Márta Sebestyén – In the Footsteps of Kodály Presented by Liszt Academy

According to Kodály’s famous dictum, the study of music should begin nine months before birth. If there is one musician for whom this is a given, then it is Márta Sebestyén, who inherited a total commitment to music from her music teacher mother and a former student of Kodály. Therefore, in the spiritual sense one could call Márta Sebestyén a ‘Kodály grandchild’. Here she pays tribute to the one-time master of her mother on the 50th anniversary of the death of the great composer and educator. Of course, Kodály is not only important for her because of the personal connections but also for his role in the discovery of the treasure trove of Hungarian folk songs. After all, without the folk music research efforts of Kodály, Bartók and their followers, we would not have at our disposal that wonderful repertoire that has been the bread and butter of Márta Sebestyén since her childhood. There are very few countries indeed in which Márta Sebestyén has not represented Hungarian culture, either in solo form or with her fellow musicians. She has sung for the emperor of Japan, while the king of Spain and Britain’s sovereign have come to know Hungarian folk songs through her performances. She is a true cultural ambassador for Hungary. She has received every domestic award that an artist can win. Márta Sebestyén is a UNESCO Artist for Peace and a member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts.