The EBU have this morning revealed that the second edition of Eurovision Choir of the year will take place on Saturday 3rd August in the Swedish city of Gothenburg. 

Participation – 10 amateur choirs from across Europe will compete for the chance to be crowned champion, one more than the inaugural competition held in 2017 in Riga.  The 10 competing countries and their host broadcasters are –

• Belgium (RTBF)
• France (France Télévisions) 
• Germany (WDR)
• Latvia (LTV)
• Norway (NRK)
• Scotland (BBC)
• Slovenia (RTV)
• Sweden (SVT)
• Switzerland (RTS)
• Wales (S4C)

There are some notable changes when compared with the 2017 edition as Austria, Denmark, Estonia and Hungary all withdrawing from the contest while France, Norway, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland will all make their debuts.

This will be the first time Scotland has competed in a Eurovison event independently, although it is still with the BBC, it is believed that the involvement will be organised through the new BBC Scotland Channel due to be launched in February 2019. 

Two countries- Germany and Wales have already selected their Choirs for the contest with BonnVoice and Cake O’Phonie being selected respectively for their nations.

Rules – The EBU have introduced a time limit of 4 minutes for participating songs, this is down on the maximum 6 minute length used for the contest in 2017. The other rules remain largely unchanged from the last edition with the confirmation that an expert jury will once again decide the winners of the contest. The choirs have size restrictions of between 4-45 participants. 

Location – The show will take place on Saturday 3rd August 2019 at the Partille Arena in Gothemburg. Primarily used as a handball arena, it also has a 4500 capacity for concerts with Finnish supergroup Nightwish recently performing there as part of their word tour. This will ensure a fantastic atmosphere for the choirs competing.

Looking back – Last year it was Slovenia who took the title at the Skonto Hall in Riga as Choir Carmen Manet won with their production medley “Ta na Solbici, Adrca, Aj, zelena je vsa gora” which you can watch below- 

As always let us know what you think about this exciting addition to the Eurovision family on our social media pages!