The idea for the Estruna – Arcangel project with New Bulgarian Voices belongs to producers Margarita Borisova and Yavor Ganchev. Having lots of experience as organizers of the Jazz+ Festival they gather on one stage artists from Bulgaria and Spain, in order to combine the music and dance of both cultures. The project continues its development in time and in a context, reflecting new stage experiments. The musicians have had two joint tours in Spain so far. They have participated in the most prestigious festivals in Granada and Madrid, while their latest show was in Sevilla in September, at the biggest flamenco forum worldwide. Conductor of the New Bulgarian Voices choir Associate Prof. Georgi Petkov gives us more details on the forthcoming concert on December 5 at the NPC:

“The Simfonieta Orchestra will present a classical for Spain work – Love Magic by Manuel de Falla during the first part of the concert. This will mark the 100^th anniversary of the piece. Two of the most prominent flamenco dancers will participate – Patricia Guerrero and David Perez. Our Estruna project comes in the second part and I see it as a great artistic challenge. I take part in it along with the New Bulgarian Voices choir that I established as a student with the New Bulgarian University. Our fans will listen to world famous Spanish flamenco singer Arcangel performing Bulgarian folklore. At the same time Bulgarian musicians will impersonate Spanish songs. Some of the plays were written by Antonio Forcione – acoustic guitar, who is the art director of the project. I arrange the vocal parties of the songs we sing. I make those in an ethno jazz style, based on flamenco motifs. A new musical image is created this way, as a result of two different cultures and two musical traditions from both sides of Europe.”

The Simfonieta chamber symphonic orchestra will be also on stage, conducted by maestro Jorg Birhance. Here is what he said on Love Magic by Manuel de Falla:

(you can find it on the audio file)

David Perez is the choreographer of the piece. What does it mean to him to be part of this project?

“As a flamenco dancer I accepted this invitation with a huge challenge. When one performs such a beautiful classical work, he must give his best. When we dance on a classic work we shouldn’t forget the other character of music, i.e. flamenco. I forget about time on stage, I forget about where I am and I give what’s necessary in both genres.”

On December 5 and in Hall 1 of the NPC we expect to enjoy the combination between a choir, chamber orchestra, acoustic instruments and dancing, presented with exclusive passion, temper and improvisation. The BNR and the Spanish public Radio 3 are the media partners of the project. Live stream of the concert will be available on binar.bg on December 5 at 6:30 pm CET.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev