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| Franco Ferrari, Karajan, and James Levine are among those conductors who prefer Bulgarian mixed choirs for their super-productions of operas and oratorical works. |
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If we were to stress just two important aspects of the Mixed Choir, there would be, on one hand, the singers who make up the choir, and on the other, the wide repertoire that they tackle.
In 1971, when Zdravko Mihaylov established the Mixed Choir, his first group, he wanted to set the highest artistic standards by using great Bulgarian solo voices with classical training. The result was undeniably successful due to the quality of the voices, the artistic sense of the singers, and to his authority as director.
While this unique grouping of great solo voices allows the choir to tackle classical pieces, its repertoire is not restricted to such works. The Mixed Choir also elaborates on the religious music of the Orthodox Church and continues the Bulgarian tradition at its highest level by performing traditional and popular music taken from folklore and arranged by contemporary composers.
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Today, the Mixed Choir exists in two versions - the first takes the traditional female voices from the Sofia Women's Choir and combines them with the classical male singers from the Men's Choir. The other uses sopranos, mezzosopranos, and altos with classical training, and reinforces them with male singers from the opera.
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