The first International Kodály Seminar was held in the summer of 1970 in Kecskemét, at the initiative of Sarolta Péczely, wife of Zoltán Kodály, with the aim of introducing music teachers from abroad to Zoltán Kodály’s concept of music education and its possible adaptations.
The then-director of the Kodály School, Mrs. Lajos Nemesszeghy, as well as Péter Erdei and Mihály Ittzés—who would later found the Kodály Institute—also participated in the organization.
The organization of the course, which at that time lasted one month, was taken over by the Kodály Institute in 1975. Today, the course traditionally lasts two weeks and serves as a sort of summer semester: the 60-hour intensive course is taught by the Institute’s faculty, though guest lecturers are also regularly invited.
This year, at the 35th anniversary International Kodály Seminar, workshops on solfège and music theory, choral conducting, and music pedagogy methodology were held in several groups, as well as joint choral singing. The event welcomed approximately 40 students from 25 countries, who were joined in the second week of the Seminar by participants in the Advanced Choral Conducting course led by Péter Erdei, a Liszt and Bartók–Pásztory Prize-winning conductor, Meritorious and Outstanding Artist of the Republic of Hungary, and honorary professor at the Liszt Academy of Music. Seven active students and 16 young singers, who formed a chamber choir during the course and assisted the conductors in their work. The Liszt Academy and the Foundation for the Kecskemét Kodály Institute announced a special scholarship for Hungarian students, so five scholarship recipients majoring in choral conducting from the Liszt Academy—Máté Almási, Péter Oravecz, Annabella Svajko, Barnabás Szilágyi, and Anna Török—along with Sarah Skerritt (Ireland) and Vivienne Tan (Singapore) participated in the international ensemble. The seven conductors presented their work at the closing concert on 31 July in the St Nicholas Church located next to the Institute’s monastery building. The concert was part of the musical programme of the Kodály Art Festival organized by the city of Kecskemét. The concert featured works by Schein, Brahms, Zoltán Kodály, Javier Busto, Ivan Hrusovsky, Arvo Pärt, János Vajda, Miklós Csemiczky, and György Orbán.
Participants in the Seminar, performing as the Seminar Choir under the direction of conductor Anna Fűri, took part in the opening of an archaeological and numismatic chamber exhibition, which opened on 30 July at the Institute under the title “The Past Beneath the Parquet—In the Footsteps of Medieval Kecskemét,” and showcases valuable artifacts from the archaeological excavations conducted during the renovation of the Kodály Institute. The exhibition was opened by Judit Rajk, director of the Institute, and András Kristóf Fazekas, the archaeologist leading the excavations and a staff member of the Katona József Museum.
The Seminar programme was complemented by a concert series featuring solo and chamber music performances by faculty and students of the Academy of Music: Renáta Darázs and Zsuzsanna Takáts, Gergely Kovács,Kitti Szovák, and Máté Dömötör.
