Mandolin Orchestra

The beginnings of the Mandolin Orchestra were in 1981 as part of the musical programme at the Youth Cultural Centre. Even though its members are mostly musical amateurs, the repertoire is very reach and various including composers from different musical stiles, with special accent on the classical music and compositions inspired from the Macedonian folklore.

The orchestra has won many prizes and acknowledgements in Macedonia and abroad on various festivals and competitions. Some of the most important are: “State competition of mandolin orchestras” Prilep – Macedonia, “Festival International de Musica para Yovens” Villanova de Gaya – Portugal, “Musical Impressions” Bidgoscz – Poland, “Europees musiek festival voor de jeugd” Neerpelt – Belgium, “Aberdeen International Youth Festival” Aberdeen – Scotland etc. The last success was the participation on one of the oldest festivals for plucked strings instruments in Logrono - Spain.
Several well known musicians have lead the orchestra including Ramadan Shukri, Vanja Nikolovski - Gjumar and Sasho Tatarchevski.

Youth Female Choir

Since 1972 the Youth female choir is one of the most recognizable features of the Youth Cultural Centre in Skopje. Performing a vast repertoire including authors from all musical styles and periods with special attention to Macedonian choir literature, this ensemble proves that even amateur singers can make highly proffessional results.

During this 3-decade long period of existence the choir has won many prizes from domestic and foreign festivals and competitions which were promoted in a true cultural ambassador of our country.
From it’s foundation until now, the choir was conducted by several eminent conductors amongst which Dragan Shuplevski, Zapro Zaprov, Emilija Lale and Sasho Tatarchevski.

Sasho Tatarchevski

Sasho Tatarchevski is an orchestral and choral conductor who has been working with many different ensembles in Macedonia including the Bitola chamber orchestra, the modern music ensemble “Alea”, the Symphony orchestra of Bitola summer festival, “The soloists of the FMA”, the choirs of the FMA and “Stiv Naumov”. At the moment he is principal conductor and artistic leader of the Youth female choir and the Mandolin orchestra at the Youth Cultural Centre in Skopje.
He has performed numerous concerts and won international prizes with various ensembles in Portugal, Slovenia, Scotland, Belgium, Greece, Switzerland, Spain and Turkey as well as in Macedonia.