The newly elected President of North Macedonia Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova was a guest at the Sofia Opera and Ballet spectacle yesterday in Skopje.
"Our welcome was more than warm, so inspiring for both sides. It was beautifully organized by the hospitality of the National Opera and Ballet in Skopje and our preparation. We were aware that we were going to a theatre where the composer Wagner had never been heard. Our responsibility was great, because this audience, which will enter the opera house for the first time, must be prepared and expectant", said the director of the Sofia Opera and Ballet, Acad. Plamen Kartaloff in the studio of "The Day ON AIR".
The guest noted that he did not feel any tension or worry about the participation of the Sofia Opera and Ballet in Skopje, despite the political situation.
"We went with pure hearts, with clear intentions to show a high professionalism of the Sofia Opera and it happened. This festival is being held for the 52nd time. It means that this theatre is carrying on a very serious tradition in the classical repertoire. We knew that the President of North Macedonia would come to the spectacle and we were kindly delighted on their part that there would be a high presence," said Acad. Kartaloff told Bulgaria ON AIR.
In his words, the President of the Republic of North Macedonia was cordial and sincere in her greeting to the Sofia Opera.
"Her first words were that diplomacy is done with cultural diplomacy first and other diplomacy is secondary. She showed a great respect for the artists, for the performance, made an analysis of the performance during the cocktail party she came to after the spectacle and stood almost until the end. The impressive thing was that the elation she shared was with getting to her feet at the first curtain down," said Acad. Kartaloff.
He stressed that culture is the first bridge of diplomacy.
"Just as there is a diplomacy of culture, there must be a culture of diplomatic relations and this is the first bridge that politicians have to cross, meeting on both sides, on both banks of a full-flowing, often turbulent river", the interlocutor believed.
Watch the full conversation in the video.