Four Moldovans out of the 12 finalists were awarded prizes at the International Contest Festival “Maria Biesu”. Agnesa Rusu, head of the Artistic Management Division of the National Philharmonic “Sergey Lunkevich”, has told IPN that the jury decided to give the Top Prize to no one. The prizes were handed over on September 15.

The first prize of €10,000 went to Pavel Petrov of Belarus and Iulia Tereshchuk of Ukraine. The second prize of €7,000 was given to Liparit Avetisyan of Armenia and Ana Dimitriu of Moldova.

The third prize of €5,000 was won by Moldova’s representative Ion Timofti and Armenia’s Hovhanes Nersesian. The fourth prize of €3,000 went to Malik Azat of Kazakhstan and Astrid Bohm of Germany. The fifth prize of €2,000 was given to Adrian Timpau of Moldova and Tatevic Ashuryan of Armenia. The last prize of €1,000 was conferred on Haik Tonguryan of Armenia and Anastasia Cusnir of Moldova.

Special prizes of €500 were given to Iulia Tereshchuk – for the best performance on the stage; Malik Azat –  to the youngest and most promising participant; Pavel Petrov – for the best performance of an Italian opera aria, and to Liparit Avetisyan – for the public sympathy. A special prize of the jury was offered to Ukraine’s Vadim Mitryayev, who wasn’t among the finalists.

The award ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Iurie Leanca, who said that during the one- week cultural event, Chisinau had been a real international center of opera and ballet. “The festival is not only a major cultural event, but also homage rendered to Prima Donna Maria Biesu, who lived on the stage and made Moldova famous all over the world,” said the Premier.

The contest involved 36 opera soloists. The Festival “Maria Biesu” lasted from September 6 to September 15.