Macedonian artists stand shoulder to shoulder with the world’s best, as evidenced by yesterday’s performance at the “Ohrid Summer” festival by pianists Anastasija Grgovska and Shkelzen Baftiari, and violinist Vasil Bogoevski. They performed at a concert dedicated by the festival to the great Macedonian composers Tomislav Zografski and Stojče Toševski.
The extraordinary young artists, who completed their musical education with the highest honors, Cum Laude, performed in the acoustic ambiance of the Cathedral Church of St. Sophia, offering the audience a wonderful evening while also celebrating the immense work of the two Macedonian composers, Zografski and Toševski.
Composer Zografski is deeply embedded in the history of the “Ohrid Summer” festival. Among other things, he is the author of the festival’s anthem.
“The concert held on August 9th this year, at the 64th ‘Ohrid Summer,’ is especially significant for two reasons: the respect the festival shows towards Zografski, one of its founders from the early 1950s, who, along with a group of enthusiasts, believed that in our beautiful Ohrid, where the divine voice of Ana Lipša Tofofić was heard in the unique ambiance of the Church of St. Sophia, a festival could permanently flourish, attracting and affirming our musical and dramatic artists, as well as all artists and lovers of art from around the world. This year’s concert is also significant because it is held in his jubilee year, marking 90 years since his birth. The performers of the program are top young artists who did not know him personally or as a professor at the Faculty of Music in Skopje but have become acquainted with his work, listened to it, performed it, and experienced it, I believe, just as he would have expected—feeling what he felt when composing these works,” said Panda Zografska Beličanec, wife of the composer Tomislav Zografski and director of the Board of the “Tomislav Zografski” Foundation, expressing gratitude to the music selector Bisera Chadlovska for the selection of the program and the young musical artists, pianists Anastasija Grgovska and Shkelzen Baftiari, and violinist Vasil Bogoevski.
Zografska also recalls the participation and presence of composer Tomislav Zografski at the “Ohrid Summer” festival, which are meticulously archived in the foundation that bears his name.
“There were many performances of Zografski’s works over the years, some of them premieres, with our and foreign chamber and symphony orchestras, conductors, our and foreign world-class musicians, as well as young musicians. The first performance of a composition by Zografski at Ohrid Summer was ‘Autumn Sketches’ Op. 25 with opera diva Marija Mirčov Skalovska and pianist Ladislav Palfi at the ‘Concert of the Soloists of the Skopje Opera’ held on August 1, 1964. The second concert that I particularly remember was during our first summer together, with the Macedonian Philharmonic and maestro Lovro Matačić on July 31, 1965. The program included the symphonic work ‘Chorale Fantasy’ Op. 26 by Zografski, the first work by a Macedonian author performed at ‘Ohrid Summer.’ We were together at the general rehearsal when I had the honor of meeting maestro Matačić. Zografski was especially concerned about his work, preserving data, programs, reviews, audio, and video recordings of concerts and cultural events starting from the 1950s. In a separate journal, which we called his opus, a separate archive contains numerous performances at Ohrid Summer. The foundation continued to include all data on performances even after his passing in 2000,” recounted the wife of the great Macedonian composer Tomislav Zografski.
According to her, it is planned that by the 20th anniversary of the Foundation in 2026, a publication will be made—a book containing everything collected in the archive.
“In the mentioned 1,600 concerts we attended, those from Zografski’s archive and hundreds of performances abroad are not included. Valuable data on our musical artists, institutions, ensembles, and our culture,” Zografska explains.
Since 2014, the largest musical-theatrical event in the country and the region, the “Ohrid Summer” festival, has been declared an Honorary Member of the “Tomislav Zografski” Foundation.
