Sándor Balatoni: In terra pax

In autumn 2022, the Archdiocese of Veszprém launched the national music competition 'In terra Pax', supported by the Veszprém-Balaton 2023 European Capital of Culture programme and announced in the spirit of the Pueri Cantores International Church Music Association. It is a tradition that every meeting of the Pueri Cantores movement is accompanied by a hymn written by renowned composers. The aim of the 'In terra pax' music competition was to prepare a piece for the choral meeting in Veszprém:
- which the choirs can 'take with them',
- The idea was that the choirs could bring something 'to take home' to the Hungarian meeting and to Veszprém,
- which the choirs could perform it later.

The organisers wanted to encourage the creation of music that would express the spirit of the event, the love of music and singing together, and that would be good and enjoyable for young people to sing. 15 pieces of music were submitted. Sándor Balatoni was awarded first prize, Árpád Solti second prize and Bruno Kaposi third prize, as judged by the jury. The winning entries enrich the music collection of the Archdiocese of Veszprém. For the organisers it was a great joy that the 'In terra pax' competition encouraged the composers of Hungary to compose, and that the Catholic Youth Choir Meeting in the spirit of Pueri Cantores enabled the youth to enrich Christian cultural traditions and values through church music, in addition to the community experience of the love of music and singing.

The winning work of the national music competition In terra Pax contributed to enriching the repertoire of youth choral literature, to the Hungarian youth's outlook beyond the borders, to the international organisation's knowledge of Hungarian choral work, to the building and strengthening of national and international musical relations. For the first time in Hungary, the spirit of the Pueri Cantores movement was presented, thus bringing back into international focus Zoltán Kodály's teaching methodology overarching a century,, through which generations have come to know and love music.