Schubert, Verdi, Don Giovanni and Constellation ’99 (1997–1999)

Two American letters are reproduced alongside the pages on 1997. On 12 March 1997 Jeffrey H. Rickard, director of choral activities at the University of Redlands, described the choir’s vigorous, bright sound in the Bulgarian liturgy, its controlled crescendos and diminuendos and, above all, the arrangement of “Shenandoah” by James Erb; in his view both conductors achieved full expressiveness “with a minimum of movement”. On 17 March the ACDA’s executive director, Gene Brooks, wrote to Chonev that the choir’s performance at the national convention had been “brilliant” and that “Kalin has developed into a fine young conductor”. Chonev was also made a member of the American Choral Directors Association.

Back home the May Choral Competition was approaching. On 21 May 1997 Yordan Dafov conducted Morski Zvutsi, the Varna Boys’ and Youth Choir and the Varna Symphony Orchestra in Schubert’s Mass No. 2, with soloists Tsvetan Tsvetkov and Aleksandar Krunev; this opened the 24th International May Competition, and on 14 June the concert was repeated for the opening of Varna Summer. On 23 December came the concert “Christmas and New Year Festivities – Varna ’97”, and on 25 March 1998 Vladi Anastasov conducted works by Dobri Hristov, Bach, Mozart, Schubert and others at the House of Arts with the festival chamber orchestra.

For Europe Day ’98, on 9 May, the choir and the Varna Philharmonic under Dafov performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (soloists Mariana Pashalieva, Aleksandrina Milcheva, Arseniy Arsov and Aleksandar Krunev). On 20 June, for the opening of Varna Summer ’98, the hall of the Festival and Congress Centre could barely hold the audience for Verdi’s Requiem with soloists Galina Savova, Aleksandrina Milcheva, Kaludi Kaludov and Dimitar Petkov. On 29 December Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni” was performed with Edelina Kaneva, Mariana Pashalieva, Vladimir Marinov, Aleksandar Tekeliev, Ognyan Nikolov, Kiril Todorov and Petar Petrov, and on 21 January 1999 Beethoven’s Fantasia for piano, chorus and orchestra, with soloist Svetla Slavcheva and the Dutch conductor Conrad van Alphen.

On 12 May 1999 the Ninth Symphony opened the Prof. G. Dimitrov May Choral Competition – with the Varna Philharmonic, soloists Galya Gorcheva, Daniela Mesquita (Brazil), Kamen Chanev and Petar Petrov, and conductor Dafov. In June the choir was invited to give its own concert for Europe Day in Plovdiv. That year Marin Chonev topped the Constellation ’99 ranking and received the Grand Prize of the year – for his part in creating the May Choral Competition and for his life’s work. Concerts followed in Pomorie (27 November) and Nesebar (28 November), at the House of Arts on 20 December, and a festive Christmas concert at the Palace of Culture and Sports on 23 December.