Forty-five years, the Crystal Lyre and the international conducting courses (2001–2003)

In April 2001 Varna held its second Easter music festival. On 13 April the choir, with the chorus and orchestra of the Opera and Philharmonic Society, sang Verdi’s Requiem with soloists Tatyana Nikolova, Kaludi Kaludov, Boyka Vasileva and Rafał Siwek from Poland and conductor Hristo Ignatov. On 28 April the Art Gallery hall could not hold all the admirers who came to the anniversary concert “45 Years of the Morski Zvutsi Choir”: the choir’s story was told, former and current singers were named with respect, thanks went to the institutions that had stood by the choir “in joy and in trouble”, and Narodno Delo greeted it with “Many happy years to the Morski Zvutsi choir”.

On 23 May Verdi’s Requiem was heard again during the May Choral Competition; on 31 May Thomas Wessella of South Carolina conducted a concert of Bulgarian and foreign works; and on 9 June came the final of the 3rd International Conducting Course “Cantata and Oratorio Music” – Bach’s Cantata 150 and movements from Mozart’s Requiem, led by the young American participants, Kalin Chonev among them. In an interview with Olga Boeva for Cherno More, Larry Wyatt said it had been a privilege to work with the choir and orchestra, called Chonev and Milko Kolarov “wonderful conductors and teachers” and hoped the course would grow into a major international event. On 14 June the choir shared a concert with the Finnish choir Tempor, and on 23 June 2001 it opened the 75th Varna Summer with Milko Kolarov’s oratorio “April 1876” – conductor Ivan Marinov, soloists Gena Dimitrova and Aleksandrina Milcheva, narrator Boris Lukanov. In 2001 Marin Chonev and the choir received the Crystal Lyre 2001 award for outstanding achievement in music, dance and teaching.

The 2001–2002 season opened on 2 March 2002 with a Liberation Day concert at the B. Georgiev Gallery together with the Varna Boys’ and Youth Choir – works by Dobri Hristov, Lyubomir Pipkov, Krasimir Kyurkchiyski, Petko Mechkov, Emil Manolov and Slavcho Dimitrov, and Orthodox music by Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky and Bortnyansky. The International Conducting Course – Varna 2002 ended on 1 June at the Evangelical Pentecostal Church with Verdi’s Requiem, with American singers taking part, the Sinfonietta Varna orchestra and soloists Tatyana Nikolova, Boyka Vasileva, Plamen Dolapchiev and Dr Richard Conand; the movements were conducted by the participants, and the lecturers were Dr Larry Wyatt, Prof. Marin Chonev and Prof. Milko Kolarov. On 3 July the choir sang with the American “Colorado Goodwill Singers” – from Bernstein’s West Side Story to the spiritual “Soon I Will Be Done” arranged by William Dawson.

On 28 November 2002 the choir took part in a concert given by a visiting Greek choir from Corfu, and on 20 December in the Christmas concert, with movements from Milko Kolarov’s “Christmas Suite”, the old French tune “Ding Dong! Merrily on High” arranged by David Willcocks, “Adoramus Te, Christe” and Orthodox chants. On 3 March 2003, at the Liberation Day concert, Evgeni Cheshmedzhiev’s song “The Apostle” was performed for the first time.