Ohrid, 4 August 2026 (MIA) -- To celebrate its 66th anniversary, Ohrid Summer festival is hosting Tuesday a book launch for a monograph dedicated to Croatian-Macedonian opera prima donna Ana Lipsha Tofovikj and presenting a concert by Israeli male soprano Maayan Licht and Polish pianist Przemek Winnicki.

The book release marks the birth centenary of Lipsha Tofovikj (1926-2021). She was a long-time principal mezzo-soprano of the Skopje Opera and the historic first performer at the Ohrid Summer festival on Aug. 4, 1961.

The 7 pm launch for the monograph, authored by Snezhana Anastasova Chadikovska and Aleksandar Trajkovski, will be held at St. Sophia church, the same venue the opera diva sang in at the first festival's opening.

Anastasova Chadikovska and Trajkovski are award-winning music teachers and writers. They have also authored monographs on Macedonian opera singers Zina Krelja and Milka Eftimova, published in 2018 and 2020, respectively.

Licht and Winnicki's concert is titled "Vocal and Piano Fireworks." It will be held at St. Sophia church, beginning at 9 pm.

The concert program features works by Ludwig van Beethoven (Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13; "Pathétique"), Georges Bizet ("Habanera" from "Carmen") and Riccardo Broschi (an excerpt from "Son qual nave").

The program includes pieces by Geminiano Giacomelli ("Sposa, non mi conosci"), Mikhail Glinka arranged by Mily Balakirev ("The Lark") and George Frideric Handel ("Lascia ch'io pianga" and "Venti, turbini" from "Rinaldo" as well as "Ombra mai fu" from "Serse").

Licht and Winnicki will also perform Felix Mendelssohn's Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 14, Stanisław Moniuszko's "Spinner Girl" arranged by Henryk Melcer, Henry Purcell's "The Cold Song" and Karol Szymanowski's "Uwoz, mamo, roz."

Winner of the “Best Newcomer” award at the Oper! Awards 2025, Licht is a sopranista described as “the modern day Farinelli” and celebrated for performing roles combining vocal virtuosity with emotional depth. He was discovered by Israeli vocal teacher Vita Gurevich and he completed his vocal studies in Early Music at the Conservatory of Amsterdam under the guidance of Xenia Meijer, graduating with distinction in 2021.

Licht’s engagements in the 2025-26 season include his debut at Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, where he will perform the role of Ra in the world premiere of Meriç Artaç’s "Requiem for Mariza," the title role in Leonardo Vinci’s "Alessandro nell’Indie" at Theater an der Wien and the role of Nerone in Claudio Monteverdi's "L'incoronazione di Poppea" at Teatro Ponchielli as part of the 2026 Monteverdi Festival.

Alongside his stage career, he has become a social media phenomenon, with hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, and millions of views worldwide, bringing classical music and opera to new audiences across the globe.

Among his more experimental projects, he headlined a queer production of Bizet’s CarMEN, performing the title role in collaboration with renowned drag artists at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Muziekgebouw and the celebrated Parade Festival. Licht also merges techno and opera with his group Technopera, performing at distinguished venues like the Concertgebouw and the renowned Down the Rabbit Hole Festival in the Netherlands.

Przemek Winnicki is a Polish concert pianist and prize winner of numerous international piano competitions in Poland and abroad. In May 2022, he made his debut at the Berlin Philharmonie, performing the Warsaw Concerto by Richard Addinsell. In June 2022, he graduated from the Royal College of Music in London.

Winnicki is a First Prize winner of the ЕPTA International Piano Competition in Serbia (2021) and Second Prize winner of the International Piano Competition in Ischia, Italy (2015). He also received the Grand Prix at the International Competition for Music Teachers in Warsaw (2013) and First Prize at the Chopin-Roma International Piano Competition (2011). He was a finalist at both the Moniuszko International Piano Competition in Minsk and the Yamaha Foundation Piano Competition in Poland (2011).

As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras including the National Belarusian Orchestra in Minsk and the International Summer Academy Orchestra in Reichenau, Austria, as well as with philharmonic orchestras in Kraków, Rzeszów and Łódź.

He has recorded an album featuring a Mozart piano concerto and collaborated with RMF Classic. Since 2014, he has been a scholarship recipient of the KLER Foundation. He regularly performs across Europe and internationally, with appearances in the USA, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Germany, Belarus, Austria, Belgium and France. mr/