For the children from the Bodra Pessen children’s choir from the town of Shoumen, December is a busy time of year. Founded 55 years ago by Prof. Veneta Vicheva, the choir has taken as its birthday the 5^th of December – the day of its first rehearsal, for which 110 children came to sing. The date is invariably a time to honour the choir’s first conductor, but also to make merry.

Denitsa Uzunova, formerly second conductor and student of Prof. Vicheva’s, took over the choir in 2011. Under her guidance, Bodra Pessen has had a host of successes. Even a cursory look back at the choir’s last two seasons is impressive enough:

“The outgoing year was dedicated to the choir’s 55^th anniversary, and it has been a year of numerous events, varied concert programmes and performances we can well be proud of.

As a matter of fact, we had no vacation to speak of. I shall start from the end and work my way to the beginning, so as to make mention of our most important appearances. At the 11^th edition of the International Choir Festival in Ohrid, we took part in the competition, as well as in the festival folklore programme. Out of the 25 choirs from 13 countries, we won the grand prix, first prize in the children’s choirs category and awards for sacred music. Before that, during season 2017-2018, we recorded a delightful Christmas disc. We had a successful appearance at the Second Festival of Christmas and New Year Songs in Haskovo.

We performed Benjamin Britten’s Missa Brevis, together with the Shoumen Sinfonietta at the Easter concert. We were invited to do so by composer Milko Kolarov who conducted our performance of Missa Brevis at the Varna Summer international festival – the oldest classical music festival in the country. It was such a pleasure to be working with Milko Kolarov who told us recently he was writing a song for our youngest singers. Following in the footsteps of Dobri Voynikov, the eminent teacher, playwright and musician from Shoumen from the time of the National Revival, the two concerts dedicated to the 90^th birth anniversary of renowned composer Alexander Tanev were particularly important to us – Prof. Tanev has written works dedicated specifically to Dobri Voynikov. We sang “To Dobri Voynikov”, a song with lyrics by Stiliyan Chilingirov, another prominent figure from Shoumen, which is the hymn of the international children’s choir festival in Shoumen. 2018 has truly been a year packed with musical events for Shoumen, but also for our choir.”

In the summer of 2018 Bodra Pessen prepared a colourful, emotional, but also a somewhat nostalgic programme entitled “The golden children’s songs of Bulgaria,” dedicated to “children of all generations”. It was presented at the Vasil Drumev drama puppet theatre, with the Shoumen Sinfonietta with conductor Levon Manukyan, author of the arrangements, pianist Georgi Miltiadov and celebrated singer Orlin Goranov. It would not be possible to make mention of all of the important events in Bodra Pessen’s busy schedule, but we certainly should not omit the traditional Christmas concert. This year it will be on 19 December, and the children will be performing together with the Shoumen Sinfonietta. The programme features new arrangements of popular Christmas and New Year songs, all in the holiday spirit.

English: Milena Daynova