Ten years ago, conductor Elitza Hristova and prominent Bulgarian composer Georgi Popov united their efforts in their desire to create a choir with a specific manner of sound production and repertoire. Their ambition was to revive one of the oldest choral societies in the country, Slavyanska Beseda, which was founded back in the late 19th century in Sofia, in 1888 - the same year in which the oldest community cultural center in Sofia of the same name was established.
Choral Society Slavyanska Beseda had a significant contribution to the organization and development of the Bulgarian cultural life in those years, immediately following the Liberation of Bulgaria after five centuries of Ottoman oppression. It carried out numerous musical and educational activities and was the place where some of the greatest Bulgarian musicians worked such as Nikolaj Nikolaev (founder of the church choirs in Bulgaria), composer Dobri Hristov, conductor and composer Angel Bukureshtliev, etc.
During Socialism, the choir’s activities were ceased but in 2000, conductor Elitza Hristova and composer Georgi Popov decided to bring the choir back to life. In this endeavor, they received the unconditional support of the then-chairman of the Slavyanska Beseda community center, Prince Joreto Bahmetijev, a descendent from a noble Russian and a famous Bulgarian family.
More on the first steps of the emerging ensemble from conductor Elitza Hristova herself:
“Ten years ago, on October 14, we had the first rehearsal of our choir. On this day, the Orthodox Church pays homage to Saint Parascheva – Petka of Tarnovo. At that time, there were only 13 children in the choir. We hoped to receive the help of Saint Petka and God’s blessing. Over the past 10 years, we have worked with more than 150 singers in the choir, and now we have some 50 singers - children, teenagers and adults, from 5 to 50 years of age”.

On October 14, 2010, the revived choir marked its tenth anniversary with a festive concert held in the church of Saint Nicholas of Sofia, with the special participation of their friends from the Serbian Pancevo Choral Society conducted by Vera Carina. And it was not only them who arrived especially for this event. Many former singers of the choir of different ages, who have abandoned their musical activities in recent years for different reasons, were in the first rows of the audience, singing and joining in from their seats.

On the following day, the two choirs served together at a festive Sunday liturgy in the Sofia-based Church of the Resurrection of Christ.
We offer you next to Hymn to the Ascension composed by Georgi Popov in the rendition of the Slavyanska Beseda choir.

Back in 2000, young and talented conductor Elitza Hristova and prominent composer Georgi Popov started working with a small group of children and girls in what was to become in several years a mixed choir of men, women, and children of more than 50 singers, who would travel across the stages of Bulgaria and Europe in numerous concerts and tours.
Born in 1969 in Bucharest, Romania, Elitza Hristova graduated from the Music Academy in Plovdiv in 1991. She worked as choirmaster and accompanist in a number of choirs, including the Bulgarian National Radio Children’s Choir and Svetoslav Obretenov National Philharmonic Choir. In the period of 1991 – 2001, she was actively engaged in concerts and recordings as a pianist.
Her encounter with notable composer Georgi Popov determined her future path as one of the finest Bulgarian conductors in the field of Orthodox choral art. Currently a PhD student in Church Music at the Theological Department of Sofia University Saint Climent Ochridski, Elitza Hristova has been successfully coping with an academic career alongside her musical activities, and was one of the speakers at the conference on Liturgical Theology held on November 12 in Sofia.
Listen next to Troparion from the service of Baptism (Grant unto me the robe of light) that the choir performed at the closing ceremony the conference. The music is once again of composer Georgi Popov. 

The repertoire of the Slavyanska Beseda choir is comprised mainly of Orthodox chants, most of which composer Georgi Popov has written especially for the group. Over the past ten years, he has written six liturgies and numerous religious hymns, and he has had a great contribution to the perpetuation of the Bulgarian sacred musical tradition.
The choir also performs works by Bulgarian, Russian, and Serbian Orthodox composers. Here is more from Maestra Elitza Hristova:

“In these ten years, our main goal was to awaken the spirituality of our singers and listeners with the expressive means and powerful impact of Orthodox music. We were really blessed for being able to achieve our goal not only in Bulgaria but also outside the country – we have traveled to Russia, Macedonia, Serbia, France, Italy and Austria, and everywhere the audience, both in concert halls and in churches, received our performances with a lot of attention, respect and love. People appreciate the profound Orthodox mysticism, the intense feeling of prayer, and the elevation of the spirit that they feel when they listen to our choir singing”.

In addition to its rich repertoire of Orthodox works, the choir also performs a selection of Bulgarian folksong arrangements adapted for mixed-voices choir by composer Georgi Popov.
We offer you next one of the most popular Bulgarian folksongs from the Rhodope Mountain, Devoiko mari hubava, (Oh Beautiful Maiden), performed by Slavyanska Beseda choir.  

One of the group’s worthiest achievements for promoting Orthodox music has been its cooperation with the International Festival for Orthodox Music “Theotokos–It Is Truly Meet” held annually in the town of Pomorie, on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Created in 2004 at the initiative of composer Georgi Popov, the festival has quickly developed into one of the most highly acclaimed forums for Orthodox choral music within the entire European Orthodox community. The chorus members are busily engaged with organization work all year round, and take part in the official opening and closing ceremony of at each festival. They are now preparing the 8th edition of the festival that is to take place from June 15 to 19, 2011.

After ten years of hard work, what has been the motivation of the choir’s directors to keep doing this demanding and arduous job for so long? Elitza Hristova again:

“In our work with the composer Georgi Popov over these ten years, we were trying to enlighten the souls of our singers. We want to teach them to sing in such a way that would fill churches with pure and noble sounds. In all our efforts, we have tried to achieve a perfect sound and pure breathing, and manage to express the deep Orthodox faith and wisdom and the Orthodox yearning for sacredness. We are really happy that after long years of hard work and numerous successful concerts in Bulgaria and abroad, our singers have preserved their hearts and minds pure and uncorrupted”.
The choir’s concerts in Russia, Italy and Austria this year were only some of its recent successes. But what are the future plans of the group?
As conductor Elitza Hristova told us, the choir’s rehearsals never stop, as its schedule is full of concerts, liturgies, and already several invitations for new tours to Russia and Italy in the coming year, and hopefully many more.
With this we have almost come to the end of today’s edition of Timeout for Music on Radio Bulgaria, taking you today to the world of Bulgarian choral art and Orthodox music, with our feature on the Slavyanska Beseda Choir.
All performances you have heard in today’s program were taken from a live recording made during the choir’s recent concert in Vienna on October 1, the International Day of Music, as well as from the group’s third CD released this June and featuring 18 tracks.
And at the end, we offer you another performance of the Slavyanska Beseda choir, one of the first Orthodox chants written by composer Georgi Popov - Lord Hear My Prayer.

Photos: provided by the author