There’s a concert in Debrecen almost every day for the rest of the year, so whether you’re looking for classical music, a festive atmosphere or a party, you’re sure to find something for your musical needs. The good mood and quality entertainment will be provided by star performers such as Csík, Kaláka, Rózsi Demjén, and Tankcsapda, just to mention the biggest names.
Concerts in December:
Modern Renaissance
Tuesday 14th December 2021 7:30 p.m.
Kölcsey Centre, Great Hall
Programme.
Performers: Kálmán Oláh – piano / Kristóf Bacsó – saxophone / József Barcza Horváth – bass / Elemér Balázs – drums / Kodály Philharmonic Orchestra Debrecen
Conductor: László Kovács
“My goal for a very long time has been to create a synthesis in which the listener does not think about when he hears jazz and when he hears classical music, but I would like to create a genre in which both exist and play an almost equal role”, says Kálmán Oláh, an outstanding jazz musician who will perform the concert as composer and soloist. Blessed with an extremely diverse and stylistically open creative mind, the composer naturally integrates the great predecessors into his own compositions, be they Bach, Haydn, or Beethoven, but he is not averse to folk music influences either.
The conductor of the evening, László Kovács, Liszt Prize winner, Merited and Distinguished Artist of Merit, has particular merit in the performance of Kálmán Oláh’s works, as he has led several outstanding Hungarian symphony orchestras to success with Kálmán Oláh compositions that reflect typical 21st-century thinking and taste.
Further details about the Modern Renaissance Concert
Péter Szabó Szilvia – Noxtalgia Unplugged
16th December 2021 (Thursday) 7:00 p.m.
Kölcsey Centre, Great Hall
Who doesn’t remember the songs Százszor ölelj még, Túl a magázshegy, Szeretem, or the highly successful Rotate, world!, representing Hungary at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest? Szilvia Péter Szabó is about to stage the story of the career of NOX, one of the biggest super-productions ever in Hungary!
In light of this, the singer’s NOSTALGIA (NOXTALGIA) Unplugged concert series will be launched and will also visit the Kölcsey Centre in Debrecen. The production will be real-time travel, because the show will feature the well-known NOX classics, this time in a special musical atmosphere, to transport the audience to a magical world, to provide an unforgettable concert experience. Unmissable…
More details about the Noxtalgia concert
Gergely Rákász – A holiday fulfilled
Friday 17th December 2021 6:00 p.m.
Greek Catholic Metropolitan Office
A fascinating journey through the world of classics! Experience, Quality, Culture, Recreation in a spectacular Advent concert that will take you on a journey towards Christmas with historical insights and loving thoughts!
In the shadow of a pandemic, we ponder with wonderful music man’s place in creation and his destiny, which, as it turns out, can slip out of his hands in an instant. The overture to Beethoven’s Symphony No. V (Fate) asks whether we can change our destiny. Will it fall upon us, like the iconic 4 notes of the main theme – which became the Morse code for the letter V – and is there no escape? Or can we take our destiny into our own hands? Is it predestined, or can one forge one’s destiny through one’s actions? It is particularly interesting to ponder this question through the power of music. Gustav Holst – I am indebted to my audience for his Mars movement, after the Jupiter and Venus of the last concerts.
I keep my promise, and the atmosphere of the Red Planet, which inspired the film scores of Gladiator and Star Wars, will be performed.
Both Beethoven and Holst move superhuman forces, which Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor can only take to an even higher dimension.
The latter is particularly exciting and moving to listen to in the run-up to Christmas. For thousands of years, man has celebrated the birth of light on 24th December. Even before Christianity, many cultures looked upon this day as a turning point of hope, as the birth of the gods, because after the long darkness, after the waning days, the light that was born was the harbinger of new life and new hope. Bach’s Passacaglia is symbolic. After a quarter of an hour of darkly toned but beautiful minor-key music, in which the everyday hopelessness of the Baroque man is as much alive as the helplessness of the man of today in the face of a pandemic that paralyses life, light is born with a cathartic major-key ending. For the deeply religious Bach, it is a gateway to heaven. But lest the man of today should be daunted by this sublime, let me refine it to show us the better face of man. The hopeful, the loveless, the trusting, the turning towards timeless values, the one who overcomes all difficulties with humility. Of course, what other man would this “better man” be than the “man from heaven”? This is how the concert starts the listener on the road to Christmas.
More details about this concert
Sol Oriens Choir’s 31st-anniversary concert
18th December 2021 (Saturday) 6:00 p.m.
Reformed Small Church
The programme will feature works by contemporary Hungarian composers dedicated to the choir, the premiere of a work composed for the occasion by Adam Mike, and the choir’s best-loved programme numbers.
With Dániel Sárosi – organ
Conductor: Sarolta Deményi
Tickets are available in advance from the choir members or on-site.
The concert is organised in cooperation with the Hajdú-Bihar Music Association.
Kaláka ensemble – Only health should be!
20th December 20th, 2021 (Monday) 7:00 p.m.
Reformed Great Church
The Kaláka Ensemble will present poetry on an elegant musical platter that cannot be confused with other musicians. They do not force their own compositions on you, but play out the “original melody” according to your reading of the poems, which have been banished to books since Gutenberg, born and condemned to “heart-sweetness”.
The Kaláka Ensemble’s Advent concert will feature poems by classical and contemporary poets in a typical Kaláka version.
More details on the Kaláka’s Facebook page
Christmas concert of the Savaria Baroque Orchestra and the Kodály Choir Debrecen
Tuesday, 21st December 2021 7:00 p.m.
Kölcsey Centre, Great Hall
Programme: Handel: Joseph and his brothers – oratorio, HWV 59
With Eszter Balogh, László Jekl, Zoltán Megyesi, László Kéringer, Nóra Ducza, Kornélia Bakos, Krisztina Jónás – singing
Savaria Baroque Orchestra, Kodály Choir Debrecen (choir director: Zoltán Kocsis-Holper)
Conductor: Pál Németh
Further details: https://www.kodalyfilharmonia.hu/hangversenynaptar/elonezet/318/karacsonyi-koncert
Demjén 75th Birthday Grand Concert
21st December 2021 (Tuesday) 7:30 p.m.
Főnix Aréna
Ferenc Demjén “Rózsi” is a real star in Hungarian popular music. He became nationally known on New Year’s Eve 1970, when he performed the song Mindig ugyanúgy with the Bergendy band on Hungarian Television a few minutes before midnight. Bergendy smashed record sales and gave the audience countless hits that have been alive ever since. (After Bergendy, Rózsi Demjén recorded a solo album, from which the title track Fújj vissza vándor, Sohase félj and Mikor elindul a vonat are still popular hits on countless radio stations. This was followed in the 80s by the V’Moto rock era, which was a progressive band ahead of its time, spilling out the songs of the era. (Candles, Iceheart, You’ve got to let me go, I’m lying on the bed, etc.). In parallel with the V’Moto rock era, they dominated the Hungarian popular music market with the title songs of 4 films. From this formation, János Menyhárt, composer and guitarist, became a key player in Demjén’s solo career that began in the late 80s. The beginning of the era was marked by the album Szabadság vándorai. Demjén’s albums sold millions of copies and his concerts thousands, culminating in his annual concert on 30 December, which filled the Budapest Arena. He has received numerous professional and state awards in recognition of his work.
However, 2019 did not start as if the career of this brilliant composer, singer, and performer would continue. After a fractured femur and a spasm of the brain, he cancelled all his concerts. There was one exception: the Arena concert on 30th December, by which time, thank God, he had recovered and the concert itself had turned into a euphoric celebration of the people. This is the atmosphere and spectacle he hopes to bring to the 2021 Demjén tour, entitled Go See New Wonders….
(photo source: Ferenc Demjén’s Facebook page)
More information: https://fonixinfo.hu/program/demjen-75-szuletesnapi-nagykoncert
Christmas Fergeteg Party + Dj Dominique
26th December 2021 (Sunday) 7:00 p.m.
Kölcsey Centre, Great Hall
Yes, it’s not a typo, it’s a party that is a concert, although not planned as such by the organisers who, taking into account the restrictions caused by COVID-19, decided to do it NOW! and, in agreement with DJ Dominique and the artists performing, to hold the party in concert form.
Who else can be expected besides the host? CSEPREGI ÉVA, ZOLTÁN ERIKA, KORDA GYÖRGY and BALÁZS KLÁRI, TNT and as a real surprise the CRAZY LITTLE QUEEN TRIBUTE BAND!
To reassure everyone, there will be several breaks, and the Y bar will be working…
A Dal a Miénk-Csík band and LGT dalok (songs), Gábor Presser – János Karácsony
27th December 2021 (Monday) 7:00 p.m.
Kölcsey Centre, Great Hall
The Csík band, Gábor Presser and János Karácsony will present the album A dal a miénk (A dal a miénk), released in 2020, as part of a national tour. The nearly 120-minute production, with unique visual technology, yet in a real Csík Orchestra environment, will conjure up the songs of the 50-year-old LGT orchestra on stage, showing its audience that whether it is music or a stage show, traditional and modern not only can coexist, but in the right fusion, they can create a whole new world in this fast-paced 21st century.
For more information: https://fonixinfo.hu/program/karacsonyi-fergeteg-party-dj-dominique/
More information: https://fonixinfo.hu/program/a-dal-a-mienk-csik-zenekar-es-az-lgt-dalok-presser-gabor-karacsony-janos
Tankcsapda – No Words tour (Nincsenek Szavak turné)
29th December 2021 (Wednesday) 6:00 p.m.
Főnix Aréna
The 10-stop Nincsenek Szavak tour’s grand closing party will take place in the band’s hometown Debrecen on the 29th of December. The concert will take place in the recently renovated Főnix Arena. Guests include Ektomorf, and Fish!
Further information: https://tixa.hu/Tankcsapda_Debrecen_2021
Roncsbár (Wreck Bar)
17th December 2021 (Friday) 7:00 p.m. Krúbi to Self to tour // guest: 6363
18th December 2021 (Saturday) 8:00 p.m. 30Y // Guest: Sorbonne Sexual
27th December 2021 (Monday) 6:00 p.m. Bohemian Betyars-Gubancos album release // Guest: Mordál
28th December 2021 (Tuesday) 8:00 p.m. Paddy and the Rats
More details: https://www.facebook.com/roncsbar/events
Nagyerdei Víztorony
29th December 2021 (Wednesday) Galaxisok, Analog Balaton, The Crams
More information: https://www.facebook.com/nagyerdeiviztorony/events
