🇲🇩 Moldova: Longlist for Selecţia Naţională 2026 Revealed

The Moldovan broadcaster TRM has published the longlist of artists for the audition stage of Selecția Națională 2026.

Following the preliminary examination of the files of the submitted recordings, TRM has revealed the 34 artists that will undergo the live audition stage for Selecția Națională 2026, the national selection that Moldova will use to choose a representative for Eurovision 2026. The live audition stage will take place on December 16 starting at 11:00, in studio 2 of TRM in Chisinau.

The complete line-up of the auditions is as follows:

• Adelisha – “Alegria” (Joy)
• Adelina – “Putere în durere” (Strength in pain)
• Adrian Sîrbu – “Ne-am stins” (We have passed away)
• Sasha Flowers – “Can do more”
• Sasha Flowers – “We fight till the end”
• Alexei Legasi – “Rebel”
• Annet Smirnova – “Sunt femeia” (I am the woman)
• Artiom Topal – “Money”
• Catalina Solomac – “Pink Margarita”
• Chris Cross ft Radco – “Taci” (Be quiet)
• Cristy Rouge – “Bliss”
• Dana Marchitan – “Cry”
• DAYANA – “Doina”
• Bacho – “Tata” (Father)
• Lisa Volk – “Dragostea Mea” (My love)
• Emforia – “Tipare” (Patterns)
• Evghenii Avramov & ALenin Ivan – “Foc la ghete” (Fire in the boots)
• Ilinca Siviroveanu – “Running through the rain”
• Curly – “Respir liber” (I breathe freely)
• Iulia Teleuca – “Luna Mea” (My moon)
• Katy Rain – “Dance & Cry”
• Moniq Monua – “Like I do”
• August Black – “You make me crazy”
• Maxim Zavidia – “Alo” (Hello)
• Nadejda Rotaru – “Winter story”
• Nikko – “Falling in love”
• Pavel Orlov – “Can’t say goodbye”
• Rodica Jabinschi – “Dependentă” (Dependence)
• Oliv Sky – “Bad dream”
• Sasha Bognibov – “On the right path”
• Satoshi – “Viva, Moldova”
• L-ERA – “Friends”
• Valleria – “Valerian Steel rai di ri di dam”
• Zeleno – “No pain no gain”

Serghei Orlov, the music producer of the national selection, mentions: “Even though the evaluation of the songs is relatively subjective, we will be guided by the trends of the contest from previous years, but also by criteria such as – the originality of the song, vocals, the artist’s stage performance, charisma, message. The live performance stage will show the true potential of the songs and artists”.

“I am glad that the artists are interested in this competition. It means that the actions taken by public television this year to improve the format have been perceived by the artistic environment. I firmly believe that we have something to show Europe”, said Andrei Zapşa, Deputy General Director responsible for television at TRM.

For the first time since 2015, the live auditions will not be broadcast. Between 5 to 10 acts will be selected for the final.

The final of Selecţia Naţională 2026 will take place on January 17 at the Chișinău Arena. The jury for the national selection will consist of 20 members; 5 international members and 15 Moldovan members. The winner will be decided by the international jury members (33%), the Moldovan jury members (33%) and public voting (33%).

TRM also intends to offer the winner of the selection a prize to support their preparations for Eurovision and the support of the producers through their journey to the competition.

Moldova withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 “following a detailed analysis of the current situation, as well as the economic, administrative and artistic challenges”. Moldova had planned to compete in Basel, but withdrew following the live auditions stage of Etapa Națională. Moldova had competed annually in the Eurovision Song Contest since its debut in 2005.

Moldova was the third country to announce its return to Eurovision 2026, BNT of Bulgaria and TVR of Romania having confirmed their returns a few days before.

Natalia Barbu performed “In The Middle” in Semi-Final One of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. Moldova placed 13th in the Semi-Final scoring 20 points.

Image source: EBU / Alma Bengtsson | Source: TRM