We are pleased to offer our sixth camp

This year’s North Macedonia camp will again take place near the town of Ohrid on beautiful Lake Ohrid on the border with Greece and Albania. Ohrid is a town rich in picturesque houses and churches - once boasting 365 churches, one for every day of the year. It is known as the “Jerusalem of the Balkans”. Ohrid and Lake Ohrid are UNESCO cultural and natural World Heritage Sites.

We will be staying for most of the camp in the very charming, family-owned Robinson Sunset Guest House located in the Galichica National Park on the shores of Lake Ohrid, a short distance from the town. Our meals will be home-cooked traditional Macedonian food.

This year’s teaching staff will be led by Igor Dimovski, virtuoso accordion player, singer, arranger, who will present a set of his own arrangements of traditional songs from a variety of regional Macedonian styles. Teodora Stojanovska is a dynamic singer and dancer with Tanec, the professional national folk ensemble. She will teach a set of folk dances and village songs from many regions. Samira Merdžanić, from nearby Bosnia and Hercegovina, is a well known choral leader of many choirs and has taught at 5 previous Village Harmony camps. At our Macedonia she will teach a set of Bosnian sevdalinka, village songs and other Bosnian gems. Mary Cay Brass, leading her 6th Macedonian camp, will add some shape note, English pub songs and a Croatian klapa song into the mix.

A typical day in Ohrid will begin with a traditional breakfast, followed by a dance class and singing classes until lunch. After lunch, there will be free time for hiking in Galichitsa National Park and swimming or boating in Lake Ohrid. Late afternoon will see more singing classes; and after supper each evening there will be a dance party, when we get a chance to review the songs and dances learned that day.

Following the initial, more intensive learning days, we will begin to take day trips around the region, visiting villages, monasteries and local traditional singers, and to present our concerts in various locales.

Lake Ohrid (Охридско Езеро, Ohridsko Ezero) straddles the mountainous border between the southwestern part of North Macedonia and eastern Albania. It is one of Europe's deepest and oldest lakes, with a unique aquatic ecosystem of worldwide importance

We will finish the camp with a day and night in Skopje, North Macedonia’s capital.