XIX International Festival of Orthodox Music
“Virgin Mary – It is Truly Meet”- town of Pomorie
07 – 11.06.2023

Participation in the International Festival of Orthodox Music “Virgin Mary – It is Truly Meet”- town of Pomorie is possible for Bulgarian and foreign choirs, chamber ensembles (professional or amateur casts), children’s choirs, cleric singers and priests. All performances of the festival program will be presented in front of an audience in the “Nativity of Virgin Mary” church at the town of Pomorie.

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Categories:

1. Orthodox church choirs – they regularly take part in orthodox worships and their members are not more than 36 singers.
2. Eastern singing – cleric singers and / or priests, and chamber ensembles may participate.
3. Mixed and homogeneous choirs or vocal ensembles – they are not permanently engaged in the worships and they include no more than 36 performers.

Repertoire:

1. The program for all categories must include only Orthodox chants that are part of the worship (without spiritual songs).
2. The program must be performed in liturgical language (without translation) and a cappella (without accompaniment).
3. It is compulsory to include in the program:

– chant “Truly Meet”;

– orthodox ecclesiastical chant of Bulgarian author no matter the period;

– at least one chant by a composer from the country of the participants.

4. It is advisable to have in the repertoire:

– An ancient Orthodox chant;

– At least one chant created in the XX – XXI century;

– Chants by authors from different countries;

–  Church chants from Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943) on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth and 80^th anniversary of his death, or Nikolay Rimski–Korsakov (1844-1908) on the occasion of the 115th anniversary of his death.

5. If in the repertoire is included a new chant or one composed especially for the festival, it should be indicated.

6.The duration of the included chants must be indicated in the application form. The duration of the program /only music/ should be:

– For participants in the Category 1 and Category 3 – 15-20 minutes.

– For participants in the Category 2 – 10-15 min.сс

– Changes in the program are possible until May 1st.

Accompanying program:

During the festival all the casts will have the opportunity:

– to take part in festive worships at Pomorie, Burgas and Nessebar;

– to take part with a free program /secular, folklore, spiritual songs, and etc. / on the outdoor scene at the town of Pomorie;

– to take part in the mixed festival choir.

Honours:

The festival is not a competition. Individual performers, choirs and conductors receive  diplomas. Festival organization may award an additional diploma at their own discretion -e.g. for an author of the newly composed chant and so on.

Address for sending the applications:  Application form 

All the correspondence /application forms, enquiries, and etc. / must be sent in electronic form to the following address: mayor@pomorie.bg

For more information:

Pomorie Municipality, Address: 8200 Pomorie, 5 Solna Str.

Each cast must add the following documents to the application form of participation:

– a short biography of the choir and the conductor – up to 10 lines (this information is required to be included in the advertising materials)

– pictures of the choir and the conductor;

– recently made recording /audio or video/, including at least three orthodox chants in the following format: mp3, mp4, wma, wav, avi, mpeg.

– a copy of the scores of all chants included in the festival program;

– a list of the participants, including full name, date of birth and gender.

❗️ ❗️ ❗️ Each cast must send a completed application form of participation until March 1, 2023 ❗️ ❗️ ❗️ 

Selection

Members of the Festival secretariat will make a selection of the choirs on the basis of the documents submitted. Casts will be informed of the decision of the Commission not later than March 25, 2023.

Participation fees are as follows:

Choirs containing up to 12 participants must send a participation fee of 100 levs (50 euro) per cast, choirs containing from 13 to 20 participants – 150 levs (75 euro) per cast, and choirs containing from 21 to 36 participants – 200 levs (100 euro) per cast until April 25, 2023.

Individual participants in the category 2 – Eastern singing – must pay 10 levs (5 euro) per person until April 25, 2023.

Participation fees must be sent to the following bank account:

POMORIE MUNICIPALITY
UNICREDIT BULBANK AD
IBAN account: BG86UNCR70008422550814
BIC code: UNCRBGSF
Payment type code: 44 40 00
Fees are non-refundable.

Expenses

– All expenses are borne by the participants.

– Internal transport, related to the performance of the festival program, will be borne by the organizers.

– For all choirs the transportation costs to and from the town of Pomorie are borne by the participants.

– The participation fee includes documentary recordings containing the performances of the casts in the festival program, which will be sent to all choirs.

Rights and obligations:

Organizers have all rights on the performances during the festival, advertising activity, broadcasting of concerts by various media, issuing of audio or video discs and other materials and their circulation in Bulgaria and abroad, without any obligations to the participating casts.

Festival organizers are responsible for the entire conduct of the festival and concert program.