A contract for the construction of a cultural center and film music recording studio and an agreement auctioning state construction land in the Skopje municipality of Gazi Baba was signed Friday by the municipality’s mayor Toni Trajkovski and representatives F.A.M.E’S music production and recording studio, Aude Nassieu Maupas and Laurent Koppitz.

The contract envisages two facilities to be built – a 543-square meter cultural center and music recording studio covering an area of 1,194 square meters in a settlement in the Macedonian capital.

The signing ceremony was attended by Nikola Gruevski, Culture Minister Elizabeta Kanceska-Milevska and French ambassador Laurence Ouer.

“The company by recording film soundtracks and other orchestra scores is already on the map of the film industry worldwide. Since launching its work in Macedonia, F.A.M.E’S has established excellent cooperation with the Macedonian Philharmonics, the Macedonian Opera and Ballet and with many artists, most of them musicians from Macedonia,” Gruevski said speaking at the ceremony.

The investment in a new studio for recording film scores, “one of a kind in the Balkans”, will contribute to intensifying cooperation and engaging over 100 Macedonian artists.

“The project is of great importance for Macedonian musicians and the development of Macedonia’s music production. At the same time, the project fully corresponds with the efforts made by the government to develop the film industry in Macedonia and attract and support local and foreign film projects,” Gruevski stated voicing his confidence that the new recording studio would help strengthen Macedonia’s reputation as a country that offered ways for cooperation in many spheres of film production.

F.A.M.E’S founded the Macedonian Radio Symphonic Orchestra, as it is known worldwide, in 2008 and has been working in the premises of the Macedonian Radio-Television in one of its control rooms at Studio M1.

“Our project is not only a cultural project, but it is also a business project that involves more than 100 musicians from Macedonia. We have had the privilege to work on over 800 projects recording scores for films, TV series, video games and classical music and collaborate with Universal Music, Disney, Sony, etc,” stated Koppitz.

I’m convinced, Culture Minister Kanceska-Milevska said, film music will be produced in the premises of the new and modern building with recording studios that is going to showcase the creative potentials of our artists around the world.

Speaking at the event, ambassador Oer said the investment was being made in ‘a sector that will spread the word about Macedonia in the future.