The 44th International Music Festival “Martisor” starts in several days. About 40 performances will be given at concert halls in Chisinau as part of the festival, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a news conference on Friday, Minister of Culture Boris Focsa said this year's festival will be as the previous years, but from next year it will undergo changes, mainly conceptual. “We think such a festival should start with street performances,” the minister said. “This and other modifications will be made from next year. We consider such a cultural event should attract more tourists so that more people know about Moldova.” The inaugural concert titled “Spring Pastel” will take place at the National Palace. The first concert will bring together the folk dances group “Joc”, the orchestra “Lautarii”, the Symphony Orchestra of Teleradio Moldova Company, composer Eugen Doga, singers Zinaida Julea, Mihai Munteanu, Cristina Simionescu Sandu from Romania, Roberto Luparelli from Italy and others. The Organ Hall will house six performances by soloists Tatiana Costiuc, Oleg Tibuliko and Serghei Pilipetski, pianists Mikel Del Perro from the U.S. and Piotr Szychorski from Poland, Richard Galliano from France, conductor Gilbert Varga from Switzerland. A concert dedicated to poet Grigore Vieru will take place in Chisinau on March 5. After a pause of several years, the National Opera House will take part in the festival with three concerts involving singers from Moldova, Romania and Belarus. The festival's budget this year is about 700,000 lei or about eight times lower than last year. The first festival was organized in 1966 on the initiative of artists Alexand Fedko and Gleb Sainciuc.