On 23rd July, at Gerba Bird Art Palace in Budapest of Hungary, there were many people and beautiful songs. “Hungary Music Bridge 2013-Kodály Zoltán International Forum Chorus Festival” was just held here.
The chorus festival was grand, the organizing committee, evaluation committee and contest participants came from different countries and had different skins. At this Festival, the Citizen Chorus of Hangzhou Public Library (“Hangzhou Citizen Chorus”) was also invited to participate in this grand festival. This was the first march for the Citizen Chorus to appear at the international stage.
With repeated comparison, the Citizen Chorus participated in the contest with the songs of “Grapery Notturno” and “Water Strider”. These two songs have very great contrast. The former is quiet, slow, beautiful and fascinating; the latter is lively and ardent with changeful rhythm. The songs ignited the whole conference hall, and it could be said that the overall spirit outlook of the Citizen Chorus deeply moved all of audiences. The team presented youth, enthusiasm and self-confidence, which just symbolized that Hangzhou (a city with long history) just becomes an international metropolis with its unique and harmonious steps.
At this chorus festival, there were seven golden prizes, seven silver prizes and three bronze prizes. The Citizen Chorus of Hangzhou Public Library won the golden prize that matched its strength, and it was also a team won the best achievement out of four Chinese delegate teams. Budapest Times in Hungary provided the special report for the special team of the Citizen Chorus of Hangzhou Public Library with a full page.
The trip to Hungary was led by Zhang Lei (director of the Music Branch Library and head of the Citizen Chorus of Hangzhou Public Library), librarians Zhao Bin and Fang Zhujun acted the conductor and piano accompany player respectively. For this trip meeting the expectations and winning honor, they had the following expressions:
“We still have a long way to reach the international first-class level. We will take this prize as an entirely-new starting point, and make continuous and greater efforts for carrying forward Chinese chorus business.”
