Skopje, 14 August 2025 (MIA) – Opera singer Milka Eftimova, doyen of the Macedonian opera and an ambassador of Macedonian culture and arts, has died, aged 89.

Eftimova, who died yesterday, during her decades-long and prolific career starred in some forty operas in addition to giving solo performances, in more than 20 countries around the world, said the National Opera and Ballet.

“Being exceptionally musically talented and carrying a sense of stage presence, Eftimova created countless roles, including Orpheus in ‘Orpheus and Eurydice’, Azucena in ‘Il Trovatore’, Eboli in ‘Don Carlos’, Suzuki in ‘Madame Butterfly’, Marfa in ‘Khovanshchina’, Ulrika in ‘Un Ballo in Masquerade’.Sshe left her greatest mark in the title role of ‘Carmen’. She bid farewell to the opera stage with ‘Carmen’ on November 6, 1991,” the Opera said in a press release.

Milka Eftimova, born in 1936, was a professor at the Faculty of Music in Skopje, the music high school center in Skopje and the music high school in Shtip.

She had received many state awards for her outstanding contribution to music and art, including the Order of Merit of the Republic of North Macedonia in 2022.  

Eftimova’s funeral will be held on August 16 in her hometown of Radovish. 

Photo: National Opera and Ballet