The Cathedral Choir at the Saint Nedelya Church

published Friday, September 14, 2012 1:50 PM

Radio Bulgaria Music

The Cathedral Choir at the Saint Nedelya Church

Author: Monika Alexandrova

The interior of the Cathedral during church service

The Cathedral Choir at the Saint Nedelya Church

One of the symbols of Orthodox Christianity in Sofia – the cathedral church of Saint Nedelya - is situated in the square of the same name in central Sofia. It is named after the Holy Martyr Kiriakia (or Nedelya in Bulgarian).
More on the history of this church choir from Georgi Mikov, one of the group’s conductors:
“The choir was set up immediately after the Liberation in 1879 by the prominent musician and public functionary Nikolai Nikolaev. He came from Bolgrad in Bessarabia together with his male choir at the invitation of Marin Drinov – the then minister of national enlightenment. Upon his arrival in Sofia, Nikolai Nikolaev started his activity in the cathedral Saint Nedelya. He directed the male group until the bomb attack on the church on April 16th, 1925. Later, the church was reconstructed and in 1933 its story was resumed. There are many distinguished conductors who have worked with it including Nikola Seizov, Ivan Kurtev, and others. As of 2000, its main conductor was Professor Miroslav Popsavov. He was recently in charge of the department in choral conducting at the Music Academy in Sofia”.

The choir consists of 17 men who have rehearsals every Wednesday for the daily liturgy. Georgi Mikov says that new singers are trained for two or three months as apprentices. In addition to good vocal skills, they must also possess a serious attitude to faith and be practicing Orthodox Christians.

One of the main goals of the group is to constantly expand its repertoire. It is currently composed of mainly works of Bulgarian and Russian composers of Orthodox music. Among them are the names of Dobri Hristov, Zdravko Manolov, Dmitriy Bortnyanski, etc. The group performs many Eastern Byzantine chants and works of 19th century authors such as Serbian composer Stefan Mokryanats.

In addition to its church services and concerts in Bulgaria, the choir at the Saint Nedelya Church has concerts abroad, as well. We learn more details from Georgi Mikov:
“Two years ago, we traveled to Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, for the church festival for Orthodox music held there. We have also been to Poland with concerts at the prestigious international festival Wratislavia Cantans held in the town of Wroclaw. When we have such concerts in our schedule, we have a tough rehearsal period. We also recorded a fascinating CD to mark the 130th anniversary of the choir’s foundation at the Saint Nedelya Church under the conductorship of Miroslav Popsavov.”

English version: Rossitsa Petcova

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