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"Dear Ilia,
I owe a debt of gratitude to you for the three concerts of THE GREAT VOICES OF BULGARIA, which you have conducted so magnificently. You have done a really great job and your father would have been proud of your achievements."
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| Gladys Gabbison |
| Impresario, Paris |
"THE TRIUMPHAL CLOSING BY THE GREAT VOICES OF BULGARIA - THOSE OF GOD
If God's paths are impossible to profess, THE GREAT VOICES OF BULGARIA are impossible to predict. Because they are unique, gorgeous and a bit insane - just imagine: a programme, which was announced as being composed of religious and orthodox chants, was closed to the accompaniment of an accordion, in an abbey, which, to top it all, is the oldest in the French land…
… You just can't help feeling at the seventh heaven while listening to those super soloists giving out sounds of such perfect homogeneity, reacting as one instrument to each gesture of their conductor and art director Zdravko Mihaylov…"
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| LE FIGARO |
"DID I REALLY HEAR THEM?
FANTASTIC MOMENTS WITH THE BULGARIAN VOICES
… We feel deeply surprised, stunned and inspired by the quality and the unusual and gorgeous magnificence of these voices. All this accompanied by an exquisite sight: the fresh colours of the national costumes, which are in harmony with the uncommon timbre of the voices; the groups of solo singers - lit up by candles burning low, standing out against a background of orthodox icons projected on a screen - whose voices blend in with each other into a single one in a dumbfounding way.
… It is under the conductorship of Zdravko Mihaylov that a sequence of supreme moments unthreads. The finale is extremely exciting: both the singers on stage and the audience start singing "Ode to Joy" from the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven, the European hymn of hope.
Unforgettable evening."
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| NICE- MATAIN |
"Respectable Maestro,
Before you leave Cannes, I would like you to know that the concert of THE GREAT VOICES OF BULGARIA is undoubtedly one of the highest peaks in the MIDEM history.
The evening was marked by the performance of extreme quality you offered us and the emotion you have evoked. This evening will stay forever in the memory of all those present.
It was not by mistake that the audience and the professionals applauded you so eagerly.
Hoping that MIDEM has given you a hearty welcome, I am asking you, respectable Maestro, to accept my deepest respect."
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| Xavier Roix |
DGOLDEN-VOICED PRINCESSES
"With or without an instrumental accompaniment, Sofia Women Choir (which has five men as well) reveals the exclusive richness of a musical tradition.
They go on stage passing through the concert hall. Slowly, the bells tolling, they climb down the stairs of the theatre, a candle in hand. They wear long red national costumes, white kerchiefs on their heads and blue scarves… In the light of the candles they resemble nuns, sunk in religious reverie. And the prayers they seem to bear within themselves suddenly begin to spring out with the song. The voices rise and flicker. Beautiful timbre, fullness and precise intonation. These are the singers of Sofia Women Choir. They are accompanied by five men whose voices are so powerful that they suffice for creating an astounding choir. The Orthodox Church chants come one after another, all of them sung in pure and truthful voices.
… The setting is festive: you feel the desire to stand up and dance and sing. Because of that, probably, at the end of the concert the conductor invited the audience to sing the Christmas carols together with the choir. "
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| DOUPHINES LIBERER |
TRIUMPH OF TRUTH AND PURITY
"The repertoire of the exclusive and exquisite choir ranges from archaic diaphony to modern polyphony…
The soul gets wrapped up into silky euphony, especially when the choir sings "Hallelujah" by D. Bortnyanski with the superb soloists B. Molhov and P. Yanakov…
In a real symbiosis of the spirit of folklore and the creativity of modern compositions, the voices of the choir sound as one…
Bravura performance, for whose wholehearted completeness the audience gave its frenetic applause…"
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| BASELERZEUTUNG |
ISRAELI FESTIVAL 1988
"Last night at the Festival
THE MYSTERY OF BULGARIAN VOICES
Sofia Women Choir conducted by Zdravko Mihaylov, the Assumption Church.
Sofia Women Choir is not just a talented choir. It is something different coming from somewhere else. Probably it is a defence of musical nature, something like "the God's small field". All of it can be found in THE MYSTERY OF BULGARIAN VOICES: wonderful variegated national costumes, marvellous songs, grand voices and a lot more - harmony of colours, folk songs and chants, instrumental passages, etc. All this is remarkably picturesque, unique, original and not at all commercial. "
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| Ohra BENOIT- SHMIDT |
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