SPRING IS HERE AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS! European Union Embassies Open House Day! May 12. Enjoy D.C.’s spring beauty while getting a unique look inside EU embassies. Food, dance, music, culture, embassy swag. You know where we’ll be, of course – the Bulgarian Embassy.
MNOGAJA LETA, GEORGE LAZAROV! Orfeia is honored to be a part of a very special celebration of Dr. George Lazarov. A renowned and innovative surgeon and long-time supporter of the arts in the U.S. and Bulgaria, Dr. Lazarov has been a stronghold in the Bulgarian community. Orfeia will sing a few songs in his honor and will be featured in clips of a documentary celebrating his life which will premiere that night. There will be a potluck-style reception to follow (which is bound to include dancing!).
IN MEMORIAM: NICKOLAI KAUFMAN (1925 – 2018). An acclaimed musicologist, folklorist and researcher and a prolific composer, arranger and author, Nikolai Kaufman’s music and scholarship have had a lasting and profound impact. Here is one of his many exquisite arrangements, “Hubava Milka.”
LOVED SINGING IN LANCASTER. Festival of Voices 2018 was a wonderful three-day celebration of vocal music. Thanks to FOV for their hospitality – “Music for Everyone!”
CHILDREN’S WORKSHOPS AND PERFORMANCE. The kids were amazing – they sounded great and sang before a full house at the Botev Academy. Check out our Facebook page and the Botev Academy Facebook page for photos! Here’s a sample of what they learned, sung by two of the participants!
THANK YOU, MONTGOMERY COUNTY for your support of the arts. Check us out on the Executive Ball thank-you video for Catherine and Ike Leggett.
SINGING ON THE HILL. Jim Thomson and the Hill Center hosted
a wonderful concert at a great venue. There are always good things happening at the Hill Center.
LIVE@5 on WPFW! It was a delight to be invited back by such a great station! Hope some of you jazz and blues lovers are now Balkan music fans.
EAST MEETS EAST IN BALTIMORE! We had an amazing time making beautiful music with Alash and Shodekeh before an enthusiastic audience of world music fans at the Creative Alliance at the Patterson. Hope you aught Alash when they appeared at 
the Freer-Sackler Museums in Washington, D.C. as part of Illuminasia – A Festival of Asian Arts, Food and Cultures.
TANYA ON THE JUDGES PANEL. Tatiana Sarbinska joined other luminaries of Bulgarian traditional music to judge the bi-annual “New Music in 7/8” competition held in Chepelare, Bulgaria. 7/8 is one of the most characteristic of Bulgarian traditional music’s unique rhythms. Check out the competition!
CONGRATULATIONS, TANYA! Tatiana Sarbinska was awarded the Honorary Medal of the President of Bulgaria for
her contribution to Bulgarian arts and culture. The award was presented by Rosen Plevneliev, President of Bulgaria. БЪЛГАРИЯ СЕ ГОРДЕЕ С ТЕБ — Bulgaria is proud of you — and so are we!!
ORFEIA IS ON AmazonSmile! You can help Orfeia every time you shop! Go to https://smile.amazon.com/ and choose Orfeia as your non-profit organization of choice — up to 0.5% of your purchase price will be donated to us! Please take a second to do this — we need and appreciate your support.![tatiana_portrait_4[1]](https://orfeia.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/tatiana_portrait_41.jpg)
A NEW BULGARIAN MUSIC FAN! Ansu emailed us, “Your performance at the Embassy of Bulgaria for #EUOpenHouse was entrancing. I especially liked your explanation of dissonance and rhythm in the Bulgarian folk compositions, that helped us appreciate what we were hearing even more. I loved the slightly eastern-tonality of your pieces. I look forward to attending more performances. People literally stopped in their tracks on the street to listen to you…outstanding harmonies and unusual, stimulating sound. Great job you all! I posted about you on Twitter.” Thanks!!
