[04] International May Choir Competition "Prof. Georgi Dimitrov"

The competition was founded under the name "May Choir Festival". In 1973, by a decision of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party, it was decided that an "International Choir Competition" would be organized every two years in the month of May in Varna. In 1975, its first edition took place. Since 1982, the competition has been named after the distinguished Bulgarian composer Georgi Dimitrov - founder of the modern Bulgarian choral school.

The competition was organized mainly by the competition is the Center for Artistic Activities and the District Council for the Culture, and after 1989 - by the Municipality of Varna. The operative organizer was the choir "Morski zvutzti" (Sounds of the Sea). Since 1993, the competition has been a member of the "Europe Grand Prix" Association, which was held successively in Arezzo (Italy), Debretsen (Hungary), Tours (France), Maribor (Slovenia), Varna (Bulgaria) and Tolosa (Spain). It has been held every year since 2007.

According to the current regulation, participants compete in categories for mixed, unison and children's choir and youth choirs, and in recent editions also for chamber choirs. The program includes Renaissance and Baroque /from the XIV century to the middle of the XVIII century/; Classicism /XVIII century/; Romanticism /XIX century/ and Contemporary music /XX - XXI century/. The program also includes one choral work of the performers' choice by a composer from the nationality of the performing choir and one obligatory song by a Bulgarian composer.

It seems that this competitions is going to be integrated into "festival". The last announcement as competition was the 35th edition in 2020.