Bulgarian Voices of Seattle invites you to share in the wonderful experiences of our first performance and study tour of Bulgaria in August at this fun-filled celebration.

Guests will be welcomed, as the choir was welcomed to the village of Solnik, by a mother and child in costume offering traditional bread and salt.

You will have the opportunity to have your photo taken in costume in front of a Christmas backdrop at a photo booth by professional photographer and choir member Edi Valcheva. Photos will be printed on the spot.

Our program will begin with a multimedia show of press the choir received in Bulgaria and photo highlights of the tour taken by professional photographer Charlie Jirov. That will be followed by a brief performance by Bulgarian Voices of songs meaningful to the tour.

Next, BCHCS board member Robert Ewen, PhD Slavic Linguistics, will moderate a conversation and Q&A with tour participants to explore what the tour meant to them as immigrants from Bulgaria returning to their homeland as part of a choir singing traditional songs, or as non-Bulgarians touring with a Bulgarian choir. We will look also at the effect the tour had on the general public in Bulgaria.

The joyful evening will end with 30 minutes of horo dancing by accordionist Michael “Misho” Lawson (aka the star of the tour; they loved him over there) and Milka Bosilkova on tapan.

Sponsored by the Bulgarian Cultural and Heritage Center of Seattle www.seattle-bg.org