Photo credit: Michelle Belliveau
“This is the first Inauguration in which the Hungarian Embassy will join in the celebration and express our willingness to cooperate and appreciate the possibilities that we have in the bilateral relations,” Ambassador Dr. Réka Szemerkényi told Hollywood on the Potomac at a party in honor of Csaba Kael, President and CEO of the MUPA, Palace of the Arts – Hungary’s equivalent of The Kennedy Center – and Csaba’s wife Dr. Krisztina Konrad at the home of Aniko Gaal Schott.
“So on the day after, on the 21st, we are offering a brunch in honor of the incoming administration at our new Embassy building. The new Chancery will be open sometime later in the spring, but that’s like a pre-opening. It’s downtown just four blocks from the White House, so I think it’s really central location. We’re going to have some wonderful light music and nice brunch – nice Hungarian food. In the evening, we will organize a concert also in honor of the incoming administration. I have invited a wonderful pianist from New York who plays a lot in the Carnegie Hall and has won several awards. And then after this concert we will do a kind of a late night happy hour for the younger generation with some good Hungarian wines in the cellar of the new Chancery building.”
Ambassador Szemerkényi and Alexandra de Borchgrave
Dr. Szemerkényi will definitely will be participating to a number of celebrations including the ball that is given to honor the Diplomatic Corps, hosted by the Vice President-Elect on Tuesday night. “I think it’s a very important gesture before the inauguration. This is an event that did not take place at any previous inaugurations, so we very much appreciate that as members of the Diplomatic Corps,” she told us. “There will be also a very nice concert that is organized and offered to us by the incoming administration. We could sense their very kind and friendly gestures in preparing the events for the Inauguration as well. I think the briefing at The State Department by the transition team who is working together with the protocol office has been very helpful in orienting all of us. We are going to be starting the day of the Inauguration at a breakfast in the State Department and then we’ll go together to the Inauguration itself. Afterwards, we are invited to Blair House for lunch and to see the parade. It’s lovely absolutely, it’s fantastic. And then in the evening we’re invited to the special ball offered for the Diplomatic Corps by the Vice President-Elect.”
Ann an Bill Nitze with Aniko Gaal Schott
Prior to introducing the guests of honor, Aniko seduced us with an elegant buffet with lots of Caviar and Champagne.
Dr Krisztina Konrád and Mr. Csaba Kael
“We are very proud of our 11 years old reputation,” said guest of honor Csaba Kael. “We are quite young, but well known not only in Hungary but all over the world. We have various connections with Lincoln Center and I was very lucky because I was in New York at the Center and I met with your President too. We have 1000 programs per year, which is quite a big amount. We are presenting ten kind of genres of the art from the classical music through opera, dance, contemporary dance, folk music, literature, movie and so on. We are lucky because we have eight symphony orchestras, can you imagine?”
Last year we sat down with the former Hungarian Ambassador Gyorgy Szapar and Csaba Kael for his farewell party where they talked about Hungary and the significance of their country in the arts world:
