OH JAZZ, the central jazz cycle of Ohrid Summer, opens its evening program with the Macedonian National Jazz Orchestra and soloist Peter Somuah from Ghana on August 14 at Donji Saraj. The concert starts at 21:00 and sits at the heart of the jazz program for the festival's 66th edition.

Peter Somuah is a West African trumpeter originally from Accra, Ghana, now based in Rotterdam. In 2021 he won the Erasmus Jazz Prize for young jazz talent, and in 2022 the prestigious Edison Jazz Award for his debut album Outer Space. In 2023 he released Letter to the Universe on the legendary ACT Music label, blending jazz, funk, soul and traditional Ghanaian music. His November 2024 album Highlife is a tribute to Ghana's iconic highlife genre and features collaborations with Pat Thomas, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley and the 93-year-old master Koo Nimo.

The Macedonian National Jazz Orchestra is the country's largest big band and regularly collaborates with international soloists on major jazz stages. At Ohrid Summer the orchestra acts as the in-house partner for the foreign guests - with a line-up of sixteen-plus musicians, Somuah's big-band sound gets full orchestral dimension. The collaboration fits the close relationship between ACT Music and West African jazz with European big-band formats, modeled on Somuah's June 2024 project with the WDR Big Band.

Donji Saraj is one of Ohrid Summer's main stages, with intimate architecture in the old bazaar and natural acoustics that make it ideal for acoustic jazz. Tickets are sold through mktickets.mk and cost 1,000 denars.