First Culture Ambassador Titles Awarded

Minister of Education and Culture István Hiller presented the ambassadors with a certificate, a plaque and a pin at a ceremony at the Hungarian Academy of Science in Budapest. He told them to "do what you always have done" in their effort to bring Hungarian culture to different parts of the world.

 

Lady Valerie Solti, the widow of the great conductor Sir Georg Solti, said she had learned to love Hungarian culture at her husband's side, not only classical music, but art, history and folk music too. Solti said she had played a significant role in organising a memorial concert in London to mark the 50^th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, adding that she hoped to continue to organise concerts and promote Hungarian music in the UK and the rest of the world.

 

László Fehér, a prize-winning painter, has represented the Hungarian arts career at a number of foreign exhibitions from New York to London to Tokyo during this 31-year. Currently he is participating in an exhibition in the German city of Ulm, and in the summer, a retrospective of his works will open in the Ludwig Museum in Budapest.

 

Ivan Fischer, musical director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, has been representing Hungarian culture abroad since he was thirty years old. In November 2006, Fischer started a three-year contract as the principal guest conductor of Washington's National Symphony Orchestra.

 

There is no more efficient and direct portrayer of Hungarian culture than music, he said, noting that the Budapest Festival Orchestra's recordings are often played by US radio stations.

 

"Not a day goes by when a recording by the BFO is not broadcast, and naturally the word 'Budapest' is heard every time," Fischer said.

 

Imre Kértesz, the Nobel Prize-winning author was unable to attend the ceremony because of illness, but said he was honoured to receive the title in a telephone interview. Kértesz said he was not a diplomatic type, but noted that his works, which have been translated into many languages, bring with them Hungarian culture wherever they appear.

 

Kértesz, whose latest book "K Dossier" was recently published, said he was working on a new volume which would be completed in two or three years. He declined to reveal what the work in progress is about.

 

Zoltán Kocsis, the famous pianist and director of the National Philharmonic, said he was honoured by his new mandate and would take it seriously. Kocsis's efforts have created a wider audience not only for Hungarian composers such as Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, but for György Kurtág and György Ligeti as well. Most recently, he has taken charge as artistic director of the Bartók New Edition, a new series of recordings of Bartók's complete works.

 

Márta Sebestyén, Hungary's most famous folk singer, said she had always thought herself an ambassador of Hungarian culture wherever she went around the world. But it feels good to carry the title officially, she added.

Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)