Professional music making dates back to several hundreds of centuries in Debrecen. The Choir of the Reformed College was established by György Maróthi the famous mathematics professor in 1739. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the music education of the College developed. The City Music School, the Zoltán Kodály Secondary School of Music and the Acadeny of Music – today Faculty of Debrecen University – had been opened. In these schools numerous talented young people studied and study, among others former students who then became musicians of international reputation due to high level music education.
In Hajdú-Bihar County, the only establishment for music education could be found in Debrecen till 1959. Hajdúböszörmény recognized the lack of music education in 1958-59 and the town established the conditions required. As a music school in the countryside, Béla Bartók Music School established in 1959 has had two kinds of activity from the very beginning. The first activity is music teaching and education, training of amateur musicians, education of young people so that they understand and prefer classical music as well as preparing young people for a music career. The second activity is arranging music events. Concerts are held in their concert hall regularly.
The summit of music life are represented by professional choirs and orchestras acknowledged on national and international level such as the Kodály Choir of Debrecen, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Debrecen or City Youth Brass Band in Hajdúböszörmény.
Naturally, not only classical music but also light music plays an important role in the local music life. Numerous professional and amateur bands make music in our county. Some of the most well-known ones are Tankcsapda and Desperado. The 15-year-old Rocksuli (Rock school) takes up talented young people longing for making music. The scholars of the school and the amateur bands formed from the scholars regularly appear at various music festivals among which Lake Vekeri Festival and KOTTA Festival are festivals acknowledged on national level.
Apart from the light music festivals and concerts in local clubs, hundreds of visitors attend the various festivals in Debrecen among which Béla Bartók International Choir Contest, Military Band Festival and Debrecen Jazz Days are internationally well-known events.
The source of the local folk music life is not only the music part of shepherd life typical of the region but other regions appear in the performances and concerts of the local folk music bands and folk dance ensembles. You can finddetailed information about folk music and folk dance in the issue Folk art and folklore.
