With Ivan Marinov, Rositsa Shtereva’s debut and a new board (1979–1980)

On 22 May 1979 the choir began Al. Raychev’s cantata “Varna” for the opening of Varna Summer ’79 – its first joint appearance with the symphony orchestra of the Varna Philharmonic and the conductor Ivan Marinov, Honoured Artist. On 25 May Chonev read the singers Tanev’s still unpublished article, and Mimi Dimova treated everyone to celebrate the Order of St Kliment Ohridski, awarded for her long years of teaching. After hard rehearsals the choir opened the festival at the Drama Theatre on 21 June. On 25 June it recorded Todor Popov’s “Invasion”, and on 30 June it was filmed at the Summer Theatre for the TV programme “1300 and 35 of Them”. Then came the first long summer holiday in years.

From 27 August the 1979–1980 season opened with “Ninth of September” from Raychev’s oratorio “Friendship”, for a ceremonial meeting on 7 September. For Al. Krastev’s centenary the choir learned “Rakovata”, “Shto mi ne dohozhdash” and “O, Dobrudzhanski kray”, and from 25 September D. Hinkov’s cantata “Black Sea”. At the annual meeting on 18 October 1979 a new board was elected: chair Ivanka Hristova, deputies Kosta Levkov and Iliya Torbarov, section leaders Zlatinka Doncheva, Todorka Yaneva, Simeon Hadzhiev and Stoyan Boychev; the choir’s rules were also revised.

On 14 November, at the Krastev celebration, Chonev handed the podium to Rositsa Shtereva and urged the singers to stand behind her first appearance; although nerves made them go slightly sharp in the last song, her debut was a success. On 25 November, with the orchestra and Ivan Marinov, the choir sang “Black Sea” and “Invasion” at the Festival of Heroic Military-Patriotic Song. The Minister of Defence awarded the choir and orchestra the Medal for Merit to the Bulgarian People’s Army, and Chonev and Marinov a Golden Badge; the choir was also given a shell casing with an engraved dedication. On 6 December, under Shtereva and with Vitanov at the piano, it sang at the celebration of the N. Y. Vaptsarov Naval Academy.

Chonev always helped his colleagues; on 13 December the leaders of the Balchik choir came to watch a rehearsal. A letter proposing an exchange with a choir from the twin city of Turku (Finland) was sent, and committees were formed for the choir’s 25th anniversary. At the New Year party on 29 December the laureate badges from Plovdiv were handed out, together with the book “Eminent Bulgarian Choirs and Their Conductors”.

In January 1980 Chonev announced the new line-up of the chamber choir; on 17 January, in a snowstorm, singers from Tolbukhin came to visit. On 11 February Bayzar Artyunova Shtereva was nominated for an award for Amateur Artists’ Day. On 12 February Ivan Marinov proposed a joint tour of Denmark with Verdi’s Requiem and possibly Beethoven’s Ninth – 80 singers, from 6 to 10 or to 13 September. The board dropped two irregular singers for a year, but after heated debate took back the bass Svetoslav Nikolov once he showed he could now attend regularly. On 21 February Milko Dimitrov lectured on the role of Bulgarian schools in Varna’s musical life to Morski Zvutsi and the women’s chamber choir from Targovishte.