In my freshman year of college, I was introduced to a sound world that was completely foreign to me—traditional Bulgarian choral music. I was instantly captivated by the beautiful sonorities of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, a landmark album by the Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir. These sounds haunted my imagination for two years before finally manifesting as Svatba!, the opening movement of Songs of Bulgaria—a three-movement work blending the Western practice of orchestral concert music with these amazing Balkan traditions.

The title and inspiration come from "Svatba," a traditional wedding processional in the Shopsko style, native to the mountainous region surrounding Sofia, Bulgaria—a tradition celebrated for its fierce, high-energy vocal writing. In this style, two singers occupy the same narrow space: one carries the melody while the other holds close beneath it, the two voices grinding against each other in dissonant harmony. It is a sound that is as much ritual as it is song—music built to portray the bittersweet weight of a grand, noble wedding procession. That tension between celebration and gravity is what I set out to capture.

The piece plunges directly into the heart of the wedding procession, its rousing melody unfolding in shifting variations as it passes between instruments. Svatba! is not merely an arrangement of the original song, but my own personal interpretation of it—new melodies, colors, and themes woven alongside those of folk tradition, creating a high-energy dance fueled by the bright, biting colors of the modern symphony orchestra.

World Premiere: April 2nd, 2027 by The University of Texas Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Farkhad Khudyev.