Ohrid festival

Chroniclers have written: "The musical and theatre festival called "Ohrid Summer" was born on 4th August 1961 under the vaults of the cathedral temple of St. Sofia. The Primadonna of the Opera within the Macedonian National Theatre from Skopje, Ana Lipsa-Tofovic, followed by Ladislav Predlik on piano, performed the arias of Stradella, Rossi, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, and Gluck. The following year Vladimir Ruzgak (Croatia), the Slovenian Octet (Slovenia), Martina Arojo (USA), and once again Ana Lipsa-Tofovic confirmed the fact that the temple of the ancient Ohrid Archiepiscopate can also be the temple of arts.

In 1963 the Festival started with a concept. Unfortunately, due to the disastrous earthquake in Skopje only a few of the planned 13 performances took place.

Key moment in the development of the Festival was the establishment of a separate Festival Subsidiary 5th March 1964. The next years the quality of the festival improved: in 1964 the first theatre play was performed ("As you like it" by William Shakespeare); in 1967 the first ballet ("The Ohrid Legend" by Stevan Hristic); and in 1971 the first opera "Dido and Aeneas" by Henry Percil).

In its thriving years "Ohrid Summer" started to act as a Musical Academy. The presence of the great instrumental virtuosos was used for organizing special seminars aiming at passing the experience to the new generation. Through the hands of the esteemed maestro such as Elephterio Papastavro (cello), Jeanne Blanchard (piano), Leonid Kogan (violin), Aldo Chiccolini (piano), Andre Navara (cello), Octav Enigharesco and Johnny Becky (soloists), Eugenia Chugaieva (violin), Ikhukko Endo (piano), and Arbo Valdma (piano), generations of musicians took part in these seminars. They, later on in their lives, gained affirmation on the musical stages throughout the world.

The Festival aspired at becoming a part of the large family of the World's musical festivals. In that respect, every year, the creators of the Festival added new names that have marked the performing arts in the world. Those names in the initial years of the Festival were Andre Navara (cello) and Leonid Kogan (violin). The range of famous musicians who marked the first decade included: Sviatoslav Rihter, Aldo Chiccolini, Adre Vats and Grigorij Sokolov (piano, Ruggiero Ricchi, Salvadore Akhardo, Hainrich Sherring, (violin), the chello player Mstislav Rostopovic, The Bach Chamber Orchestra, The Romanian Madrigalists, The Slovenian Vocal Octet, and others.