Despite her wide-ranging interests, Éva Kollár committed herself to a musical career at an early stage. She achieved excellent results at school, was active in sports, and wrote short stories, yet it was her teachers at the music school who shaped her life path early on. Her first piano teacher was Dóra Molnár, and during her secondary school years she studied with Mára Comensoli, (a former student of Béla Bartók). Her solfège teachers likewise provided outstanding training: Marica György Istvánné and the legendary Lujza Csengő Csányiné, to whom many eminent musicians owe their professional dedication. For a long time, it seemed that the piano would become her principal field. However, at the Szilágy Gimnázium (Szilágy Secondary School), she encountered a singing teacher who helped her reach her final decision. The choral conductor Mária M. Katanics captivated Éva Kollár not only in the school environment but also through the renowned Szilágyi Erzsébet Kamarakórus (Szilágyi Erzsébet Chamber Choir). She became Kollár’s role model in her personal life as well, demonstrating how a woman can be a devoted teacher, a successful artist, and a loving mother to her family.
She was also shaped by other, equally distinctive musical influences that directed her towards collective music-making. Together with her siblings, she sang in the choir of the Budai Ferencesek (The Franciscans of Buda), under the direction of Father Alajos Tamás Gergely. This exceptional master – a Franciscan friar, choral conductor, and composer – not only introduced choir members to his own musical world but also led them through the great masterpieces of the choral repertoire. In this way, they arrived at Mass in B minor by J. S. Bach and Messiah by G. F. Händel, while also performing with great success the oratorio works of W. A. Mozart, G. Verdi, Ch. Gounod, G. Puccini, and Zoltán Kodály.
These experiences and role models ultimately led to the definitive decision that Éva Kollár’s path would lie in teaching and choral conducting. In 1964, she successfully gained admission to the Zeneakadémia (Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music) to the Secondary School Music Teacher – Choral Conducting programme.
Here she studied with teachers such as Erzsébet Szőnyi, Zoltán Vásárhelyi, István Párkai, Anna Hajdú, György Kroó, and József Ujfalussy. In 1967, Erzsébet Szőnyi took a small group of her students to Canada for a month, to the Montreal World Exhibition. This was a carefully selected group of fourteen, with whom the professor gave daily “Kodály method” presentations in a glass pavilion specially constructed for this purpose.
“It was a wonderful experience. Specialists, composers, and visitors to the World Exhibition watched us, observed our teacher Erzsébet Szőnyi’s lessons – people came and went, and even those who were not trained music educators found themselves staying. At the time, we only sensed it; today we know precisely that we were participants in an important and historic event. Our teacher took us to the Place Ville Marie building, a magnificent tower with a cruciform ground plan, unlike anything we had ever seen before. We went up to the 77th floor, from where there was a breathtaking view of the vast city. Erzsébet Szőnyi also made sure that during the ‘study trip’ we saw as much of the world as possible. Naturally, we were able to visit the World Exhibition itself as well. All of this was an incredible and unforgettable experience” – Éva Kollár recalls in an interview [1].
With the “Szilágyi Erzsébet Kamarakórus” (Szilágyi Erzsébet Chamber Choir) directed by Mária Katanics, they gave memorable concerts, travelled extensively throughout Hungary and various European countries, and won numerous awards. After completing her studies at the Zeneakadémia (Liszt Academy), Éva Kollár became a music teacher and choral conductor at the Leövey Klára Gimnázium (Leövey Klára Secondary School), a position she held for seven years, from 1969 to 1976.In her first year, she worked in the same school where the renowned “Kodály Leánykar” (Kodály Girls' Choir) was led by Ilona Andor, one of Zoltán Kodály’s most outstanding students. Éva Kollár learned a great deal from her as well. Ilona Andor firmly believed that in this profession, the most important element was love for one’s students.
In 1972, Magyar Televízió (Hungarian Television) announced a talent competition entitled Ki mit tud? (Who Knows What?). Éva Kollár founded a mixed chamber choir with her students and entered the competition with this ensemble. After completing their secondary school studies, the singers did not wish to disperse, so they remained together – and from this group the Monteverdi Kamarakórus (Monteverdi Chamber Choir) later emerged, followed by the Budapesti Monteverdi Kórus (Budapest Monteverdi Choir). At the time, this was still a rare phenomenon. The choir continued to grow and developed a rich and varied repertoire. By then, Éva Kollár already had a family, and alongside her teaching and conducting responsibilities she managed all this while raising three young children and running a household.
When the specialised music-track system (ének-zene tagozat) was abolished in Hungarian secondary schools, Éva Kollár took advantage of the opportunity and accepted, for one year, a teaching-practice supervisor position offered by the Zeneakadémia (Liszt Academy) at the Teleki Blanka Gimnázium (Teleki Blanka Secondary Grammar School). She subsequently took up a position as a music school teacher, teaching solfège and music literature for three years at the District XI Music School, where she herself had previously studied. In 1980, she was appointed to the Budapesti Tanítóképző Főiskola (Budapest Teacher Training College). The head of the department at the time was László Kerecsényi, followed later by Judit Csillagné Gaál. Another rewarding seven-year period followed; she particularly enjoyed teaching students who were “almost” adults. During these years, she became actively involved in the subject reform of teacher training and in the development of new curricula. Later, she was also invited to participate in the revision of the music section of the Nemzeti Alaptanterv (National Core Curriculum, NAT). Together with her colleague Edit Tallér, chief supervising inspector, she co-authored the official guidelines for the school subject of music education.
From 1986 to 1997, she served as a lecturer and head of the recently established Music Department at ELTE (Eötvös Loránd University). During this period, she led the institution’s Pro Musica mixed choir with great success. In 1997, she completed her habilitation at the Zeneakadémia (Liszt Academy).
In 1998, life presented her with yet another challenge. She was appointed Head of the Department of Secondary School Music Teacher and Choral Conducting at the Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem (Liszt Academy). From 2000 to 2015, she served as head of the choral conducting core programme of the Doctoral School. Over the years, she hosted numerous international visiting students from various European countries – including Germany, Norway, Romania, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Serbia, and Slovakia – as well as from Asia, (China).
Between 1976 and 1980, she conducted research on nineteenth-century Hungarian song and choral repertoire on commission from the Zenetudományi Intézet (Institute for Musicology). The results of this research are preserved in four scholarly studies that have enriched the Institute’s archive. Éva Kollár’s interest in nineteenth-century music was motivated by the fact – as Professor Dezső Legányi, who initiated the research, pointed out – that this field lay outside the main areas of musicological inquiry at the time. The titles of these studies are: A 19. század magyar kórusirodalma (Hungarian Choral Literature of the 19th Century); A XIX. századi magyar dalirodalom mesterei: Egressy, Simonffy, Szentirmay (Masters of 19th-Century Hungarian Song Literature: Egressy, Simonffy, Szentirmay); A XIX. századi magyar dalirodalom mestere: Dankó Pista (A Master of 19th-Century Hungarian Song Literature: Pista Dankó); and A XIX. századi magyar dalirodalom mesterei: Nyizsnyai, Palotási, Dóczy (Masters of 19th-Century Hungarian Song Literature: Nyizsnyai, Palotási, Dóczy).
From 1997 to 2001, she was awarded the Széchenyi Professorial Scholarship, and in 2005 she became a British Council scholarship holder. The latter supported a two-week study trip during which she attended numerous prestigious concerts and studied the work of English cathedral schools in London, Oxford, and several smaller towns.
Éva Kollár has organised a wide range of distinguished professional events, including national and international conferences, summer universities, festivals, courses, and competitions. She has also been an active participant in these events as a lecturer and speaker.
She invited internationally renowned lecturers to her department. Among her guests were Andrea Angelini, Frieder Bernius, Wilko Brouwers, Pierre Cao, Simon Carrington, Robert Crabb, János Czifra, Max Frey, Stojan Kuret, David Gálvez Pintado, Helmuth Rilling, Josep Vila i Casañas, and Roy Wales.
The focus of these courses corresponded to the professional fields of the visiting professors: the preparation and concert-style performance of programmes selected by them. These performances took place in the Zeneakadémia Nagyterem (Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy) as well as in the Budavári Mátyás templom (Matthias Church in Buda Castle).
From among the leading figures of Hungarian choral life, she also invited outstanding lecturers such as György Béres, Mária M. Katanics, István Párkai, Zsolt Szesztay, Ferenc Tóth, and István Zámbó. The series of conducting courses bore the collective title “Zengő csudaerdő” (“Resonant Wondrous Forest”), and, in a manner similar to the courses led by foreign conductors, the Hungarian masters prepared choral concerts within shorter course formats that effectively functioned as professional continuing education. In these programmes, the participants were not conducting students but singing teachers and choral conductors arriving from all parts of the country. Each course was open, and anyone from the profession could apply. There was never a participation fee, and colleagues from beyond Hungary’s borders also attended on many occasions.
Éva Kollár delivered her inaugural lecture at the Magyar Művészeti Akadémia (Hungarian Academy of Arts) in 2014, entitled A zene nyelve, a nyelv zenéje (The Language of Music, the Music of Language). She had previously presented her research on this topic within the courses of the Doctoral School of the Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem (Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music), and the lecture offered a synthesising overview of these ideas, illustrated with musical, visual-artistic, and literary examples. The laudation for Éva Kollár was delivered by István Párkai, professor of the university and Kossuth Prize–winning choral conductor.
She founded the „Fiatal Karvezetők Nemzetközi Versenye” (International Competition for Young Choral Conductors), which was first held in 2001 at the Liszt Ferenc Zeneakadémia (Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music), in cooperation with KÓTA (Hungarian Choral Association) as well as the international choral organisations Europa Cantat and AGEC. Since its establishment, the competition has been hosted each year by a different city, although Budapest has twice again served as the venue for this prestigious event. The competition provides young conducting candidates with strength and confidence to pursue their profession and vocation at the highest level, and to pass on to their students the lifelong experience of making music together. Among the participants are several young conductors who have since become internationally recognised colleagues – musicians whose talent first emerged here and who were first noticed by the professional music community through this competition.
Founded in 1972, the Budapesti Monteverdi Kórus (Budapest Monteverdi Choir) remains a defining ensemble on European musical forums. With its refined vocal timbre and sensitive rendering of musical phenomena, the choir is an outstanding presence in both Hungarian and international choral life. It has won Grand Prizes at the choral competitions of Arezzo, Pécs, Sligo, and Prague, as well as other prestigious awards in Cork, Camerino, Debrecen, Gorizia, and at numerous competitions and festivals. Based on the ensemble’s recordings, Hungaroton (Hungarian record label) and the Carus Kiadó (Carus-Verlag) have released several CDs. In addition, the choir itself has independently published eight CDs.
They are regular performers at the annually held contemporary music Mini Festival. They also founded their own choral festival under the name International Monteverdi Festival, of which Éva Kollár serves as artistic director.
At each of the four events held to date, six to eight Hungarian and international choirs gave concerts, all centred on the music of Claudio Monteverdi. At every festival, audiences were able to hear world premieres, and larger-scale works performed jointly were also presented. Among the venues, Esztergom played a particularly important role, as Monteverdi himself visited the city in 1695 as court musician to Duke Gonzaga – but the choirs also gave concerts in Budapest and Vác. (1996, 2001, 2005, 2011)
From 1997, Éva Kollár served for six years as Head of the Artistic Committee of the Magyar Kórusok és Zenekarok Szövetsége (Hungarian Choral Association), after which she was President of KÓTA (Magyar Kórusok, Zenekarok és Népzenei Együttesek Szövetsége – Hungarian Choral Association) for nine years, until 2012. She is currently Honorary President. She is Co-President of the Magyar Kodály Társaság (Hungarian Kodály Society). She was a member of the Executive Board of the Europa Cantat choral organisation, and until the unification of the two organisations in 2011 she also served as a member of the Music Committee of AGEC (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Europäischer Chorverbände). She is currently an artistic advisor to the ECA (European Choral Association). On two occasions (1996, 2009), she was conductor of the AGEC-Eurochor in Budapest; she led choral music workshops in Marktoberdorf and Barcelona, and in 2013 she was an invited lecturer and workshop leader with the Budapesti Monteverdi Kórus (Budapest Monteverdi Choir) in France, in Vaison-la-Romaine, at the “21ème Choralies” international festival. In 2015, at the Europa Cantat festival in Pécs, she served as an international workshop leader with the programme A XX. század egyházi zenéje (Twentieth-Century Sacred Music). (The participants were singers from nine countries.) She has served as a jury member at national and international choral competitions in Hungary, across Europe, and in Japan.
At the turn of the millennium, two anthologies edited by her were published, presenting twentieth-century Hungarian choral works: the collection of mixed-choir pieces Zengő csudaerdő (Resonant Wondrous Forest) and the collection for equal voices Virág és pillangó (Flower and Butterfly), with the collaboration of co-editors István Párkai and Ferenc Sapszon. These works aim to promote twentieth-century Hungarian choral literature. The collections offer a rich and varied repertoire and encourage choral conductors to perform contemporary compositions.
In 2003, Éva Kollár compiled a CD programme consisting of works recorded with the Budapesti Monteverdi Kórus (Budapest Monteverdi Choir) that presented contemporary Hungarian compositions performed in world premieres under the title A Magyar Kórusmuzsika Évszázadai (Centuries of Hungarian Choral Music). The CD was released by Hungaroton
She led choral conducting courses in England, Austria, Germany, Spain, Belgium, and France, as well as at the University of Alberta in Edmonton (Faculté Saint-Jean) in Canada, and in Japan (Tokyo and Kyoto). She also gave lectures in Hungary and abroad on the Hungarian method of music education.
On the two branches of Hungarian music education: school-based music teaching, including the Kodály method developed by Zoltán Kodály and his students, and the structure and characteristics of Hungarian musical life.
On Magyar Rádió (Hungarian Radio Corporation), her musical commentaries were broadcast, among other programmes, in the series Kórusainknak ajánljuk (Recommended for Our Choirs). In addition to other broadcasts, she presented an eight-lecture series on Hungarian Radio entitled Claudio Monteverdi madrigálkötetei (The Madrigal Books of Claudio Monteverdi), and she regularly contributed musical introductions to the Hungarian Radio series Kórusainknak ajánljuk. The titles of these broadcasts were: 1975 Miért igen, miért nem? (Why Yes, Why Not?); 1981 L. Marenzio: Leggiadre ninfe; 1982 Kodály Zoltán: Árva vagyok (I Am an Orphan); 1982 Szőnyi Erzsébet: Három leánykar (Three Girls’ Choirs); 1983 Kodály Zoltán: Adventi ének (Advent Song); 1985 A. de Bertrand: Szemed tüzében égek (Dans le serain… – I Burn in the Fire of Your Eyes); 1986 Cl. Monteverdi: Égbe kiált a panasz (Sfogava con le stelle… – The Lament Cries to the Heavens), and A. de Bertrand: Ez a kacagás (Ce ris plus doux…).Kollár Éva az általa alapított és azóta is töretlen lelkesedéssel vezetett Budapesti Monteverdi Kórussal az eltelt 44 év alatt sok rangos díjat nyert nemzetközi versenyeken. Arezzo, Cork, Camerino, Pécs, Sligo, Prága közönsége joggal fejezte háláját vastapssal. 1. és 2. díjakat nyertek Goriziában, Linzben, Llangollenben, Spittal a.d. Drau-ban és Tours-ban. (A felsorolás nem teljes.)
The choir is a regular participant in the contemporary music Mini Festival. Numerous world premieres of works by Hungarian and international composers are associated with the ensemble. They have given first performances of works by the following composers: Sándor Balassa, Tamás Daróci Bárdos, Kálmán Dobos, Ferenc Farkas, György Miklós Fehér, Gyula Fekete, Zsolt Gárdonyi, Levente Gyöngyösi, Máté Hollós, Balázs Horváth, Lajos Huszár, József Karai, Miklós Kocsár, István Koloss, Gábor Lehotka, Miklós Mohay, Imre Sulyok, Erzsébet Szőnyi, Péter Tóth; as well as Josep Vila i Casañas, Martin Eichler, Jiři Laburda, Giuseppe Meloni, Vytautas Miškinis, Dávid Gálvez Pintado, Michael Tauche, Silvio Zanchetti, and Mauro Zuccante.
The ensemble has given concerts in Hungary and across Europe in collaboration with renowned artists such as Pierre Cao, Simon Carrington, José Cura, János Czifra, Max Frey, and Roy Wales.
Their music is preserved on twelve CD recordings, and it has also been recorded by Hungarian Radio, Süddeutscher Rundfunk (South German Radio), the BBC, and Hungarian Television. Their recordings have been released by Hungaroton, Carus-Verlag, and 4 Voices, as well as in editions published independently by the Budapesti Monteverdi Kórus itself.
All of this rich pedagogical and artistic activity, and the consistently high standard of achievement it represents, is due not only to Éva Kollár’s exceptionally sensitive musicality, outstanding aural skills, and refined sense of vocal timbre, but also – perhaps – to that choral culture founded by Kodály and subsequently enriched and brought to fruition by his students, which, starting from Hungarian folk song, leads all the way to the greatest works of music history. Her work in the service of Hungarian musical life is held in high esteem by her students, singers, and colleagues alike.
[2016]
[1] Fehér Anikó: Muzsika a katedrán (Music at the Lectern). LFZE 2011