Bulgaria Camp – July 10 – 24 (15 days) – $1700

Date: July 10-24, 2016
Venue:
Hotel Valentino 2, Dobrinishte, Pirin Region, Bulgaria
Leaders:
Petrana Kucheva,
Patty Cuyler,
Bulgarka Junior Quartet,
Emil Ivanov
Price: $1700
Village Harmony’s fifth camp in Bulgaria—and our first trip back since 2007—will focus on studying traditional music styles and dances and interacting and learning from local singers and musicians in the Rhodope and Pirin regions.
The first week of the trip we will take over the attractive Hotel Valentino-2 in the village of Dobrinishte in the southern Pirin regions, enjoying gondola trips up Bez Bog and open mineral baths and dining on traditional Bulgarian fare. Dobrinishte is a historically and culturally rich Bulgarian town with amazing old houses and museums, mineral spas and pools, and mountain trails. During this initial week we will have the opportunity to meet and study with local singers and folk ensembles from Dobrinishte, Razlog and Bansko, and will spend three days working closely with the members of the well-known Plovdiv-based Bulgarka Junior Quartet as well as meet with musicians from nearby Bansko, which especially known for its men’s singing tradition.
From Dobrinishte we will travel to the village of Satovcha in the southern Rhodope mountains to spend two days studying with singers of the unique local style known as na visoko. From Satovcha we will stop for two days in the town of Pazardjik, where we will visit our dance teacher Emil Ivanov‘s home-town ensemble and perform in a festival with local dance groups. As we near the end of our two weeks we will travel eastward to Ajtos, 25 km from the Black Sea coast city of Burgas, before ending our stay in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital city.
There will be opportunities for those interested to study traditional Bulgarian instruments, both during the rehearsal week and with musicians along our tour route.