The new details include information regarding the second wave of tickets for all 9 shows, a new mascot, a Eurovision Song Contest cookbook and details about this year’s interval and opening acts.
Second wave of tickets
The second wave of tickets will go on sale on the 26th of March at 15:00 CET. Tickets will only be available for people who registered for tickets between November and December 2025 at eurovision.com or oeticket.com. Tickets for all 9 shows are due to be available.
Meet Auri !
ORF has also unveiled a new mascot : Auri ! Auri will be heading to the Vienna City Marathon, ORF children’s programmes and many events in May in order to promote the Eurovision Song Contest. Moreover, due to be released on the 20th of March, Auri will be the protagonist of a new children’s book : Auri – The Show of His Life.
Eurovision cookbook
The official Eurovision Song Contest cookbook has also been released prior to the contest. The book is penned by Manuela Tiefnif, a member of OGAE Austria who has attended numerous Eurovision events and has been able to indulge in local cuisines from the host cities. The book features culinary recipes from all 35 competing countries and is available to buy here.
Interval and opening acts revealed
On Tuesday 12 May the first semi-final will take place. A 70-member choir will perform “L’Amour Est Bleu” one of the most popular Eurovision hits of all time, which was first performed in 1967 when Vienna hosted the contest for the first time. While the votes are coming in, the hosts Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski will finally settle how to distinguish Austria from Australia via a light-hearted musical performance. They will be joined by Go-Jo, who represented Australia at Basel 2025.
On Thursday 14 May the second semi-final will take place. The hosts will open the show with a performance of the song that brought the contest all the way to Austria, “Wasted Love”. During the interval act of the second semi-final, JJ will take to the stage to present viewers with a brand new song.
JJ will open the Grand Final on Saturday, 16 May, where he will be accompanied by 40 dancers as well as acrobats. At the same time, the grand finalists will be introduced at the Wiener Stadhalle. During the voting period, three interval acts will take the stage. The first will be a top-secret selection of “Eurovision all-stars” performing iconic songs from the contest’s history. Afterwards, Austrian electro-swing artist Parov Stelar will perform. Finally, Austrian Eurovision 2018 representative César Sampson will perform a soulful version of the iconic Billy Joel song “Vienna”.
All about Eurovision 2026
The journey to the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest kicked off immediately following JJ’s win in Basel, when Austria’s ORF accepted the rights to host the 70th edition of the contest. The bidding process started in June, with interested cities having until July 4 to submit their bid book. Innsbruck and Vienna were shortlisted, with the latter winning the right to host next year’s contest. 35 countries will take part in the competition, the lowest number of competing entries since 2004.
As for the organisation of the competition, the ‘core team‘ was revealed in June 2025, with further details about next year’s competition to be revealed in due course. The shows will take place on May 12th, 14th and 16th.
Will you be heading to Vienna for Eurovision 2026 ? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2026!
News source : ORF
Photo credits : EBU
Giwrgos Oiko 
Aleksi N.