The May competition and the tour of Czechoslovakia (1987)

After a ten-day break “Song of the Forests” was prepared for the opening of the May Choral Competition with the Varna Symphony Orchestra under People’s Artist Ivan Marinov. In Vidin, for financial reasons, the children’s parts had been sung by the women, but this time the Varna boys took part. On 14 May 1987 the hall of the House of Amateur Arts was packed; thanks to everyone’s total commitment the performance was better than the rehearsal, and the audience applauded rapturously. On 15 May the orchestra’s managers, without asking the choir, committed it to a celebration organised by the Aksakovo district in the Batova area – the open-air stage barely held the choir, and part of the orchestra played straight on the lawn. The next day, outside the competition programme, the little boys, the children’s and youth group, the young men and Morski Zvutsi sang in their own hall for the jury and guests of the competition.

On 21 May chairman Georgi Mihov reported on discipline and Chonev on artistic matters and the tasks ahead: the district round of the national festival, a tour to Olomouc on 1–7 September with an a cappella programme, possibly Bratislava in 1988, and verbal invitations to a competition in Tours, France, and from old friends in Idar-Oberstein (West Germany). “Alexander Nevsky” and Stabat Mater were dropped; the singers’ papers were drawn up as for individual tourists, to avoid formalities and allow more foreign currency. But the official invitation from Olomouc was slow to arrive – in a call on 18 June the hosts claimed to have sent it long before – and the uncertainty sapped the choir’s work: attendance became more irregular than ever before, and Chonev disbanded the choir indefinitely, carrying on only with a group of new singers. The board declared a holiday from 15 July to 15 August, and the partners moved the visit to 21 September. At a meeting on 16 July it was decided to rehearse three times a week.

The 1987–1988 season began on 17 August; from 1 September rehearsals were held four times a week and from 10 September daily. On 18 September the choir left on the international train; from Olomouc it was taken to the Na Lučině pioneer camp and rehearsed that same evening. There followed an outing to Gottwaldov, a visit to Brno, an unscheduled concert on 23 September in Kroměříž for student kindergarten teachers, a visit to Velehrad, whose basilica holds a sculpture of the brothers Cyril and Methodius, a concert on 24 September in the cathedral of Uničov for an audience made up almost entirely of children, and a walk in Šternberk. The official concert for the anniversary of the Olomouc children’s choir took place on 25 September in the city’s concert hall, after appearances by the hosts’ children’s and youth choirs. The choir returned to Varna via Brno.

On 5 October Chonev reviewed the tour and pointed out misbehaviour by some singers; at the next rehearsal they were called before the board and given a final warning.