Parish celebrates international Mass and concert pianist

IC photos by Christine Young

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Endre Hegedus performs a concert for parishioners and visitors following the International Mass at Saint John the Baptist Parish Jan. 17.

DRAPER - Parishioners dressed in traditional clothing from their various countries processed into the international Mass at Saint John the Baptist Parish Jan. 17. Endre Hegedus, an internationally known concert pianist from Budapest, Hungary, played the offertory and communion hymns, and gave a short concert following the Mass.

The intercessory offerings were prayed in seven different languages. In his homily, Msgr. Terence Moore, pastor of St. John the Baptist, tied the Gospel reading of the wedding feast of Cana in with that of a traditional Celtic wedding. He said a Celtic wedding is filled with the abundance of food, wine, music and dancing. They are overflowing with joy and happiness. "We all know we are happier because God is there with us," said Msgr. Moore.

Hegedus credits his brilliance as a concert pianist and his ability to be a professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest as a gift from God. He also travels each year to Japan, where he has been a professor at Sapporo State University since 1989.

"The music taught me that I was given a gift from God and I want to give the magic of the music to other people," said Hegedus.

"He has been an amazing influence on my children, who all play the piano. He is a wonderful man who has brought us all a lot of joy and blessings in music," said Lorrie Merrel, a piano teacher with whom Hegedus stays when he comes to Utah.

Hegedus has been visiting Utah since 1994. Each January, in the middle of the concert season, he comes to rest and to practice, as well as give concerts in Richfield, Provo and the surrounding areas, where he has become well known. Hegedus also gives piano lessons while he is here.

Gerry Garcia, a freshman at Juan Diego Catholic High School who attended the concert, said Hegedus was amazing. Garcia, who began playing the piano when he was 3 years old, was excited to sign up for a piano lesson with Hegedus.

Hegedus, who tours throughout the United States and the world giving concerts, began playing the piano when he was 1 and a half years old and could just barely reach the keys.

"I was always amazed by the beauty of music," he said. "I was born in a depressed, Communist country, and had very few toys. We had a grand piano in our one-room home, and it was my best toy. I listened to the radio and could play what I heard. By the time I started taking piano lessons at age 5, I could play what I heard in any key. My father was more talented that I. He could play all the brass instruments and could play any music he chose. He had no schooling in music, but wrote an orchestration arrangement for me that had no errors."

Hegedus and his wife, Katalin, have three children. His son, Martin, 23, is in his third year of studying to be a priest in Rome. His daughter, Anna, 20, has joined the Third Order of the Kingdom of Christ. His son, Bertrand, 18, lives at home.