Orfeia was founded in 2006 by the legendary Bulgarian singer Tatiana Sarbinska (www.tatianasarbinska.com). In 2007, Orfeia made its debut at a gala concert in Sophia, Bulgaria in honor of Tatiana Sarbinska and featuring Tatiana and an all-star roster of Bulgarian traditional singers and instrumentalists. Orfeia also performed in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria with the Pirin Ensemble, one of Bulgaria’s premiere national folk companies, and performed by invitation at the first national competition for traditional Bulgarian compositions in Chepelare, Bulgaria, sponsored by Dr. George Lazarov, a native of Bulgaria and patron of the arts who lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Orfeia was also featured on the Slavi Show, Bulgaria’s popular late-night television show.
Through performances and interactive workshops, Orfeia shares this beautiful and exciting music with young and old, beginner or experienced musician.
Orfeia is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
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 Tatiana Sarbinska, Artistic Director
Tatiana Sarbinska, the founder and director of Orfeia, is a world-renowned Balkan vocalist, teacher and director. Born in the village of Rila in Bulgaria, she rose quickly through the ranks of the finest Bulgarian state choruses to become one of the preeminent singers of her generation. For many years, she was the featured soloist of the internationally acclaimed Pirin Ensemble, touring throughout the world and making numerous recordings and films for television. Her extensive repertoire includes music from all of Bulgaria's folklore regions as well as the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Tatiana has been awarded "National Treasure" status and renown as "The Voice of Bulgaria" by the Bulgarian government for her artistry and for preserving the musical heritage of her native country. In 2004, Tatiana was the recipient of the Wammy (Washington Area Music Award) for World Music Vocalist, and in 2006 she received the Ivan Vasov Medal from the government of Bulgaria. In 2008, she was recognized with a grant from the Maryland Traditions Apprenticeship Awards Program of the Maryland State Arts Council (with support from the Maryland Historical Trust and the National Endowment for the Arts) (together with Orfeia member Ellen Zurbrigg) and in 2009 she was the recipient of an Individual Artist Award in musical composition from the Maryland State Arts Council. Tatiana has performed at the Kennedy Center’s Millenium Stage and at the Library of Congress. Her most recent CDs are Makedonsko Devojce and Katerino Mome.
Since moving to the USA in 1991, Tatiana has taught and directed many Balkan ensembles and is currently the artistic director of three choruses, Divi Zheni and Zornitsa in the Boston area, and Orfeia in Washington, D.C.
Tatiana’s extraordinary mastery of Eastern European music and vocal technique is matched by her unique ability to teach it to others, from beginner to professional. With a degree from the Academy of Music and Choreographic Art in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Tatiana went on to teach there and at the Western University in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. She was also the Director of Education for the Art School of Blagoevgrad, where she developed and directed the curriculum for 2500 students. In the United States, Tatiana has taught at the Boston Conservatory Chorus, Boston University, Northeastern University-Boston, the New England Conservatory of Music, the Mendecino Balkan Music and Dance Workshops, and the Augusta Heritage Center, and she has been a consultant for Revels, the renowned international music company. She has conducted individual and group lessons and workshops for hundreds of singers across the country. Whether in performance, conducting or teaching, Tatiana’s magnetic personality, passion and enthusiasm create a thrilling experience for her listeners and students.
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Meet Orfeia
A classical guitarist in her youth, Natalia Blinkova fell in love with Balkan music in college, where she joined the Yale Slavic Chorus. Since that time she has continued this love affair through singing with other groups and now in Orfeia. She hopes her daughter, Sofia (now 3 years), who ingested a steady diet of minor seconds in the womb, will one day share her passion for droning.
Courtney Deines-Jones studied piano and voice as a child to prepare for a career in government contracting. After moving to Silver Spring in 1996, she resumed singing classical music as a soloist and with the Capitol Hill Chorale. On hearing a demonstration of Balkan and Eastern European vocal music given by Tatiana Sarbinska in 2005, Courtney was immediately captivated. She began studying with Ms. Sarbinska and has sung with Tatiana's groups since that time.
Though she has enjoyed singing since childhood, Heather Livingston came to love Balkan music through her interest in Slavic languages. While a student at the University of Oregon, she took an Old Church Slavonic class as a lark; the lark quickly became a passion for the study of linguistics, particularly the Bulgarian language, and inspired her to join an Eastern European folk ensemble. Having moved to Montgomery County in 2000, Heather is thrilled to have the opportunity to study under the expert direction of renowned vocalist Tatiana Sarbinska, learning Balkan voice and the beautiful harmonies of this region.
Diane Weinroth has been playing piano since she was five years old and has always had music in her life in one way or another. Her choral singing experience started with high school and college choruses, and she has sung in a variety of other groups over the years, primarily classical and Renaissance, including performances at the Hollywood Bowl, the Washington Cathedral, the Kennedy Center Millenium Stage, and the Folger Shakespeare Library. Diane, like many in the 1970s, first encountered Balkan music through folk dancing and, once smitten, starting collecting recordings wherever she could find them. She has been singing Balkan music informally for more than two decades and has studied with Tatiana Sarbinska for several years.
Elin Zurbrigg learned her first Macedonian song singing with the Chicago Children’s Choir, when she was struck by how such a sad song (the story goes that Jordan gets out of jail after ten years only to find his true love has married his best friend) could sound so joyous. Elin re-encountered Eastern European music while playing saxophone in a klezmer band in the mid 1990s, and her insatiable quest to sing these traditions drew her to join several Balkan vocal ensembles over the next ten years. She began working with Tatiana Sarbinska on Balkan vocal technique after joining Slaveya, and later Orfeia. She has been thrilled to be able to work one-on-one with Tatiana over the last year through a grant from the Maryland Traditions Apprenticeship Awards Program of the Maryland State Arts Council (with support from the Maryland Historical Trust and the National Endowment for the Arts).
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