Prior to the 2016 Contest, Russia had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest ten times since its debut in. Russia have participated at ever contest since its debut, and have won the contest once in with the song "Vesenniy Jazz", performed by Tolmachevy Twins. The twin sisters went on to become the first act from a Junior Eurovision Song Contest to represent their country at the Eurovision Song Contest, performing the song "Shine" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, in Copenhagen, Denmark.
National Final
On 10 September Carousel finished accepting applications for participation in the Russian national selection for the Junior Eurovision 2015. The national final was held on 25 September 2015. Mikhail Smirnov was declared the winner. The jury was composed by 7 members, including some well known names for Eurovision fans like Alisa Kozhikina, Philipp Kirkorov and Julia Savicheva. Both Philipp and Julia performed during the interval act.
Before Junior Eurovision
National selection
The Russian broadcaster, Russia-1, announced on 29 April 2016 that they would be participating at the 2016 Contest, taking place in Valletta, Malta, on 20 November 2016. At the time of the announcement, it was also stated that the national final would take place in the city ofSochi, which had also hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics. The choice of city for hosting the national selection was later changed following an announcement on 27 May 2016, when further details regarding the mechanism for the selection process were released. The national selection took place on 15 August 2016, in Artek, Crimea, and was televised a day later on 16 August 2016. Submissions for entrants were open between 30 May to 15 July, with the audition stage taking place in the Russian capital, Moscow on 20 July 2016. Russia-1 announced on 21 July 2016 that a total of sixteen artists would be competing in the national final.
Final
Artist and song information
Mikhail Smirnov
Mikhail Smirnov, better known by his stage name Misha Smirnov, is a Russian child singer. He will represent Russia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Mechta". Smirnov was born in the city of Moscow, Russia on April 30, 2003. Mikhail's success as a singer is no less impressive considering his family background - born to parents who are mathematicians, who both graduated from the Maths & Mechanics faculty at the Moscow State University. When he was three years old, Mikhail suddenly began to stutter and his parents sent him to singing lessons as part of the therapy. There, his first vocal coach noticed that Mikhail not only had a good ear for music but also a wonderful voice. His mother, who also graduated from music school and plays piano, cultivated Mikhail’s love of music throughout his childhood. Gradually gaining skills, Mikhail began not only performing at various competitions, but also winning prizes. At the age of eight he moved studios, and hit professional level by winning many prizes in his new environment. Despite his young age, Mikhail has a large number of titles to his name from both Russian and international competitions. Mikhail is already an experienced actor and was a finalist on the second season of the Russian TV show The Voice Kids. Mikhail had to battle a series of strong female vocalists, many of whom rode the EDM trend with upbeat, danceable songs.
