The renewed Deák Ferenc tér station on metro line M3 was transformed into a concert hall for one evening on 11 January, a week and a half before the official opening. A joint performance by the Budapest MediCantare Choir and the Vox Insana Chamber Choir was the sound of gratitude. Balázs Gurdon, one of the architects of the renewed spaces of the Deák Ferenc tér metro station, was the mastermind behind the event, and he wanted to thank all those who made the imagined plans a reality with a concert.
For the first time in the history of metro line M3, a station has hosted a concert. For more than two years, workers have been allowed to enter this transfer level in safety equipment only, but one evening everyone was dressed up in their best. The new and modern space, which will soon see tens of thousands of passengers turning up every day, was finally bustling as if it were a dress rehearsal. The audience was made up of the planners, managers, organisers and active participants in the metro reconstruction. The office of the Mayor of Budapest was represented by Deputy Mayor Kata Tüttő, who arrived with her Viennese colleagues.
Balázs Gurdon, one of the station's architects, the programme's visionary and a member of the chamber choir, expressed his gratitude to the participants in the reconstruction and presented gifts to two of his important helpers.
Zoltán Erő, the chief architect of Budapest, who has previously played a major role in the construction and renovation of the city's metro system, gave a short speech on the relationship between music and architecture, and then took his place in the choir with his music.
Balázs Csapó, architect and designer, a key figure in the reimagining of the Deák Ferenc tér station and the organisation of the event, shared his thoughts on the relationship between architecture and the metro.
Nearly eighty performers, singers, instrumentalists and choirmasters took over the casual concert space and the audience enjoyed a colourful programme of well-known classical and popular music. The success of the concert was most evident in the fact that the singers were keen to repeat the concert at any station on the metro line, and the audience was reluctant to leave the transfer level.
See the gallery for photos of the event.
Photos by Tamás Dernovics/magyarepitok.hu
