Skopje, 14 October 2026 (MIA) — The 21st Golden Lyre Chamber Music Festival begins Wednesday at the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle in Skopje and will run through Oct. 28, presenting eight chamber concerts by acclaimed Macedonian musicians, organizers said.
“From baroque polyphony and classical formal clarity, through romantic expressiveness, to the sound and rhythmic explorations of 20th and 21st century music, the festival offers a wide cross-section of the chamber repertoire,” organizers said, adding that works by Macedonian composers would feature prominently.
The festival opens Wednesday with a performance by the guitar duo Milonga, consisting of Aleksandra Kirovska and Dejan Lazarevski. They will play works by Maximo Diego Pujol, Astor Piazzolla, Zequinha de Abreu, Johann Kaspar Mertz and Vojislav Ivanovic.
On Thursday, the Interart trio, consisting of flutists Aleksandar Stefanovski and Emilija Ristevska Stefanovska and pianist Tatjana Bozhinovska, will perform pieces by Gary Schocker, Andrey Rubtsov, Jean-Michel Damase and Macedonian composer Marko Videnovikj.
Clarinetist Branko Pavlovski and pianist Natasha Trbojevikj will perform on Oct. 20, blending Romantic and contemporary pieces by Norbert Burgmüller, Charles-Marie Widor, Louis Cahuzac, Michele Mangani, Leonid Perminov and Macedonian composer Blagoj Canev.
The following night, Oct. 21, pianists Jasna Avramovska and Darko Marinovski will give a four-hand piano concert featuring Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn and Edvard Grieg.
On Oct. 24, violinist Momchilo Kufojanakis and pianist Vesna Angelova Hristov will perform sonatas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Schubert, Tommaso Antonio Vitali’s Chaconne in G minor, Giuseppe Tartini’s “Devil’s Trill Sonata,” Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Introduction et Rondo capriccioso” and a piece by Macedonian composer Stojan Stojkov.
A special concert dedicated to young, award-winning artists is scheduled for Oct. 25 to promote the next generation of professional musicians.
Saxophonist Lazar Sokolov and pianist Emilija Kabranova Filipova will perform on Oct. 27, exploring classical, contemporary and jazz elements through works by Henri Tomasi, Roger Boutry, Gilles Demersseman, Heitor Villa-Lobos and contemporary Macedonian composer Jana Andreevska.
The festival ends on Oct. 28 with a vocal recital by mezzo-soprano Aleksandra Kocevska and pianist Gligor Gelebeshev, featuring songs by Maurice Ravel and Macedonian composers Sotir Golabovski and Ljubomir Brangjolica.
Admission to all events is free.
The Golden Lyre Chamber Music Festival is organized by the Association of Music Artists of Macedonia with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. mr/
