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In August 2011 we visited Hungary. We started in Budapest, where we performed two concerts and then moved to Héviz, near Lake Balaton. We performed our final concert in the lakeside town of Keszthely. We were very pleased to welcome members of the Hampton Singers, as well as other friends, to join us. It meant that we had a choir of almost 50 singers out of a party of nearly 80. In Budapest, we performed in the Franciscan Church of Pest, where we had the services of Laszlo Deak on the Organ, and St Anna's Szervita Church, where we were accompanied by Laszlo Gesztesi-Toth.
Laszlo Gesztesi-Toth joined us once again in Keszthely to accompany us in the Carmelite Church.
Here we are outside the Carmelite Church (photo by Barrie Hall):
Our programme was:
It was nice to be able to do a work by one of Hungary's greatest composers, Franz Liszt, in his bicentennial year, alongside some classic English pieces and works by the contemporary English composer, James Whitbourn. Because the organs in two of the churches are set on the West wall, and so sight lines between our conductor and the organist are non-existent, we performed out of sight in the organ lofts before processing to the front of the church for our encore piece - Bob Chilcott's Irish Blessing (thanks to both Laszlos for improvising on the organ while we got down there!). Here are some photos taken by Gill and Gwen: Click on the thumbnail to see a full-size version. On our last night, we had our traditional end-of-tour party in the hotel with some home-made entertainment. Here is the poem Gill was inspired to pen! Members: If you have any photos of us performing, or doing anything else which isn't too embarrassing(!), please email them to me so that I can add them to the gallery |
