Philharmonic orchestra of the Republic of North Macedonia
The Philharmonic orchestra is the first and only symphonic orchestra in the Republic of North Macedonia and subsequently the only permanent representative of the symphonic opus on the Macedonian music scene.
The Orchestra is founded on 24 November 1944, after the end of the second world war and only 11 days after the liberation of in the home of the composer Todor Skalovski.
From these humble beginnings until today, during the seven decades of existence, the Philharmonic Orchestra created unforgettable concert moments performing a wide repertoire from the classical music literature, as well as world premieres of works by contemporary authors, enlivening the works of the Macedonian music creators with exceptional pride. During the years, the Philharmonic.
Orchestra became one of the main leaders in the music life of the country and an ambassador of the Macedonian art throughout the world. Besides the regular concert appearances at home, the symphonic orchestra has performed around the world presenting the sonorous heritage of its country.
Numerous conductors has led the Orchestra from the conductor’s stand, such as the founders Todor Skalovski and Trajko Prokopiev, followed by Lovro von Matačić, Vancho Chavdarski, Fimcho Muratovski, Angel Shurev, Carlo Zecchi, Neeme Järvi, Igor Markevich, Oskar Danon, Dushan Skovran, Aleksandar Lekovski, Pero Petrovski, Tomislav Shopov, Đura Jakšić, Mladen Jagusht, Veronika Dudarova, Emin Khachaturian.
And in more recent times Sasha Nikolovski-Gjumar, Borjan Canev, Tadeusz Kozłowski, Doron Salomon, Yuri Temirkanov, Vyacheslav Blinov, Pavle Deshpalj, Ermir Krantja, Ramiz Melik Aslanov, Anton Nanut, Janusz Przybylski, Stefan Lano, Urosh Lajovic, Emil Tabakov, Leonid Nikolaev, Timothy Redmond, Evan Christ, Krzysztof Penderecki, Hisham Gabr, Martin Panteleev, Paul Weigold, Dmitry Liss, Michał Nesterowicz, Case Scaglione, Yeruham Scharowsky, Daniel Raiskin.
On the stage as soloists with the orchestra performed renowned vocal and instrumental artists, amongst whom were Aldo Ciccolini, Halina Czerny-Stefańska, Henryk Szeryng, Leonid Kogan, André Navarra, Jose Carreras, Tzimon Barto, David Garrett, Ilya Gringolts, Torleif Thedéen, Alexander Melnikov, Yossif Ivanov, Valery Sokolov, Isabelle Faust, Ann Hallenberg, Emmanuel Pahud, Daniel Müller-Schott, Boris Berezovsky, Akiko Suwanai, Sergei Krylov, Ning Feng, Amy Dickson, István Várdai, Midori Goto, Alexei Volodin, Evgeny Koroliov, Sayaka Shoji, Simon Trpcheski, Ana Durlovski, Blagoj Nacoski, Gjorgji Dimchevski, Dino Imeri.
In 2018 a new concert philharmonic hall was built as a home of the Orchestra. Situated between the State School of Music and Ballet school „Ilija Nikolovski-Luj“ and the Macedonian Opera and Ballet, this contemporary concert hall, built according to world standards for a symphonic orchestra, become one of the most favorable cultural venue in Skopje.