A colourful patchwork of individuals, united by the wonderful world of music and friendship”  - that is, in the words of Valentina Georgieva, the best way to describe the Black Sea Sounds choir which recently marked its 100^th anniversary.

Valentina Georgieva has been at the helm of the Black Sea Sounds choir for 16 whole years. Together with the choir’s administration and the Musical World association, several years ago she launched an international choir contest whose latest edition was dedicated to the centenary.

“The landmarks in the history of the choir will come out in book form,” Valentina Georgieva says. “We have endeavoured to include all of the choir’s concerts we know about. Archives go back to 1940. We have information that in the years around WW I and II the choir was put on hold. Perhaps what will intrigue audiences most is the film about the past few decades of the choir’s work. It will feature archive footage from our concerts. Taking a look at my own history as a conductor, I came to realize that together with my colleagues we have given over 200 concerts and have taken part in 29 festivals in Europe, Asia, and of course, Bulgaria. We have been awarded some 70 prizes, diplomas, certificates and have performed over 120 works. These 100 years cover a lot of ground. So, we decided to mark the jubilee over several days. We start on October 16 with an exhibition to mark the anniversary; on that same day we launch the choir’s new website. On October 17 we shall be presenting “Stefan Dragostinov, unknown”, a collection of musical scores and recordings - the result of our work together with the composer - as well as adaptations of many of his works for mixed choir. We are so proud of this collection. It is years since any choir literature has been published and our small town – Balchik – found the money to support choir music and to offer other choirs a new and interesting repertoire.”

The Black Sea Sounds choir centennial anniversary is an occasion for many experts and for the public to take a closer look at its history which is part of the cultural history of Balchik. The beginning is connected with the name of teacher Ivan Subev Tsankov who brought together a group of enthusiasts, patriotically-minded and intelligent musicians. To begin with, they chose the name Svoboda (Freedom), and it was only in 1959 that the choir decided on the emblematic Black Sea Sounds. Through the years the choir has had 17 directors, with just some of them being professional choir conductors. Here we should mention the name of Vuzkresia Devetakova who is the only person from the town of Balchik to have been conductor of the choir. She is also founder of the children’s choir singing school in the town. After her came the Russian Anatoly Kislyakov. While he was director the choir took on its first serious professional assignments with a new and most diverse repertoire. The first choir singers were mostly teachers and schoolchildren from the town, the youngest being 15 and the oldest – 85.

“They are, above all, people who are very fond of each other,” Mrs. Georgieva goes on to say. “This is a very special kind of community. The fact that we have been together so many years at concerts, rehearsals and tours speaks for itself. We always have so much to say to each other – doctors, engineers, school teachers, even university students who come here especially from the cities… A colourful medley of individuals, united by this wonderful world of creativity and friendship. I am happy to say that we would like to invite to our celebrations anyone who has ever supported us through the years, anyone who has ever backed our projects – our audience, our friends from Balchik municipality, everyone from the Paisius of Hilendar culture community club.”

English version: Milena Daynova