Hollerung Gábor

The more than 20 years old event series of amateur singers performing popular oratorios of the music literature together with the Budapest Academic Choral Society and the Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok is very much related to the name of Gábor Hollerung.
“Hungary is Singing” is an unrivalled success in Hungarian music life, which unites music lovers from all parts of the country from the most diverse age groups and educational background. This event gives both the participants and their audience an unforgettable musical experience. At the same time the project is the most effective way of audience recruitment and education. The most outstanding achievement of this over 20-year-old programme is that its participants have become regular concertgoers.
It started out in 1986 as the concert of the “United Youth Choir of Secondary Schools in Budapest” and it has become a tradition by now. The event is extremely popular thanks to the pleasant atmosphere of the rehearsals and the joy of singing together. Every year many new singers take part beside those returning each time. The project greatly owes its fame to the personality of the conductor who always strives at making the essence of the musical language comprehendible in the simplest form, with endless humour, understandably for all age groups. During the past two decades they performed a wide variety of oratorical works, singing pieces like Mozart’s Requiem, Händel’s The Messiah, Dvořak’s Stabat Mater, Haydn’s The Creation. In addition to these works they also presented the premiere of several contemporary Hungarian compositions. In April 2005 nearly 500 young singers sung Orff’s Carmina Burana and Mendelssohn’s Die esrte Walpurgisnacht at the National Concert Hall.
In 2006 the concert has come up with a new concept, “Hungary is Singing”, where 450 singers from all over the country will perform Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem at the National Concert Hall.
The most intensive part of the rehearsal period is the three-day choir camp held by Gábor Hollerung, which always takes place outside Budapest. At the camp participants do not “only” rehearse the piece to be performed, explanations by the conductor play a key role in the preparation similarly as it is done in the “Comprehendible Music” concert series. This offers participants a unique opportunity to get a deeper insight into the chosen composition.
In 2007 the programme will be Brahms’ German Requiem which will be performed by the Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok and the “United Nationwide Choir” on the 6th of May, 2007 at the National Concert Hall. Preparations for the concert will already begin in March and it will be concluded by a three days camp at the end of April.

Further information: www.bacs.hu