“Your choir is the acme of European choir singing,” these words by Czech composer Veroslav Neumann are but randomly selected among the words of praise the successful performances by the remarkable Bulgarian choir have received through the years.

Polyphonia holds the record for number of awards from prestigious European competitions: Let the people sing - BBC, 1970, Guido of Arezzo - Italy, 1971, Bela Bartok - Hungary, 1976, International Choir Festival – Varna, 1977, six first prizes in all categories at the contest in Gorizia, Italy, 1986, and many more awards at competitions in the Czech Republic, Spain, Greece, Germany, Austria.

What made this long list of successes possible is the inspiration and the efforts of its talented singers, and of the choir’s first conductor Ivelin Dimitrov – composer of symphony, chamber and choir music - who dedicated 40 years of his life to the choir. After graduating from the National Academy of Music, Ivelin Dimitrov dedicated himself to working with children – he taught solfeggio to the young singers from the choir Bodra Smyana.

Under his baton Polyphonia performed music of all ages, frequently playing together with orchestras like the Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic, the BNR Symphony Orchestra. For ten years conductor of the celebrated choir has been Lyudmila Gerova, who follows closely her mentor’s advice: “Our work is motivated by one thing – our love of music.” Besides conductor, she is also a renowned chamber singer, and has been opera music producer at the Bulgarian National Radio for many years.

“We laid the foundations of Polyphonia when we outgrew the Bodra Smyana choir which was for children,” says Lyudmila Gerova. “That was when we decided to found a choir of our own. We invited Mr. Dimitrov as conductor. At international contests we won awards and prize money, and with his money Ivelin would buy sheet music for our repertoire, much of it baroque music. It was our dream to hear this music in the genuine surroundings it was written for. We were really happy when we were given permission to sing in the basilica San Marco in Venice and St. Peter’s in Rome, in the church in Nesebar in Bulgaria. We had dozens of premieres of Bulgarian works at the annual review of new Bulgarian music, we sing folk songs adapted by Krasimir Kyurchiiski, Ivan Spassov, Nikolai Kaufman. Some years ago we were invited to a radio show in Leuven, Belgium which we ended by singing a folk song by Kyurchiiski and we heard a strange noise – we couldn’t make out what it was. As it turned out it was people stomping their feet – as a sign of appreciation. When we won first prize at the International Choral Festival in Cork, Ireland, at the airport we ran into the chairman of the jury – a professor at the London music conservatory. When he came up closer he took off his hat and bowed to Ivelin. In Gorizia our singing was compared to the sound of aulos flutes – ancient instruments with a gentle, soft sound.”

English version: Milena Daynova