Three first prizes in Cork

After the concert the organising committee and the jury came on stage and announced the placings down to third. Three times the name of Morski Zvutsi rang out: first place for the mixed choir (261 points against 260 for the runner-up), for the women’s choir (276 against 268) and for the men’s choir (261 against 259). The narrow margins show how fierce the competition was – and how right Chonev had been about the women. The singers celebrated in the Lord Mayor’s council chamber, where the conductor, the artistic directors, the mayor and officials came to congratulate them; the choir replied with more songs and treated the guests to Bulgarian wine.

Three days later Narodno Delo reported under the headline “Three first prizes for the Morski Zvutsi choir” (I. Stefov) that the choir, conducted by Marin Chonev, Honoured Artist, had brilliantly upheld the reputation of Bulgarian choral singing in the mixed, women’s and men’s categories. In a joint article, “Bravo, Bulgaria! Bravo, Varna!”, Boyka Vasileva and Petar Vitanov described how on 2 May in the City Hall, at the 23rd international choral festival, Bulgaria’s anthem had to be played three times, and three times Chonev climbed onto the stage to receive the winners’ cup amid the audience’s cheers. Straight after the closing ceremony, in the mayor’s reception room, the jury and hosts kept asking for “something more”, and the choir sang “Rodna pesen”, “Hubava si, tatkovino” and “Rodino mila, teb privet”.

The praise was remarkable. Jury member Prof. Solon Michaelides of Greece said he had heard many ensembles, including many Bulgarian choirs, but had never heard a choir like this. In the choir’s Golden Book the Englishman Stephen Wilkinson, also on the jury, wrote that Chonev’s art was “intelligent and at the same time very warm-hearted”, while Mr Healy, Mayor of Cork and chairman of the organising committee, called Morski Zvutsi one of the most beautiful choirs he had ever heard and said it would always be welcome in Cork. The Cork Examiner of 3 May 1976 ran the headline “Bulgarian choir takes top prize”. The authors stressed that the Cork competition was known for its difficult set programme and for its rule that the jury chooses songs from a large extra repertoire for separate concerts, and that the choir had beaten strong rivals from Czechoslovakia, West Germany, the USA and England.

The next day people in the streets and shops congratulated the singers, gave them newspapers with the results as souvenirs and invited them back, while their landlords proudly introduced them to friends and family. The journey home went by train and ferry to England; on the evening of 5 May coaches took them to Victoria Station in London, then to Dover, by ferry across the Channel to Dunkirk and by train to Paris. After three days there the singers flew home from Le Bourget and landed in Varna at 1 a.m. on 9 May – and the next day they were back at rehearsal. The book reproduces photographs of the three cups and the three diplomas.