Ohrid summer
Festival

The Russian National Orchestra has been in demand throughout the music world ever since its 1990 Moscow premiere. Of the orchestra's 1996 debut at the BBC Proms in London, the Evening Standard wrote, "They played with such captivating beauty that the audience gave an involuntary sigh of pleasure." The first Russian orchestra to perform at the Vatican and in Israel, the RNO maintains an active international tour schedule, appearing in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Guest artists performing with the RNO on tour include conductors Vladimir Jurowski, Nicola Luisotti, Antonio Pappano, Alan Gilbert, Carlo Ponti and Patrick Summers, and soloists Martha Argerich, Yefim Bronfman, Lang Lang, Pinchas Zukerman, Sir James Galway, Joshua Bell, Itzhak Perlman, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Renée Fleming, among many others. Gramophone magazine called the first RNO CD (1991) "an awe-inspiring experience; should human beings be able to play like this?" and listed it as the best recording of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique in history. The RNO's recording of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, conducted by Kent Nagano and narrated by Sophia Loren, Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev, received a 2004 Grammy. In recognition of both its artistry and path-breaking structure, the Russian Federation recently awarded the RNO the first ever grant to a non-government orchestra.
Mikhail Pletnev is an artist whose genius as pianist, conductor and composer enchants and amazes audiences around the globe. His musicianship encompasses a dazzling technical power and provocative emotional range, and a searching interpretation that fuses instinct with intellect. In 1990 Pletnev formed the first independent orchestra in Russia's history. The risks of this step, even with Gorbachev's endorsement, were enormous and it was Pletnev's reputation and commitment that made his long-held dream a reality. Sharing his vision for a new model for the performing arts, many of the country's finest musicians joined Pletnev in launching the Russian National Orchestra. As a guest conductor, Pletnev appears regularly with leading orchestras such as London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. As a solo pianist and recitalist, Pletnev appears regularly in the world's music capitals. His recordings and live performances have proved him to be an outstanding interpreter of an extensive repertoire. As a composer, Pletnev's works include Classical Symphony, Triptych for Symphony Orchestra and Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra. His unrivalled transcriptions for piano of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and Sleeping Beauty were selected, along with his performance of Tchaikovsky's Second Piano Concerto and The Seasons, for the 1998 anthology "Great Pianists of the 20th Century"
Simon Trpčeski has established himself as one of the most remarkable young musicians to have emerged in recent years, playing with many of the world’s great orchestras and conductors and delighting audiences worldwide. During the past few seasons Simon Trpčeski has performed around the world, including with the New York Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra and many others. A superb recitalist, Simon Trpčeski has given solo concerts in Amsterdam (on the main stage of the Concertgebouw), Atlanta, Bilbao, Hamburg, London, Milan, Munich, New York, Paris, Prague, San Francisco, Seattle, Tokyo, Toronto and Vancouver. He has received much praise for his EMI recital recordings; the first, featuring works by Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Stravinsky and Prokofiev, received both the Editor’s Choice and Debut Album Awards at the Gramophone Awards. Subsequent discs of Rachmaninov and Chopin were equally well received, and in 2008 he released an all-Debussy disc to widespread critical acclaim. Born in the Republic of Macedonia in 1979, Simon Trpčeski has won prizes in international piano competitions in the UK Czech Republic and Italy, and was awarded the ‘Young Artist Award’ by the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2003. A 2002 graduate from the Faculty of Music of the University of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in Skopje, where he studied with Professor Boris Romanov, Simon currently teaches as a faculty member at his alma mater.