Hosts
Kodály Philharmonia Debrecen
Founded in 1923, Kodály Philharmonia Debrecen ranks among Hungary’s top symphonic ensembles. Owned by the municipality of Debrecen, the second largest city of Hungary, it coordinates the classical music life of both the city and the region. The Philharmonia unites and manages two nationally acclaimed ensembles, the Kodály Philharmonic and the Kodály Choir, both the pride of the city, and thus it is one of Hungary’s leading cultural institutions. Dániel Somogyi-Tóth was appointed as its General Music Director in 2022. The orchestra is often joined by the 46-member choir for their immensely popular season ticket concerts. Furthermore, the orchestra often invites renowned musicians both from Hungary and around the world, while the choir gives a cappella concerts with guest artists or presents exciting productions that include other forms of art.
Jeunesses Musicales Hungary
JM International (JMI) is a global network of NGOs that provide opportunities for young people and children to develop through music across all boundaries. It was founded in Brussels, Belgium in 1945 by a group of compassionate musicians and organizers who saw music as a means of bringing young people together to overcome the divides created by the two World Wars. With its 73 member organizations in 61 countries, JMI provides opportunities for young people to engage with music. The JMI network reaches over 7 million young people aged 13-30 per year through more than 40,000 activities, embracing all styles of music and coordinating cross-border exchange opportunities on the international level. JM Hungary, which exists since 1965, could claim such musicians among its members as Zoltán Kocsis, Dezső Ránki and Kálmán Berkes. The aim of the association is providing kids and young people with after-school musical activities, educating them to better understand music, cultivating talents and fostering international relationships.
Contributors
Kodály Philharmonic Debrecen
Celebrating its centenary in 2023, the Kodály Philharmonic is the professional orchestra of Debrecen. It adopted the name of the composer Zoltán Kodály in 2011 and is one of the leading orchestras in Hungary. They perform symphonic, oratorio, and chamber music and also serve as the orchestra for the opera performances of the Csokonai Theatre in Debrecen. During the Kodály Memorial Year they gave a series of concerts and made tours to Rome, Oradea, and Uzhhorod. They gave nine concerts during their Italian tour in 2018, and the following year took them to Skopje. Imre Kollár is the chief conductor of the Kodály Philharmonic. In autumn 2022, Tibor Bényi from Salzburg will join the ensemble as permanent conductor.
Marcell Molnár – piano accompanist
Marcell Molnár started playing the piano at the age of 5 and music quickly became part of his life. After music school, he continued his piano studies at the Béla Bartók Secondary School of Music in Budapest, and in 2014 he was accepted to the Academy of Music in Budapest, where he studied with Balázs Szokolay, Imre Hargitai and Rita Wagner. On scholarship, he studied for a year with Imre Rohmann in Salzburg, one of the defining experiences of his life. In 2019 he graduated from the Liszt Academy of Budapest and in 2020 he received his diploma as a piano teacher. He is a tutor at the Bartók Conservatory of the Liszt Academy in Budapest. Chamber music has always been very important to him. Making music together gives him great pleasure.
Marcell Szabó – piano accompanist
Marcell Szabó was born in Budapest in 1987. He started playing the piano at 8. In 2005, he was awarded the Sári Bíró memorial prize as the best pupil elected from those of the Special School for Young Talents of the Liszt Academy. In 2006, he was allowed to start his studies at the Piano Faculty of the Liszt Academy, where he became the student of András Kemenes and György Nádor. In 2014 he was awarded at three competitions, altogether, that are the following: first prize of the VI. International Bartók Piano Competition and he won two special prizes of the same event as he was granted one by the orchestra and another one as the best performer of the contemporary music; and then he collected the third prize at the XXXIII. Delia Steinberg International Piano Competition in Madrid, Spain and the first prize at the XVI. International Ile de france Piano Competition in Paris, France which success won him several invitations for concerting in France, too. In 2016,2017,2018 he was given the Annie Fischer Musical Scholarship. In 2018 he founded the Russian Music Festival in Budapest. In 2019 he was awarded with the Cziffra-Festival Talent Prize. So far, he participated in several masterclasses, including the ones held by such pianist as Dmitri Bashkirov, Zoltán Kocsis, Imre Rohmann, Gergely Bogányi, Sándor Falvai, Balázs Szokolay, Jan Michiels, Gottlieb Wallisch, Maurizio Moretti and already played in concert halls not only in Hungary but also in Vienna, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Dortmund, Paris, Madrid, Nagoya, Hamburg, Brussels and Luxembourg.
Anikó Szokody – piano accompanist
Anikó Szokody was born in Szeged in 1973. She graduated as a pianist and piano teacher in 1997 from the Academy of Music in Budapest, where her piano teacher was Kálmán Dráfi and her chamber music teacher was Ferenc Rados. Before graduating she was invited to Buenos Aires, where she spent a year on scholarship. As a student at Indiana University in Bloomington, she studied with György Sebők. During her years there, she also worked as a teaching assistant and as a piano accompanist in János Starker’s cello class. From 1997 to 2000 she was an assistant professor at Ball State University and Indiana University, and later a piano teacher at The Music Studio private school. In 2007, she was appointed Professor of Piano and Chamber Music and Head of the Piano Department at the Luzerne Music Center (NY). She moved to Hungary with his family in 2011. Since then, she has been working at the Faculty of Music of the University of Szeged (its successor from 2019, the Béla Bartók Faculty of Arts), where she is assistant professor and teacher of international studies.
