Béla Kéler Society

Founded in 2014 in Bardejov, the Béla Kéler Society (BKS) has been dedicated to reviving, researching, and promoting the musical legacy of composer, conductor, and violinist Béla Kéler (1820–1882). Its activities focus on systematically presenting Kéler's work through musicological research, scholarly events, publications, concerts, recordings, and the publication of accessible musical materials for both professionals and the general public.

In recent years, the Society has significantly expanded its research and professional activities. Through ongoing research, it documents performances of Kéler's works around the world and makes historically published scores available in digital form through the Petrucci Music Library. A major milestone came in 2020 with the publication of a digital transcription of the complete score and orchestral parts of Kéler's extensive vocal-instrumental work The Carpathians. This edition contributed to the work's revival and to its broadcast premiere by Slovak Radio in 2021.

The BKS is the main organizer of the Béla Kéler Cultural Summer festival, which presents both Kéler's published compositions and previously unpublished manuscripts. Alongside its concert activities, the Society is also involved in the production of audio recordings. In collaboration with dedicated performers, it has released four albums: Waltzes for Violin and Piano (2016), Piano Miniatures (2017), Complete Songs (2020), and Son of the Homeland (2021).

Publishing and editorial work represents another important area of the Society's activities. In 2022, the SBK published the first comprehensive bilingual biography of the composer, Béla Kéler – Maestro from Bardejov. This was followed in 2024 by Dear Emilia!, presenting Kéler's correspondence with his sister, Emilia Vandráková. In 2026, the Society published Yours Devotedly, Béla Kéler, a new volume presenting Kéler's previously unpublished correspondence with the publishing houses Bote & Bock in Berlin and Schott in Mainz from 1855 to 1882. Together, these three publications form a comprehensive trilogy documenting Kéler's life, correspondence, and professional career. At the same time, the Society prepared a new digital edition of a series of eight Hungarian Dances, which was made freely accessible through the Petrucci Music Library.

The BKS also places considerable emphasis on education and public outreach. It regularly organizes educational programmes and workshops, including Béla Kéler: The Story of the Maestro from Bardejov, which introduce primary and secondary school students to Kéler's life, music, and historical context.

Through its long-term research, editorial, publishing, performance, recording, and educational activities, the Béla Kéler Society contributes to the preservation, rediscovery, and international promotion of the musical heritage of Béla Kéler and his contemporaries.

Béla Kéler

Composer, violinist, and conductor Béla Kéler was born in Bardejov on February 13, 1820. After studies in Levoča, Debrecen and Prešov, he was admitted into the orchestral section of the first violins at the Theater an der Wien in 1845. A year later, he published his first opus number out of the total of 139 published compositions and was continuously improving himself in harmony and counterpoint. In 1854, in the orchestra of Johann Sommer in Berlin, Kéler's career as a conductor started and continued in the following season in the Lanner Orchestra in Vienna. Between 1856 - 1860 Kéler held the position of a bandmaster of the Count Mazzuchelli military band. After a short engagement at the head of his own orchestra in Budapest, he left for Wiesbaden, where he lived and worked for the last twenty years of his life. From 1863, he led the local orchestra of the Second Regiment of the Duke of Nassau, and later also the spa orchestra. Starting in 1873, he was a guest conductor of orchestras in London, Manchester, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Paris, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, Leipzig, and Zurich. His music was at the time equal to the creations by the Strauss dynasty. Béla Kéler bequeathed a large part of his musical estate to his hometown, and today, it is in the collection of the Šariš Museum in Bardejov. The Béla Kéler Society was founded in 2014 to promote Kéler's musical heritage.