Skopje, 6 March 2025 (MIA) — The Philharmonic's concertmaster Anna Kondratenko will lead the orchestra in an 8 pm "Fairytale" concert Thursday featuring Georgian composer Giya Kancheli's "Letters to Friends" (2019) cycle for violin and string orchestra and Russian composer Vladimir Martynov's "Come In!" (1988) for chamber orchestra, solo violin and celesta.

Kondratenko, in addition to performing as soloist on violin, will also conduct the chamber ensemble consisting of Philharmonic musicians performing the concert.

Born in Novosibirsk, Russia, Kondratenko began playing the violin at the age of four. She graduated from the Cologne University of Music in 2004.

Besides being concertmaster at the Macedonian Philharmonic, she is the concertmaster of the F.A.M.E.S Project orchestra in Skopje.

She has also founded the Philharmonic Quartet and together they have performed at numerous national and international festivals.

As a soloist and concertmaster, she has performed with the Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of Novosibirsk, the International Symphony Orchestra in Michigan, USA, Klassische Philharmonie Bonn, Germany, and other orchestras in Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Germany, Spain, France, Brazil, USA, Malaysia, China, Lebanon and Japan.

Kondratenko has also won many international violin competitions, including the International M.G. Erdenko Violin Competition and Mravinsky International Competition in Russia and Yfrah Neaman Competition in Germany. mr/