Ohrid shines with summer festival

The Ohrid Summer Festival offers the public a chance to see many prominent names in the areas of music, ballet, opera and theatre. This year's festival, the 46th, began on 12 July and runs through 20 August.

Actors, musicians, and artists from all over the world come to Macedonia to participate in this world-renowned cultural event. Many are from Europe, but countries as Australia, China, Israel and the United States are also represented.

"The Ohrid Summer Festival, with its long-standing tradition, is the best example of the necessity of such cultural exchange, an example that communication between world-ranked artists and ensembles puts Ohrid and Macedonia on the map of world events," said Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski.

The event opened spectacularly this year with two famous Spanish ballets, "Carmen" and "Bolero", performed by the Imperial Russian Ballet. In between the performances, the Macedonian National Theatre Ballet unveiled "Tango", a series of interlocked Latin American dances.

The legendary British band Roxy Music and its leader Bryan Ferry performed on 14 July for an audience of 1,000, kicking off an exciting lineup of musical events. One of the most famous bands from the former Yugoslavia, Leb i Sol, has reunited after a ten-year break and will be playing at the festival. Concerts by Rade Serbedzija, Miroslav Tadic and Lidio Morosini are also scheduled, and the Macedonian Philharmonic will be performing Mozart's masterpiece "Requiem" to honour the 250th anniversary of the composer's death.

Notable theatre productions include the classical Greek drama "Electra" by the Grand Theatre of Amsterdam, Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar named Desire" by the Theatre of the Army of Bulgaria, Emilio Carballido's "Two Odours of the Rose" by Belgrade's Terazije Theatre and "Who, When, Who With?" by the Istanbul City Theatre.

Macedonia's National Theatre will launch its new production of Moliere's "The Skilled Women", the Albanian Theatre will perform Refet Abazi's "Aquarium", while the Bitola Theatre will be staging "Macbeth". The cultural festival will wrap up with "Verona, Verona", a production by the newly established Ohrid Theatre.