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

Outstanding performance by students from the National School of Folk Arts Philip Koutev at Altın Karagöz Folklore Competition in Bursa, Turkey

БНР Новини
Photo: courtesy of the Philip Koutev school

The musicians and dancers from the town of Kotel came away as award winners at the prestigious Altın Karagöz Folk Competition in Bursa, Turkey. This latest success for the music and dance ensemble comes as acknowledgement of the high standard of the first, in Bulgaria and in the Balkans, school for folklore - Philip Koutev, located in Kotel.

Generations of talented musicians, singers, dancers have graduated the National School of Folk Arts in its 50-year long history. Today many of them are renowned conductors, music arrangers, singers, instrumentalists, dancers, choreographers, lecturers in Bulgaria and around the world. The school provides specialized education, but also organizes a great many concerts in the country and abroad with the idea of popularizing a high artistic standard of traditional Bulgarian music and dance.

Individual soloists and the school’s ensembles have taken part and won prestigious awards and prizes at numerous national and international competitions and festivals. The National School of Folk Arts Philip Koutev has itself organized national competitions for some years – the Golden Staff and Rainbow of Songs - for children and teenagers from across the country, whose talents are evaluated by a highly competent jury.

Bulgarian dance was introduced at the school in Kotel in 1998. Around 20 days ago it won first prize at the competition in Bursa.

Here is more from Mrs. Yanka Docheva – artistic manager of the National School of Folk Arts Philip Koutev:

“I have had the honour of presenting groups from our school at international competitions and festivals since 2003. Our efforts, together with headmistress Maria Gradeshlieva have been a success. Ensembles from 23 countries from all over the world took part in the 32nd edition of the Altın Karagöz Folk Competition. The programme presented by the students from the Philip Koutev school was prepared by choreographers and choreography teachers Miroslav Tipovski and Konstantin Konstantinov. It dazzled the audience with its dynamic gradation, its impact, revealing the magic, beauty and vivacity of Bulgarian folk music and dance. Our children – musicians and dancers – were brilliant, as acknowledged by all participants, most of whom professional musicians with much experience and achievements of their own. So it was no surprise they won first prize.


The participants in this year’s competition included ensembles from Georgia, North Ossetia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan… The performers of Caucasian dance were incredible. The groups from Brazil, Macedonia, Indonesia were also marvelous, but the first prize went to the students from our school. The jury included representatives of South Korea, Turkey, Portugal, Poland etc. Unlike many competitions in the world, where you can take part if you pay, the Altın Karagöz competition does not work like that. The financial cost to the groups is covered by the host country. That is why selection of the participants is so rigorous. So, even if a group is approved just for the first stage of the competition, that in itself is acknowledgement of a high artistic standard.”

English version: Milena Daynova




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

Participants of the International Folklore Festival in Veliko Tarnovo will go on parade

Nearly 340 participants from countries on different continents will take the stage at the Summer Theatre in Marno Pole Park in Veliko Tarnovo to present the their folklore traditions.  The start is today, 20 July, when the traditional..

published on 7/20/24 6:15 AM

The Regional Ethnographic Museum in Plovdiv helps to revive the ancient craft of felting

Products made of wool inspire the feeling of inner comfort and warmth in the visitors of the Plovdiv Regional Ethnographic Museum. The exhibition "Bulgarian felts - a message from antiquity" presents an ancient craft, which is..

published on 7/13/24 8:30 PM

Esther Willems - choreographer from The Hague who believes that the Bulgarian soul is encoded in the dances

The Hague, a city in the south of the Netherlands, the administrative centre and the place where the Queen lives and works...  Hardly anyone associates this city with Bulgarian folklore and traditions. But the fact is that the interest in..

published on 7/4/24 8:12 PM