Miklós Kocsár, Kossuth Prize–winning composer, and Dénes Szabó, music educator and choral conductor, have been connected by several decades of friendship and professional collaboration. When Dénes Szabó delivered his inaugural lecture at the Hungarian Academy of Arts in 2014, Miklós Kocsár – as his laudator – spoke of him as follows:
“The sound of his choir enchanted me as well. I wrote my Missa in A for them, and afterwards – at their request – many more works, sharing successes with them both at home and abroad. He always welcomes new pieces with genuine interest. His practical remarks are difficult to argue with – they are always precise, to the point, and inspiring… His thoughts are equally clear and transparent; he always says exactly what he thinks. He possesses all the qualities that make him a successful man. His capacity for work is astonishing, his professional knowledge impeccable, and to all this – most importantly – is added a generous measure of talent. He graduated as a flautist, became a singing teacher and choral conductor out of necessity. Today he cannot imagine his life without a choir. He loves his school, he loves the children, and they adore him in return.”
Miklós Kocsár’s final sentence can truly be understood only by those who know the musical life and structure of the Kodály Zoltán Primary School in Nyíregyháza. For the children who attend this school, singing is entirely natural – music is the essence of their lives. Although pupils begin singing in a choir only in the third grade, during the first two years they are immersed in an atmosphere where music becomes self-evident. At the age of eight they join the Nyitnikék Choir, a year later they continue in the Napsugár Choir, and during their final three years they sing in the Cantemus Children’s Choir or the Cantemus Boys’ Choir. Over the decades, the children’s choir has been conducted by such renowned maestros as Leonard Bernstein, Antal Doráti, Seiji Ozawa, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Árpád Joó, András Kóródy, Miklós Erdei, Iván Fischer, János Kovács and Giuseppe Patané.
Later, as the years passed, an entire choral family tree grew out of the Cantemus Children’s Choir, proving that under Dénes Szabó’s enthusiastic and tireless guidance the ideas of Kodály found exceptionally fertile soil. It is no coincidence that the music classroom bears the sign “infectious ward”, for those who spent their upper-grade music lessons there remained devoted to music and singing for life. This is borne out by the many choirs and chamber ensembles that have developed from the Cantemus Children’s Choir within the Kodály Zoltán Primary School, forming a family-like system: the Cantemus Boys’ Choir (1981), the Pro Musica Girls’ Choir (1986), the Banchieri Vocal Ensemble (1988), the Cantemus Mixed Choir (1998) and the Cantemus Youth Mixed Choir (2003).
Szabó Dénes’s versatility is shown by the fact that in 1991 he agreed to conduct the world premiere of the Benkó Dixieland Band’s Christmas Mass in the great Lutheran church of Nyíregyháza. The performance – broadcast live by Hungarian Television – featured the Cantemus Choir and the Banchieri Ensemble. Since then, the work has been performed several times in various cities across the country.
Szabó Dénes is also the spiritual father of the Cantemus International Choral Festival, held every two years since 1994 at the Kodály Zoltán Primary School in Nyíregyháza. In 2016 the county seat of Hungary’s easternmost region hosted the festival for the eleventh time, becoming again a stronghold of international choral singing.
How was the idea born? Over the past decades, the Cantemus choirs have participated in many competitions and festivals abroad. Gradually the thought took shape in Szabó’s mind: why not organise a similar choral gathering in Nyíregyháza? Partly so that they could invite back all those who had regularly invited them, and partly so that – using all their positive and negative experiences – they could show what a well-organised, truly memorable international choral competition looks like. Choirs from all over the world come to this festival, which also serves as a conducting masterclass for interested professionals.
Under Szabó Dénes’s guidance, aspiring conductors can practise the art of choral leadership with the help of the now world-famous Cantemus Children’s Choir and Pro Musica Girls’ Choir, and they conclude the course with a “final concert” that serves as their examination.
Interest in both the choral competition and the masterclass has grown steadily from year to year; alongside choirs from Hungary and other European countries, more and more ensembles now apply from the Far East as well. Everyone is eager to uncover the secret of why the choirs of Nyíregyháza are so outstanding, what makes the school’s music education so exceptional. Yet Szabó Dénes has never hidden the truth: one cornerstone of this “secret” is that the students of the Kodály School are taught using the Kodály method, which is in essence a concept of human formation and personality development. Music is used as the means through which the individual can develop to a higher-than-average level.
In the period between the two festivals, the school opens its doors for a few days during the Open Weekend, where visitors can attend lessons, observe demonstration choir rehearsals, listen to small representative concerts, and take part in discussions to learn about the everyday practice of music education at the Nyíregyháza Kodály Zoltán Primary School.
Szabó Dénes and his dedicated team – the staff of the Cantemus Choral Institute – regularly and wholeheartedly organise a variety of programmes for primary school students across the county under the titles Choral Academy, Mini-Festival, and “Singing Youth”. Each programme has a different character, yet they all serve the same purpose. The guiding principle is that it does not matter if a choir cannot boast world-class achievements: in a choir one can experience the binding force of community, learn solidarity, and even a less talented child can feel successful, can contribute to creating great harmony with others, and can partake in a special shared experience.
Anyone who has ever experienced – or helped create – this harmony can never truly detach themselves from the magic of singing. When in 1992 Szabó Dénes announced to former students that on the 100th anniversary of the Kodály School Thomas Tallis’s famous forty-part motet would be performed, young and old alike responded enthusiastically – university students, working mothers and fathers. Spem in alium made a deep impression not only on the audience; it also became clear that it was inevitable for the most complete form of choral singing – mixed-choir singing – to continue. For several years, an ensemble of former students conducted by Szabó Dénes assembled only for distinguished occasions. In 1994 Szabó Dénes received a prestigious invitation: to perform at the summer residence of Pope John Paul II in Castel Gandolfo. Drawing on previous experience and relying on the enthusiastic core of the temporary mixed choir, the conductor accepted. Recruitment of additional singers began, followed by many intensive rehearsals. The concert given for the Pope became an unforgettable experience for all, featuring J. S. Bach’s Magnificat and the Credo from his monumental Mass in B minor, conducted by Kurt Redel with the Szombathely Symphony Orchestra. Following these events, the Cantemus Mixed Choir was officially founded in 1998, with its artistic director being Soma Szabó, who completed his studies at the Liszt Academy that very year.
In 2003 the municipality of Nyíregyháza decided that, in order to further develop the city’s musical life, it would establish the Nyíregyháza Cantemus Choir as an independent institution, appointing conductor Dénes Szabó as its director. The choir institution continued its work within the walls of the Kodály Zoltán Primary School, remaining closely connected to the educational establishment, but as an independent budgetary entity it could now apply for various grants and launch new initiatives to expand and promote musical life. Under the leadership of Dénes Szabó, the institution further organised the long-standing Cantemus family season-ticket series at the primary school, whose aim is to ensure that students enjoy high-quality musical experiences together with their parents – shared moments that remain topics of conversation for days afterwards. Alongside distinguished performers from Hungary, they regularly invite young artists who once attended the Kodály School themselves, and for whom Dénes Szabó played a pivotal role in choosing a musical vocation.
The realisation of all these goals required appropriate material conditions. In August 2001 the Kodály Zoltán Primary School moved into an entirely new building, since its former, century-old, historically valued premises had been returned to the Lutheran Church during the process of ecclesiastical restitution. Although the old school also had a concert hall that hosted many unforgettable performances, during the design and construction of the new school architect Tibor Balázs – whose children also attended the institution – consulted extensively with Dénes Szabó on how to create a building, and within it a concert hall, that would meet every requirement of choral and music education as well as public performances. The new building, erected in the heart of the city, is easily accessible from the housing estates encircling downtown Nyíregyháza. Visitors are greeted by an impressive sight: a spacious atrium exuding calm, extensive glass walls filling the interior with light and warmth, and near the entrance an imposing full-length statue of Zoltán Kodály signalling the school’s commitment to Kodály’s ideals. The 450-seat concert hall meets every professional expectation; alongside it, a dedicated choir rehearsal room, four instrumental rooms, and a specialised classroom for music theory support both music education and choir work.
Their concerts linked to various holidays began to attract increasing interest from the city’s residents as well. The idea gradually matured, and in 2005 it became reality: the Cantemus Choir Institution launched the Cantemus Choir Season Ticket concert series for Nyíregyháza’s music-loving public. Each season is organised around a central theme, presented by the ensembles of the Nyíregyháza Cantemus Choir together with distinguished guest orchestras and choirs from Hungary and abroad.
Recognition of the choir family’s outstanding work came in 2012, when the Nyíregyháza Cantemus Choir was elevated from the category of ensembles with a distinguished artistic rating to the highest possible classification, becoming a National Ensemble. This placed the Nyíregyháza Cantemus Choir on equal footing with the country’s leading orchestras. The reclassification – the decree of the Minister of Human Resources, Zoltán Balog, defining the scope of certified performing arts ensembles – was published in issue no. 72 of the Magyar Közlöny (periodical for official announcements) in 2012. Conductor Dénes Szabó regarded the reclassification not only as recognition of their work, but also as a heightened responsibility in the service of the public. The choir institution continues to strive to meet the highest professional and organisational standards.
In recent decades, the Kodály method has come under attack, and its raison d'être has been rather overshadowed. Few have stood up for it, and Dénes Szabó was one of those few teachers. According to the Kossuth Prize-winning conductor, the Kodály principle has not lost its importance, and it’s system of ideas has not been distorted. Those who criticised it criticised the application of the method, because it was the execution which was problematic. Few music teachers were trained to apply the methods and ideas of the world-famous music teacher in a competent way. Solmisation is only one very important methodological element of the Kodály system. Dénes Szabó agrees with Zoltán Kodály that singing and music are as important for the child's soul as exercise is for the body, or a vitamin-rich diet for a healthy life. This is how the body and soul can develop in balance. Dénes Szabó also embraced the Kodályian idea that children should be treated as complete persons, as adults, who should not be reached through babbling. During his decades behind the teacher’s bench, he has seen that those who sing every day can excel in other areas as well. Her personality as a teacher, her love of children and the magic of singing together left an indelible mark on her students, who then, as parents, also enrolled their children at Kodály Zoltán Primary School so that younger generations could experience the same wonderful feeling.
*
Could one compare the work of the parents with that of their children? And did all this make music education more difficult for Dénes Szabó, or rather help it?
According to Dénes Szabó, it is a great joy that parents remember the school with such warmth and want their children to receive all the good and beautiful things they themselves experienced as pupils. Forty years ago, however, the choir’s responsibilities were primarily at the level of town events, or they spent an entire year preparing to sing at the annual meeting of music-specialist schools in the county. In recent times, however, the tasks and expectations placed on the Cantemus Children’s Choir have greatly multiplied: at any moment of the year they must be able to sing at world-class level – whether at international competitions or at charity concerts in churches. It has never been an easy situation for a conductor, for in his children’s choir the singers change every two or three years – meaning that he has always had to start the work from the beginning, for 47 years now. The Kossuth Prize–winning conductor sees the secret of this constant rebirth in the fact that the changing members themselves bring novelty for him: each new group is made up of different personalities. Through these ever-changing young personalities, the conductor receives new experiences again and again, for every pupil is a small miracle. Thus the work never becomes monotonous, his activity as a conductor never grows stale, because new choir members – hungry for experience – keep arriving. The relationship between the conductor and the young singers does not wear out. In an interview Szabó said: “I have no choice: I let the genie out of the bottle, and it cannot be put back. It is a great spiritual burden to live up to the past 40 years, to ensure that everything is just as it used to be. Naturally, none of this happens by itself – it requires an enormous amount of work. And in recent years this work has only increased. Fortunately the children take part in it with joy, they face the tasks with pure hearts – they must not be deceived.”
For forty-seven years he has taught with enthusiasm, tirelessly leading his choirs and preparing each new Cantemus International Choir Festival. The question inevitably arises: where does he find the strength for so much work? In truth, it is the children who give him strength – he loves being with them. He believes that together with the choir members they create works of art, experiencing wonderful moments that provide immense joy and energy. The act of creation is not like graffiti, which pleases only the person who makes it while irritating everyone else. Singing brings joy both to the choir members and to the audience. The artistic experience radiates outward; its impact is often measured in tears and deep emotion. Without this feedback from the audience the task would be far more difficult. After a well-executed rehearsal or a concert that reaches deep into the soul, one feels that this alone makes life worth living.
Speaking of the professional work of past decades, one must also mention the significant charitable activity that has long characterised Dénes Szabó and his choirs. The ensembles have not only proven their world-class skill and preparation at international competitions: whenever needed, they have offered their beautiful singing at numerous charity concerts, contributing to the support of those in need. Here is just a small selection of such charitable events: at the request of the Debrecen–Nyíregyháza Diocese Caritas and the Nyíregyháza Mother Teresa Association, the Cantemus Children’s Choir has given several concerts in the Co-Cathedral of Our Lady of Hungary to support the children’s home in Déva (Deva); at the invitation of the Reformed Church’s charity service they performed in Székelyföld (Székely Land) ( in December 2006; in 2010 they sang for the relief of Hungarian flood victims; in 2011 for the restoration efforts after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami; for the benefit of the Hungarian Heritage Award; and in 2015 they donated defibrillators to both the Kodály Zoltán Primary School and the Nyíregyháza Móricz Zsigmond Theatre from the proceeds of charity concerts. They have also supported the Caritas organisation, diabetes associations, organisations assisting people with intellectual disabilities, the Alfa Foundation, and the Rotary Club’s initiatives through numerous concerts. The choirs of the Cantemus institution also performed at a charity concert organised by the Foundation for the Future to support victims of the red sludge disaster on 23 October 2010 in the Kodály School’s concert hall, and again in November 2012 at an event whose proceeds were used to erect a memorial to the victims of the communist dictatorship.
[2016]