Ohrid, 21 July 2023 (MIA) - The tenth day, Friday, of the Ohrid Summer Festival will offer two interesting musical performances, a concert by the Elias Ladino ensemble and a Greek evening concert by the Emilios Riadis string quartet.

The first concert will begin at 7pm in the courtyard of the St. Sophia Church with a performance by the Elias Ladino ensemble with Dan Elias- clarinet, Marco Brehm- upright Bass, Scott Wilson- oud and kanun, Casey Bond- doumbek (folk drum), bringing the Jewish music of North Macedonia back home. Since 1976, they have been playing Sephardic music at concerts and festivals across the world.

Daniel Elias, a founding member of the group, learned the Jewish music of Bitola through the songs his grandmother used to sing to his father.

Maurice Sedacca, also comes from a family of Sephardic musicians. His mother and grandfather performed these songs as well. 

Together with percussionist Casey Bond and bass player Marco Brehm, the Ensemble will play songs that have not been heard in these spaces for over 80 years.

The second concert is reserved for the Greek evening with a performance by the “Emilios Riadis” string quartet, starting at 9pm in the St. Sophia Church.

Music lovers will have the opportunity to hear "Variations from String quartet No 1 in G" by Emilios Riadis, "Dodecanesian Suite" by Giannis Konstantinidis, "String Quartett nr.2" by Konstantinos Grigoriou, "Greek dances" by Nikos Skalkottas, and "String Quartet Op. 80" by F. Mendelssohn.

The “Emilios Riadis” string quartet consists of Andreas Papanikolaou- violin, Giorgos Kougioumtzoglou- violin, Alexandra Voltsi- viola, Lila Manola- cello, and has been an active chamber music ensemble for more than 17 years. It was founded in 2005 by musicians of the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra.

The quartet was named after the distinguished Greek composer Emilios Riadis from Thessaloniki. It is considered to be one of the most important chamber music ensembles in Greece with performances at the most prestigious music festivals throughout the country. Over the years, has collaborated over the years with prominent Greek and foreign composers and guest musicians. The ensemble's repertoire covers a wide range of works from the early Baroque period up to the present. ssh/sk/

Photo: Ohrid Summer Festival