The 21st International Opera and Ballet Festival “Maria Biesu” will take place between September 6 and September 15. Opera stars from eight states have been invited to the festival this year. National Opera House director Valeria Seican told a news conference that an exclusive repertoire consisting of operas of the universal lyrical heritage has been selected for the festival, IPN reports.

2013 was declared the Year of Verdi at world level. That’s why the festival will start at the National Opera House “Maria Biesu” with the Italian composer’s opera “Aida”. Valeria Seican said the project is an absolute novelty for Moldova. The décor will be a televised graphic presentation in 3D regime. Friedrich Pfeiffer will act as conductor.

On September 7, there will be presented the opera “Don Quijote” by Ludwig Minkus, while on September 9 – “La Boheme” by Giacomo Puccini.

According to Valeria Seican, for the first time the art lovers will be able to see performances by theaters from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany. On September 8, the Chamber Music Theater “Boris Pokrovski” of Moscow will present the comic opera “Die Drei Pintos” by C. M. Von Weber - G. Mahler, while on September 10, the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater “Anatolii Solovyanenko” of Ukraine’s Donetsk will perform a ballet in three parts: “Romeo and Juliet” by Sergei Prokofiev,
“Francisco de Remini” by Piotr Tchaikovsky, and “Choreographic divertimento’’.

The festival includes the second International Opera Singers Contest “Maria Biesu”. The final of the contest will take place at the National Philharmonic “Sergey Lunkevich” on September 13. The Philharmonic’s director Svetlana Bivol said that 36 singers from Germany, Israel, Belarus, Ukraine and other countries will compete in the contest this year.

On the last day of the festival, September 15, the National Palace “Nicolae Sulac” will host the Laureates Gala and the concert of the International Opera Contest Festival “Maria Biesu”.

Minister of Culture Monica Babuc said the festival has a symbolic load and is a large-scale event in Moldova. “It is one of the key cultural events of Moldova. We want the program to be special so that we manage to bring famous troupes and personalities to Moldova,” she said, adding that over 2 million lei was earmarked for the contest-festival this year, as against 400,000 lei last year.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Moldova Serhii Pyrozhkov told the same news conference that the festival became a brand for which Moldova is recognized all over the world. He voiced hope that the theater from Donetsk will be welcomed by the Moldovan viewers.

The invitees of the festival are from Austria, Canada, Germania, Romania, Russia, Spain, Tatarstan, and Ukraine.