Bulgaria 2026
Bachkovo and Plovdiv, 20th - 26th August 2026
Ishirini visited Bulgaria in August 2026. Bishop Sioni of Velich, abbot of Bachkovo monastery, gave us a warm welcome on our arrival, inviting us for rakia (brandy distilled in the monastery) in his rooms before we started to rehearse, which we thanked him for with a rendition of Beati quorum via, by Charles Stanford, our first notes together as a choir. After our rehearsal we were honoured to be invited to sing a piece at the end of the Vespers service.
The following day we rehearsed in our wonderful accommodation, the Rodope Nook Guest House in Chepelare, before visiting the nearby village of Shiroka Laka, where we sang informally in the village square.
The following day we were back in the monastery for our concert. But first we sang for the president of Bulgaria, who happened to be visiting the monastery due to the conclusion of an exhibition of iconography. We sang her two of the pieces from our concert, Svete Tihiy by Kalinnikov in Church Slavonic, and a setting of the same text in English, Hail Gladdening Light by Charles Wood, while she visited the chapel in the monastery accompanied by Bishop Sioni.
The same pieces started our concert in the chapel a short while later. We continued to sing other pairs of texts in Church Slavonic and Latin/English which were liturgically appropriate for the day, the last day of the Festival of the Dormition of the Mother of God in the Orthodox calendar. Full details of our repertoire for this tour are available here.
After the concert we enjoyed a private visit to the monastery's beautiful old refectory. We are extremely grateful to Bishop Sioni, Stamen Pepelishev, and all the monks of the monastery for the warm welcome they extended to us, and for the great honour they gave us in allowing us to sing for the President.
After leaving the monastery we climbed the mountains to nearby Asen's fortress, where we enjoyed the acoustics of its chapel.
The following day we left the mountains and arrived in Plovdiv, where we were given a fabulous walking tour of the many sights of the city by Nikki from the Free Plovdiv Walking Tour company.
Many of us finished the day enjoying a concert of Queen hits sung by Plovdiv opera singers in the Ancient Roman Theatre.
The tour ended with a short evening recital in the Regional Ethnographic Museum, including some of the sacred pieces we had sung in the monastery alongside secular pieces with an evening theme.
We are very grateful to the team of REM Plovdiv for making space for our recital in their busy schedule, and for granting us the opportunity to sing in their beautiful space. благодаря ти много!
For more photos of the tour please see here.
Performances:
Friday 21st August, 6pm: Vespers service, Bachkovo Monastery
Saturday 22nd August, 4pm: Pop-up singing in Shiroka Laka town square
Sunday 23rd August, 11am: Singing for the President of Bulgaria, Bachkovo Monastery
Sunday 23rd August, 12pm: Theotokos concert, Bachkovo Monastery
Tuesday 25th August, 5.30pm: Evening Song concert, Regional Ethnographic Museum, Plovdiv.
