Choir

The choir was formed in 1986 as the State Choir. It was built around the choir of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble. Its founding choir master was Miklós Pászti, under whose guidance a body eighty strong was formed, that was able to perform large scale oratorios. At their first important concert, they sang works by Liszt, conducted by Miklós Pászti. Their first oratorio evening came on March 26th, 1986, with a performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, conducted by the legendary Antal Doráti.

After the death of its founder in 1988, the direction of the ensemble was taken over first by Katalin Bodonyi Ella and then Gábor Ugrin. Since 1990, the choir master has been Mátyás Antal. The choir's repertoire is a rich one, ranging from Bach and Schütz to contemporary composers, featuring the great oratorio works and operas alike. The choir can also give a good account of jazz works when required.

An impressive host of top flight conductor have worked with the choir. To name but a few: Antal Doráti, Péter Eötvös, Ádám Fischer, Lyonel Friend, Lamberto Gardelli, Zsolt Hamar, Domonkos Héja, György Lehel, András Ligeti, Ervin Lukács, Kobayashi Ken-Ichiro, Géza Oberfrank, Rico Saccani, Yuri Simonov and of course, Zoltán Kocsis.

Besides their many concerts in Budapest and Hungary, the Choir is frequently invited to perform abroad. Over the years, they have been successful in numerous European cities, but have also sung with distinction in Japan, Israel and Turkey.

Choir manager: Mátyás Antal
Deputy Choir manager: Katalin Elláné Bodonyi
Secretary: János Nagy
Accompanist: Dóra Bizják
Music librarian: Erzsébet Dochnál

Soprano   Márta Oláh Beáta Berecz Judit Blank Angelika Czabán Edit Cziffra Márta Csikós Eszter Dóri dr. Tünde Kapócsné Herman Zsuzsanna Edelényi Szabó Lászlóné Gellér Katalin Kazai Anikó Kemenyeczky Márta Kiss Anna Krizsán Emília Lauferné Kaveczky Gabriella Marton Mária Mazsaroff Edit Pelcz Ágnes Perlaki Andrea Pintes Erika Somogyi Károlyné Stiedl Cecília Széll Katalin Tóth Katalin Törökné Hilczmajer Klára Véber Andrea Véghné Simonffy Miklósné Végső

Alto   Katalin Elláné Bodonyi Kornélia Bakos Zsuzsa Barlay Adrienn Bartosné Szabó Dóra Galgóczy Ildikó Hajdú Ervinné Háy Julianna Hiszem Klára Juhász P. Hilda Klinger Andrea Lehőcz Pálné Regenhart Csilla Saárossy Éva Sárdi Katalin Silló Renáta Tóth Sándorné Vajda Márta Végvári

Tenor   István Viszló Lajos Bella Sándor Boros István Bundovics József Csapó József Csernus Sándor Fogarassy Zoltán Gavodi Péter Gergely András Hajnal László Madarász László Márk Brunó Mocskonyi Gyula Mukli András Regenhart László Tóth Ferenc Tőkés-Bodor

Bass   Pál Bencsik Gyula Berényi Csaba Bolyos József Bujdosó Gergely Domján dr. József Szécsi István Gáspár László Hatvany Csaba Henter László Ladjánszki László Lisztes László Mokán János Nagy László Pálfi Róbert Standovár István Tisza Tamás Tóth Imre Végh Gábor Wágner