October 16, 2008

Concert of the Choir of the Great Church of Debrecen

Currently on a North American tour, 50 members of the Choir of the Great Church of Debrecen, the parochial center of the Hungarian Reformed Church, gave a fascinating performance at the Embassy on Monday evening, October 13 before more than one hundred people. Their repertoire included choral works, black spirituals, and versions of biblical psalms and Hungarian folk songs by Claude Goudimel, Zoltán Kodály, Lajos Bárdos, Zoltán Gárdonyi and László Halmos.

 

The concert was followed by a reception, prepared by Embassy Chef Lázár Kovács

Chorister Sándor Vass, the conductor of the choir, told the audience that during their 13-day first North American tour they would give five concerts. They came to Washington from New Brunswick, New Jersey through New York City, where they sang at the Hungarian Reformed Church on the 82nd Street on Sunday, October 12, on the 500th anniversary of the birth of Church Reformer Jean Calvin, founder of the Protestant Church.

 

The Great Church of Debrecen is the parochial center of the Hungarian Reformed Church

From the capital, they would go through Charlotte, North Carolina to Charleston, South Carolina, where they would give concerts in the fraternal congregations of the Great Church of Debrecen. Chorister Vass confirmed that the choir was welcomed with joy and enthusiasm in America, displaying great interest in the music life of the Reformed Church of Hungary.