The Plovdiv Boys’ Choir, a company of the Municipal Children’s Center of Plovdiv, was founded in 1975. In 2003 it was named after the founder and long-lived director Stefka Blagoeva (1938-2000).
In 1996 the direction of the choir was entrusted to Milka Toledova.
The choir gathers together boys aged between 6 and 14 carefully selected from Plovdiv schools.
The ‘Stefka Blagoeva’ choir is a participant of choice to number of high national music events such as the International Music Festival ‘Varnensko Lyato’, the Panorama of Bulgarian Choir Art in Sofia, the National Fest of School Choirs ‘Dobri Voynikov’ in Shumen, the International Orthodox Music Festival ‘Hvalite Gospoda’ in Sofia, the Thracian Choir Festival in Yambol, the Opera, Operetta and Ballet Festival in Plovdiv, etc. encompass
The repertoire is extremely varied. It encompasses classical and modern choral songs, cantata and oratorio works of Bulgarian and foreign composers, arrangements of Bulgarian folklore songs, Orthodox music and others.
The choir has a quite active stage activity: it has had more than 1000 concerts in Bulgaria and abroad. It has performed together with symphonic, chamber, brass and jazz orchestras and bands and has taken part to operas such as Tosca, Carmen, Hansel and Gretel, Carmina Burana and so on.
Tours and participations to international choral festivals were achieved in Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, and Macedonia.
The ‘Stefka Blagoeva’ choir has had joint concerts with the choirs ‘Gusla’ and ‘Detska Kitka’, the Choir and Orchestra of the Plovdiv Opera and Philharmonic, the chamber orchestra Simfonieta ‘Dobrin Petkov’, the Symphonic Orchestra of Vratsa, the Symphonic Orchestra of Nantes (France), the ‘Beli, Zeleni, Cherveni’ jazz band, Dynamite Brass Band, Intro Quartet and other famous performers.
Participations to concerts and operas have taken place under the direction of Dimitar Manolov, Borislav Ivanov, Georgi Dimitrov, Yordan Dafov, Nayden Todorov, Ivan Kozhuharov, Plamen Parvanov, Rumen Bayrakov, Veselin Baychev, Günter Teurung (Austria), Wojciech Krolopp (Poland), Konrad Leitner (Germany), James Logran (England), Nikos Eftimiadis (Greece), and others.
The Plovdiv Boys’ Choir ‘Stefka Blagoeva’ is a full member of the Bulgarian Choir Union and it is the first Bulgarian choir admitted in the European Federation for Choirs of the Union.
For its high artistic achievements the choir has been awarded with the Token of Honour of The Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers (1996), the Token of Honour of Plovdiv city (1996), the Golden Lyre prize of the UBMD (2001), Badge of Honour of the National Children’s Palace (2001), the Plovdiv Prize (2003), the Honour Token of The Bulgarian Composers’ Union (2006), Gold Token and Honorary Diploma of the Union of Bulgarian Choirs (2006), Honorary Diploma of the Mayor of Plovdiv (2006), and the highest prize of the UBMD - the Crystal Lyre (2011).
Furthermore, the choir has participated to and won prizes at international choral competitions such as Summa cum laude grand prix in Neerpelt, Belgium (1982); First Prize in Nantes, France (1985); Third Prize in Tolosa, Spain (1993); Second Prize in Tortona, Italy (1995); First Prize in Neerpelt, Belgium (1998); First Prize in Ankara, Turkey (1998); the Günther Erdmann prize for the best interpretation of modern choral song in Hale, Germany (2001); First Prize in Moscow, Russia and Best Piano Accompaniment Prize to the pianist Yuliya Petrova (2002); and Third Prize in Celje, Slovenia (2005).
All the success of the ‘Stefka Blagoeva’ choir is due to the excellent creative collaboration between the choir master Milka Toledova, the pianist Yuliya Petrova and the music tutor Borislava Blagoeva.