A long-time leader of the choir Zvon (Bell) in Sereď, Viliam Karmažin, is probably the longest serving conductor in the world. Even aged 90, he stands behind the conducting podium and gives concerts with the choir at various occasions, the TASR newswire wrote.
He celebrated his birthday with a concert in the Sereď Church of St John the Baptist /Sv. Ján Krstiteľ on September 22, though his real birthday is one day later. Karmažin came to Zvon in 1942 and has been working with the choir uninterruptedly for 70 years. So far, the world record in the Guinness Book of World Records for longest conducting career is held by Juan Garces Queralt, a Spaniard who worked as a conductor for 71 years and 100 days. However, Karmažin has practised the trade for even longer.
“Recently, when our home town Leopoldov honoured me and composer Milan Novák by giving us honorary citizenship, my friend Novák confirmed that I was a member of a children’s choir which I conducted in 1936, aged 14. We wrote an application to the headquarters of the Guinness Book of Records where we stated this. Thus, I would beat the Spaniard by five years,” Karmažin said. He added that after all due documents are sent, he could be the world number one for having the longest career as a conductor.
