Hungarian city celebrates American independence with New Year’s concert

The Szegedi Symphony Orchestra will celebrate the approaching 250th anniversary of the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence at its New Year’s concert on 5 January, director Sándor Gyüdi announced to MTI.

Szeged New Year’s concert celebrating US Declaration of Independence

The conductor recalled that, in keeping with a tradition launched in the mid-19th century, the Szeged symphonists have previously staged New Year’s concerts. In the early 2000s, they often performed as guests in Germany during this period, and during a Spanish tour they even gave a New Year’s concert on the African continent, in Ceuta.

However, at the Szeged National Theatre on 5 January, audiences will not hear the repertoire of the world’s most-watched musical event today—the Vienna New Year’s Concert, which began in 1939 and draws primarily from the works of the Strauss family. Instead, the programme will feature compositions by American composers, the director revealed, according to the Hungarian News Agency.

Judit Gera, director of American Corner Szeged, explained that to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration’s adoption, the US Embassy in Budapest is organising cultural events both in the capital and across the country. The four American Corners operating in regional cities—offering local residents free English-language cultural and educational programmes—are joining the festival series.

Copland, Gershwin, and Bernstein

American music rose to prominence from the early 20th century onwards, driven by the flourishing of jazz, the explosive growth of cinema audiences, the birth of the musical genre, and the shift of popular music’s epicentre across the Atlantic. The evening’s conductor, Gergely Dubóczky, has curated the concert programme from this rich and unmistakably American repertoire.

The artistic director of the Szegedi Symphony Orchestra shared that in the first half of the New Year’s concert, audiences will be able to enjoy well-known works by canonical figures such as Copland, Gershwin, and Bernstein.

Organised in collaboration with the embassy, American Corner, the Szeged city council, and the University of Szeged, the second half of the New Year’s concert will evoke the vibrant energy of New York City’s Broadway through arrangements of iconic American hits.

The New Year’s concert of the symphony orchestra will be temporarily augmented with light music instruments, including saxophones, bass guitar, and an expanded percussion section. Performers Kata Csorba (actress) and Szilveszter Szélpál (opera singer) will take centre stage as soloists, while dancers Anita Hajdú, Ádám Fülöp, and Panna Fülöp-Farkas will also appear.

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