President's Corner  

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to attend the 47th Annual American Hungarian Educators (AHEA) Conference which will take place at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, USA on 27 – 29 April 2023.

Conference Program: The Program Committee and the Board of AHEA are planning an outstanding program. Our host, Christopher Ball, and his team are working hard on local arrangements. Fulbright alumni and scholars from Hungary to the US and from the US to Hungary have been invited and we are planning a reception in their honor. It’s a great opportunity to learn more about the Fulbright Program and network with Fulbright recipients.

Our evening programs are delightful and give a chance to mingle not just with our speakers but to enjoy performances by internationally known musicians Judit Gábos – concert pianist from Hungary and Daniel Sender, violinist and concertmaster of the Charlottesville Symphony, Charlottesville Opera, and the Virginia Consort.

Abstracts due: Last day to submit your abstract is tomorrow, Feb. 15th, the abstract submission site will close at midnight Eastern Standard Time. Conference registration information is available at this link and payable through PayPal.

Hotel reservations may be made by calling the conference hotel, Clarion Hotel & Suites Hamden-New Haven 2260 Whitney Ave., Hamden, CT. 06518 US. Telephone 203-288-3831. We have reserved a block of rooms; when registering, let them know you are a member of AHEA.

Transportation options: There are numerous ways to get to Hamden, CT. Our conference is at Quinnipiac University North Haven Campus. It is about

20 minutes by car from our conference hotel. We will provide transportation to the conference venue.
Information: Details are available at our website https://ahea.net/ or by contacting info@ahea.net

Acknowledgment: Thanks to AHEA’s Board of Directors and to our local host, Christopher Ball, Director of the Central European Institute, István Széchenyi Chair in International Economics and Honorary Hungarian Consul, for planning for this year’s conference.

Awards and Scholarships: The deadline for awards and scholarships is February 15th. Please consider nominating someone (or yourself) for an award.

I invite you to attend the 2023 Annual Meeting even if you do not have an abstract to present. We share our core values as historians, educators, researchers, and

scholars through networking. The 47th Annual Conference program is multi- disciplinary, international, and bilingual. It is rich in opportunities to learn from and engage with scholars of Hungarian Studies and to explore the wonderful resources and opportunities in Hamden, CT. I hope to see you there!

Here’s wishing you good health, much happiness, and success.

With best wishes,
Klara Papp, President, AHEA klarakpapp@gmail.com

Membership Renewal Drive

As we approach the end of the year and look forward to both the next conference and our association's next elections, it is more vital than ever to renew your membership for 2023.

Only members in good standing can vote in leadership elections;
Your dues enable you to access “Members Only” section of the website;
Your annual contribution to AHEA not only helps fund our conferences, but allows us to support your colleagues through our range of awards and scholarships

􏰀􏰁Click here to renew through a convenient PayPal link! 􏰂􏰃 Member Spotlight

AHEA is a scholarly organization connecting a diverse set of educators, researchers, professionals, independent scholars and academics who come from many walks of life. Each month we highlight the academic and professional career of a different AHEA member.

This month’s featured member is Sarah Lucas, Texas A&M University-Kingsville

Please tell us a little bit about your career arc, particularly how you came to be invested in Fritz Reiner, Béla Bartók, and, generally, Hungarian influences in the Western classical music tradition.

My interest in Hungarian music began in an undergraduate course on twentieth- century compositional techniques. By chance, I was assigned an analysis of a short piece from Bartók’s collection of piano works For Children [Gyermekeknek]. The piece is a transcription of a Hungarian folk tune with an accompaniment composed by Bartók. As I learned more about the piece and about Bartók’s career, I was fascinated by his ethnomusicological work and his synthesis of folk music into his original compositions. I was pursuing a degree in music education with the goal of becoming a band director at the time, but the project sparked an interest in music research that led me to study music history following my graduation. When I started my master’s work in music history at the University of Missouri, I knew I wanted to complete a thesis related to Bartók. I focused my research on the composer-pianist’s reception during his first concert tour of the United States (1927-1928), due in part to the availability of reviews of his performances in numerous historical newspapers. The project brought my attention to Hungarian-American conductor Fritz Reiner’s efforts to perform Bartók’s First Piano Concerto during that tour, with the composer at the piano, after the New York Philharmonic substituted an earlier work at Bartók’s American debut performance. I became curious about further connections between the two and found that numerous sources in Reiner’s estate were of interest to Bartók scholars, such as an unpublished score bearing not only Reiner’s conducting markings, but also Bartók’s corrections. As a doctoral student at the University of Iowa, I completed preliminary research at the Reiner Collections of Correspondence and Scores at Northwestern University, and completed an intensive Hungarian language summer course as part of the SWSEEL Program at Indiana University. With the support of a Fulbright grant, I was fortunate enough to spend a year in Budapest carrying out dissertation research at the Budapest Bartók Archives. In addition to my research activities, I continued Hungarian language courses and participated in symposia at the Hungarian Institute for Musicology. None of these efforts would have been possible without the support of professors, scholars, and other colleagues both in the U.S. and Hungary, and since my graduation in 2018 this community of professionals has been vital to my continued development as a scholar. Since Fall 2019, I have lectured in music history, music theory, and ear training at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, where I have also continued my work on Bartók and Reiner.

How did you find out about AHEA, and what led you to join?

I learned about AHEA and the Hungarian Cultural Studies journal through the Hungarian Fulbright Commission as a 2016-2017 Student Research Award Grantee. When I returned to the U.S. following my research year in Budapest, I hoped to build and maintain connections with other scholars interested in Hungarian topics. I presented a paper on the performance and publication history of Bartók’s Piano

Concerto no. 1 at the AHEA Conference at Cleveland State University in 2018 and enjoyed participating in the meeting and associated cultural events. Several participants there were kind enough to encourage me to continue my involvement in the organization following the conference, and I have been involved in various ways since then.

What impact has your involvement with AHEA made on your career and/or your work?

AHEA has helped me to build connections with scholars interested in Hungarian topics in a variety of disciplines. I have had the chance to present my work at multiple AHEA conferences, and to contribute to the program of the meetings as a co-chair of the Music and Folklore committee. One of my conference presentations was published as a short article in AHEA’s journal Hungarian Cultural Studies, and I was able to publish a book review there, as well. Most recently, I have worked as an associate editor for Hungarian Cultural Studies and look forward to continuing to contribute to the activities of the association.

Tell us, please, about your current project.

I am developing a book project which expands upon my dissertation by providing additional context related to the presentation of Bartók’s orchestral music in the U.S., particularly regarding the network of Hungarian émigrés who promoted Bartók’s works and assisted him during his American years. This book draws on my own earlier research, as well as a significant number of additional documents, including Reiner’s notes made in preparation for rehearsal and performance. Examination of orchestral programming in several American orchestras during the time and of conventions of music criticism in the U.S. will also provide further context for Reiner’s efforts to promote Bartók’s music and the critical responses to these programs. With the support of an American Philosophical Society Franklin Grant, I recently examined these and other documents at Northwestern University’s Reiner Collection, as well as at the former Bartók Records, and the University of South Florida’s Suchoff and Antokoletz Collection of Bartókiana.

Have a New or Upcoming Publication?

We would love to help share news of the impressive and diverse work that AHEA members are doing! If you have a recent book, article, or other scholarly/artistic work you would like your fellow members to know about, send a brief description/promotional blurb and a link to further information to aheanews@gmail.com. Requests will appear in the order in which they were received and may be edited for space.