Choralies ’92, Spain and Germany (1992–1995)

In early August 1992 the French press introduced the choir in articles such as “The Bulgarian charm” (Le Provençal, 6 August 1992) and “The magnificence of Bulgarian voices” (7 August). They told how Mr Cornelou had discovered Morski Zvutsi while sitting on the jury of a major international competition and invited them to the 14th Choral Festival (Choralies ’92) in France, and spoke of “true enchantment” and “voices of exceptional purity”. Those were impressions of the first concert alone, in the church of Saint-Quenin in Vaison-la-Romaine. Concerts followed in Sérignan, Malaucène, Beaumes-de-Venise and Lyon, and an ancient theatre, concert halls and cathedrals could barely hold the crowds.

After returning home the choir sang for International Music Day, at Adventist lecture evenings, at a concert of the Third Bulgarian Kingdom committee, at a Christmas concert and at a Christmas liturgy. With the Varna Symphony Orchestra and the Sv. Obretenov Bulgarian Choral Capella, under Borislav Ivanov and with soloists Sofiya Ivanova, Valeriya Mircheva, Orlin Goranov and Nikola Gyuzelev, it performed the Ninth Symphony. After the Days of Orthodox Music at Varna Summer, the choir went to France again – to the 18th festival of cantata and oratorio music in the Morvan, at Autun, with concerts and masses in Autun and Peryo. On the way back it sang in Padua, Italy, where it had friends from 1972.

Just days after a concert at the Riviera resort the choir was on the road to Spain. The first concert was on 2 September in Suara, in the province of Álava; Vitoria, Larrea, Iskora, Laguardia and Araia followed, and the singers won new friends everywhere. The Spanish press covered their part in the 21st Álava Choral Week. The year ended with International Music Day and a Christmas concert. On 1 May 1994 the choir gave an Easter concert at the House of Arts, and on 16 June it closed the season in the church of Sts Constantine and Helena in Balchik.

In August 1994 Morski Zvutsi hosted the French choir “Van d’Est”, and from 15 to 21 October it was the guest of the Grubscher choir in Germany, with concerts in Idar-Oberstein, Hausen and Koblenz before full halls and churches. The local press called the choir’s “Gloria” unrepeatable and praised the women’s voices, the tenors and basses, the intonation, diction and breathing. Before the choir left, Mr Weber asked the singers to do everything they could to keep the choir going, “so that our friendship may continue”. The tour was reported by Daniela Braneva in Narodno Delo (3 November 1994) under the headline “Morski Zvutsi choir delights the German public”. On 5 November the choir sang at the concert marking 550 years since the Battle of Varna.

The next season had fewer appearances but big works. On 25 March 1995, the Feast of the Annunciation, Bach’s Magnificat was performed with the chamber orchestra of the Festival and Congress Centre, pianist Zlatina Valkova, soloists Nikolina Pankova, Rositsa Troeva, Lyudmila Dobreva, Arseniy Arsov and Mihail Mateev, and conductor Alipi Naydenov. On 25 May the choir gave the closing concert of the 23rd Prof. G. Dimitrov May Choral Competition, on 22 June it sang at the Art Gallery for the 120th anniversary of Dobri Hristov’s birth, and on 18 August, on the stage of the Varna Opera, it took part in Stravinsky’s opera-oratorio “Oedipus Rex” under Yordan Dafov. The year ended with a Christmas concert on 17 December at the House of Arts.