Czech national concert band share stage with ochestra from Szeged, Hungary

The Czech national concert band has been cooperating with the Hungarian conductor József Csikota for many years. Professor Csikota is the director of a private music school in the southern Hungarian spa town of Makó and also conducts the orchestra of Béla Bartók University in Szeged. It was this orchestra that accepted our offer for a joint concert in the Suk Hall of the House of Music in Pardubice, which took place on Sunday 16 October.

The Czech national concert band performed under the baton of its chief conductor Václav Blahunk and with soloists from its ranks, hornist Kateřina Soukupová, clarinettist Ondřej Toman and trumpet player Jan Buček. The highlight of the concert was the performance of Enrique Hernandez Martinez’s Las Tijeras Matisse, which the orchestra gave its world premiere at the Žofín Festival in Prague in the summer. Under the baton of Professor Csikota, the orchestra played the overture Lustspiel by the Hungarian composer Béla Keller.

In addition to their joint performance in Pardubice, the Hungarian orchestra also gave a concert at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Lázně Bohdaneč. The programme included not only works by Hungarian composers, but also a part of Julius Fucik’s Requiem. The concert was enriched by solo performances by several students of the university and also by a trumpet septet. The orchestra was accompanied on its journey by the composer and Dean of the University of Szeged, Professor Péter Tóth. His compositions were performed at both concerts.

The Czech national concert band ended a very successful year with this concert. In 2023, the orchestra is looking forward to a number of prestigious performances at festivals such as Talich’s Beroun, Pardubice Music Spring or a concert as part of the anniversary of the WASBE Eastern European Section in Hungary.