Help Yasna Voices Members Perform and Study in Bulgaria!

Yasna Voices, New York City’s first and only Bulgarian women’s choir, has the incredible opportunity to travel to Bulgaria for a two-week long journey of cultural immersion and intensive musical study, culminating in a performance at the world-famous Koprivshtitsa Folk Festival…and we need your help to get there!

Led by founder and “Bulgarian ambassadress” Vlada Tomova, Yasna Voices proudly represents the Bulgarian folk singing tradition with a unique blend of innovative choral arrangements and authentic village style songs. We’ve brought our vibrant performances to places like Lincoln Center , The New York Public Library, Columbia University , and NPR’s Tiny Desk. We are a tight-knit, multinational, and intergenerational community of women who hail from many walks of life, and we are excited to take this next step in learning from master Bulgarian singers, connecting to culture, and developing our musical expertise.

Once every five years, several hundred thousand lovers of Bulgarian folklore from across the globe gather in the tiny historic town of Koprivshtitsa for a celebration of Bulgarian music and dance. Yasna is among a few international groups that have been invited to perform on the central stage at the festival, the other performers are lauded representatives of each of the seven ethnographic regions of Bulgaria, the finalists of the regional folklore competitions that have been held in the years since the last festival.

We will also present a film we are creating in collaboration with the Library of Congress on the work of Martha Forsyth, an ethnomusicologist who devoted her life to preserving Bulgarian folkloric singing.

Before and after the festival, our days will be filled studying with master Bulgarian folk singers: in Sofia with the Bitrista Grannies, Neli Andreeva, Gergana Dimitrova (Quartet Eva), Violeta Marinova, Binka Dobreva, and Radka Alexova; in Plovdiv an intensive study with Svelta Stanilova; and in Nedelino with the Hadzhievi sisters, along with other local singers in the Rhodope region. We are so excited for this unparalleled opportunity to deepen our musical knowledge and technique, and look forward to sharing what we learn with the multicultural, melodic beehive of New York City.

Unfortunately, costs have risen significantly in Bulgaria, and the trip has turned out to be a much greater expense than we anticipated. We are a self-funded group, and do not currently have the financial means for every member to be able to attend the trip. We are seeking your financial support to enable our entire group to be able to embark on this amazing opportunity to immerse ourselves in the culture our music comes from, participate in this momentous festival, and engage in intensive study that will bring our sound to soaring new heights. We endeavor to grow together as a group, and know that this experience will not be the same if we have to leave anyone behind.

Thank you so much for supporting our journey—every little bit helps! Please help us spread the word, and stay tuned for info about a fundraising concert coming in June!