International Folk Dance Association   of University City presents . . .
MAGYARUL          Past Event Page  •  IFDA Home Page

A concert and dance party featuring
the Hungarian folk singer

Kati Szvorák

with the folk ensemble

Kõfaragók

Friday, October 1, 1999 at 8:00 p.m.
St. Mary of Victories Church
744 S. 3rd St.      (See map)
St. Louis, Missouri

Kati Szvorák is making her first tour in the United States, joined by Kõfaragók ("Stonecutters"), an all-star group of prominent Hungarian folk musicians whose broad range of performing experience on a wide variety of characteristic folk instruments creates an intricate and energetic soundscape that brings Hungary to life.

• Kati Szvorák is one of the two best-known folk singers in Hungary today. She has been a leader in preserving folk traditions, performing and collecting folksongs in the Hungarian language from those who still remember them in the villages of Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary. This diverse music embraces many topics and moods: wild dances, sober religious songs, melancholy love songs, and eerie ballads, to name a few. In the style of many European folk texts, these songs often compress entire stories into only a few lines, using a few telling words and images to convey great and intense emotional experiences.
• Zsigmond Lázár (fiddle, Jew's harp), the prímás (leader) of the group, is also a composer of film and theater music, plays jazz and classical music in his spare time, and teaches music theory at the University of Pécs.
• Béla Ágoston (bagpipe, cello, clarinet, tilinkó) is a member of the folk group Hegedõs. In his spare time he teaches classical music history and composes music for puppet shows.
• Ferenc Kiss (viola, hurdy-gurdy, koboz, tambura, gardon, and other instruments) was one of the original members of the folk ensembles Vízöntõ and Kolinda. As the founder of the Etnofon Music Company, he is now also serving the cause of Hungarian folk music as an archivist and publisher.

(Note: As is common on the Internet, in being used in place of the Hungarian letter which is not in the standard character set.)

Dinner prepared by the St. Mary of Victories Church will be available at 6:00 p.m. at the church. Tickets for dinner are $7:00, available at the door.

Hungarian music for dancing will be played after the concert.

With support from

To order concert tickets, please send your check (payable to "IFDA") and a stamped, self-addressed envelope to:

For directions, see the Guide to St. Mary of Victories Church, which includes a map.

For further information please contact John or Barbara at 314-726-5838 (BUhlemann@aol.com) or Rex or Nancy at 314-275-8228 (couture@ninenet.com).

Views and opinions expressed on this page are strictly those of the International Folk Dance Association of University City, which is not sponsored by or otherwise connected with Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.