Declaration of Independence Anniversary Greeted in Szeged

The Szeged Symphony Orchestra will celebrate the upcoming 250th anniversary of the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence at its New Year's concert on January 5, director Sándor Gyüdi told MTI.

The conductor recalled that, in keeping with a tradition that began in the mid-19th century, the Szeged Symphony Orchestra used to give New Year's concerts. In the early 2000s, they often performed in Germany during this period, and during a tour of Spain, they even performed a New Year's concert in Ceuta on the African continent.

However, on January 5 at the Szeged National Theater, the audience will not hear the repertoire of the world's most-watched musical event, the Vienna New Year's concerts, which began in 1939 and feature works by the Strauss family, but rather pieces by American composers, the director announced.

Judit Gera, director of American Corner Szeged, said that to mark the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the US Embassy in Budapest is organizing cultural programs in the capital and across the country. American Corner, which operates in four provincial cities and provides free English-language cultural and educational programs for locals, is also involved in organizing the series of events.

American music became popular in the early 20th century with the emergence of jazz, the extraordinary popularity of movies, the development of the musical genre, and the shift of the center of gravity of popular music overseas. The concert program was selected from this diverse yet distinctly American repertoire by the evening's conductor, Gergely Dubóczky.

The artistic director of the Szeged Symphony Orchestra said that in the first half of the evening, the audience will hear well-known compositions by classic composers Copland, Gershwin and Bernstein.

Organized in cooperation with the embassy, the American Corner, the municipality of Szeged, and the University of Szeged, the second half of the concert evoked the atmosphere of the bustling metropolis of New York's Broadway with arrangements of American hits.