The preselcetion for the fifteenth “Chisinau Star” Contest, which is the longest-lived festival in the country, was opened,” Info-Prim Neo reports. Over 200 new national pop music singers appeared since it was founded by the cultural society “Phoenix Bird”. The festival was a launchpad for Natalia Barbu, Nelly Ciobanu, Galina Gherman, Licu Goncear, Victoria Mahu, Natalia Gordienco, Victoria Lungu, Rodica Novac, Doina Sulac, Catharsis band, Alexandru Manciu and many other young singers. The preselection is open for young soloists aged between 8 and 13 and 14 and 30. They will sing by a song in Romanian. Poet Traian Vasilcau, the director of “Phoenix Bird”, said that the festivals' main objective is to identify and promote young talents. “We also try to promote the authentic values of our country, develop young singers' creativity and synchronize the national values with the values of the world culture,” Vasilcau said, adding: “We intend to rebuilt the Latinity and Romanity bridge following models of such festivals as San-Remo and Mamaia and to transform Chisinau into a modern European capital of true artistic values.” This year, the festival will be held before Christmas, December 25. As the previous years, famous Moldovan and foreign singers will be invited to the festival. Guests from Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Macedonia, France, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Norway, Slovenia, Serbia, Columbia, Hungary, Israel and other countries performed at the previous editions of the festival.