Szent Efrém Male Choir, Sára Bolyki, László Dés, Árpád Mészáros / Franciscan Charity Concert

A crossroads of musical worlds, a melting pot of traditions, a meeting point of ancient and new forms.

This is the best way to summarise the programme of the St. Ephrem Male Choir, which will perform at the Franciscan Charity Concert in the impressive main hall of the Liszt Academy for the tenth time. Sára Bolyki and László Dés have also agreed to join the programme, with whom the St Ephrem Male Choir has already given highly successful concerts separately, but this is the first time that the audience will be able to hear their triple collaboration.

The aim of the charity concert follows the tradition of the past years: the organisers want to raise awareness of the Autistic Support Centre for people with autism in Gyöngyös and Karácsond, and to raise funds for the general and specific aims of the centre and its beneficiaries.

The concert will also feature a former student of the Autistic Support Centre, Árpád Mészáros. The concert programme will also include an ancient sacral layer through the Hungarian folk and folk song tradition, interpreted by Sára Bolyki, but also medieval Marian songs by Alfonso the Wise and Easter songs in Greek, with László Dés joining the St Ephraim Male Choir on saxophone. Zoltán Kodály's Sun Hymn is not to be left out of the programme, which uses a poem by St Francis of Assisi to evoke an ancient Hebrew melody, but there will also be motets responding to the story of the Passion in memory of the stigmatisation of St Francis. In the second half of the concert, secular works will also be performed, with László Dés, not only an excellent saxophone player but also a leading composer of stage music for the past 40 years, performing and reworking songs from The Jungle Book, Boys of St Paul's Street and other iconic music, to bring the charity event to a close with a real community experience, involving the audience.

Venue: The Academy of Music

1061 Budapest, Liszt Ferenc tér 8