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Budapest Tour 2009
Between 16 and 20 February 2009, Sheffield Cathedral Choir visited
Budapest and its surrounding area for a three-concert tour. The
following diary tells the story!
To see pictures from the tour,
please click here, or click on the individual pictures below to see
larger versions.
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Monday 16 February
 Any
choir tour starts with a significant journey, but unlike most of our
previous trips, this time we didn’t have to start at an horrendously
early hour. So we all gathered at the Cathedral at midday to begin
the 1,003 mile journey to the Hungarian capital. Having been wished
luck & waved off by the Dean, we had two short coach journeys
separated by the delights of a RyanAir flight from East Midlands to
Budapest International. When we arrived in Hungary the sight of snow
on the ground was one that probably caused less surprise than it
would have a few weeks ago (due to the recent English weather), but
it did warn us we’d be in for a cold few days!
It
being well into the evening by this point, we went straight to our
hotel where we had a filling, homely meal waiting for us (although
the one vegetarian member of the party was slightly surprised that,
whilst his chicken had been successfully replaced by a cheese-based
dish, his runner beans still included pieces of bacon!). Then
bedtime for the choristers, while a few of the men decided to take a
walk to sample the offerings of a local hostelry. We were certainly
not expecting those delights to include table football and karaoke,
and I think it’s fair to say that we acquitted ourselves far better
at the former than the latter. Let’s just say that if this diarist
ever has to sing “The Final Countdown” again, it will be too soon… |
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Tuesday 17 February
 On to the serious business of the tour today; however, before the
evening concert we had a good while to look around Budapest. Our
local tour guide, Andrea, took us first of all round some of the
sights of Buda – the hilly side of the city, to the West of the
Danube. This was particularly beautiful, not least because of the
several inches of fresh snow… the snow did, however, lead to a
snowball fight of monumental proportions, involving most members of
the choir – I’m sure it will live long in the memory of all
involved!
We had a look round the wonderful Matthias church – our venue for
the evening’s concert – before crossing over the river to have lunch
in one of the main shopping areas in Pest. After a quick trip back
to the hotel to dry off, change and collect robes & music we headed
back to the Matthias church for a rehearsal. It took a bit of
getting used to singing in a bigger acoustic, and coping with the
distance between organ & choir, but we got there in the end!
And so after a typical Hungarian meal in a nearby restaurant, we
gave our first public performance of the tour in front of an
appreciative audience. The varied programme and enthusiastic
performance helped combat the low temperature inside the church –
something that was to become a theme of these concerts – and we were
given some hearty applause at the end.
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Wednesday 18 February
Today we left Budapest to visit the city of Esztergom, about 30
miles to the North West. Sitting on the banks of the Danube, the
city is dominated by its Basilica, which is the largest church in
Hungary and was to be the venue for our late morning concert. On
arrival we had a chance to get used to singing there, which was
quite a challenge. The Basilica is absolutely beautiful, but is set
around a dome which is nearly the equal in size of that at St Paul’s
Cathedral in London, which leads to an acoustic of anything up to 15
seconds! The organ is situated at the West end, quite some distance
from the choir, and is operated in a quite different way from most
English organs. All of this took some getting used to, and it is to
Anthony Gowing’s massive credit that his performance in the concert
was not only virtually flawless but incredibly inspiring also. The
choir made the most of the acoustic, despite shivering in very cold
conditions, and the audience truly enjoyed the experience.
 After a quick bite to eat in the vestry, and a chance to look at the
spectacular view over the Danube into Slovakia (and a spot more
snowball fighting), we boarded the coach which took us a few miles
away to a bobsleigh centre. After some debate about which of the two
Bobs in the choir we were going to slay, I think they were both
relieved to find a more traditional – if exciting – toboggan-style
run, which most of the choir enjoyed travelling down a couple of
times. We then visited another beautiful town, Szentendre, where we
found some welcome cafés, an incredible micro-art museum that some
of us are still trying to get our heads round, and a number of shops
selling, amongst other things, some rather natty headgear.
After a pretty full day our coach took us back to Budapest, where we
had a relaxing evening in a restaurant close to our hotel before
catching up with some well-earned rest before our final performance
of the trip. |
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Thursday 19 February
 Another day, another town… this time we went to Kecskemét, around 50
miles south of Budapest in central Hungary, and the birthplace of
the composer Zoltán Kodály. As on the previous day our concert was a
late morning affair, this time in the large and ornate Roman
Catholic church. If Wednesday’s concert had been difficult due to
the cold and organ location, this was even more so, but another
admirable job by Messrs Gowing, Taylor and the choir saw these
problems overcome – not least in the performance of Handel’s
Hallelujah chorus (which was exceptionally difficult in those
circumstances), although my personal favourite performance of the
concert (and probably of the tour) came in the Gloria of
Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli.
We had lunch in groups in the town and had a chance to explore its
wonderful, unspoiled architecture, before many of us went to a
museum of musical instruments, where we were treated to a special
tour and demonstration by the proprietors. This included both ethnic
Hungarian and foreign instruments from across the years, ranging
from Hungarian folk flutes to Alpine horns to early 1960s
synthesisers! We also had the chance to join in a samba performance
on assorted percussion instruments…
After returning to Budapest many of the party returned to the
previous night’s restaurant for another meal, while other members
headed into the city centre for some exploration of alternative
venues. Befitting a choir tour, the evening included an ad-hoc
performance of Duruflés “Notre Père”, as well as some niftily
improvised dance moves…
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Friday 20 February
 This was the last day of the tour, but as our flight back was not
until the evening we had most of the day to explore Budapest some
more. The boys went first of all to a science museum which they
declared to be excellent; the girls went to the main zoo where they
were entertained by many animals, particularly a wonderful selection
of monkeys; while the men took advantage of the easiness of Budapest’s
transport system to see a number of sights, including the fabulous St
Stephen’s Basilica.
After a final afternoon of shopping and sightseeing, we began making
the journey back to Sheffield (although were nearly thwarted by the
most chaotic airport check-in imaginable!). By the time we arrived
home, after midnight, most were tired but spirits still high, and we
were left to contemplate and reflect on a highly successful tour.
We would like to offer sincere thanks to several people: Andrea Botka,
our Hungarian guide, who showed us round so effectively and taught us
a few basics of the Hungarian language with such good humour; our five
chaperones – Jim Shore, Kate Brown, Marianna Keray, Mary Taylor and
Rachel Brennan – who looked after the younger members of the party
with consummate professionalism and kept everyone amused; and of
course the Director of Music and Assistant Director of Music, Neil
Taylor and Anthony Gowing, whose vision and hard work ensured the tour
happened in the first place, and made the concerts so memorable. Most
of all, it was a great team effort from all involved – after all,
that’s how we roll.Story
by Jeremy Dawson
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