The 45th international music festival “Martisor” will take place in Chisinau and other settlements of Moldova during March 1-10. Well-known artists from 14 countries will perform on Moldovan stages alongside national singers. This year’s theme of the event is “Martisor 2011 – East and Vest: Cultural Interferences”. The festival’s budget this year will amount to 2 million lei, almost thrice higher than last year, Info-Prim Neo reports. Minister of Culture Boris Focsa told a news conference that the number of invitees this year is larger as it will be a special edition. “The festival covers all the country. Four institutions were involved in the preparations of the event that lasted for a year. It is a very important event for our culture,” said the minister. The festival will open on March 1 with a concert at the National Palace. It will involve the national folk music orchestra “Lautarii”, the national folk dances group “Joc”, the dance sport club “Codreanca”, the Romanian dance sport “Transilvania”, the bands “Catharsis”, “Akord”, and “Trigon”. Concerts at the National Palace will take place every day, staring at 6am. National Palace director Valentin Goga said the contest-performance “Golden Voices 2011”, with the participation of singers from the country and abroad, will take place on March 3 and 4. Russian singers Leonid Agutin and Angelika Varum will give an extraordinary concert on March 9. The concert on the last day of the festival will involve Zinaida Julea, Vitalie Rusu, Nelly Ciobanu, Igor Rusu, Natalia Gordienco and other singers. The festival at the National Opera House opens with a performance by the ensemble “Confetti” on March 1, while at the National Philharmonic “Serghei Lunchevici” – with a symphonic concert by the orchestra “Doina” on March 2. The Organ Hall will also host performances, during six days. The opening concert On March 2 will be a recital of choral music involving organist Juan de la Rubia from Spain. “Martisor-2011” is organized by the Ministry of Culture with financial support from the humanitarian foundation “Nica”. The organization’s head, former MP Calin Vieru said this is the first event of such a scale that the foundation finances in the amount of 75%.