos separa (Miguel Gameiro)
3. Filipa Baptista –  A noite inteira (Augusto Madureira)
4. Yola Dinis – Outra vez primavera (Nuno Marques da Silva)
5. Gonçalo Tavares – Tu tens uma mágica (Gonçalo Tavares/José Cid)
6. Adelaide Ferreira – Paz (Adelaide Ferreira)

How to watch

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The action commences at 21:00 local time (22:00 CET).

• RTP 1
• RTP 1 webcast
• Festival da Canção webcast

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Check out the official Festival da Canção website, Facebook page and chat on Twitter using the hashtag #FestivalDaCancao.

The story so far

Portugal debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest of 1964, with António Calvário and Oração.  The best result for the Iberian country came in 1996, when Lúcia Moniz finished in sixth place.  Portugal was last represented by Suzy, who narrowly missed qualification for the Grand Final of the 2014 contest with her entry Quero ser tua.

Who are your favourites?  Who should represent Portugal at Eurovision this year?  Stay tuned to esctoday.com for all the latest news on Festival da Canção, Portugal and the Eurovision Song Contest 2015!