The musicians from the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Svetoslav Obretenov National Philharmonic Choir, The Cosmic Voices Female Folk Choir and the Bulgarian National Radio Folk Music Orchestra have prepared a music programme bearing the colorful name The Wild Roots. The concert will be held at 7 pm on December 20 in Bulgaria Hall downtown Sofia. Renowned Bulgarian piper Theodosii Spassov, folk singer Gergana Popova from Trakia Folk Ensemble, as well as two celebrated instrumentalists from the Bulgarian National Radio Folk Music Orchestra- rebec player Peyo Peev and bagpipe player Petyo Kostadino, are some of the soloists of the forthcoming Christmas concert. Margarita Kalcheva, a double bass player at the Bulgarian National Radio Symphonic Orchestra, will take part in one of the premiere performances.

The conductor of the Cosmic Voices Choir Vanya Moneva who works as music producer at the Bulgarian National Radio told us details about the forthcoming Christmas concert:

“The management of the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra came up with the idea to make a joint music project with the Bulgarian National Radio Folk Music Orchestra and The Philharmonic Choir, conducted by Slavil Dimitrov. The pieces were created by Dimitar Hristov, Theodosii Spassov, Georgi Andreev and other renowned musicians. The audience will enjoy two premiere pieces. Dimitar Hristov wrote one of the songs especially for double bass player Margarita Kalcheva. It is named Yellow- Green at the proposal of soloist Margarita Kalcheva herself. It turned out that she sees the strings of her double bass in different colors and that she sees the two upper strings of that music instrument in yellow and green. The title of the piece was born naturally, because Dimitar Hristov accentuates on the upper register of the double bass. The other premier piece is named Wood-Nymph Song. It is written by Kostadin Genchev and will be performed during the Christmas concert by the National Philharmonic Choir, the BNR Folk Orchestra and the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra. I would like to note that all pieces were arranged especially for the concert. The National Philharmonic Choir will sing a cappella version of Christmas carol by Kiril Todorov. The Cosmic Voices Choir will also take part at the Christmas concert. We are to present several a cappella songs. I believe that the audience will enjoy the whole music programme. The folk style is gently combined with the classical music language and the potential of the symphonic orchestra. I am sure that we will launch other similar programs, too. This is a project of the future which is in close connection with Bulgarian traditions.”

The audience will also have the opportunity to enjoy Theodosii Spassov's new piece O, Maino Horo. The song is part of the Scars album, a joint project of Theodosii Spassov and the Bulgarian National Radio Folk Music Orchestra.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov