The National Public Broadcaster “Teleradio-Moldova” (TRM) has launched a collection of CDs with the most representative songs sung by Maria Biesu, in memory of the opera singer. On August 3, Maria Biesu would have turned 78, IPN reports.

Radio Moldova director Alexandru Dorogan told a news conference that the idea of launching a CD with music appeared when the National Opera Prima Donna was still alive. “When we started to select the songs, we realized that compiling one CD was not enough as the Radio House archives contain over 370 recordings of Maria Biesu. We thus decided to produce a collection of four CDs,” he stated.

The first two CDs include arias from operas recorded for the archives of the National Public Broadcaster during Maria Biesu’s five decades of artistic work. The third CD consists of folk and romantic songs and ballads, while the fourth of chamber songs and Neapolitan songs. The collection is titled “A bright smile on the nation’s face” Maria Biesu. In memoriam.

Minister of Culture Monica Babuc said the title of the collection is suggestive as there were many such smiles in Moldova’s culture, but not all of them were kept and passed on to the future generations. Moldova does not have petrol or gas, but had and has people of culture who made it famous abroad.

The minister added that the CDs with the music sung by Maria Biesu will be distributed to the participants and awardees of the International Festival “Maria Biesu” and to the foreign delegations that will visit Moldova.