The Great Bulgarian Voices at the Moscow Easter Festival

The Fourth Moscow Easter Festival took place on May 1–11. It was organized under the patronage of the Government of Moscow. Thanks to the assistance of the Moscow Patriarchate, concerts of church music were given at the active churches. The aim of the festival is to revive the interest in choir singing, church and secular music, and in the art of bell ringing. Main inspirer and organizer of the festival is the conductor of the symphony orchestra of Mariinsky Theater, the world-famous Valeriy Gergiev. According to the Russian media, “He stops before nothing to secure for the festival the best musicians and singers in the world.” This year a special invitation was extended to the Great Bulgarian Voices directed by Maestro Iliya Mihaylov. Their participation became possible with the assistance of the Bulgarian Music Association chaired by Prof. Vasil Kazandjiev.

H.E. Mr. Ilian Vasilev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to the Russian Federation, attended the concert in the Vysoko-Petrovski Monastery and invited the artists to breakfast at the Embassy

The formation Great Bulgarian Voices comprises several independent artistic units, which come together for large projects: a men's choir with academic repertory, a women's choir with folklore repertory, and a mixed choir. Within the framework of the festival, the Bulgarian singers gave concerts in the Vysoko-Petrovski Monastery in the heart of Moscow, at the commandant's office of the Moscow Kremlin, at Uspenski Sabor in the city of Pereslavl-Zaleiskiy and took part in the gala concert in Tchaikovsky Hall. The hosts in the Vysoko-Petrovski Monastery were so impressed by the angel voices unheard before in this cloister that breaking the established traditions they allowed the guests to sing a Bulgarian folk song.

“There are several Easter Festivals in the world. The one in Salzburg is considered to be the best. I have attended it. In Moscow I was impressed by the size, scale and quality of the festival. Tchaikovsky Hall was full, we sang several encores. As we had a chance to convince ourselves, culture in Russia is at a very high level. Now we are concerned with returning the gesture. A guest performance of Maestro Gergiev with his orchestra in Bulgaria would be an event of exceptional magnitude. I hope our performance at the festival will open up opportunities for cultural exchange between our two countries, which are so close in a musical, aesthetic and spiritual aspect,” Maestro Mihaylov said specially for Bulgarian Diplomatic Review.