Altus Ensemble, North Macedonia

Ensemble Altus “New Breath”

Ana Spasovska-conductor

Gonca Bogoromova Krapovski-soprano

Elena Stojcheska-flute

Igor Ivanov-clarinet

Romain Petiot-guitar

Marijana Nikolovska-piano

Martin Dimitrov-violin

Aleksandar Laovski-viola

Paskal Krapovski-violoncello

The Altus Ensemble was born out of the project “New Breath”, an exciting initiative by the Centre for Education and Music (CEM) and the Macedonian Philharmonic, aiming at supporting contemporary music enthusiasts within the orchestras, by encouraging them to take on challenging repertoire and seek new audiences. Members of the ensemble are renowned musicians that aim to follow in the footsteps of pioneering contemporary music ensembles to promote contemporary Macedonian music both nationally and internationally.

The formation of the ensemble was met with excellent rapport by the audiences and music professionals , and their debut concert was followed by performances at the Ohrid Summer festival in 2021 and 2022, performances at the Mozarteum and at the DynamikFest in Salzburg, at Les Musicales de Quiberon festival in France as well as at the Days of Macedonian Music in Skopje, at the “W. A. Mozart” Conservatoire in Paris, at the “Composers Festival” in Prishtina and Skopje Summer Festival. Тhe ensemble establishes a productive platform for ambitious programming which provides a varied kaleidoscope of musical concepts and cutting-edge quality musicianship. Their programmes feature premiere of works by by Macedonian composers alongside carefully curated music of the 20th-century.

By creating an open platform for new works, the ensemble has established itself as a framework for collaboration between cultural institutions, other ensembles, festivals, up and coming Macedonian composers, foreign composers, young instrumentalist and composers at the start of their careers.

In 2024 the Altus ensemble was awarded the “Georgi Bozhikov” prize by the Macedonian composer’s association for best public performance of a work by a Macedonian composer.