A Successful Spring Festival Season for the Miraculum Children’s Choir

A Successful Spring Festival Season for the Miraculum Children’s Choir

2026. May 20. | miraculum

The Miraculum Children’s Choir enjoyed a busy and highly successful spring, representing Kecskemét at two prestigious choral festivals within just a few weeks. The performances in Nové Zámky (Érsekújvár) and Székesfehérvár brought unforgettable musical experiences, valuable professional encounters, and many memorable moments for our young singers.

At the end of April, the choir’s 55 members travelled to Nové Zámky, Slovakia, to participate in the Nové Zámky Music Spring Festival. As part of the festival programme, the choir gave two concerts: the first in a local church on Friday and the second in the town’s cultural centre on Saturday. Both performances were warmly received, with the audience responding with standing ovations and prolonged applause. The festival was about much more than performing. On the way home, the choir visited the famous watermill of Kolárovo (Gúta) and crossed its remarkable 85-metre-long covered wooden bridge, the only one of its kind in Europe.

Only a few weeks later, the choir travelled to Székesfehérvár to take part in the Alba Regia Children’s and Youth Choir Festival, one of Hungary’s most important gatherings for young choirs. Alongside the festival concerts, the programme included the national Singing Youth qualification concert, where the Miraculum Children’s Choir achieved outstanding success, receiving the Outstanding Gold Diploma in Category A and being awarded the prestigious title of Choir of the Year. In addition to the competition performance, the choir also gave an evening concert in St. Imre Church and presented a lively programme of Hungarian folk music before the festival’s closing award ceremony.

These two festivals once again demonstrated not only the high artistic standard of the Miraculum Children’s Choir but also the strength of its community. The concerts, new friendships, professional encounters, and shared experiences are just as important as the performances themselves. We are proud of our young singers, who represented both the choir and the city of Kecskemét with enthusiasm, discipline, and joy at every performance.

Inspiring Days with Mat Wright

Inspiring Days with Mat Wright

2026. May 19. | foundation

The Kodály School recently hosted a very special professional event: a two-day international choral workshop led by Mat Wright MBE, founder and Artistic Director of the world-renowned Barnsley Youth Choir. Invited by the Aurin and Miraculum Foundation, the British conductor has been a close professional partner of our choir family for many years. This was, however, the first opportunity for him to lead an extensive workshop in Kecskemét for our singers and members of the Hungarian choral community.

The partnership between the Aurin–Miraculum Choir Family and Barnsley Youth Choir goes back nearly twenty years. During our concert tours in England, we regularly visit Barnsley, where we present workshops based on the Kodály Concept and take part in joint rehearsals and concerts. This long-standing exchange reached another important milestone as, this time, we had the pleasure of welcoming our friends to Kecskemét.

Throughout the two-day workshop, participants gained valuable insight into Mat Wright’s rehearsal techniques, vocal training methods and artistic approach. The sessions covered a wide range of musical styles, from the foundations of vocal technique through English Renaissance choral music and contemporary British repertoire to gospel, spirituals and African arrangements. The focus was not only on learning new repertoire, but also on discovering how to build a musical community, lead inspiring rehearsals and make music with freedom and joy.

One of the workshop’s greatest strengths was Mat’s continuous personal feedback and encouragement. During both individual and group consultations, conductors and singers had the opportunity to discuss their own questions with him, creating a genuine atmosphere of professional dialogue and exchange.

The programme concluded with a joint concert featuring the workshop participants alongside the Aurin Girls’ Choir and the Aurin Mixed Choir. The performance not only showcased the results of the two days’ work but also demonstrated once again how inspiring international artistic collaborations can be for both performers and audiences.

We are deeply grateful to Mat for accepting our invitation and for sharing the knowledge, experience and enthusiasm that have helped make the Barnsley Youth Choir one of the world’s most successful youth choirs. We are confident that this workshop marked another memorable chapter in the friendship and professional partnership we have built over many years. We are already looking forward to continuing this collaboration during our summer tour to England, when we will once again meet our dear friends in Barnsley.