November is the time when Brass Perspectives Association’s creative team heads to Northern Europe. In 2025, the inspiring music journey we began in 2021 comes to its end with the premiere of the second LP album in the project: “Christmas Brass & Vocal Jazz: Aurora Borealis”. During the past 5 years, our journey through Northern Europe and the most beautiful mediaeval songs dedicated to winter and the magic of Christmas in these romantic and so different latitudes has taken us to Finland and Estonia, Denmark and the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Norway. In 2024, we explored the Universe of J. R. R. Tolkien with our interpretation for 5 trombones and 5 jazz voices of the beloved carol “Silent Night” / “Sedhen I Fuin”in Sindarin - one of the two main Elvish languages ​​​​created by the magnificent linguist and author of “The Lord of the Rings”, “The Silmarillion” and “The Hobbit”. We have enriched our winter holiday traditions with new ideas and a new approach to favorite songs and composers whose worlds we admire.

The idea, initiative and overall concept of “Christmas Brass & Vocal Jazz” belongs to Christina Dencheva - artistic director of the Brass Perspectives Association Bulgaria and producer of the project. The main arranger of the pieces in 4 albums and three singles already released is Daniel Nikolov. During this inspiring music journey Prof. Hristo Yotsov, Plamen Prodanov, Emil-George Atanasov, Konstantin Beykov and Yanko Yankov also joined the team as arrangers of individual pieces. In 2023, in a surprising Christmas rock experiment, the trumpeter Martin Bodurov (in the dual role of arranger), the magnificent guitarist Petar Georgiev - Pesheto and the rock vocalist Toma Zdravkov joined the team. From the very beginning, our music journey through the North was in a collaboration with the embassies of Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands in Bulgaria. In 2021 and 2024, the project was supported by the National Culture Fund.

At the heart of "Christmas Brass & Vocal Jazz" is the unique, attractive collaboration between 5 trombones and 5 jazz voices. We have come a long way, filled with love for the North and brave ideas in an experimental format, where the Baroque and Classics in the sound of brass instruments elegantly interlaced with jazz and the a cappella harmonies of the 21st century. Since 2023, the performing team has been international. We welcomed colleagues from the USA, Spain, Azerbaijan and Finland. The instrumental collaborations in the project surprised not only our listeners, but also the arrangers and the performing artists. One of the most beautiful and memorable of these collaborations was in 2022 in the EP album "Christmas Brass: Through the Winter Darkness", when we entrusted our colleagues from the Underground Cello Quartet to express the elements of Northern Winter with 4 cellos in an impressive contrast with the solo trombone and the trumpet. The violoncellos added this exquisite, mystical element, expressing our admiration for the mysterious and unimaginable power of Nature of the North…

In 2025, the focus of the album “Christmas Brass & Vocal Jazz: Aurora Borealis” is one of the most impressive polar phenomena, with which Nature reminds us who is the ultimate artist. As always. The first and the last pieces of the album - Concerto Borealis by the remarkable Danish film composer Søren Hildgaard (1962 - 2018) and “Northern Lights” by the Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo in the virtuoso performance by Spectrum Vocal Band - form the sound framework in which we unfold the final touches of our Christmas journey.

Søren Hildgaard's Concerto Borealis, whose European premiere in the version for symphony orchestra with solo trombone we held on 04.07.2025 in collaboration with the Symphony Orchestra of Bulgarian National Radio, is in a new, attractive interpretation for trio trombones and piano. The idea belongs to the creative director of the project Christina Dencheva, the final version of the piece was made in collaboration with Jorge Nieto. The performance of this brass challenge is entrusted to Jorge Nieto (Spain), Mustafa Khalilov (Azerbaijan) - both colleagues are members of Sinfonietta Vratsa, Kiril Mikhaylov and Anelia Gospodinova (piano). Actually in 2025 the trombone quintet - the special brand of "Christmas Brass & Vocal Jazz" - is a sextet. Catherine Shulle (USA - State Opera Stara Zagora), Prof. Atanas Karafezliev and Dimitar Stoev also participated in the recordings.

As always, Finland has a special place in "Christmas Brass & Vocal Jazz". Our 2025 album is not an exception. It features 3 new Finnish pieces (Jouluaatto on Nyt Herttainen, Rati Riti Ralla and Varpunen Jouluaamuna) in Daniel Nikolov's northern jazz arrangements in various configurations for 5 and 3 trombones with soloing and accompanying vocals. In the most spectacular of them, Varpunen Jouluaamuna (“Sparrow on Christmas morning”), the soloist is the superstar in popular music and our friend Tero Lindbergh - The Golden Trumpet. We expect him again in Sofia on 26.03.2026 at the invitation of the Brass Perspectives Association in a dizzying concert in another joint project with the Bulgarian National Radio - this time with the Big Band conducted by another European jazz star: Antoni Donchev.

At the end of this glorious journey through Northern Europe and the most beautiful mediaeval carols dedicated to winter and the magic of Christmas, you will listen to a Swedish song with a very curious history behind the scene 🙂 The melody is extremely popular in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, but with completely different lyrics. We came across it in a 2024 ranking of the ten most depressing Danish songs for Christmas. In fact, we did not see anything depressing in the music, but we realized that was not  the case in the Danish lyrics. We chose to record the Swedish version again in a fresh jazz arrangement by Daniel Nikolov. Because Christmas time is the most beautiful time of the year!

You can read and share this article also in Bulgarian and in Dutch

More information about “Christmas Brass & Vocal Jazz”
on the official website of Brass Perspectives Association Bulgaria
Find us on music platforms as artist Brass Perspectives BG

The project “Christmas Brass & Vocal Jazz Aurora Borealis” 2025
is supported by the National Culture Fund of Bulgaria