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Concert Preview
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The Morning Call, Concert Preview >>
The singing of the Bulgarian women's choir Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares has been called "the most beautiful on the planet," and its concerts "the hippest show on earth."
Perhaps that's why Ellen Finks, who directs cultural affairs programming at Kutztown University, has been trying for so long to bring the group to her campus. This effort has finally brought success, and the choir will perform at 730 p.m. next Thursday in Schaeffer Auditorium.
The choir's programs draw on a 2,000-year-old Bulgarian folk tradition, and its history dates to 1951, when the father of Bulgarian concert folk music, Philip Koutev, established the Ensemble
of the Bulgarian Republic. His goal was to join the rich heritage of his coimtry's solo folk songs with harmonies and arrangements that highlighted their beautiful timbres and irregular rhythms.
One year later, the Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir was founded. Its members are singers from the rural regions of Bulgaria, each an informal apprentice in the folk songs of her home.
The ensemble, now under the direction of Dora Hristova, has refined Koutev's original idea further. The choir's songs join traditional folk melodies with sophisticated harmonies and compelling rhythms, performed in an exotic six-part vocal style.
Repertoire is drawn from arrangements created by Bulgaria's most prominent composers, among them Koutev, Krasimir Kyurkchiyski, Nikolai Kaufman and Petar Lyondev.
The sound of Le Mystfere des Voix Bulgares is very supple, with a somewhat nasaJ sound. The group has won a Grammy for one CD and a Grammy nomination for another.
The group's stage presence is augmented by their Bulgarian folk costumes.
Mystere des Voix joins a varied Performing Arts Series at Kutztown that includes the Count Basie Orchestra, Dance Brazil, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra and Universes Slanguage, a group that combines words and music to reflect the urban experience. Finks has been directing the series since its inception 19 years ago.
-Le Mystire des Voix Bulgares, 7:30 p.m. next Thursday, Kutztown University, Schaeffer Auditorium. Tickets: $28. 310 683-4511: www.kutztown.edu/activities/kupas
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LE MYSTERE DES VOIX BULGARES joins traditional folk melodies with sophisticated harmonies. The choir will perform next Thursday at Kutztown University.
-by Philip A. Metzger 11/23/06 >> go there
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