Candlelight concert

Chamber orchestra “PROFUNDIS”

The “Profundis” chamber orchestra was established in 2019 by conductor Gjurgjica Dashic and participating members are some of the best Macedonian instrumentalists. The ground idea of the ensemble is to create a highly qualitative professional ensemble that can perform even the most demanding works of the chamber repertoire but also create a collaborative platform for performing of contemporary music, music by Macedonian composers and make meaningful collaboration with Macedonian and internationally renowned artists.  To date, the orchestra has held highly acclaimed concerts with violinists Stefan Milenkovic, Roman Simovic, Jovan Bogosaveljevic, Irina Murezanu and Mario Hosen, with cellists Petar Pejcic and Dragan Djordjevic-Suzuki, with the clarinettist Ognjen Popovic, flutist Giuseppe Nova, guitarist Daniele Aiello and pianist Antonio di Cristofano  as well as with Macedonian soloists Vladimir Kostov, Anna Kondratenko, Blagoj Nacoski, Ema Popivoda, Nade Talevska, Marija Gjoshevska, Slavica Micovska, Branko Pavlovski, Ljubisha Kirovski etc.

Internationally “Profundis” has performed at the Kolarac Hall in Belgrade, the Synagogue in Novi sad, in Sofia, Kotor, Sarajevo, Mostar, Tuzla and in Sorento in Italy and has been featured in renowned festivals such as “Kotor Art”, Sofia music weeks, the Sorento music Festival and the “Ravanelius” festival. On the domestic stage, the orchestra has performed at all major festivals including the Ohrid Summer Festival, Days of Macedonian Music, Bitfest, Autumnal music festivities, “Golden Lyre” and Skopje Summer Festival.

Their creativity leads to unconventional concert formats such as the concert “Groove” that featured complete 3D mapping for the whole duration of the concert, their “Candlelight” concert, first of its kind in Macedonia, the fusion with the Belgrade chamber orchestra “13 strings” as well as the production of Mozart’s opera “The marriage of Figaro” together with the Balkan opera studio.

Gjurgica Dashic-conductor

Gjurgica Dashic is a graduate of the Faculty of music in Skopje at the department of orchestral conducting in the class of prof. Sasha Nikolovski-Gjumar. Since 2008 she holds the post of choir master at the Macedonian opera and ballet and during this time he has contributed to the staging premiere and ongoing repertoire performances of the Opera. She has assisted numerous guest conductors including Emil Tabakov, Gianluca Martinenghi, Enrico Dovico, Sasha Nikolovski-Gjumar, Vanja Niikolovski-Gjumar, Urosh Lajovic and many more. As an orchestral conductor of the opera she has led the productions of “Rita” by G. Donizetti, “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” by Rossini and the concert dedicated to the young opera singers “Kosta Trpkov “. She was part of the production team of the first Macedonian musical “Tajno moja” for the life of Toshe Proeski.

In 2019 Gjurgica Dashic establishes the chamber orchestra “Profundis” and is the orchestra artistic leader and conductor. Under her leadership the orchestra has to date performed numerous concerts with acclaimed soloists and has become one of the most representative ensembles in Macedonian and the region.

Stefan Milenkovic-violin

Established as one of the foremost violinists of his generation, Stefan Milenkovich enjoys a prolific career as an internationally sought-after soloist and recitalist, with an extraordinary productive longevity, professionalism, and creativity.

He appeared on multiple occasions in some of the world’s most celebrated venues such as Carnegie Hall, New York City (USA), Kennedy Center, Washington (USA), Cadogan Hall, London (UK), Suntory Hall, Tokyo (Japan), as well as Italy’s theaters La Fenice, Venice, San Carlo, Naples, and Petruzzelli, Bari. His numerous appearances with orchestra include Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, and has performed under the baton of such conductors as Sir Neville Marriner and Lorin Maazel. He has performed for world leaders including Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbatchev and the pope John Paul II. He is the laureate of numerous international violin competitions: International Violin Competition of Indianapolis (USA), the Queen Elisabeth Competition (Belgium), Hannover Violin Competition (Germany), Tibor Varga Competition (Switzerland), Rodolfo Lipizer Competition (Italy), Paganini Competition (Italy), Ludwig Spohr Competition (Germany), and the Yehudi Menuhin Competition (England). In the season 2025/26 Stefan will tour with the Noord Nederlands orchestra performing at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and appear as soloist with Sinfonica Nazionale RAI, I Pomeriggi Musicali, with the Symphonic orchestra of RTV Slovenia, with the Chamber orchestra “Profundis”.

He is regularly invited to festivals around the world including Round Top Festival in the USA, Osor Music Evenings (Croatia), Samobor music festival and many more. His vast discography features the works of Bach and Paganini for the label Dynamic, as well as many recordings for PGP and RTV Slo Classics. As a musician of broad stylistic interests, Milenkovich performed with five-time Grammy Nominee rock band Gorillaz. Other collaborations include performances with Grammy Award Nominee lutist Edin Karamazov, as well as a musical partnership with guitarist Vlatko Stefanovski and his trio. Firmly dedicated to pedagogical work for over two decades, Milenkovich taught in collaboration with Itzhak Perlman at the Juilliard School in New York and the Perlman Music Program, as well as held a position as an Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Currently, Stefan Milenkovich is Artistic Director of the new concert hall in Novi Sad, Serbia, as well as Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Novi Sad.

Milenkovich plays a 1783 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin.