The Cosmic Voices is one of the first choir formations set up after 1989 and the dramatic political and economic changes in Bulgaria. Now, twenty years after their first rehearsal, the female folklore choir is among the most prestigious institutions in this genre. Their first concert took place at the beginning of 1995 as part of the New Year Music Festival.

“It was a great success. A little before that we had recorded our first CD,” says Vanya Moneva, founder and conductor of the choir.

Vanya Moneva graduated the Pancho Vladigerov National Music Academy with renowned Bulgarian choir conductor Prof. Vassil Arnaudov. But her very first professional contact with a folk choir turned her career around. This was at the beginning of the 1990s when she was conductor of the Bulgarian National Radio Female Folk Choir.

“While I was working with these wonderful singers the truth of what working with voices was all about dawned on me,” Vanya Moneva says. “My schooling is that of a classical conductor but having once started working with the choir’s incredible singers I came to realize that this was my calling, this was what I wanted to do in life. And I made myself a promise – that this was a dream I would make come true. I entered the competition for conductor, won it and started work. A little later the choir ceased to exist. So, I decided to found a choir to express myself and the way I see the world. I brought eleven singers together for the first time on 11 July, 1994; to this day we celebrate this date as the birthday of the Cosmic Voices. A little before that I chanced upon Emil Minev and I told him of my dream and he suggested we pooled our efforts and became the choir’s manager. Regretfully, Emil passed away three years ago. It is so hard to get over a loss like that – we worked together for so many years. But we have been moving on. We have faced many challenges in our biography – we have had concerts with 13 harp players, we have sung to the accompaniment of a didgeridoo, together with jazz musicians… At the latest Varna Summer international festival we took part in Tanya Koleva’s project which she created especially for us, together with her percussion ensemble from the Netherlands.”

The first Cosmic Voices members represented three different generations. Vanya Moneva:

“We laid the beginning together with Nadka Karadjova and her quartet Slavey (Nightingale) – Pavlina Gorcheva, Boyka Prisadova, Mitra Biserova, Tsvetanka Varimezova. They were household names by then but they stood by the young singers who were just starting out. Any conductor would be delighted to have such support. And I am truly grateful to them. The girls of today are aged 17 to 36. Young, talented they have preserved a tradition going back 20 years, the choir’s image, the sound, the vivid performances on stage. We are on excellent terms with one another and gladly share our experiences – be they professional or personal. We now have several second generation kids who sometimes come to our rehearsals. In 2015 we are expecting the birth of one more member of our “cosmic” family. And our wish for the new year is to have grand dreams that will pull us forward.”

Anna Yordanova, a member of the Cosmic Voices for many years says:

“I have been a member of the choir since 2002. For me working with such a choir and conductor is a dream come true. It is my second family, not to mention the fact that my sister also sings in the choir. We have traveled the world and have had some incredible times. For example we had a concert at the Vienna cathedral. It was really cold inside and the audience sat on heated benches wrapped up in blankets. We were there in our traditional dress. The time came for us to sing the song Zaspalo e momche chelebiiche (Young master has fallen asleep) with soloist Boyka Prisadova, a renowned folk singer of music from the Rhodopes. Under the frozen dome her voice had a crystal clear ring to it, beautiful and sparkling. And the cathedral seemed to open up to the skies - something I shall never forget as long as I live. In 2014 we recorded a double CD, we had many concerts, took part in Milcho Leviev’s project Journey to Two Worlds, together with the Bulgarian National Radio Big Band. These different transformations open up incredible vistas for us.”

English: Milena Daynova