ORF begins Eurovision 2026 rehearsals in Vienna today, with each delegation receiving 40 minutes to polish their entries.
Eurovision 2026, Europe’s largest musical competition, officially gets underway today, May 2nd, with the first rehearsals taking place on the grand stage in Vienna, Austria. Each national delegation has been allocated 40 minutes of stage time to begin their technical preparations and initial run-throughs.
During these rehearsals, the singers will be able to perform their entries multiple times, polishing their performances ahead of the Semi-Finals and the Grand Final. This stage time is crucial for the artists to familiarize themselves with the Austrian stage and the overall production scale. Each delegation submitted its detailed staging and directing plans to the Austrian national broadcaster, ORF, back in March to ensure all technical requirements were met.
In the week leading up to today’s start, stand-in rehearsals featuring substitute performers were conducted. These sessions allowed the production team to facilitate final technical adjustments, ensuring that every camera angle and lighting cue is ready for the artists’ arrival. This preparatory phase ensures that the transition to the live performances remains seamless for all 2026 participants.
Which countries will be holding the first rehearsals?
Today, rehearsals kick off with the first seven countries from the first semi-final of Eurovision 2026:
Eurovision 2026 – Dates and times
Eurovision 2026 will take place in May, continuing the long‑standing tradition.
Here are the exact dates:
- First semi‑final: Tuesday, May 12th, 2026
- Second semi‑final: Thursday, May 14th, 2026
- Grand final: Saturday, May 16th, 2026
For those asking “What time does Eurovision 2026 start?”, each live show is scheduled to begin at 21:00 CET, making it accessible to viewers right across the continent.
Eurovision 2026: the 70th edition of the contest will take place in Vienna, Austria, on May 12th, 14th, and 16th, 2026. The Wiener Stadthalle arena, which will host the event, is expected to accommodate around 16,000 spectators per show. The contest returns to Austria following the nation’s third historic win with the song “Wasted Love”, performed by JJ. It will be Austria’s third time hosting Eurovision, after previous editions held in the country in 1967 and 2015.
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Maor Heumann has been writing about the Eurovision Song Contest and following it for over three decades. He has attended five contests and has found something to appreciate in almost every possible musical genre — from the sugary pop entries that finish last in the semi-finals to the quirky avant-garde pieces that even the competition’s juries struggled to connect with. He usually prefers original languages and songs with depth over Swedish-produced English clones — though he doesn’t promise to stick to that rule.
He grew up on the kibbutz of Sara’le Sharon, who instilled in him a love for music and created his first connection to the contest back in 1993 — before most of the current editorial team was even born.
