The Choir of the Hungarian Reformed Seminary in Romania will be heading to Canada for a concert tour from Sept. 20th to Oct. 10th. Presented by The Presbyterian Church in Canada, the choir will visit all four Atlantic provinces as well as southern Ontario. The seminary students glorify God through joyful music, bearing witness to how God has worked to restore the church in Romania after years of persecution.
The choir will be performing hymns and gospel songs, classical selections and Hungarian folk music. In addition to the seminary students, there will be two musicians from the conservatory in Kolozsvár/Cluj, both active members of the Hungarian Reformed Church.
The 19-member choir is under the direction of the Presbyterian Church's mission staff person, Brian Johnston. Johnston grew up in southwestern Ontario, and served as organist/choir director at Knox, Waterloo, from 1987-1992. A brief stint in Hungary in 1982, where he further developed his passion for music and music education, sparked his close connection with the Hungarian people.
He began his work as a music and English teacher in Romania at the Theological Seminary of the Hungarian Reformed Church in 1993, which was formally recognized and supported by the Presbyterian Church four years later. Steve Ross, Mary Goromby and David Pándy-Szekeres are the church's other mission workers in the region. A Youth in Mission group has been travelling to Eastern Europe since 1999 to help Johnston establish English camps.
For more information contact Barbara Nawratil at bnawratil@presbyterian.ca, 416-441-1111 or 1-800-619-7301, or visit the choir's website at www.choir.tk. – AM
