"with a warm, emotionally-balanced interpretation, the six musicians evoked all hidden messages in Schoenberg's extraordinary music...' Vikica Kostoska-Peneva, critic

performances

27 July 2026

66th Ohrid Summer Festival, Ohrid

Program : Continuity - Darija Andovska, Pande Shahov, Angel Spirovski, Damjan Temkov, Tomislav Zografski, Guillaume Connesson, Manuel de Falla, Astor Piazzolla, Heitor Villa Lobos, Maurice Ravel, Camille Saint-Saëns, André Caplet

Conductor : Ana Spasovska

24 July 2026

47th Skopje Summer Festival, Skopje

Conductor : Ana Spasovska

8 June 2026

International Festival Klasika, Strumica

Program : Trio - Andre Previn, Bojana Petrovič Aleksova, Damjan Temkov, Gaetano Donizetti, Wolfgang A. Mozart, Manuel Maria Ponce, Leonard Bernstein, David Popper

21 May 2026

Kultural Center of Macedonia in Istanbul

Program : Voice in quartet - Darija Andovska, Damjan Temkov, Bojan Dimitrovski, Fazil Say, Albert Roussel, Astor Piazzolla, Heitor Villa Lobos

19 May 2026

NU "Jordan Hadzi Konstantinov Dzinot", Veles

Program : Voice in quartet - Darija Andovska, Damjan Temkov, Bojan Dimitrovski, Albert Roussel, Astor Piazzolla, Heitor Villa Lobos

18 May 2026

Cultural Center "Oficerski dom", Bitola

Program : Voice in quartet - Darija Andovska, Damjan Temkov, Bojan Dimitrovski, Albert Roussel, Astor Piazzolla, Heitor Villa Lobos

10 November 2025

Kosovo Composers Festival, Prishtina

Program : Contemporary legacy - Rafet Rudi, Dagina Zeqiri Nushi and Kushtrim Gashi

10 July 2025

46th Skopje Summer Festival, Skopje

Program : Darija Andovska, Filip Ivanov, Pande Shahov, Angel Spirovski, Mihajlo Trandafilovski, Tomislav Zografski

Conductor : Pascal Gallois

7 July 2025

40th Shtip Summer Festival, Shtip

Program : Darija Andovska, Filip Ivanov, Pande Shahov, Angel Spirovski, Mihajlo Trandafilovski, Tomislav Zografski

Conductor : Pascal Gallois

27 June 2025

Auditorium of the Conservatoire du Centre - CMA Mozart, Paris

Program : Darija Andovska, Filip Ivanov, Pande Shahov, Angel Spirovski, Mihajlo Trandafilovski, Tomislav Zografski

Conductor : Pascal Gallois

4 November 2024

Chamber Hall of the National Philharmonic, Skopje

Program : Darija Andovska, Filip Ivanov, André Jolivet, Goran Načevski, Pande Shahov, Ana Marija Tobias, Tomislav Zografski

Conductor : Pascal Gallois

8-30 September 2024

Project Creative Europe Quiberon Skopje, France

Residency for creation and performance at different venues in Quiberon ( schools, home for the elderly), as well as the 10th Les Musicales de Quiberon Festival

Gonca Bogoromova-Krapovski (soprano), Elena Stojčeska (flute), Martin Dimitrov (violin), Aleksandar Laovski (viola), Paskal Krapovski (cello)

17 April 2024

Chamber Hall of the National Philharmonic, Skopje

47th Days of Macedonian Music Festival

Program : Ana Pandevska, Blagoj Canev, Jana Andreevska, Pande Shahov, Valentina Velkovska Trajanovska, Mihajlo Trandafilovski

Conductor : Pascal Gallois

14 October 2023

DynamikFest Mozarteum Academy, Salzburg

Program : Pierre Boulez, Pande Shahov, Augusta Read Thomas

Conductor : Pascal Gallois

12 October 2023

DynamikFest Mozarteum Academy, Salzburg

Program : Augusta Read Thomas, selected works by composition students of Mozarteum Academy

Conductor : Pascal Gallois

9 October 2023

Chamber Hall of the National Philharmonic, Skopje

Program : Pierre Boulez, Johannes Maria Staud, Pande Shahov, Augusta Read Thomas

Conductor : Pascal Gallois

15 July 2022

62nd Ohrid Summer Festival

Program : Arnold Schönberg, Anton Webern, Valentina Velkovska Trajanovska

Conductor : Pascal Gallois

18 August 2021

61st Ohrid Summer Festival

Program : Jana Andreevska, Blagoj Canev, Luciano Berio, Pande Shahov

Conductor : Pascal Gallois

We thank the following organisations for their support with above three projects:

altus new breath

The Altus Ensemble was born out of the project New Breath, an exciting initiative by the Centre for Education and Music (CEM) and the Macedonian Philharmonic, aiming at supporting contemporary music enthusiasts within the orchestras, by encouraging them to take on challenging repertoire and seek new audiences. Another aim of the project is to provide essential stimulation for creating new works. Thus, the ensemble established a productive platform for ambitious programming which, together with the orchestra's symphonic repertoire, provides a varied kaleidoscope of musical concepts and cutting-edge quality musicianship. Their concerts concerts enabled long-overdue Macedonian premieres of seminal 20th-Century works, including important pieces by Schoenberg, Webern, Boulez and Berio. The audience welcomed these performances with evident enthusiasm, which encouraged the ensemble to seek even more demanding challenges for the projects ahead. Furthermore, music by Macedonian composers was programmed alongside the 20th-century classics, including works by Valentina Velkovska-Trajanovska, Jana Andreevska, Darija Andovska, Angel Spirovski, Filip Ivanov, Mihajlo Trandafilovski, Goran Načevski, Pande Shahov and Tomislav Zografski. Another important focus is on programming vocal pieces; so far the ensemble has worked with three of the best vocal soloists of the country: Gonca Bogoromova, Milena Arsovska and Ivan Naumovski.

The conductor Pascal Gallois has also contributed to innovative programming of the orchestra; the Macedonian premiere of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians in the large symphony hall received very encouraging reviews, and was acknowledged by many as the most important event of the season.

In spite of being a new protagonist of the contemporary music scene, the ensemble has already performed at the most significant Macedonian festival, Ohrid Summer, as well as on international stages such as Mozarteum in Salzbourg, Austria for the DynamikFest and Les Musicales de Quiberon in France. The enthusiasm of the musicians involved, the evident sense of friendship and togetherness, and the flexibility in terms of innovative programming, have already set this ensemble on a path towards international acclaim; several unusual and impactful projects are already planned for the near future.

2025 the Altus ensemble recieved the prize "Georgi Bozikov" from the Composers Association of Macedonia - SOKOM.