Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

Europe Sings Project starring BNR‘s mixed choir

БНР Новини
Photo: Bulfoto

"Europe Sings” is a project that involves selected professional and amateur choirs that will gather in Vienna. They will take people on a musical journey and present the old continent through the language of music. The program is based on the topic "100 Years of European History." Bulgaria will be represented at the event by the mixed choir of the BNR with conductor Dragomir Iosifov. Here is what he told us:

"On May 9 Europe Day is traditionally marked but one of the biggest music festivals also opens - The Vienna Festival Weeks. Both events will be marked with a concert that includes eight choirs from different parts of Europe. It was an honor for the mixed choir of the Bulgarian National Radio to be invited. Each choir will perform at the open stage in front of the City Hall downtown Vienna.  The choirs will also perform together fragments of popular works such as the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Verdi’s Nabucco; Symphony № 2 by Gustav Mahler and others.”

Each individual performance will be accompanied by a video promoting the country from which the choir came from.

"After a careful selection made by the choir itself, we unanimously decided to present a song based on music by Lubomir Pipkov. In 2014 we mark the 110th anniversary since his birth and 40 years after his death. “Vraneyat se Vrani Konje” is part of a series of folk songs written by the Bulgarian composer. These songs are rarely performed. They are difficult to perform but very beautiful," says Dragomir Iosifov. 


The Symphony Orchestra of the Austrian broadcaster ORF will take part in the event and the concert will be broadcast all over Europe. The event is a co-production of the European Broadcasting Union with eight different countries - Austria, Germany, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, France and Bulgaria. The BNT and BNR participate in the project as partners. The concert "Europe Sings" will be shown live on TV at 22.20 hours local time on May 9.

The culmination of "Europe Sings" will be a performance of the "Ode to Joy" from Symphony № 9 by Beethoven. Based on a poem by Friedrich Schiller, it has been a European anthem since 1972.

English version: Alexander Markov




Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Singer Stefan Ilchev and his homecoming to the city where he was born - Burgas

Going back to one’s roots is always an exciting endeavour, especially for artists. It is exciting for Stefan Ilchev – a young singer who has become popular with audiences in Burgas, the seaside city where he was born, but also nationally and even..

published on 8/9/24 8:35 AM

3D mapping show enriches the three-day program of Open Buzludzha Festival

An impressive 3D mapping show will enrich the experience during the Open Buzludzha Festival 2024. From August 8 to 11, in front of the monument, on the meadow in front of the "Buzludzha" hut and in the forest around, there will be..

published on 8/8/24 12:17 PM

Two concerts in one night at Plovdiv Jazz Fest

On August 8, the Plovdiv Jazz Festival will delight its fans with the only evening of two concerts at the Orpheus Summer Cinema in Plovdiv. The trio of the renowned double bassist Avishai Cohen, who is coming to Bulgaria for the summer program of the..

published on 8/8/24 6:05 AM