ТНЕ "BODRA PESSEN" CHOIR
CHILDREN’S CHOIR “BODRA PESEN”
AT THE MUNICIPAL CHILDREN’S COMPLEX
"Anastas Stoyanov" SHUMEN, BULGARIA
The children`s choir “Bodra pessen” at the Municipal children’s complex in Shumen, Bulgaria was founded on 05.12.1963. Its founder, chief artistic manager and conductor for many years are Prof. Veneta Vicheva. Now the art director and conductor of the choir is Denitsa Uzunova, a follower of Professor Veneta Vicheva. Zhaneta Katsarova is the piano accompanist. Two years ago at the Girls' Choir was founded formation of women, former singers in the children's choir. Children's and women's choir sing together.
Pride for the town of Shumen and our country was brought by the plenty awards and medals of the choir from national and international festivals and competitions. The choir “Bodra pessen” had won the first prizes at the following international choir competitions:
- 1970. First prize winner in the IV International Choir Competition "Bella Bartok" in Debrecen, Hungary;
- 1976. First prize winner in the XXIV International Polyphonic Choir Competition "Guido d`Arezo" in Arezzo, Italy;
- 1983. First prize winner in the XVI International Choir Competition "Prof. Georgi Dimitrov "- Varna, Bulgaria;
- 1984. The highest prize "Summa cum laude" in the Extra category at the XXXII International Choir Competition in Neerpelt, Belgium;
- 2005. "GRAND PRIX OF SHUMEN" for art and culture;
- 2005. after a competition the Bulgarian national radio broadcast "Allegro vivace" declared “Bodra pesen” choir for “Musician of the year” in the category “Ensemble”.
- 2009. FIRST PRIZE "Cum Laude" in the First International Choir Competition - Antalya, Turkey;
- 2010. Grand Prix Winner XI Moscow International Children's and Youth Choir Festival "Moscow Sonds" .Prof. Veneta Vicheva award winning conductor mastership;
- 2010. "Crystal Lyre 2010" for excellence in the “Choirarts” category by The Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers;
- 2013. AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE OF BULGARIAN SONG in VIII International Choral Festival of Women and Girls Choirs "Prof. Liliya Gyuleva" in Targovishte;
- 2014. Golden Plaque for participation in 18 International choir meeting in Alexandria, Greece;
- 2014. First prize winner in the category "Equal choirs" in the IV International Choir Festival "Blacksea sounds" in Balchik, Bulgaria;
- 2014. GRAND PRIX Winner and golden statuette in the IV International Choir Festival "Blacksea sounds" in Balchik, Bulgaria;
- 2014. AWARD for the "Best performers are Bulgarian Choir" of Bulgarian Choral Union in IV International Choir Festival "Black sounds" in Balchik, Bulgaria;
- 2015. Winner of the First national awards "Professor. Pancho Vladigerov" for outstanding students in the field of music
- 2015. Choir "Bodra pessen" conducted by Denitsa Uzunova received the title “European culture ambassador” - for the second time
- 2016 "Award of Shumen for art and culture" – music cathefory
- 2016 had been awarded with the Award of the Bulgarian National Radio "Musician of the Year" for 2015
- 2016 Special prize of the First National Choir Festiva "120 years Petko Staynov " in Kazanlak, Bulgaria
- 2016 Title "Angel of Peace" from the participation in the 7th World Choir Festival of Peace, Vienna
- 2016 Laureate First degree from International Choir Competition "Maestro Zahari Mednikarov" Dobrich
- 2017 Second prize in the First Choir Competition "Leonardo da Vinci" - Florence, Italy and THIRD PRIZE in the GRAND PRIX competition
- 2018 GRAND PRIX at the 11th International Ohrid Festival, Macedonia. First prize in the category "Children's choirs"; Award for the best performance of spiritual music; Winner of the award for best performance of a song by Zapro Zaprov
- 2019 The junior ensemble becomes the winner of the Award for the best performed Bulgarian choir at the Ninth International Choir Festival "Black Sea Sounds", Balchik
- 2020 Laureate First Degree and winner of the special award Diploma from the Eurasian Council of Composers and Musicians in the online edition of the XV International Festival "Together in the XXI Century"2020 VI International Festival "Bulgarian Soul of the Holy Land" - city of Bat, Israel, Grand Prix (online competition)
- 2021 World Choir Peace Festival - Vienna, Austria, Gold Medal in the "Youth Choirs" category, admitted to the Grand Prix Competition (online competition)
- 2023 Recipient of the "Golden Lyre" Award from the Union of Bulgarian Music and Dance Artists for high artistic achievements, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the "Bodra Pesen" choir and 30 years of creative activity of the conductor
- 2023 Laureate I degree at the VII International Choir Festival-Competition "Vitaliy Izhevsky", Ukraine (online)
- 2024 Grand Prix at the XVIII Christmas Creative Meeting and Festival "Together in the 21st Century" - "Sofia Invites the Art of Faith, Hope, and Love" (online)
- 2024 Gold Diploma - First Degree and the Special Award for Best Repertoire from the International Competition "Victoria Adriatic" in Rijeka, Croatia
- 2024 Grand Prix in the "Patriotic Song" category at the IX International Festival "Bulgarian Soul in the Holy Land" in Bat Yam, Israel (online).
The choir “Bodra pessen” is a laureate and gold medalist from the IX and X World youth festivals in Sofia /Bulgaria/ and Berlin /Germany/. It had participated with a great success in the national and international festivals in: Olomoutz – Czech Republic; Hamburg – Germany; VI European choir meetings – Warsaw, Poland; “Sofia music weeks” – Sofia, Bulgaria; International choir assembly “Bulgarian Riviera” – Varna, Bulgaria and others.
The choir “Bodra pessen” is distinguished in representing the Bulgarian children’s choir arts in Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Belgium, Russia, Germany, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Slovakia, Poland and France.
They had compiled four LP records; studio and documentary recordings in Radio Berlin, Radio Leipzig, Budapest, Brussels, Hamburg, and Sofia; at the national Polish television; and also have many audio and video recordings, and a CD.
The choir repertoire includes different choir works with accompaniment of piano, orchestra and acappella. The choir performs works from the West-European pre-classics to the contemporary composers. It performs Bulgarian church and Slavonic chants and Catholic religious works. The base of choir repertoire is built on the Bulgarian song repertoire, and a great part of the songs were specially written for the choir. Many of them are arrangements of Bulgarian folk songs disclosing the specific nature of the Bulgarian national folklore with its diverse uneven rhythms.
The choir “Bodra pessen” had won the following national and international medals and awards:
- The order “St. St. Cyrill and Methodius” – 1st rank;
- The order “For distinguished service to the Bulgarian national army”;
- In 2004 the choir had been accepted for member of the International choir union;
- In 2004 among 1750 teams the choir “Bodra pessen” has been awarded by the European choir federation at the European Union with the rank “European culture ambassador”.
- In 2005 it had been awarded with the “First prize of Shumen” for arts and culture.
- In 2005 after a competition the Bulgarian national radio declares the choir “Bodra pessen” for “Musician of the year” in the category “Ensemble”.
- 2010 Award "Crystal Lire" for bright, excellence in the “Arts choir” cathegory by Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers
- In 2015 Bulgarian Academy of Science and Arts adopts as its collective member choir "Bodra pessen" and award him the title "Academic".
- In 2015 for the second time - choir "Bodra pessen" conducted by Denitsa Uzunova has been awarded by the European choir federation at the European Union with the title of "European culture ambassador".
- In 2016 the choir "Bodra pessen" had been awarded with the "Award of Shumen for art and culture" – music cathefory;
- In 2016 had been awarded with the Award of the Bulgarian National Radio "Musician of the Year" for 2015
- In 2016 the choir "Bodra pessen" had been awarded witt the Special prize of the First National Choir Festiva "120 years Petko Staynov " in Kazanlak, Bulgaria.
QUOTATIONS FROM NOTICES ABOUT THE CHOIR AND ITS CONCERT EVENTS BY DISTINGUISHED MUSIC CREATIVE ARTISTS, MUSICOLOGISTS AND COMPOSERS
· “That was a real feeling for me! The children sang like real angels!”
Manfred Roos - Berlin
· “My admiration for that incredible choir” – Prof. Walter Buykens
· “Amazing, unbelievable, extreme, excellent” – Peter Berben – president of the festival in Neerpelt - Belgium
· “Freshness from your singing! Freshness from your youth! What a pleasure is listening to you, dear girls from Shumen and your charming choir master” – Mario Boccellotti – president of the festival in Arezo – Italy
· “Your performance was extraordinary! They were one of the most beautiful I have ever heard in the 18 countries I have visited! You are excellent!” – Jack Bondes – president of the World organisation for children upbringing
· “…I admire you and I am taken by your art and charm…I sincerely wish to your marvelous choir happiness and continuation of the creative successes!” – Boris Smetanin – president of the international choir union – Moscow, Russia, 2003
· “I have a feeling of enormous admiration from your talent. Thank you for your space labour and work. Thank you for the marvelous choir!” – I. Polyakova, A. Safina – Kazan, Tatarstan, 2002.
· “I saw what is a hard work with excellent results. The children are heroes. Like a person and musician I am astonished by the excellent interpreting and I could not believe that the song I have heard was written by me” – Vassilis Makridis – composer from Greece, co-chairman of the Balkan forum for choral music, 2005
· “…A master’s performance, excellently selected repertoire, excellent choir-master. A real musical feast“ – Kristina Pachuska – director of the House of culture in Shedlce – Poland, 2005