Boryana Velichkova
Boryana Velichkova is а musician and teacher with an authentic instinct for balance and dynamic of the choral music. Classically trained, she teaches piano and lyrical singing in several music high schools. Her love for traditional music from her homeland inspired her to develop her own ambitious projects celebrating Bulgarian vocal culture. Since 2004 she has started and successfully led three Berlin-based choirs, each with its distinct artistic direction and character – a children’s choir for traditional music, a mixed orthodox choir, and the typically all-female ensemble for Bulgarian singing, BVB. Passionate about different styles and developing a signature sound, Boryana works on arranging the music for all three choirs, and collaborates with renowned Bulgarian composers and performers. The conductor inspires her singers with enormous interpretive contrasts to present a color palette from full-out soloist singing to the most intimate and elegant of sounds of choir music.
Our choir
Bulgarian Voices Berlin e.V. is a multinational female ensemble dedicated to traditional Bulgarian folklore singing, exploring authentic and contemporary arrangements and interpretations. Founded in 2009 under the lead of Boryana Velichkova, the choir has become a home not only for Bulgarian singers, but also for women from diverse backgrounds. Every woman has found her own path to Bulgarian folk music, yet all are united by a shared joy in this powerful tradition and a deep desire to pass it on.
BVB brings to life songs from all corners of Bulgaria, including some of the most renowned and most challenging pieces of Bulgarian folklore. The choir takes the listener on an emotional journey – from the humorous, bold and often dissonant duets of Western Bulgaria, to the timeless melodies of the Rhodope mountains, to the complex and sophisticated ornamentation of songs from the Black Sea coast in the East. Once heard, the Bulgarian folk song with its captivating melodies and fascinating rhythms leaves a deep, powerful impression. The music is intimate and moving, filling hearts as well as concert halls with its richness.
Renowned musicians such as Georgi Andreev, Nikolay Peev and Neli Andreeva have composed exclusive arrangements for the ensemble. BVB has released four albums, with two latest ones available for purchase: Ogreyalo Slantse (2018) and Aishinka (2023).
In 2018, BVB participated in the 36th International Choral Festival of Preveza, Greece, earning a gold medal and securing second place overall among more than 40 choirs worldwide.
The year 2019 was one of the choir’s most intense and successful, beginning with a tour in South Korea at the Jeju International Choir Festival & Symposium and culminating in performances at the avant-garde Pop-Kultur Festival in Berlin and the breathtaking concert at the Great Hall of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, in collaboration with musician Lisa Morgenstern. Another milestone was the choir’s participation in the theater production Geht es dir gut? by René Pollesch and actor Fabian Hinrichs, staged at Berlin’s renowned Volksbühne on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz.
The highlight of 2022 was the ChoralSpace festival, where, under the direction of Sergi Gili Solé, BVB performed Carl Orff’s famous Carmina Burana in the Great Hall of the Philharmonie Berlin, alongside 350 singers from all over the world. Within the same festival, BVB gave two concerts, one of them with the Norwegian choir Cantus under the artistic direction of Timothy Wayne-Wright, former member of The King’s Singers.
The choir kicked off 2023 with the HOMELANDS festival, a ChoralSpace project that brought together five choirs from Albania, Greece, Israel, Bulgaria, Switzerland, and Germany for a performance at the Philharmonie Berlin. In March, BVB released its fourth album Aishinka, followed by a national tour.
In May 2024, the choir celebrated its 15th anniversary with a spectacular concert Levitation at the Philharmonie Berlin, featuring a provocative blend of Bulgarian folklore, Orthodox music, and string instruments. The performance featured special collaborations with renowned artists Neli Andreeva, Lisa Morgenstern, Adam Goodwin, and others. In the Sing for Gold 2024 competition in Calella, Spain, with over 50 choirs from all over the world, BVB qualified for the World Choral Cup finals. The choir achieved prestigious gold status alongside the overall winners Vocal Ensemble Fortissimo from Bulgaria and the children’s choir Coro Voces del Sol from Peru and won first place in the Chamber Choir category.
BVB continues to push artistic boundaries while honoring the deep-rooted traditions of Bulgarian folk music.