Karl Jenkins, British composer living in Wales is going to compose a cantata for the famous ballad The Bards of Wales (’A walesi bárdok’) by Hungarian poet János Arany. The world premiere will be in the Bartók National Concert Hall on 21 June, featuring one hundred selected Hungarian choir singers and about fifty Welsh and British singers, with the MÁV Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer himself.
The idea of the orchestration of the poem comes from László Irinyi, director of Concert Masters International Budapest: he has also undertaken the coordination of the project, which started 3 years ago.
Karl Jenkins – who was the shining star of the Montreaux Jazz Festivals in the 1960’s and 1970’s – was captured by the ballad at first reading, hence the subtitle of the cantata: Praise of civil courage - In memoriam Arany János. The English translation was made by Peter Zollmann, Hungarian literateur living in the UK, and Twm Morys delivered the Welsh version.
The 47-minute long symphonic ballad, consisting of 9 movements, will be performed in all 3 languages at the premiere in the Palace of Arts. Singing with the MÁV Symphony Orchestra, the members of the selected choir are from the Kodály Choir Debrecen, the Cantemus Mixed Choir Nyíregyháza, the Cardiff Mixed Choir and the English Concert Singers from Brighton. After the premiere, it will first go on a tour around Hungary, and there is already growing interest for it from other countries as well.
Greg Dorey, British ambassador said the following about the project: „I think this is a fantastic project. I’m half Welsh, so I’m a particular supporter of this work, and bringing together the Welsh and Hungarian very rich heritages is a wonderful idea. I’m very glad that László Irinyi as the project director is taking this forward and has persuaded Karl Jenkins, who is a fantastic composer, to orchestrate this really famous poem, A Walesi bárdok of Arany János. [… ] I’m glad that all of these elements have come together, and I think the end product is going to be something really wonderful.”
The symphonic ballad, composed for orchestra, mixed choir and solos will be preceded by Zoltán Kodály’s Psalmus Hungaricus with conductor Gábor Takács-Nagy. The Welsh channel S4C and the Hungarian State Television are making a documentary of the whole project, and a werkfilm and a DVD will also come out in a Hungarian-Welsh coproduction. Prince Charles of Wales has undertaken patronage of the project for the next 5 years, as there are already plans for a European and even an American tour after the premiere.
