National Folk Art Festival in Koprivshtitsa Officially Opens on Saturday

Desislava Toncheva

National Festival of Folk Art in Koprivshtitsa, August 8, 2025 (BTA Photo/Milena Stoykova)

Sofia,

09.08.2025 09:17

(BTA)

The 13th edition of the National Festival of Folk Art in Koprivshtitsa will be opened on Saturday with an official ceremony.

This year's edition of the festival is under the auspices of former president Rossen Plevneliev. The opening ceremony will be attended by Koprivshtitsa Mayor oMaria Toromanova, Culture Minister Marian Bachov, Regional Governor of Sofia, Silvia Arnautova, and Deputy Minister of Culture Ashot Kazaryan.

The main media partners of the event are the Bulgarian News Agency, Bulgarian National Television, and Bulgarian National Radio.

The festival has been held every five years since 1965 during the first full week of August. The main organizers of the forum are the Ministry of Culture, the Municipality of Koprivshtitsa, the Sofia Regional Administration, and the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with the Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IEFSEM-BAS).

After the official opening of the festival, eight groups and performers from all over the country will take part in the programme. Singer Nelina Orashova will perform at the ceremony, and Valya Balkanska will be a special guest. The Ivan Terziev Youth Koledari Group from Yambol will present a typical Yambol koledari buenek, while the women's group from the village of Satovcha, Blagoevgrad region, will perform Visoko multipart singing, which is included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage . Nikolay Todorov from Sofia will perform a traditional song, the Lazarus group from the Napredak-Yuper community centre will perform a Nestinarstvo fire-dancing rite, and the Bistritsa Babi from the village of Bistritsa, Sofia region, will sing a harvest song.

The opening programme will also include an authentic wedding custom from the village of Zdravets, Varna region, as well as the dance ensemble Surbenitsa from the village of Sofronievo, Vratsa region. After the grand opening on the main stage, the programme will continue with groups from the Sofia region.

Stara Zagora and Burgas will perform on the second stage, while at the same time the third stage is expected to welcome representatives from five regions: Montana, Pleven, Vidin, Vratsa, and Shumen. The fourth stage will feature performances by representatives from Dobrich and Silistra.

The fifth stage will feature groups from Pazardzhik and Blagoevgrad, while the sixth stage will host groups from Varna, Razgrad, and Ruse.

The National Festival of Folk Art in Koprivshtitsa began on Friday and will continue until Sunday, August 10.

/DT/