Ohrid Festival Opens with Trilogia Romana Spectacle

German conductor Andreas S. Weiser will be at the podium.

Trilogia Romana is a set of three symphonic poems, “Roman Festivals,” “Fountains of Rome” and “Pines of Rome.” They will be accompanied by visual interpretations of the music created by French filmmaker and photographer Emmanuel Carlier.

Projected on large screens, the video images show landmarks of the city blending and interacting with human figures and dramatic scenes from nature.

Produced by the Spanish company La Fura dels Baus, the piece was performed at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome earlier this month by the Teatro dell’Opera Orchestra, with Charles Dutoit conducting.

Founded in 1961, the Ohrid Summer Festival has presented major international stars over the years such as conductor Zubin Mehta, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and singer Jessye Norman.

This year’s schedule of classical performers includes British violinist Nigel Kennedy and Russian piano virtuosos Alexei Volodin, Alexander Ghindin and Boris Berezovsky.

Also on the bill are Serbian concert violinist Stefan Milenkovic and Macedonian rock guitarist Vlatko Stefanovski, who will perform together.

The drama portion of this year’s festival brings Bulgarian stage director Aleksandar Morfov and the Vera Komissarzhevskaya Theatre of St. Petersburg in a production of Eduardo Quintero’s “The Soap Angels.”

The program also features drama troupes from Serbia, Croatia and Italy, and three premieres by Macedonian theater groups.

Along with theater and music performances, the festival is hosting a number of art exhibitions.