Ohrid, 4 August 2023 (MIA) – Ohrid Summer Festival will celebrate its 63rd anniversary Friday with a traditional Portuguese fado music concert by Joana Amendoira from Portugal, accompanied by Pedro Amendoeira on Portuguese guitar and João Filipe on fado guitar.

"With over 20 years of experience on stage, ten album releases and numerous performances at the world's most prestigious venues, Joana Amendoeira has become a relevant and unique representative of the fado tradition to which she adds a particularly striking energy," organizers said.

At a press conference Friday held to announce the concert, the festival's director Natasha Popovikj also recalled the Ohrid Summer beginnings and the people who contributed to its development.

"A plethora of famous musicians and actors, renowned opera and theater houses, numerous art lovers, but also all those who worked tirelessly to elevate the festival, have given us the honor of celebrating 63 successful years," Popovikj said.

"With great respect, we are forever thankful to Ana Lipsha-Tofovikj, who in the distant 1961, under the arches of the beautiful Church of St. Sophia, marked the birth of the largest cultural manifestation in the country which has allowed us to celebrate great artistry, to rejoice in its beauty, and create lasting values. Her name will be celebrated by numerous generations after us," she added.

Program selector Bisera Chadlovska expressed satisfaction with the current course of the festival's catalogue with exceedingly quality performances from world famous artists as well as promising young artists.

"Every day we attend concerts with sold-out audiences, whose response and reactions makes us organizers satisfied with the work we have put in... I am especially happy to receive many positive reviews about this year's programmin from the Macedonian professional musical public. All of this will only encourage us to try and surpass ourselves next year, and leave behind festival editions that will be talked about for a long time," Chadlovska stressed.

Sanja Arsovska, the festival's theater program selector, said there was a record-breaking interest in attending plays, which, according to her, was a confirmation of the quality of the festival's theater programming.

She announced a premiere of the "Edward the Second" play produced by the Veles National Theater, followed by performances from the Ohrid National Theater and the Prilep National Theater, the theater in Ljubljana as well as the Belgrade Drama Theater, which would close the 2023 festival with its performance of "A Lie."

Friday's fado concert at Dolni Saraj in Ohrid is set to begin at 9 pm. ssh/mr