They say a nation’s culture is best judged by the way that nation treats its departed. Those who are no longer among us. We talk about them, revere them, sometimes curse them. They are part of our life – not only of our past, but of our present, our future, our unfulfilled dreams…” 11 December 2021 marked 15 years since the death of conductor Dimitar Grigorov (1968-2006). Long enough, possibly, for memories and relationships to blur. Long enough for them to become more real, more pure and more heartfelt, more human. The musicians who worked with Mitko are in a constant bond with him. They may not give it much thought, but the conductor continues to give meaning to their performances in church, at concerts and on tours. They are bound to him with those invisible threads which at times they decide to visualize by means of memories and specific instructions they recall receiving from him. In other situations, they naturally incorporate these threads in the creative process. It is a profound sacred mystery inspired and guided by Dimitar Grigorov, who tugs on these threads like an invisible puppet master. The artists explore their innermost perceptions of the world and create music bearing their individual style and temperament. That is both visible and invisible suggestion!

Every year, on the eve of the anniversary of the conductor’s death, his colleagues, followers, and close friends open their hearts to memories of how Mitko Grigorov came into their inner worlds and what traces he left there, professionally and personally.

“I believe that, to be an artist, you must have suffered a lot, but also loved with all your heart…,” says Mitko Grigorov. Whether or how much the conductor suffered, we cannot say. But he dearly loved music and lived through it and for it. His tremendous artistic enthusiasm, bordering on extreme workaholism, must have been accompanied by numerous hardships and worries, but in the end they somehow always seemed justified. At rehearsals, concerts, recordings, and lectures, or live in radio programs.

“Every living soul has its own passions, both lofty and primitive. And every living soul, going down its designated route on earth, experiences love, and joy, but also pride, hatred, envy and, unfortunately, many feelings of the kind. When, however, that soul fully submits to God, He sends its way genuine repentance, to cleanse it of the profanity of everyday existence, teaching it not to succumb to it and giving it the soul to fight temptation.” These are the opening words of the young conductor’s lecture dedicated to the Resurrection of Christ and the days of repentance and humility. These words were deeply engraved in Dimitar Grigorov’s mind, and he would rely on them when taking part in church services with his choir Sveti Sedmochislenitsi. That was a mission to him which he successfully passed on to other artists.

When sharing memories of him, the singers from Sveti Sedmochislenitsi point out that no two rehearsals with Dimitar Grigorov were ever the same. Working with him kept them under constant artistic pressure. What the majority of these singers found most alluring was the power of the sound achieved – intonationally pure and exquisitely performed. Mitko was not one of those conductors who would dwell on minute vocal details. He would not demonstrate how a piece should be sung, but he would tell stories. Plenty of stories, all different – some comic, others quite serious. Rehearsals with him were like short lectures of a sort, inviting the performers to feel at home, settle in comfortably within the music, feel it with their hearts, and make it part of their lives. For eleven years (1995-2006), Grigorov taught at the Academy for Music, Dance and Pictorial Art, Plovdiv. His extensive research experience, his erudition and his vocal eloquence all found a place in his lectures. He taught hundreds of students majoring in Conducting, Course Choir, and Church Music. His work on devotional practices, as well as on the decoding and interpretation of church rituals and traditions, reached a wide and keen audience on the Bulgarian National Radio’s program “Musica Sacra”, which Dimitar Grigorov authored and hosted from 1999 onwards; many of his broadcasts are now part of the Radio’s Golden Archive.

The young conductor believed that, in our lives, we must aspire to become “better persons.” He adopted this credo as his mission, which he would accomplish above all through his choir Sveti Sedmochislenitsi. He received, and lovingly cherished, support from the eponymous church and its clerical staff. In this mission of his, he found an ardent follower in his partner Snezhana Grigorova. The music they made and performed together in church attracted audiences years on end, making them participants in the service, connecting them to the past and helping them look back to the times they grew up in.

Music and classical art are acts of worship, and thanks to them, a suggestopedic class also becomes a spiritual act.

Dimitar Grigirov discovered “his” music by himself. Hundreds of musical pieces passed through his hands, his eyes and his ears. He studied them with the precision of a surgeon, the soul of a worshipper, and the heart of a musician. His thorough preliminary analysis of a piece could be heard and felt at both church and concert performances. The conductor transformed every composition from West European polyphony and East Orthodox chants into a bridge between past and present. With the help of his hands and the singers’ voices, the connection between the Renaissance and the 21st century becomes more fluid, more meaningful, and more needed. Without giving it much thought, the listener feels the need to be at one with their past, so that they can take a more humane part in their future.

Dimitar Grigorov sought harmony in every detail. The first and most important step towards that harmony is rooted in achieving a well-synchronised attack on the senses at the beginning of a song. To that purpose, the conductor insisted that every performer closely follow each gesture of his, so that all the singers could breathe at one and the same time. Technically, that is the prerequisite for a successful ensemble. To the conductor, the words “together” and “simultaneously” had acquired a much profounder meaning than that pertaining to theoretical axioms. It came down to synchronizing the breathing rhythm and sensing when one singer is finishing a phrase and is ready to begin another, together with the performer standing at their side. Dimitar Grigirov transformed synchronized breathing into a special ritual, lending it an almost sacral meaning. Through it he could find the harmony which he was always searching for, and which to him was so important and necessary.

Mitko Grigorov insisted on the “general” in a broader sense. He had a special relationship with the community, built on the principle of a simple harmonic model: the interaction between the parts of a whole, and between the whole and the separate parts. The performers are the parts of the whole, which was the Sveti Sedmochislenitsi choir. The choir, on its part, defines the essence and individuality of the performers when they are singing in church, at concerts, or in their everyday life. They feel and cherish their belonging to the choir, because it reflects one’s innate drive to be part of a community and willingly identify with that community. The singers will tell us that, to Mitko Grigorov, the choir was his family. And, in retrospect, they consider themselves part of his family. It has happened that a singer has left the choir for reasons of their own, only to return to it at a certain point. Apparently, there is a force, an energy, which binds you to the church, the music, the colleagues, the need to feel “together.” It binds you with invisible threads.

Good Friday,
22.04.2022
Sofia

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