Medena Ensemble: The Daughters of Orpheus

• Date: 08/06/2025 18:00 - 19:00
• Location: Ellen Melville Centre, 2 Freyberg Place, Auckland
• Tickets: $35 General (other Tiers available)

Aotearoa’s premier Bulgarian Folklore Vocal Ensemble, lead by Tui Mamaki, present their new collection of exquisite acapella offerings - carrying song threads from afar, with a longstanding passion for, and dedication to, the craft.

“The Daughters of Orpheus” is a vibrant feminine tapestry of traditional Bulgarian song, where classic choral arrangements rub shoulders with obscure rural treasures, at times arranged for improvisation. This song cycle is specially prepared for Medena Ensemble’s upcoming collaboration with the long standing New York based Bulgarian folk choir, Yasna Voices, at the renowned Koprivshtitsa Festival, in Bulgaria this August.

Orpheus was said to make music so beautiful that stones would roll, and trees would uproot, to be able to follow him and listen... All the women who carry folklore song threads in Bulgaria are deemed to be “The Daughters of Orpheus”.

During their time in Bulgaria, the singers will also engage in some specialised vocal study with masters in the music including, the Bistrishkite Babi, Iliyana Naydenova, Svetla Stanilova, Hadjievi Sestri, Neli Andreeva, Radka Aleksova, Gergana Dimitrova and more.

Medena Ensemble invite you to celebrate and support their inaugural journey to the source of this enchanted mahi!
Attending this concert is one way of doing that. Another is to contribute to their givealittle campaign below.

Contribute: www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/from-aotearoa-to-bulgaria-help-our-voices-take

www.tuimamaki.com/medena-ensemble
www.youtube.com/@MedenaEnsemble
www.facebook.com/medena-ensemble

Who are Medena?
Be it through classic Bulgarian folklore choir arrangements or obscure rural treasure songs issue of Tui Mamaki’s love affair with Bulgaria and its phenomenal voices, MEDENA ENSEMBLE explore that compelling vocal tone, bewitchingly close harmony, playful odd-meter rhythms and the colourful feminine fabric of a community blend. Medena means “honeyed”! Highlight performances to date include Auckland Folk Festival 2025, World Choir Games 2024, VoCo & Unitarian Church in collaboration with Bulgarian Roses 2023.