Between her two performances in Selecția Națională and the official music video, we’ve seen a number of visuals for “On A Sunday”. Now, ahead of her first rehearsal next week, the Romanian Head of Delegation has given some more details. He explained that the delegation have spent a significant amount of money on the stage show.
Speaking at a TVR press conference, Liana Stanciu, the Romanian Head of Delegation said that they are aiming for a strong result. To achieve this, they have invested a large amount of money into ‘special effects’ for Ester’s performance.
TVR are pushing for a strong result in Tel Aviv, with specific emphasis being put on the staging of “On a Sunday” and the investments made in it. Speaking at a press conference today the Romanian Head of Delegation explained:
It is the first time that more money has been allocated for the show than for the delegation, compared to the past years, when 20 people went and … I am happy that I finally had the opportunity to check all components, because so far we have gone as poor people there. I had no wind … No one’s gonna notice you if you do not invest in the show.
Romanian HOD speaking at a recent press conference
Overall, €100,000 is being spent by the Romanian delegation on their participation this year. This includes the cost of having 11 delegation members in Tel Aviv for the contest. Apparently, this will be the first year Romania has produced its own graphics for the contest.
Who is Ester Peony?
Born in 1993, Ester Alexandra Crețu and her parents moved from Romania to Montreal, Canada in 2001. While living there, she developed a passion for music, studying jazz singing from age eight. She then returned to Romania to study classical music. In 2014, she released her first single “Cuminte de Crăciun” under the moniker ‘Ester’. In 2015, she began to upload covers YouTube, which eventually got her signed to a label and booked on her first national tour. She went on to enjoy national radio play with “Sub aripa ta” (feat. Vescan) the following year.
In 2018, she began to perform under the name ‘Ester Peony’. She independently released her debut EP, Dig It. Earlier this year, Ester won Romania’s Selecția Națională after securing a significant lead in the jury vote. As the juries consisted 6/7 of the overall vote, she won the ticket to Tel Aviv. Despite the controversy surrounding this, Ester signed with a new label, Cat Music, shortly after. She is currently working on her debut studio album, set to be released later in 2019.
Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest
Since the introduction of the Eurovision semi-finals in 2004, Romania appeared in every single grand final up until 2016. In 2016, Romania selected Ovidiu Anton to represent the country with Moment of Silence. Nevertheless, just a few weeks before the rehearsals in Stockholm, the EBU expelled TVR due to failures to pay debt. As a result, Romania withdrew from the contest.
In 2017, Ilinca and Alex Florea scored Romania’s fourth best result in the history of the contest with “Yodel It!”. In addition, they certainly provided one of the contest’s most memorable performances in recent years!
Unfortunately, the success was short-lived, as Romania suffered its worst result ever the following year. The Human’s failed to qualify to the Grand Final in Lisbon last year, breaking Romania’s 100% qualification method. Ester will be hoping to bring Romania back to the final this year. She is performing 6th in semi-final 2.
Are you looking forward to seeing Ester’s staging? Will she bring Romania back to the Grand Final? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! We’ll also be posting plenty of content on our YouTube in the run up to Tel Aviv!
