I am so happy I came here this summer. It was exactly what I needed and the best thing I could have done for myself. When I am in Hungary, everything is about the music. They inspire me to sing. To love. To find the joy. To be happy. To seek purposeful beauty. To be active, not passive. To be genuinely happy...and to let that shine through in my music. My time with János is always very dear to me, as well as my time with Roland, Éva, and Balázs. János left me with some wonderful words of encouragement and chats. Roland and I had many little philosophical chats and reminders to have patience with myself. Éva and Balázs may be the world's most phenomenal pianists! What a treat to work with them! And such kind-hearted people as well! Much laughter, some tears, incredible Hungarian meals and wine, beautiful people, living life with such absolute joy and effervescence, singing tons, and reinvigorating my musical spirit. Now, my task is to keep carrying that in my heart until we meet, again.
I sang on both master classes and a special concert on the Kodály Art Festival for the city of Kecskemét. What fun! I also was involved in the making of a documentary, including a personal interview and singing for a short recording. The people I met in these past few weeks will be connected with me forever. I can feel it. So many connections and worldwide contacts were made. I can only imagine what the future has in store... ;) And János told me he knew I'd be back, again. Haha! He knows me too well!
My time in Hungary included many afternoons sitting in the gorgeous little courtyard at the Institute, a beautiful private reception for the performers and professors after the last concert I sang on, dinners with new and old friends, many coffees and teas at Vincent's, being rained on by flowers from the Kecskeméti trees, playing on the slide in the middle of the town square, photobombing Georges Longy with Kodály/Liszt/Beethoven/etc., discovering the AMAZING works of Bozso, seeing "Despicable Me 2"...in Hungarian (haha!), phenomenal concerts nearly every night, meeting incredible people, breads and pastries from the best bakery in town, stirring up some craziness in Kecskemét with the documentary camera crew, Dave and Jockey, and an EPIC day in Budapest with my Irish friend Amy.
Basically, we decided I should just be a personal tour guide because I only had to use the map maybe three times the whole day, I can speak some of the language, and I threw in silly little tidbits of info everywhere we went. Climbing statues and fountains, discovering new gems in the lovely city, "choose-your-own-adventure" to the Castle District, spending too much time and money in the music shops, palacsinta with ice cream and apricots that were definitely drenched in palinka, the most delicious pizza, visiting the labyrinth, almost getting locked in said labyrinth with Dracula, being paparazzi-ed by random tourists, coming up with ridiculous scenarios....the day just kept getting more awesome! :)
Now, I am in Switzerland for the week at my friends' place near Neuchâtel. Missing Hungary...but with a view like this, I don't think I have much to complain about...
(And my apologies for writing so little this trip...they kept me very busy in my course at the Kodály Institute! And I loved and lived every moment! Except for that 110* day...that was rough for all! But we survived!)
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