Another important step - the choir of my high school

I've got into contact with singing classical music in the high school choir. Before, as a child I always loved to sing but my main interests were church songs and the folk songs I've learnt it the singing lessons. While I was in elementary school used to sing these under the shower as loud as I could. My favourite was the following one, performed by a really good young Hungarian singer Lilla Horti. (I could have searched for an original folk version but she sings really nice so I think it works.)

I went to a quite prestigous high school of Hungary the Eötvös József Secondary School. My brother who was two grades above me went to the same school and he was the member of the school's mixed choir. My father also went to this very same institution so it was kind of a must to start to sing there. Interestingly altough I didn't really like the company in the first years I've stayed. Mostly because I've really enjoyed the music. The conductor invented really motivating projects, altought it was not a music school we were making music on a quite high level. The palette of different genres was diverse: we performed spirituals, Dido and Aeneas by Purcell, the Mozart Requiem, Monteverdi pieces, Hugarian folk songs put to choir music and in the end even the whole Jesus Christ Superstar musical. We've also went for choir competitions and tours which were mainly successful. Once we've went to the Netherlands, we had an exchange with a school form Amersfoort, I think this was the first time I've been to the Netherlands.

This choir was the first place where music making really touched me, especially the joy of creating something together. Because this choir was not just a place to make music, it was also a fantastic community, forged by all the common experiences of the performances but also by regular camps held in the autumn and in the summer holidays. I'm really grateful for the conductor of our choir, she has put a lot of energy in our projects. Also it was here that I got the chance to sing in solo for the first time. When I was in my eleventh grade the choir had the ambitious project to perform the Webber Jesus Christ Superstar. It was a really good production, we made four or five performances in a community center in Budapest, we had everything that is necessary for such a performance: orchestra, costumes, lights, preps and mostly ourselves. I got the role of Peter, I don't know exactly what the conductor have seen in me, but she had good instincts since now I'm here studying to become an opera singer. I remember struggling a lot with a high G in the song What's the buzz, the highest note of Peter in the musical. The funniest part of the production was the fact that Jesus and Judas were played by twins, two guys who were the member of the choir for long time and at that time they were studying to become singing teachers but they had a really exceptional singing technique. (After they started to study to become a musical actor.) I loved all the moments of the performance, it was really one of the best experiences of my high school years. Later I was working a lot more with the conductor of this choir, I will tell you about that in the next post. To finish this post here is a photo from the performance: