Please let us know of any dates to include in the calendar at least 2 weeks prior to event.

© London Bulgarian Choir 2009

Coming soon

Celebration of Bulgaria's Liberation from the Ottoman Empire, 3 March 2010

Salvation Army Regent's Hall, London

The third of March marks Bulgaria's Liberation from the Ottoman Empire. To celebrate, we're performing in a joint concert with the Bulgarian School in London, and the marvellous London-based Bulgarian dance troupe Tanec. Generously sponsored by the Bulgarian Embassy in London. Free entry, concert starts at 7:30

SOAS Concert Series, 23 March 2010

Brunei Gallery Theatre, SOAS, Bloomsbury, London

SOAS are generously sponsoring this concert as part of their ongoing world music concert series. Details to follow. SOAS page here.

Oxford, 5 June 2010

Details to follow.

Festival of Bulgarian Culture, London, November 2010

Big festival planned. We're involved - and rumour has it that the Mysteres choir may be back in town for the first time in eight years. Details to follow.

Recent Events

2009

Joan Armatrading's Favourite Choirs

BBC Radio 4, 20 December 2009

We were flattered by the wonderful response to this repeat of Joan Armatrading's lovely programme from 2008. Lots of new people got in touch and bought copies of Alyana Galyana.

with Doves

Manchester Central, 18 December 2009

We loved working with Doves for the BBC Electric Proms in October, and were very excited to be travelling to Manchester to sing at their biggest-ever homecoming gig. With snow settling over the country, more than 6000 people filled Manchester Central (the cavernous trainshed that is the old GMEX) for performances that included support from the excellent Delphic and Super Furry Animals. We did our thing on Firesuite, Kingdom of Rust, 10:03, The Cedar Room, The Last Broadcast and There Goes the Fear - and sang Pilentce Pée and Mitro Le Mitro at half time. The man from Health and Safety with the decibel meter said we just had the edge over Doves in loudness stakes. An amazing end to our singing year.

Here's how it looked to us:

Many thanks to the BBC Electric Proms for setting up the relationship, and to Avshalom Caspi for his wonderful arrangements.

Giving Voice Award

15 December 2009

Aside from huge direct help from choir members, and from the Bulgarian Embassy, we've always been self-funded. However, we recently applied to the BBC's Choral Ambition fund, and are very pleased to announce that our project has won full funding. You can see a full list of choirs here.

The award will allow us to commission six new pieces from the wonderful Bulgarian composer Kiril Todorov. Some will be for us, some for teaching at workshops and performing with audiences. It will be a privilege working with Kiril in the UK and on our tour to Bulgaria in 2010. Everybody is very excited - Kiril's songs are already audience favourites; from the tender Proshtavai Mamo, the gripping Muri Yano to the comedic Chompilcheto, his music is challenging, novel, entertaining and above all wonderful to sing. We hope the new songs will be sung and enjoyed for years to come.

The Bulgarian School's Christmas Event

Bulgarian Embassy, London, 11 December 2009

Back at the Embassy - this time with Dessi - for a lovely evening with the children of the Bulgarian School in London. Execllent breads!

Bulgarian City Club's Charity Christmas Ball

Bulgarian Embassy, London, 10 December 2009

With our leader away at a long-standing booking with the Dessibelles in Machester, the choir sang Dessi-less at the Bulgarian City Club's annual Charity Ball in aid of orphanages and children's care homes in Bulgaria.

Christmas Concert

Salvation Army Regent's Hall, Oxford Street, 9 December 2009

After a year of festivals around the UK and rocking at the Roundhouse, we returned to Oxford Street's best choral venue for a lights-down, packed-out, all-acoustic seasonal blast of Bulgarian harmonies and festive discordance. Our special guests, Bulgarian story-telling company A Spell In Time, performed a winter dragon tale full of magic and surprise.

Parts of last year's Christmas concert are on youTube: Pilentce Pée, Ei Muri Ruzhke and Muri Yano

Late at the Tate

Tate Britain, 4 December 2009

A wonderful evening of Extraordinary Voices at Tate Britain to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Home Live Art! We loved singing in the reverberant spaces of the Clore galleries, popped into the Turner prize, and enjoyed performances by (amongst others) Mikhail Karikis, The Shout, the Feral Choir, Afrogroov, the Funk Chorus and of course lovely Maspindzeli.

Electric Proms with Doves

Roundhouse, London, 22 October 2009

Earlier in 2009, the BBC asked us if we would be interested in a collaboration with Doves. We leapt at the opportunity - and composer Avshalom Caspi was bought on board to see if it was possible to bring our two very different sytles together. We rehearsed with Avshalom through July and September as he wrote a series of choral arrangements incorporating elements from the repertoire of both groups, working towards a final set of six Doves' songs.

In the days running up to the gig, we went into the Angel Studios to work with Doves directly, and added impromptu arangements to another three songs. On our last day, Baluji and Linda Shrivastav came in and we put together a combination using Baluji's wonderful improvisations on the Diruba around our haunting Zalibih Si, melting into Doves' Birds Flew Backward. Then we sang ourslelves silly in the pub, and had a day's break.

The concert was broadcast live on October 22nd on BBC 2, BBC HD and 6 Music. You can use the iPlayer to replay these for a week or so - and you can find links and all sorts of background on the BBC's Doves/LBC at the Electric Proms page.

There's a vast amount of work and commitment required for a performance of new music on this scale. So many people were involved in so many ways that it's hard to thank everybody, but we were given great support by Doves' tour crew, the sound crew from Britannia Row, the staff at the Roundhouse and Angel, Chris White's calm assurance, a great variety of fine BBC people but especially Stephanie McWhinnie and Lorna Clarke, and - of course - Avshalom and Doves.

Dessibelles at the Horniman

Horniman Museum, Forest Hill, London, 27th September 2009

Dessi's trio perfomed in the conservatory at the wonderful Horniman Museum. They were accompanied by guest musicians Angel Karaivanov on kaval (flute), Galin Nikolov on gaida (bagpipe), and Narendra Kotiyan on tupan and darabouka (bass drum and hand drum). The Dessibelles are Dessi Stefanova, Wendy March and Lucy Gibson.

with Zagorche Children's Ensemble

Regent Hall (Salvation Army), London, 5th September 2009

As a child, Dessi toured all over Europe with Zagorche (named for her home town of Stara Zagora). The choir met Zagorche when we toured Bulgaria, and fell in love with their energy and enthusiasm, so we were very pleased to welcome them to London. Indeed, as Dessi organised this UK tour for the ensemble, choir members gave solid support throughout the first half of September, in ways too numerous to list. We had a wonderful concert in one of our favourite London venues, and were - let's face it - entirely upstaged! Kiril Todorov, who wrote some of our favourite songs (Chompilcheto, Proshtavai and Muri Yano) composes for Zagorche and was travelling with them; it was wonderful to sing for him, and we now have two more Todorov songs to sing. Zagorche's tour details here

Our hearts go out to the families of the victims of the sinking on Lake Ohrid, which happened earlier the same day.

with British Sea Power

Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, London, 16 August 2009

We were very excited to be working with BSP, especially in the wonderful open-air theatre in Regent's Park. We performed a support slot, and joined BSP on stage for Waving Flags, All in it, No Lucifer, Men Together Today and other songs. BSP are a truly extraordinay live band, and their shows (and supporters) are second to none - it was a privilege and a pleasure to be part of their gig. More details to follow.

Sidmouth Folk Festival

Sidmouth, Devon, 1-2 August 2009

With two concerts (an evening one in the Methodist Church, and an afternoon slot in the Ham Marquee), Dessi's overflowing workshop, not to mention the wonderful Tanec dance group seemingly everywhere, there were plenty of Bulgarians around over the weekend. We all had a fine time watching the bands, the street acts, and of course the morris men on the prom. We wished we could have stayed longer. Many thanks to Sidmouth Folk Festival for their welcome.

Larmer Tree Festival

Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset, 18-19 July 2009

Thirty singers (and a similar number of guests) turned a good chunk of the Larmer Tree campsite into LondonBulgarianChoirTown. First thing on Saturday morning, we had a packed tent for the Arc stage, and later that afternoon hundreds of people ducked out of the rain and into Dessi's workshop in the Big Top. On Sunday, we opened the main stage at noon, the wind blew away the clouds, and we found we had another wonderfully appreciative audience. A fine festival! Many thanks to the organisers, crew and engineers.

Fundraiser for ZOV UK

Bulgarian Embassy, Queen's Gate, London 19 June 2009

ZOV are a small and admirable charity who support children's homes in Bulgaria with fundraising in the UK and direct involvement in Bulgaria. We were very pleased to be able to support them for this, their 5th birthday event.

St Ethelburga's World Music Series 2009

St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, London 29 May 2009

Helpful and friendly staff at St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace managed to find space for a capacity audience. To suit the venue, we had a set of more contemplative songs, including a re-arranged Pusta Mladost (with didgeridoo drone) and our first performance of Mitro Le Mitro.

Kendrew Bequest Concert

St John's, Oxford, 23 May 2009

Our first trip to Oxford took us to the lovely auditorium in St John's, but not before we'd taken our rehearsal out into town. Bemused tourists heard us singing in Trinity Chapel, outside Hertford College and the Radcliffe Camera, and even in the Turf. Many thanks to Katherine LeFrance for organising a wonderful event with an enthusiastic, capacity audience. Concert generously sponsored by the Kendrew Bequest.

Dulwich Festival

All Saints' Church, West Dulwich, London 14 May 2009

Dulwich Festival invited us to the magnificent All Saints' Church - across the river for some of us, but (finally) close to home for others. We were warmly welcomed by a full house, and sang Kalimanku Denku and Chereshchitsa in public for the first time.

Various Voices Festival

Purcell Room, QEH, London 3 May 2009

We were delighted to be one of this fabulous festival's guest choirs. Revelling in the Purcell Room's beautiful acoustic, we managed to fit 26 singers on stage. A wonderful, warm audience greeted us, and gave us a standing ovation. Congratulations and thanks to the glamourous Die Fetten Koketten Soubretten and the marvellous Dames 3 who shared the bill.

St Mary‘s Church, Ashford

Ashford, Kent, 25 April 2009

We had a wonderful spring evening, singing in Ashford's central church to a lovely audience. Many thanks to Shivanova, who organised the event as part of their Equator series.

Prema Arts Centre, Uley

Gloucestershire, 18 April 2009

Hidden in Uley is the Prema Arts Centre; a fine venue, with a great acoustic and a lovely audience. A full house turned out for this Orthodox Easter gig. We celebrated with painted eggs, and carried on singing in pubs and on hilltops for the rest of the weekend. Many thanks to the organisers and our hosts.

Folkestone's Month of Music

Quarterhouse, Folkestone, Kent, 5 April 2009

A Sunday morning concert for us on the south coast, with an audience of enthusiastic children and their parents. In for the afternoon, a sea fog rolled in to transform Felixtowe beach. Many thanks to the venue (Quarterhouse) and the organisers (Music For Change).

Rehearsal with musicians

Winchester Project, London, 28 March 2009

We're working with a great artist in a wonderful and exciting new project - we hope you'll hear more later...

Narberth Acapella Festival

Queen's Hall, Narberth, Pembrokeshire, 28 February 2009

Our first gig in 2009 took us as far west as we've been, to a packed audience and a wonderful welcome. Dessi ran a capacity workshop on the Sunday morning, and the rest of us took up temporary residence in the bandstand above sunny Tenby beach. Many thanks to Span Arts and our lovely hosts for our all-too-brief stay.

2008

Balkanthreads Christmas Party

Div Petel restaurant, Willesden, London, 21 December 2008

Our final gig of the year took us, for the first time, to the Crazy Cock, Willesden's finest Bulgarian restaurant. Proceeds from this charity event went to the very worthy BalkanThreads, who organised a fine evening of singing, dancing, eating - and awareness raising.

Rook Lane Arts

Rook Lane Chapel, Frome, 14 December 2008

We arrived to cake and tea at Frome's tranquil Rook Lane Arts Centre. The wonderful acoustic and intimate setting made for a memorable concert for the capacity adience, and for the choir. Many thanks to Duncan (and Brenda!) for their generosity as hosts and their invaluable help.

Nadder Music Café

Tisbury, Wiltshire, 13 December 2008

We returned to Tisbury's Nadder Hall for another Christmas concert in aid of the Cherubim Music Trust. Many thanks to De-Liz Delicatessen for our wonderful supper!

Bulgarian City Club Christmas Party

Bulgarian Embassy, London, 9 December 2008

We sang in the Embassy for the BCC's annual charity Christmas party with Friends of Bulgaria, in support of Bulgarian children's and disabled charities including Zov and Zornica (via the lovely BalkanThreads).

Christmas Concert

St Luke's Church, Sydney Street, London, 6 December 2008

Over 300 people joined us for our only full-size London gig this year. We sang new songs and old favourites in the church's wonderful acoustic, and marvelled at the wonderful Dessibelles. Part of our proceeds went to BalkanThreads who support the Zornica Disability project in Bulgaria, and who displayed a selection of Zornica's craft gifts at the gig.

Minerva Theatre, November 29th

Chichester Festival Theatre, Saturday 29 November 2008

After a sold-out workshop with Dessi, the choir give a concert in Chichester's Minerva Theatre. The concert was part of Roots Around the World.

Radio Gagarin

Notting Hill Arts Club, London, 23 November 2008

We had a wonderful time singing at Radio Gagarin's excellent Klezmer/Gypsy/Balkan/Soviet club night.

A high point for us was singing with Finn Peters and Oren Marshall, who improvised over Zalibih Si and More Sokol Pie. The evening was part of the London Jazz Festival. Many thanks to Max Reinhardt for a fantastic evening.

The Dessibelles and the Northern Harmony Choir

St Pancras Old Church, London, 31 Octeber 2008

A full house for this wonderful evening of world music.

Northern Harmony, led by the extraordinary Larry Gordon, sang traditional and spirtual songs from Africa, Georgia and North America. Dessi's sublime trio The Dessibelles (with Lucy Gibson and Wendy March) added their beautiful Bulgarian folk songs.

Musicport Festival

The Spa, Bridlington, 19 October 2008

We kicked off the last day at Musicport, Britain's largest indoor World Music festival.

Most of us sprinted up from London the morning after the BSP gig so that we could be part of the audience for the weekend. With artists like Toumani Diabaté and Bob Brozman on the bill, we had a fantastic time - and where else could we share chat and sandwiches in the green room with Ivo Papasov and Martin Carthy?

As the first group on stage on Sunday morning, we weren't sure what to expect, but were more than pleased with such a large and appreciative audience. Someone described us as vigorous, spine-tingling, and slightly raunchy, which isn't bad for a 10 a.m. gig. Dessi ran a packed-to-overflowing workshop, and we were surprised and honoured to be asked to sing a blessing at a Musicport wedding later in the day. Congratulations to David and Christine!

Supporting British Sea Power

The Roundhouse, Camden, 17 October 2008

We joined British Sea Power for this packed gig at Camden's huge Roundhouse, the last night of their UK tour.

At the start of the evening, we took the stage for a 30-minute support slot, but retreated to the balcony for BSP's stunning set. We lent a hand with All in it, Men Together Today, Waving Flags, Great Skua, Down on the Ground, No Lucifer and (possibly) Rock in A. We also sang Izgreyala Yasna Zvezda, just before Waving Flags.

Brighton Festival of World Sacred Music

St Bartholomew's Church, Brighton, 12 October 2008

Thirty of us took the stage in Brighton for our first concert after the summer break. We loved the vast spaces and remarkable acoustic of St Bartholemew's. This was the first day of an inspring international festival - find out more at http://www.worldsacredmusic.org/.

With British Sea Power at the Mercurys

Nationwide Mercury Music Awards, 9 September 2008

Do You Like Rock Music by the fabulous British Sea Power was nominated for a Mercury - we were hugely pleased to be asked to join them on stage for Waving Flags.

Broadcast on BBC2 at 10pm Tuesday and 11:35pm Friday.

Cheltenham Music Festival + supporting Taraf de Haidouks

Cheltenham, 19 July 2008

We bought our season to a close in style with three concerts in Cheltenham.

This very active day started with another sold-out public workshop from Dessi, and included two outdoor concerts - a short one in the Winston Churchill Memorial Gardens and a longer one in the Imperial Gardens. In the evening, we were indoors in Cheltenham's Town Hall, taking the support slot for the world's most exciting gipsy band, Taraf de Haidouks. The hall has a wonderful acoustic, and we loved singing for such an appreciative audience. See the festival website for more.

Singing with British Sea Power at Latitude Festival

Southwold, Suffolk, 18 July 2008

A small group of the choir sang with the excellent British Sea Power at the Latitiude festival.

Short gig review in Uncut here.

Small Nations Festival

Llandovery, 12 July 2008

This small and extraordinary festival drew artists from all over the world - and the rain held off for the whole weekend!

For an hour after sunset, twenty or so of the choir made the Oak Tree stage their home. A capacity crowd roared their approval, and impromptu dancing and singing carried on into the night. Festival website: http://www.smallnations.co.uk/.

Hebden Bridge Festival

Heptonstall Parish Church, 5 July, St. George's Square 6 July 2008

We continued our summer adventures at the excellent Hebden Bridge Arts Festival.

Apparently, Dessi's workshop and our concert sold out weeks in advance. However, with St George's Square filled to bursting for an open-air gig in the centre of town on the Sunday - and plenty of post-concert singing in the White Lion on Saturday night - we hope we managed to sing for anyone who missed getting into the church! Many thanks to the organisers, who found places for all of us to stay in this lovely town.

Singing with British Sea Power at Glastonbury Festival

Glastonbury, 28-29 June 2008

British Sea Power asked us to sing with them at Glastonbury - we were delighted to take part!

British Sea Power played on the John Peel Stage (broadcast by the BBC), the Guardian Lounge and the Left Field stage. We sang with them on Waving Flags and improvised contributions to Ohbedobedoo and Rock in A. BSP were kind enough to give us space to sing some Bulgarian songs - across the weekend, we squeezed in Izgreyala Yasna Zvezda, Izgryala E Mesechinka and Trendafilchitu (and plenty more backstage). A fine way to start a series of fesivals over the summer!

Exhibition Road Festival

Exhibition Road, London, 21 June 2008

Exhibition Road was closed for this annual midsummer festival, and institutions along its length hosted musicians and performances.

We found ourselves on the big outdoor stage inbetween the V&A and the Science Museum, singing to a packed crowd under the plane trees and across the road. Further details from the festival website. Thanks to the Bulgarian Embassy for their help in this event.

Celebrating Sanctuary / Coin Street Festival

South Bank, London, 15 June 2008

We were privileged to participate in this unique event celebrating the work of refugee artists in the UK.

Further details on Myspace and Fly Global Music.

World Routes

BBC Radio 3, 24 May 2008

To celebrate Bulgaria's Day of National Culture (known to all as the day of the Cyrillic alphabet), we were studio guests on Lucy Duran's excellent World Music show.

Dessi and Lucy Duran talked about the choir and Bulgarian music and we sang four of our favourite songs: Tukala Li Si, Kaval Sviri, Ergen Deda and the haunting Pilence Postro Slaveche. More details on the program page and at the World Routes website.

Joan Armatrading's Favourite Choirs

BBC Radio 4, 21 May 2008

Joan and the Just Radio production team came to one of our rehearsals, to talk to the choir members and record us on home ground. The program was one of five striped across a week of mid-afternoon Radio 4. You can find out more at Radio 4's page.

Extravagant Acts for Mature People

The Peel Centre, Islington, 11 April 2008

We had a fine time singing, and hope we bought a bit of Bulgarian brighness to an otherwise drizzly day. Concert as part of the Clod Ensemble's series of events for the over 60s at Islington's Peel Centre.

Performance with British Sea Power

Later... with Jools Holland, BBC 2, 8 February 2008

Dessi and four of the tops performed Waving Flags with British Sea Power on Jools Holland's "Later...".