The Pécs Chamber Choir was founded on 22 October 1958 by László Dobos and Aurél Tillai from among their circle of friends and students. The choir’s members include teachers, doctors and other members of the intelligentsia, as well as university students. Many of the choir’s long-standing members conduct choruses themselves, and several of them have become internationally recognised conductors.

The choir ranks among the country’s finest. Their repertoire encompasses almost the entire choral canon. Their main aim is to promote the works of Hungarian classical composers (Kodály, Bartók, Bárdos) both at home and abroad, though they also take particular pleasure in performing choral music by the generations that followed Kodály. They give 20–25 performances a year. To date, they have toured 20 European countries on 65 concert tours, most frequently in Germany, Italy and France.

They have returned home with 35 awards from international competitions. They won first prize and the Grand Prix in Cork, Tours (twice), Knokke-Heist, Debrecen and Spittal. In 1980, they won the chamber choir category of the BBC Radio Competition. In 2000, they received three first prizes at the Orlando di Lasso Choir Competition in Rome. In 2002, they returned home from Preveza, Greece, with two gold medals.

They appear regularly on Hungarian Radio, and their programmes have also been broadcast by radio stations in Helsinki, Turin, Paris, London, Brussels, Rome and Stockholm. They are regular participants in the philharmonic scene; to date, they have performed more than 30 oratorios.

Since 1964, they have been the founders and hosts of the Pécs Chamber Choir Festival. Following the success of this festival, Pécs hosted the 10th Europa Cantat Choir Festival in 1988.

To date, 12 CDs have been released featuring the choir, of which 3 were released in France, 2 in Germany and 1 in England. Most of their CDs feature works by 20th-century Hungarian composers; two showcase early music, and one of them works by György Lickl, an 18th-century composer from Pécs. A further CD include a recording of Haydn’s oratorio *The Creation*, which was made during the Hiroshima concert held at San Francesco in Assisi in 1985. In December 2001, they performed works by Romantic masters. The series concludes with Aurél Tillai’s solo album (2002).

Their conductor – since the choir’s foundation – is Professor Emeritus Aurél Tillai, who teaches choral conducting and music theory at the University of Pécs. From 1956 to 2000, he managed the University of Pécs Choir. He is a recipient of the Liszt and SZOT awards. He frequently appears at choral competitions and festivals as a jury member and workshop leader. Aurél Tillai, who co-directed the Pécs Chamber Choir with László Dobos for the first 20 years, is also a popular choral composer.

In 1991, they established the Nevelők Háza Choir Foundation, the aim of which is to ensure the choir’s continued operation. The foundation was registered as a public benefit organisation in 1998.

Source of image and description: http://www.ckh.hu/szervezetek/pecsi-kamarakorus