Portugal: The 16 composers of the Festival da Canção 2020 | The final on March 7th

Portugal’s public broadcaster, RTP, has just announced the 16 composers to take part in the Festival da Canção 2020, the country’s national final for Eurovision 2020. In addition, the dates of the FdC have been announced. The semifinals will take place on February 22 and 29, with the final taking place on March 7!

Through the Festival da Canção, Portugal will choose its representative in the Eurovision Song Contest for another year. 16 composers have been selected to compete at the Festival da Canção 2020 and to claim Portuguese representation in Rotterdam next May.

The 16 composers are:

 -António Avelar Pinho
– Blasted Mechanism
– Cláudio Frank (from the radio show Master Class)
– Dino d’Santiago
– Dúbio ft. +351 (from the open invitation)
– Elisa Rodrigues
– Filipe Sambado
– Hélio Morais
– Jimmy P
– João Cabrita
– Marta Carvalho
– Meera
– Pedro Jóia
– Rui Pregal da Cunha
– Throes + The Shine
– Tiago Nacarato

From the list above,14 composers came out  from a direct invitation by RTP , one was the winner of the Master Class radio program and one came out from an open competition. Performers of the 16 songs will be announced at a later date. The songs will be made public shortly before each semifinal, as it was this year.

A total of 16 artists will claim the gold ticket for the Netherlands. Eight artists will compete in each semifinal, the first 4 in each semifinal will advance to the FdC Grand Final on March 7th. As a result, the eight finalists will compete for the right to represent Portugal in the Eurovision 2020 song contest.

This year, Portugal was represented by Conan Osiris with the song “Telemoveis”. Although a favorite  of many fans, he failed to qualify for the Final, finishing 15th with 51 points.