Sredets Chamber Choir was established in 1973 (Sredets is the medieval name of Sofia – the present capital of Bulgaria). Founder, chief artistic director and conductor of the choir is Prof. Alexander Kuyumdziev, assistant is Eliana Zaharieva.
Sredets Chamber Choir is a laureate of national and international competitions and festivals, the winner of national and international awards, including the award for professional choirs of the International Competition for East-Orthodox Music in Hainovka, Poland. The choir has given numerous concerts in most of the European countries (Italy, Belgium, Poland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Greece, Serbia, Macedonia), Russia, Ukraine, China and so on.
It has participated in prestigious international festivals, as “Sofia music weeks” – Bulgaria, Festival Symposium “Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis”, Bydgoszcz and “Gaude Mater”, Czestochowa – Poland, Festival of West Flanders – Belgium, Musica Sacra – Marktoberdorf, Germany, Festivals of Sacred Music in Loreto – Italy, Delphi – Greece, Novi Sad – Serbia, Struga – Macedonia, Fano – Italy, “Prague Summer” and “St. Václav” – Prague, the Czech Republic, Skopje Summer Festival – Macedonia, The 13th Shanghai International Arts Festival and The Third Shanghai International Choral Festival – China and so on.
Sredets Chamber Choir has made many recordings: Radio recordings in Bulgaria, Poland, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic; three LPs – Cyrillo-Methodian Pages (1980), Old-Bulgarian Music (1981) and Songs from South-Western Bulgaria (1984) - Balkanton, Bulgaria; six CDs – Medieval Voices (Prestige World Series, UK, 1990), Bulgarian Voices (Hallmark LТD, Germany, 2000), Bulgarian East-Orthodox Music through the Centuries I & II, Old Orthodox Music (Sredets Chamber Choir Society, 1999, 2001 and 2003) and Bulgarian Music of the 20th Century (2008). The choir has also participated in the following TV movies: 8-series movie Bulgarian Music Through the Centuries (Bulgarian National Television, 1981), Cantata cycle Die Tageszeiten by G. F. Thelemann (BNT, 1989), Your Christmas (BNT, 1994), Мissa (Solemnis) in C КV 134 by W. A. Mozart (BNT, 1995), Latin Magnificat by H. Schutz (BNT, 1995), Musical scenes from the opera Аlceste by J. B. Lully (BNT, 1995), Old European Music (ТV of Belgrade, Serbia, 1996), Liturgy of St John Chrysostom by Dobri Hristov (TV of Krakov, Poland, 1997) and four DVDs: A History in Music” (2012), Music – Writings – Traditions (2013), Sources of music (2013) and Music from the Centuries (2018) – Sredets Chamber Choir Society.
Sredets Chamber Choir's Repertoire comprises Eastern Orthodox music from Byzantium, the Balkans and Russia, including many unique pieces from the 12th to the 17th centurie that had been restored and performed for the first time in the present; the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by Dobri Hristov /1875-1941/ and Alexander Morfov /1880-1934/; 20-th Century Bulgarian music; European choral music from the Renaissance to modern times, as well as first-time Bulgarian performances of cantata and oratorio works.
