HEINRICH SCHÜTZ: An den Wassern zu Babel, SWV 37
ANDREAS HAMMERSCHMIDT: Ach Jesus stirbt
JOHANN MICHAEL BACH: Nun hab ich überwunden

Artistic director: Zoltán Gavodi, member of the tenor section of the Hungarian National Choir

FRANZ SCHUBERT: Gebet, D. 815
FRANZ SCHUBERT: Gott im Ungewitter, D. 985

Artistic director: Dóra Bizják (piano), répétiteur at the Hungarian National Choir, leader of the alto section

SERGEI RACHMANINOV: Liturgy of St John Chrysostom – movements 3 and 8

Artistic director: István Viszló, member of the tenor section of the Hungarian National Choir

MÁRTON LEVENTE HORVÁTH: O salutaris hostia
MIKLÓS CSEMICZKY: Pater Noster
GYÖRGY ORBÁN: Genevan Psalm No. 90
GYÖRGY ORBÁN: Genevan Psalm No. 150

Artistic director: Andrea Fekete, leader of the soprano section of the Hungarian National Choir and László Kálmán, deputy choirmaster of the Hungarian National Choir

This concert by the Hungarian National Choir has its own story to tell. The event was already listed on our programme previously but couldn’t be performed under normal circumstances due to the Covid pandemic, and was instead only available to listeners and viewers as a live broadcast. We are delighted that it is once again part of our calendar! The evening will feature German, Austrian, Russian and Hungarian church music, with an a cappella performance of psalms and other religious texts selected from the works of Heinrich Schütz, Andreas Hammerschmidt and Johann Michael Bach, Schubert and Rachmaninov, Márton Levente Horváth, Miklós Csemiczky and György Orbán. One notable fact is that the members of the choir rehearsed the production themselves.

The programme for this a cappella concert by the Hungarian National Choir is compiled largely from arrangements of psalms and other religious texts, and features some genuine rarities. After all, it’s not every day we get the chance to hear the works of Heinrich Schütz, Andreas Hammerschmidt and Johann Michael Bach. Though Franz Schubert’s choral compositions also seldom appear on concert programmes, not to mention Rachmaninov’s Liturgy of St John Chrysostom – where we will hear the third and eighth movements – and the works of contemporary composers from Hungary, Márton Levente Horváth, Miklós Csemiczky and György Orbán. The programme is notable for its variety, which derives from both the nationality of the composers – German, Austrian, Russian and Hungarian – and the periods covered in the music: choral works from the 17th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. One notable new feature is that the members of the choir rehearsed the production themselves. Each section of the concert will have its own ‘designated leader’, with the Hungarian National Choir performing different sections of the programme under the artistic direction of Zoltán Gavodi, Dóra Bizják, István Viszló, Andrea Fekete and László Kálmán.