The idea of the foundation arose in 1997 which marked the 70th anniversary of the birth and the 20th death anniversary of the founder of the choir, Mr. Rezső Lantos. With the financial support of Ms. Edit Lantos (widow of Mr. Rezső Lantos) and the Budapest Youth Choir led by Ms. Ágnes Gerenday and with the zealous collaboration of previous members of the choir, an organisation came to existence with the aim to cherish the memory of Mr. Rezső Lantos and through this, following his spiritual heritage, to revitalise the choral life in Hungary and support young talented conductors.
We accomplish these goals in the following ways:
– Archives
The Foundation has published and continuously propagates a CD of the original recordings of the choir of Mr. Rezső Lantos. The release of the representative CD was supported by the Music Council of the National Cultural Fund (Nemzeti Kulturális Alap Zenei Kollégiuma). We strongly believe that the powerful effect of the music on these recordings impress the listeners as much as they impressed those who were lucky enough to hear them live.
– Awarding young talented choir conductors with monetary prizes and grants
The foundation regards it as its mission, following the spiritual heritage of its founder, to promote young talents. In the first few years this meant a few awards a year or grants to masterclasses abroad. These prizes can be won at three important competitions: the Budapest International Choir Competition, the Béla Bartók National Choir Competition, and the Zoltán Kodály Hungarian National Choir Competition. The winner in all three competitions is chosen by high prestige members of internationally renowned juries from the competing young choir conductors. (According to the articles of the Foundation, ‘ choir conductors under the age of 40 who has not been convicted of criminal offence, who is actually working as a conductor in the choir movement home or abroad, and who successfully performed with their choirs in highly ranked choir competitions’ can be promoted.) In the year 2002-2003 the opportunity of introducing a new grant arose which we present in collaboration with the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. The Academy makes it possible for fourth and fifth year choir conducting students to compare their skills. The first such occasion presented itself at the Home Competition Section of the 2nd Hungarian Conference for Choir Conductors. We ended up by awarding two grants: one following the votes of the jury and one based on the votes of the musically trained audience.
– Community
The third goal the Foundation has for itself is to preserve and keep alive the community, the members of which still cherish the memory of the charm of Mr. Rezső Lantos or as they always called him Uncle Rudi (Rudi bácsi). At first, we used to meet once a year in the Farkasrét Cemetery where the old and present members of the choir remembered their founding conductor by singing together and placing a wreath on his tomb.
– Concerts
Last but not least every year we organise a concert (usually around November-December) where old and actual members of the choir can meet either sitting in the audience or performing together with guest artists. Apart from these, every five years a large-scale choir festival takes place where we welcome all the Rezső Lantos laureate conductors of the previous years together with their choirs to perform in a full house concert.
