Eugene Filatov has been revealed by STB as the third and final member of the jury in Ukraine’s selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018.
Eugene Filatov joins Jamala and Andriy Danylko as a member of the jury in Vidbir 2018. Eugene Filatov is strongly involved in the Ukrainian music industry, having founded The Maneken and being a producer for world renowned ONUKA.
Over the course of his career Eugene has worked with some of the biggest names in the Ukrainian music scene including former Eurovision participants Svetlana Loboda and Tina Karol. Mr Filatov has also been previously involved in the Ukrainian selection process, having been involved in the arrangements of a number of songs including the entries from Sunsay.
Eugene Filatov is looking forward to what young artists can show during the 2018 selection process;
Over the past few years in Ukraine, we can note the rapidly growing perspective of the development of new and interesting music. Every year we have more and more independent musicians who sound qualitatively. Therefore, I place great hopes on this competition. I want it to launch new first-class artists, so that the sounded trend remains in the years to come
Applications for interested performers are open now and can be submitted on STB’s website. The application window will close on 15th January 2018.
The first semi-final of the selection is due to take place on 10 February 2018. The second semi will follow on 17 February with the grand final on 24 February. The show will once again be broadcast from the Palace of Culture, Kyiv and will be hosted for the second year by Serhiy Prytula. The winner of Vidbir 2018 will be decided by both the jury and the public televote, and will then go on to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, Portugal.
Source: STB
Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest
Ukraine first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2003, when Oleksandr Ponomariov performed “Hasta la vista”. The following year Ruslana won the contest for Ukraine with the song “Wild Dances”. It was a feat that would be replicated again in 2016 by Jamala with her song “1944”, her emotionally charged song scored a record 534 points to take victory in Stockholm. In 2015 Ukraine did not compete in the contest due to financial difficulties.
