„Doina" Academic Coral Chapel - artistic director and conductor - Ilona STEPAN, People's Artist
The emeritus team from the Republic of Moldova was founded in 1930, with the founder and first conductor being C. Pigrov.
The Chapel holds the name „Doina”, emblematic for the essence of the Moldavian folklore, since 1933. „Doina” Academic Coral Chapel is one of the most representative choral collectives in Moldova, with a staff of 70 choral artists, including highly professional soloists.
Over the time, the Chapel held a prodigious concert activity. Its tournament map encompasses the entire cultural space of the former USSR, as well as many countries of the world: Romania, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Austria, Israel, North Korea, etc.
The repertoire of the „Doina” Academic Coral Chapel is ample, it contains the most valuable works of secular and sacral choirs from the universal music treasure, vocal-symphonic works, choral processing of folk songs.
The spectrum of music genres performed by the Chapel is rich and varied: from monumental, ample, oratorial, symphonic etc. to choral miniatures, from pre-classical to contemporary, from national choral music to universal. Professionality, the wide range of possibilities for expression, the timbral and intonational harmony, the elevated interpretation of the academic Doina Chapel, all of the above mentioned were often the object of veneration and profound admiration expressed by well-known specialists such as conductors V. Minin, G. Ernesaks, O Cekigean et al.
The Chapel was conducted over the time by D. Gersfeld (1940), M. Kononenko (1945), V. Minin (1958), V. Garştea (from 1962). T. Zgureanu, V. Condrea, A. Jar, and others.
From 1962, Veronica Garstea, People's Artist of the USSR and RM, Laureate of the State Prize, Knight of the Order of the Republic, professor, led with great skill, talent and dignity the Academic Coral Chapel „Doina” until the end of her life – on July 16, 2012. In February 2013, the artistic director and first conductor of the Doina Coral Chapel became Ilona Stepan, Emeritus Artist.