Sunday May 19 * 4pm * $10 / $5 for kids / $20 per family * TICKETS

DC’s Balkan vocal ensemble ORFEIA will present a family-friendly concert. Also featuring traditional Bulgarian songs performed by participants in this month’s Bulgarian vocal workshops at Rhizome.

Orfeia is a woman’s vocal ensemble dedicated to preserving and sharing traditional music from Bulgaria and Eastern Europe. Orfeia’s repertoire spans the rich and diverse musical heritage of Eastern Europe, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Russia and their neighbors.  From traditional to sacred and from the Middle Ages to modern day, the captivating sounds of the Balkans are given voice through lush harmonies, unusual dissonances and vocal ornaments, unique rhythms, village songs, custom songs with overlapping lines, antiphonal songs with drones, seasonal music, dance music, and children’s songs.
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Orfeia was founded in 2006 by the legendary Bulgarian singer Tatiana Sarbinska.  Orfeia made its debut at a gala concert in Sofia, Bulgaria in honor of Tatiana Sarbinska and featuring Tatiana and an all-star roster of Bulgarian traditional singers and instrumentalists.  Orfeia has performed in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria with the Pirin Ensemble, one of Bulgaria’s foremost national folk companies, at the National Festival of Bulgarian Folklore in Koprivshtitsa, at national competitions for compositions based on traditional Bulgarian music in Chepelare and Sofia, and in concerts in Sofia, Plovdiv and other cities throughout Bulgaria.  Orfeia has been featured on The Slavi Show, Bulgaria’s most popular late-night television program, and on Bulgarian National Radio.

Based in Montgomery County, Maryland, Orfeia has performed throughout the mid-Atlantic region and has been the recipient of grants from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County.