A Hungarian delegation of eight children aged 13-19 years old and two of their professional music teachers participated in the Huygens Festival in Leidschendam-Voorburg in the weekend of 7-9 September. The delegation arrived from the Tihamér Vujicsics Music School in Szentendre on Friday 7 September and . The group performed three times during the Festival.

At the opening concert on 7 September in the Old Church in Voorburg, they performed beautiful vocal and instrumental pieces from Hungarian composers Béla Bartók, Ferenc Farkas and György Orbán. 

Ambassador András Kocsis welcomed the Hungarian participants in his opening speech. During the opening concerts the choirs from the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary each performed their musical contribution.

On 8 September the Hungarian choir from Szentendre gave a 45 minute-long concert in the French Church presenting beautiful pieces from Hungarian and international composers: Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, József Karai, Árpád Balázs and Chopin. In addition, the 13 year-old Giulio Grimaldi Benedek performed his own composition on piano.

The Saturday program of the Huygens Festival was furthermore complemented by a concert from the The Hague Hungarian Choir in the Old Church.

On Saturday and Sunday the children from the V4 countries and the municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg followed masterclasses and during the Huygens Festival’s closing concert on Sunday afternoon, they performed as an international choir and orchestra. Among others, they performed “Ode to Joy”. During this concert in the Old Church, the Hungarian children also gave a 10 minute-long choral concert focusing on Hungarian music pieces.

Throughout the festival, the Hungarians stayed at Dutch host families, to further connect with the Dutch children participating in the festival.  

The Hungarian participation in the Huygens Festival was supported by the Embassy of Hungary.

(Photo: Michel Groen, Video: Csaba Bogádi, Lonely Film: http://lonelyfilm.nl)