Romania chooses opera singer for Eurovision song competition this spring

Romanians chose the song which will represent the country at the Eurovision competition in Sweden in May. The contra-tenor Cezar Ouatu will represent Romania with the song It's my life, as he was the public's favorite in the race over the weekend. The votes from the public made half of his tally, and even if the judges' favorite was another song, the tenor won. Listen to his performance below.

Cezar Ouatu, nicknamed Cezar The Voice, was born in Romania in a family of musicians and discovered his unique voice when he was 20. He studied at the Giuseppe Verdi music school in Milan and in the last 10 years he has built an international opera career, with international prizes in Barcelona, Dresda, Milan, Monaco, San Marino. Last year, he decided to approach pop music as well. In 2013, apart from the Eurovision competition, Cezar will, collaborate with famous Romania soprano Angela Gheorghiu and with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. The song he'll be singing at Malmo in May was composed by Cristian Faur, who is not a stranger to the Eurovision competition. He previously composed the song Let me try for Luminita Anghel, who represented Romania together with Sistem at the Kiev gala in 2005. In the selection competition over the weekend, second place went to the band Electric Fence, who were the judges' favorite, but who did not get as many votes from the public. Third place was Luminita Anghel, who ended up disappointed that one of the judges gave her 0 points, thus preventing her from landing the first place. The other contestants in the finale were Casa Presei - Un Refren, Narcis Iustin Ianau - with the song Seven, Freestay - Criminal Mind, Elena Carstea - with Spinning, Ovidiu Anton -Run Away With Me, Cristian Prajescu - with The Best Thing In Life Is To Love, Al Mike and Renee Santana - What Is Love, Tudor Turcu - with Hello, and Andrei Leonte – Paralyzed. Romania’s public TV station - TVR organizes the national selection event. Previous best Romanian performances at the Eurovision contest were: third place - Luminita Anghel & Sistem at Kiev in 2005 and Paula Seling and Ovi at Oslo, 2010, and one fourth place - Mihai Traistariu in Athens, 2006. Last year, Romania ranked 12th in the Eurovision final with the song Zaleilah performed by Mandinga.