site.btaNational Opera in Skopje Opens Season with Lydia from Macedonia Staged by Plamen Kartaloff

The National Opera and Ballet in Skopje is opening the new season on September 16 with Lydia from Macedonia, stage directed by Plamen Kartaloff, Director of the National Opera and Ballet in Sofia. The opera was composed by Risto Avramovski in 2001 on a libretto by Guy Shelley and Dora Petrova (France).

"This is a biblical story about the life of St Lydia, considered the first Christian woman in Europe," says Kartaloff. He recalls the shrine to the saint near the ancient city of Philippi, not far from Kavala. There, at the beautiful ancient amphitheatre, the Sofia Opera performed Verdi's Don Carlos as part of the Festival Philippi-Thassos in 2013 at the invitation of Kavala Mayor Konstantinos Simitsis.

In Skopje, Lydia from Macedonia will be conducted by Ivan Eminovikj, with Trajko Jordanovski as director of the renewed version. Nade Talevska Spasovska will appear as Lydia and Igor Durlovski as St Paul.

The opera has been in the company's repertoire time and again since its premiere directed by Plamen Kartaloff. It was also performed at the Ohrid Summer Festival.