Sára Tímár Presented by Liszt Academy

Sára Tímár was brought up in a Christian family, and thus the matters of the Reformed Church – which they attend – have been playing an important part in her life since her childhood. It was in a Reformed congregation in the Kalotaszeg region in Transylvania where she had first participated in a church service in which the conventional hymns and songs of religious worship were sung combined with the typical elements and ornaments of the traditional folk music of the region. This experience made such a deep impression on her that she began studying, comparing and contrasting the homogenous musical material supplied with notation and the musical material which had been subject to the fashioning and re-fashioning of the music by the folk itself. These psalms and hymns would have been sung in old village communities, at home and during work, virtually in any life period. Today, however, churchgoers do not tend to sing the songs of worship outside the religious service. „For me, personally, these tunes are just as valuable as the traditional Hungarian folk music heritage. I eagerly wish that they again become inherent parts of our daily life. I hope that this new sound, which is so deeply rooted in folk tradition will encourage believers to turn their heart-felt prayers into song.”