Bulgarian opera singers will pay tribute to the great basso Boris Christoff on the 110th anniversary of his birth at the concert "Bulgarian Bassos for Boris Christoff". They will perform his most emblematic roles, recalling his world triumphs with a touch of humour. There will be five concerts - from 11 October to 25 November - in Burgas, Varna, Plovdiv, Ruse and Stara Zagora.

"Bulgarian Bassos for Boris Christoff" is a project of the National Museum "Boris Christoff", based on the idea, script and staging of the director of the Ruse Opera Plamen Beykov. It is a joint project of five opera houses, which nominated their most outstanding basso soloists. Beykov, the last student of the great maestro, describes them as "a colourful mixture of wonderful voices, each with its own unique sound and character".

The artistic performances of the opera singers will alternate with archive recordings from the Golden Fund of the Bulgarian National Radio, in which Boris Christoff talks about the beginning of his career in the Sofia choirs before the war, how he left Bulgaria for Italy, his favourite parts are and what his mission in Bulgaria is. 

His words will be illustrated with photographs of him on stage and in life. "These revelations of his will sound like a testimony to all of us, his successors, but also to the very young colleagues," Plamen Beykov tells Radio Bulgaria.

Deep, powerful, expressive, fearsome, fateful - all these descriptions can be applied to the bass voice. But do bass opera singers have common qualities in real life?

"We basses are calm, intellectual, reflective, reasonable, tolerant people - says Plamen Beykov. - We do not have the expansiveness and strong emotionality that tenors have."

Of course, such an effortless approach to art - with a smile and ease, above vanity and rivalry both on stage and in life - was most characteristic of Boris Christoff, as his pupil confirms.

"He was aware of the height of his professionalism," says Plamen Beikov, "but on the other hand he showed a down-to-earth and at the same time proud humility. He used to say that he always tried to do everything to the best of his ability and did not hesitate to ask the audience for forgiveness if he did not meet their expectations. Boris Christoff also possessed an intellectual sense of humour and a unique sensitivity that extended to two almost mutually exclusive opposites".

"All the funds planned for other pedagogues in the programme were cancelled, and then he took it upon himself to work with us," says Plamen Beykov. He particularly emphasised fidelity to the word, saying that the text should penetrate us and become the door that opens the way to the recreation of the image. And I think that to a large extent the key to the power of his performance and his acting talent lies precisely in his absolute immersion in the text and his ability to make it his own".

Learning goes far beyond the boundaries of music. The student enters into the essence of words such as 'repentance', 'grounding', 'uncompromising'.

"On the eve of the Pasch in 1991, Boris Christoff wanted us to listen continuously to the Matthäus Passion ("St. Matthew Passion", Bach - ed.) in the interpretation of Eugen Jochum," recalls Plamen Beykov. In the free time between classes, he would come to the hall and insist that we all listen to music together. 

He gave me another recommendation - to play Bach's piano preludes and fugues in order to improve my musical hearing. That probably sealed my fate. I have been working with the Bach Society for over 15 years and have given dozens of performances of the St Matthew Passion, both the recitatives and the arias, not only at home but also abroad. The performance of Bach's music and the insight into these texts speaks volumes about repentance."

To this day, Plamen Beykov continues to learn from Boris Christoff. From the distance of time, Beykov now has more wisdom to decipher the subtleties that were carefully written down in his notebooks, but which, as an immature artist, he did not fully understand due to his lack of experience on the stage and in life.

Today, the pupil also gets a glimpse of his maestro's soul - mostly through his voice.

"An enlightened, deep soul," says the opera artist, "the fact that Boris Christoff was very much in touch with his own self allowed him to be at peace with himself - even though he was always emotional, passionate, even conflicted in defending his righteousness.

With gratitude and humility, Plamen Beykov has been working for 10 years on another project related to his unforgettable teacher.

"When the centenary of Boris Christoff was celebrated and I took part in a concert at the Bulgarian Cultural Centre in Rome, where his library is located, I was immersed in it," he says. - We had heard that he had a great interest in Bulgarian song, that he wanted to record some songs, but never realised his project. So from the huge amount of songs I managed to select 20, on which he left very insightful reviews. Some of the songs were even transposed for his voice and prepared for performance. I decided to learn them and so on November 4th we will present them together with the pianist Bozhena Petrova in Studio 1 of the Bulgarian National Radio under the title "Boris Christoff - Ambassador of the Bulgarian Song".