After a two-year break, the DescOperă open-air classical music festival is back with a fifth edition. During June 17-19, musicians from Austria, Georgia, Serbia, Romania and Moldova will perform in Butuceni village, the Old Orhei Reserve.

This year’s DescOperă kicks off with a performance by the National Opera’s orchestra, featuring conductor Daniel Jinga, director of the Romanian Opera. Internationally acclaimed Moldovan singers will perform as special guests, including the sopranos Valentina Nafornița, Natalia Tanasiiciuc and the baritone Andrei Jelihovschi.

On Saturday, the National Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring the Austrian conductor Friedrich Pfeiffer, will present a crossover based on Georges Bizet’s Carmen.

The festival will continue with the Concertino Accordion Band, the “Doina” Academic Choral Chapel and the “Maria Bieșu” National Opera and Ballet Theater Children’s Choir. The soloists Ljubica Vraneš (mezzo-soprano) and Dragoljub Bajic (baritone) from Serbia will perform.

On the last day of the festival, the vocal ensemble Batumi will offer a great show of Georgian polyphonic music. During the concert "The season of passion ...", the violinist Rusanda Panfili will perform the famous songs "Seasons" by the Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla. Styles such as mambo, cha-cha, rumba, danzon will merge in a show created by the artists of the “Serghei Lunchevici” National Philharmonic, who will perform under the baton of the first conductor Mihail Agafiţa. Cristina Scarlat, Geta Burlacu, Ksenya Nikora will sing as soloists. The evening will be completed by the accordion notes of Eugen Negruța, the trumpet sounds of Petru Haruța and the mastery of the Ballet Show "Repede".

The DescOperă Festival is organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, in partnership with the National Association for Inbound Tourism and with the support of the USAID-funded Activity for Supporting Competitiveness in Light Industry and Tourism.