In October 1978, united by their love for the traditionalpolyphony singing from Corsica, six singers created“A Filetta”. Along with their concert activity, in 1989 (together with SvegliuCalvese) they set up an annual festival, inviting polyphony singing groups from around the world. Even today, part of A Filetta is one of itsoriginal founders - Jean-Claude Acquaviva, the major composer and author of the repertoire of the ensemble. His works, as well as works by French composer Bruno Coulais will be presented in Bulgaria Hall on February 20th. The concert presents a joint project of A Filetta and Eva Quartet. The Bulgarian ensemble was founded two decades ago by Evelina Hristova, GerganaDimitrova, Sofia Kovacheva and Daniela Stoichkova, soloists of world-famous Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices Choir. In their numerous tours abroad singers present Bulgarian folklore, church chants and participate in a number of original projects. Evelina Hristova told Radio Bulgaria more details about the concert on February 20:

“Our first meeting with A Filettatook place in 2002. We held a solo concert at the annual polyphony music forum Rencontres de Chants Polyphoniques de Calvi. Ten years later, at their invitation, we held a joint concert at the same festival. So we had the opportunity to present Bulgarian traditional songs in the performance of Eva Quartet to the audience from the island. Our folklore is quite different from theirs, but there are still ‘crossing points’ that we hope to find and explore at the concert in Sofia. Corsican music is very interesting and unique. Corsica is perhaps the only place in the world where this style of singing exists, not forgetting that it comes quite close to the traditions of Sardinia. It cannot be described in words, but it should be seen how singers stand in a semicircle, put a hand on their right ear and start singing in polyphony with extremely complex harmony. As they sing, they close their eyes and seem to let the music embrace them. The sound extraction is also very interesting. They have found a way to present their traditional music all over the world without altering it. They have preserved the authentic way of performing, despite the fact they are on stage, singing with microphones, performing in large halls and cathedrals all over the world.

For the upcoming concert we have prepared a program of songs that are part of our concert repertoire and are included in our new album, which will be released these days. Some are authentic, others are especially written for us and there are also arrangements of folk songs. At the end of the concert, together with A Filetta, we would perform two vocal works from their repertoire, as well as a Bulgarian one. We look forward to this meeting with great excitement and we hope to engage the audience in this unusual combination of two different traditions.”

English: Alexander Markov