Budapest's Finest 2017 summer

HILARY HAHN AT THE SUMMER FESTIVAL

A SUMMER OF COMPETITIONS

SUMMER | 2017

WATER. WONDER. WELCOME.

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DEAR GUEST,

Photo: urbanfoto.hu

Photo: Barna Burger

INTRODUCTION

DEAR READER,

Tourism metrics for the Hungarian capital show a steep upward curve over recent years. Our ever-expanding culinary offerings, the Budapest Summer Festival and the unique events of the “Budapest, the City of Music” event are attracting more visitors with each passing year.

This year will provide a greater push to the capital’s tourism development. All rooms in the larger hotels have already been booked, since the Formula 1 drivers and spectators will stay an additional three days this summer, and because the 17th FINA World Aquatics Championships, the largest sporting event Hungary has ever organised, are taking place in Budapest. Based on visitor numbers, these world championships may also turn out to be the largest domestic event ever held in any sense.

The world championships provide the country with an unmeasurable boost that cannot be bought, for the capital will be enriched by it and the central competition centre, the Danube Arena will be important not only during the event, but for generations to come.

Our responsibility is to show Budapest’s best side and famous hospitality to the world through these sporting and cultural events. I believe that the Hungarian capital will successfully rise to the occasion and receive competitors, spectators and all visitors warmly. Enjoy your stay in Budapest, spread the word about our wonderful city on your return, and come back to visit us again soon!

István Tarlós Mayor of Budapest

Tourism is an industry of the future, not only because analysts say so, but because common sense tells us the same. As one generation reaches their golden age in good health and in greater numbers, the youth grow independent sooner. Both generations find their lives freer, and are therefore more curious about the world around them, which modern communications in turn open up before them. This summer, Budapest will be a highly desirable destination as the Hungarian capital will host sporting events attracting the world’s attention.

In addition to the annual Formula 1 and Red Bull Air Race, the FINA World Aquatics Championships will also be held along the Danube’s banks. A grand new sporting palace has been built for the event, with other events to be held at the city’s most beautiful locations, such as below Buda Castle and in the City Park. The city’s population will grow during this time, and we must do everything we can to ensure our guests and residents remain comfortable and enjoy the unforgettable spectacle that Budapest wishes to provide as the capital of sport and culture during the summer months of 2017. To raise our spirits even further, we will stage a series of programmes and attractions each better than the last. A parade of stars will perform on the Margaret Island Open-Air Stage to fans of classical music, opera, dance and musicals. Our “Budapest, the City of Music” series is famous throughout Europe, as we speak to you through the international language of art.

In 2017, Budapest is the capital of sport and culture!

Make the most of it!

Teodóra Bán Director of Budapest Festival and Tourism Center

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CONTENTS

2017 | Summer

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City of angels

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Live music is powerful

Welcome to the water wonderland 14 Greetings A record-setting year for sport tourism Zipping around on land and through the air

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Competitions in concert

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City Guide

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The BartĂłk World Competition and Festival 40 Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi 42 The Solti International Conducting Competition 44

In pursuit of Stradivari Young wines Graphic designer Eszter Laki Émile in Buda Aria Hotel Budapest, the city of Music Programme corner

48 50 54 56 58 60 62

Cover photo: The Danube Arena on the bank of the Danube.

To see the location on the map, simply scan the QR code with your smartphone.

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Hilary Hahn - interview 28 The Budapest Summer Festival 32 SZIGET turns 25 36

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Young wines

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From industrial zone to commercial centre

Entertainment under the stars 26

FINA BUDAPEST 2017

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City of angels

HE ADER

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Photo: Istvรกn Prรกczky

City of angels The dynamic District XIII Readers can discover the sustainable solutions and widespread urban renewal that is currently taking place between the Margaret and Árpád Bridges.

District XIII is a typical example of the industrial development and bourgeois culture that arose 150 years ago as a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise.

As elegant residential buildings were constructed at the turn of the 20th century in the district’s inner part, the outer part known as Angyalföld became one of Budapest’s industrial centres.

But like so many other places, District XIII has also been constantly changing, with the latest developments detailed over the following pages.

The Lehel Market Hall is a favourite shopping destination among Budapesters.

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FROM INDUSTRIAL ZONE TO COMMERCIAL CENTRE Text: András Oláh Photos: István Práczky

A cultural institution operates inside an industrial building located alongside the row of office buildings erected near the Pest end of the Árpád Bridge

Over the past 150 years the district bordering downtown Budapest at its northern end developed from seemingly nothing into Hungary’s most vital machine industry centre, while in recent decades commerce, business and the services sector have become the engines that drive it.

Owing to the Danube’s proximity, great transport links and infrastructure, this dynamically developing district has also become a popular place to live.

A CENTURY AND A HALF OF REINVENTION

The stage at the Budapest Jazz Club.

Photo: bjc.hu

Today’s District XIII has a rich history to draw upon. A discovery of gold artefacts dating to thousands of years earlier was called the Angyalföld Treasure, as Celtic traces and the remains of a Roman garrison were also uncovered. In terms of nature, the dense, marshy area along the Danube was a favoured area for the critically endangered beluga (viza in Hungarian), which provided the local area with its name Vizafogó.

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District XIII’s southern section Újlipótváros is an organic extension of Downtown’s bourgeois, political, administrative and commercial quarter. It is bounded by Szent István Boulevard constructed in 1896, which links

CIT Y OF ANGEL S Váci Road begins at Nyugati Railway Station, from which it goes north for 12 kilometres to the city limits

Margaret Island with the Nyugati Railway Station, on which one of Europe’s busiest tram lines operates. The first railway line in Hungary that began at Nyugati Station also marked the district’s eastern border. Returning to the boulevard, one can discover the Vígszínház comedy theatre’s baroque edifice, which today is not only the city’s longest continuously operating independent theatre building, but also one of the modern middle class’ storied and popular institutions.

The Vígszinház Theatre is a fine example of the theatre architecture of the AustroHungarian Empire

Next door to the Vígszínház is the Kino Café, which opened its doors in 1911 as one of Budapest’s earliest cinemas. The Budapest Jazz Club moved into a disused cinema nearby in Hollán Ernô Street in 2012, which as one of the most prestigious venues for the genre hosts live concerts and late night jam sessions each night. In addition to leading Hungarian artists, the venue has also hosted international musicians such as Kurt Elling, Chris Potter, Mike Stern, Mark Turner and the Yellowjackets. One of Újlipótváros’s cultural treasures is the Pinball Museum located off the beaten track in Radnóti Miklós Street.

With over 130 playable machines dating from the 19th century to the present, it contains one of Europe’s largest collections.

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Saint Stephen Park with the Raoul Wallenberg memorial

The RaM Colosseum

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CAFÉS AND GREENERY The food factories built in the late 19th century on the territory of today’s Újlipotváros were soon pushed out beyond Váci Road. The current façade of inner Újlipotváros developed in their place during the 1920s and 30s, such as the buildings designed in the art deco and Bauhaus styles, which surround spacious gardens. The quarter’s main street is Pozsonyi Road. Tree-lined and adorned with cafes, confectionaries and restaurants, a few minutes’ walk along this street will take you to Saint Stephen Park, the heart of Újlipotváros, which draws visitors and families from across the city. At the park a statue and nearby plaque preserve the memory of the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. Together with Swiss ambassador Carl Lutz and Italian businessman Giorgio

Perlasca (who posed as the Spanish ambassador), Wallenberg saved thousands of Jewish lives at the end of World War II. Industrial facilities withdrew from Újlipótváros in the latter half of the 20th century. Following the housing estates built in the 1970s, at the turn of the millennium numerous modern building complexes were also constructed, becoming one of the favoured areas for Budapest’s elite. Of the former industrial complexes, only the site of the Budapest Electrical Works remains on the edge of Újlipótváros at the corner of Dráva Street and Váci Road. The listed building on the site is where the city’s electricity was first provided from in 1893. This modernised area also built a cultural facility in 2011, the Miklós Radnóti Cultural Centre, also known as the RaM Colosseum in Kárpát Street.

CIT Y OF ANGEL S The Dunapark Café on the corner of Saint Stephen Park is the most elegant place to meet on Pozsonyi Road

The Cézár House preserved the gates to the Budapest Electrical Works’ generator

SPORTING FACILITIES FOR PROFESSIONALS AND AMATEURS The façades of Vizafogó located north of Újlipótváros were defined by industrial facilities for a long time as well, which gradually closed down in the latter 20th century.

This area has also long been known for its sporting and relaxation traditions. Next to the Riverside apartment and Riverloft office buildings, the Danube Embankment Sporting Complex owned by the Budapest Electrical Works is located on the site of the former gasworks. The Dagály Baths built after World War II can be found just a little further north. The Danube Arena, erected for the 2017 FINA World Aquatics Championships, contains two Olympic-sized swimming pools and is located on the Dagály site. The nearby Árpád Bridge, which opened in 1950, is an extension of the Hungária Ring Boulevard and crosses to Óbuda over the northern tip of Margaret Island.

The Danube Arena built on the site of the Dagály Baths is the emblematic building of the 2017 World Aquatics Championships

The Marina Part residential complex on the bank of the Danube

The Láng Machine Factory located at the northern part of Vizafogó was known for its power machines, turbines and diesel motors. The storied company was purchased by Alstom, and inside the listed building complex the ExperiDance Company created an open-air performance venue under the name Fesztiváludvar. Behind the complex, on an earlier industrial tract alongside the river, a luxury real estate development was built from the mid-2000s onwards. With views onto the river, the island and the Buda Hills, the Marina Part Residential Park also has a yacht dock, with the next phase of the development set to be the Marina Bay. 9

Photo: iroda.hu

ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY TECHNOLOGY

The Klapka House of Services will be the centre of a residential estate

Photo: epiteszforum.hu

The country’s first passive apartment building with 100 flats was opened in Angyalföld

The third area of District XIII is at once its largest, located between Váci Road and the railway line, which from the early 20th century was where local factory workers lived. The infamous suburban barracks located here were replaced by housing estates, with the former civil servants’ neighbourhood near the district’s borders possessing a suburban, family environment. With its green parks, good infrastructure and transportation links, in 2015 this area saw the construction of the country’s largest passive apartment building, in which the heating for 100 flats is supplied through environmentally-friendly means.

The Mesekert (Story Garden) Preschool located on the corner of Kassák Lajos and Dévai streets was opened in 2016, and provides schooling for 400 children in 16 groups. The institution is Hungary’s largest and the most modern of its type, and exclusively uses environmentally-friendly and passive technology for its operations, while its filtered air is pollen and allergy-free. The development took children’s needs into consideration and it blends well with its surroundings. In the heart of this area the local council’s self-financed development, the Klapka House of Services is planned for completion in 2018. The building, intended to be a local centre, will house commercial spaces on its first two levels while the three levels above will contain 33 new flats, which will be surrounded by parkland.

Photo: Bujnovszky Tamás

The interior space of the Mesekert Preschool

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CIT Y OF ANGEL S

Váci Road, which runs from Nyugati Square north to the city limits plays a central role in transportation. Trams ran along it from the early 1900s, supplanted by the M3 metro from 1990.

Despite the reduction of factories, it has remained one of the city’s most important and busiest roads, and since the 2000s Váci Road and its surroundings have been the most desirable location for the premium office market. Nearly a quarter of Budapest’s office space and half of its newly built office buildings are located here, which has made District XIII a new commercial centre. On the

Vizafogó side of the Árpád Göncz City Centre, located at the intersection of Róbert Károly Boulevard and Váci Road and named after Hungary’s first post-communist president, HB Reavis is undertaking a large-scale development over three-hectares that will contain important service functions. The Europe and Duna Towers were built on the Pest end of the Árpád Bridge and are indeed impressive from a distance and from up close. The first is owned by Erste Bank, while the latter contains offices for MetLife, Huawei, Reader’s Digest and IBM.

Váci Road is the city’s office block corridor, which expands yearly by approximately 50,000 square metres

The two office towers at the Pest end of Árpád Bridge serve as a symbolic gate to Angyalföld

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REHABILITATION EVERYWHERE The Angyalföld side of the Árpád Göncz City Centre provides the home of numerous national and municipal administrative bodies, such as the Police Headquarters, which contains the headquarters for the National and Budapest Police, as well as the Budapest City Archives, which moved to the location in 2004. One of Angyalföld’s important cultural institutions is the Attila József Theatre, which has provided local audiences with entertainment for 60 years.

South on Váci Road at Lehel Square, Lehel Street branches off and continues to become Béke Road, which connects Downtown with Újpest. Lehel Square’s two defining building are the neo-Romanesque Saint Margaret Church consecrated in 1933 and the Lehel Market, which opened in 2002.

The latter, due to the open-air market that previously occupied the site, features cheap prices and a bazaar atmosphere that houses a modern market, although its architectural solutions are not without controversy.

The ultra-modern National Police Headquarters near the Pest end of the Árpád Bridge.

Rendering: Narmer Architectural Studio

The areas alongside the railway are still in need of rehabilitation, with one part of the former hospital complex on Szabolcs Street being an example for renewal: this site will see the development of the National Museum Restoration and Warehouse Centre as part of the development of the museum quarter in the City Park, where modem warehouses and restoration workshops will serve the needs of the Museum of

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The design for the massive building complex belonging to the National Museum Restoration and Storage Centre.

CIT Y OF ANGEL S The Lehel Market Hall with its playfully extravagant design.

Fine Arts and the Museum of Ethnography, while the art history research institute and visitor centre will also receive space in the buildings.

The neo-gothic Saint László Parish Church consecrated in 1929 on Béke Square is located near the Fáy Street Stadium.

Vasas Sport Club, who participate in the top division and are Angyalföld’s oldest football club play their home matches there.

An area of District XIII still awaiting discovery is the northern part of Angyalföld near the Danube known as Népsziget

(People’s Island) as well as the Újpest Bay that surrounds it.

The first modern shopping centre in Budapest opened its doors in the 1990s on the former site of the Ganz Danubius Ship and Crane Factory at the Gyöngyösi Street metro station. Known as the Duna Pláza, it contains a movie theatre complex and is located in the vicinity of the Marina Part. If plans for a road link parallel to the railway bridge spanning the Danube are realised, then the area’s further development would be most certainly assured.

The contours of the Duna Pláza shopping centre that opened in 1996.

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14 Photo: MTI / Zoltán Máthé

HE ADER

Welcome to a water wonderland This summer Hungary will warmly welcome the world with festive cheer as it hosts sporting events in the air, on land and in the water.

The most significant, the FINA World Aquatics Championships, will take place primarily at the new Danube Arena, located in the previously introduced District XIII. However, the City Park and Danube banks, popular with tourists and locals alike, will also be the site of several events.

In addition to aquatic sports, this summer Budapest will once again be dazzled by the aerial acrobatics of the Red Bull Air Race, while the annual Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix’s programme will be extended from three to five days.

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Photo: Hercegfalvi Zoltán

Dear Reader, Hungary’s hosting of the 17th FINA World Aquatics Championships in July 2017 is something we can all take pride in. This competition is a milestone for the country, for Hungarian aquatic sports and sport enthusiasts. This is a massive honour as this sporting event will be the largest the country has ever hosted.

The event honours the Saint Stephen Award-winning Krisztina Egerszegi and three-time FINA female swimmer of the year Katinka Hosszú, but let us also not overlook László Cseh or Dániel Gyurta. Hungary has been represented by exceptionally talented, world-class athletes on countless occasions at top events around the globe, with notable stars also including the water polo golden team of the 1950s and 60s, as well as Dénes Kemény and his team. As a fitting reward for these successes, Hungary now has the honour of hosting this prestigious event in 2017.

Sport imparts our youth with many excellent values, but what does it really teach us? Sport teaches us why it is important to have goals.

“Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers. Sport has the power to change the world.”

(Nelson Mandela)

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When Mexico withdrew from hosting the competition, Hungary stepped in. By agreeing to organise this competition, Hungary has found itself at the heart of the world of aquatic sports. It was no small feat that the preparation work performed by others over six years could be completed in two in Budapest and Balatonfüred. I can only heap praise upon the Hungarian companies whose hard work resulted in the Danube Arena being completed on schedule. This facility has provided thousands of Hungarian experts with the opportunity to participate in such a prestigious project.

Dear reader, I believe that I can state without any need to qualify my thoughts that the Hungarian people have always excelled at aquatic sports. We cannot express our gratitude enough to our former greats and best current talent.

Hungary has excellent aquatic attributes. The Danube, Tisza and the great number of rivers, streams and brooks all form a unit. They are like a circulatory system that symbolises Hungarians’ love of water. To the competitors, I wish them much success and positive experiences during their stay. And to all spectators, a wonderful atmosphere in which to cheer on their favourite athletes.

Sándor Balogh Bp2017 Nonprofit Kft. Deputy Managing Director Director of Finance

Design elements: © Bp2017 Nonprofit Kft.

W ELCOME TO A WATER WONDERL AND

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A RECORD-SETTING YEAR FOR SPORT TOURISM Text: Gábor Ambrus

Sport tourism in Hungary is quite certain to set a new record this summer, and Budapest’s hotels should expect to operate at capacity. In addition to the annual Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix and Red Bull Air Race, from 14-30 July the Hungarian capital will host the largest sporting event it ever has, the FINA World Aquatics Championships featuring swimming, diving, high diving, open water swimming, synchronized swimming, and water polo.

STEPPING IN TO SAVE THE DAY The rights to host the 2017 World Championships were originally won by Guadalajara, Mexico in the summer of 2011. Two years later, Budapest bid to host the 2019 or 2011 championships, with Budapest winning the rights to the latter games. On 18 February 2015, however, citing financial reasons Mexico withdrew from hosting the championships in Guadalajara.

At that time, Budapest notified FINA that although the preparation time would be exceptionally short, including the construction of a new swimming complex and the required infrastructural developments, they would nonetheless be honoured to “step in” to take over as hosts of the 2017 championships.

Photo: MTI / Zoltán Balogh

The drawing power of the 17th FINA World Championships cannot be measured. It is no exaggeration to state that at the end of July the world will focus for two weeks on Budapest (and Balatonfüred where the open water events will be held). Never before has the country hosted a sporting event of this calibre and prestige, as more than 200 nations with more than 2,500 athletes will arrive, and organisers expect 85,000 international guests. Budapest can show its best side to the world, as the high dive will be held at Batthyány Square, which will feature the Hungarian parliament in the background. According to organisers, the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan were watched by 5 billion people over 16 days, with viewership statistics for the Budapest event expected to be similar.

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Photo: Gergely Besenyei

W ELCOME TO A WATER WONDERL AND

THE STORY OF THE DANUBE ARENA When Hungary announced that it was bidding for (at the time) the 2021 World Championships, it was already decided that a new roofed swimming complex would be built adjacent to the Dagály Baths in Budapest. The foundational stone was laid on 15 May 2015 by the prime minister, the FINA president and Budapest Mayor István Tarlós, less than 800 days before the start of the World Championships.

Wholly designed and built by Hungarians, the swimming complex was completed on 21 February 2017. Named the Danube Arena, members of the American Swimming Association and the organising committee of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics praised it as one of the most modern swimming palaces in the world.

Fundamentally, the Danube Arena consists of two parts: a primary structure with capacity for 6,000 and additional temporary stands and facilities built specifically for the aquatics championships. Consequently, during the championships, there will be room for more than 15,000 spectators. The swimming competitions will be held from 23-30 July and will feature 42 events.

At the same time as the arena was built, the city infrastructure surrounding the complex was also renovated.

ADDITIONAL SITES The only location of the 2017 World Aquatics Championships to not be held in the capital is Balatonfüred, the most beautiful city on Lake Balaton where the open water competitions (1516 and 17-21 July) will be held. The course was built near the Tagore promenade at the port, where spectators can see not only the race but also the Tihany peninsula. Open water swimming became part of the world championships in 1991, with

Transportation Photo: Balázs Czizik

Budapest received a guarantee of support from the government, and on 11 March 2015 in Lausanne Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and FINA President Julio C. Maglione signed the agreement for Budapest to host the 2017 World Aquatics Championships.

For those holding tickets to world championship events, Hungarian State Railways will offer a 50 percent discount to those travelling to the events between Budapest and Balatonfüred if they buy a return ticket. MAHART PassNave will ensure 8 boats and 10 piers for water transportation, since the majority of the events will be on the Danube’s banks. The boat route between Fővám Square and the Danube Arena will stop at each pier along the way, with an express service running between Müpa Budapest and the Danube Arena.

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Látványterv: © Bp2017 Nonprofit Kft.

The City Park in Pest will provide a beautiful backdrop to the synchronised swimming events

One of the most impressive sites for this summer’s world championships will the City Park lake, which will host the synchronised swimming events (14-22 July). This will be an internationally Látványterv: © Bp2017 Nonprofit Kft.

Balatonfüred will host the open water events

medals awarded for men and women in the 5K, 10K and 25K events, as well as a 5K team event.

For Hungarians, the first significant achievement was by Rita Kovács, who won silver at the 1994 World Championships, with Éva Risztov’s gold at the London Olympics being the greatest.

Water polo games will be held on Margaret Island at the Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium (16-29 July) in the facility that even international players call the sport’s Mecca. The covered swimming pool was built in 1930 according to plans by the first Hungarian Olympic champion Alfréd Hajós. Ever since, the building has been further developed on numerous occasions, such as prior to the 2006 European Aquatics Championships when a new large pool was added, which was named after the famous trainer Tamás Széchy.

In the history of water polo world championships, the Hungarian national team has won gold three times and the women’s team twice.

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Photo: fina-budapest2017.com

Photo: István Práczky

W ELCOME TO A WATER WONDERL AND

The water polo tournament will be held in the Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium on Margaret Island

unique event, for it is without precedent for the synchronised swimming pool to be erected in an open-air setting. For this expression of artistry, not only will the music but the beautiful surroundings will also provide a stunning setting, with the imposing Vajdahunyad Castle providing the immediate background. Synchronised swimming has been part of the world championships since 1973 in solo, pairs or team events, with men able to compete in mixed pairs events since 2015.

High diving has been part of the programme since 2013, which previously existed as cliff diving in various extreme sports world cups. Organisers have always placed great emphasis on placing the dives (27 metres for men and 20 metres for women) in surroundings that would provide spectators with an extraordinary experience. Two years earlier at the Kazan championships, the most beautiful building in Tatarstan’s capital, the Agricultural Palace provided the backdrop. For Budapest, the tower erected at Batthyány Square will look onto the Parliament and Chain Bridge to provide an even more stunning view. The event will close the championships from 28-30 July.

MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – FOR THE FOREVER YOUNG Following the 17th FINA World Aquatics Championships from 7-20 August, Budapest and Balatonfüred will host the Master’s World Aquatics Championships, in which competitors can be even 100 years old. Several Hungarian victories are expected, for example in water polo where the Millennium team led by former national team coach Dénes Kemény will feature threetime Olympic champions Tibor Benedek, Péter Biros, Tamás Kásás, Gergely Kiss, Tamás Molnár and Zoltán Szécsi. Also on the team will be two-time Olympic gold-winning Rajmund Fodor, István Gergely, Barnabás Steinmetz, Tamás Varga and Attila Vári, as well as Sydney Olympic gold medal winners Tamás Märcz, Bulcsú Székely and Zsolt Varga. Their participation indicates that the Budapest senior water polo competition may be the most prestigious ever held.

For Spectators: During the 17th FINA and Master’s World Championships, additional programmes will be organised in the vicinity of the Danube Arena and the Hajós National Swimming Stadium for spectators at the FINA Markets. In addition to providing a viewing location for the sporting events, these sites will also host cultural programmes before and after the events.

Both FINA Market locations on Margaret Island and at the Danube Arena will be free to the public, with the Margaret Island site open daily from 11am to 10pm, and the Danube Arena market open daily according to when competitions are held.

The Master’s World Championships will feature even more participants than the “regular” championships, with 15,000 athletes expected to attend. The retired athletes who are still active in civilian life will naturally be accompanied by their families, therefore the event will consist of more than 25,000 people. From the Hungarian side 750 veteran swimmers are preparing, among them the 96-year-old Béla Bánki Horváth, as well as Attila Czene, the gold medal winner in the 200m individual medley at the Atlanta Games.

www.fina-budapest2017.com

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ZIPPING AROUND ON LAND AND THROUGH THE AIR Text: Gábor Ambrus

International guests arriving to Budapest for the annual Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix are enough to fill the capital’s larger and more prominent hotels, but this year the smaller hotels and apartments will likely also be booked out, for the race on 30 July will be held at the same time as the FINA World Aquatics Championships. Additionally, the F1 race is expected to draw a record audience, since the programme will be complemented by a testing programme on the days following the big event.

FORMULA 1: FIVE DAYS OF EVENTS INSTEAD OF THREE

Photos: Somay Márk / Red Bull Content Pool

Those who buy tickets to this year’s Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix will receive a two-for-one deal. With their tickets, spectators can watch not only the race on 30 July, but they can also visit the Hungaroring on the following two days which will become a collective test site for the first time in its history. On 1-2 August the entire F1 field will practice in Mogyoród for the remaining season and for 2018 as well.

These testing sessions can also be visited with day tickets.

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W ELCOME TO A WATER WONDERL AND

Photo: Balázs Csizik

Among F1’s star drivers, this spring two will also race around Budapest’s streets.

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull’s driver is a fan of Budapest. As he said, it’s not just the racing that draws him to the city: “I have tonnes of fans here, who always support me at the Hungaroring.”

Ricciardo also drove in the Hungarian Grand Prix three years ago when he was the first to cross the finish line. The Australian driver would like to repeat the feat this year: “I’m not superstitious, but if it comes through, I’ll be very happy, and I’m working on it,” he revealed.

Valtteri Bottas, who has also raced the Grand Prix, said: “I’m always happy to come to Hungary, and especially this time, since I’m in the hunt for victory.” The 27-year-old driver for Mercedes prefers the calm and quiet that is found at dawn in Budapest, and if possible, he’s happy to go for a run along the Danube.

Formula 1 began the 2017 season with a new majority owner, which in the interest of more spectacular and exciting races changed a number of regulations. The teams planned new and faster vehicles in response, as the cars on the whole became larger as the weight limit was raised from 702 to 722 kg. The amount of fuel that can be used was also raised by 5% from 100 kg to 105 kg.

Last year the top layer of the asphalt at the Hungaroring was replaced, with the costs borne

by Hungaroring Sport Zrt. under the direc-

tion of Zsolt Gyulay, as a result of the company earning profits five of the previous six years.

This work was important in terms of extending the Hungarian Grand Prix’s contract, which currently will be part of the Formula 1 season through 2026.

Prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix on 2830 July, on 16-18 June the course will host the Hungarian stage of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, and from 26-28 August the European Truck Racing Championships. The latter is popular among local fans because they can root for local driver Norbert Kiss, the two-time European champion.

Getting ready for the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix

Photo: Mark Thompson

Daniel Ricciardo always enjoys returning to Budapest

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Photo: Andreas Schaad / Red Bull Content Pool

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Péter Besenyei Péter Besenyei is truly a legendary pilot, who played an important role in the foundation of the Red Bull Air Race.

In addition to contributing to the concept’s development, he tested the air gate technology and developed the planes as well. A ten-time Hungarian champion, he won world and European championships, as well as a world cup. Besenyei has also worked as a flight instructor and airline test pilot.

As a Hungarian sport role model, he holds lectures and exhibitions at schools, universities and various events.

Besenyei has also received the Biancotto Award, the highest honour an aerobatic pilot can receive.

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THE RED BULL AIR RACE: ONE OF THE FASTEST IN THE WORLD Although Péter Besenyei’s retirement means there’s no Hungarian pilot in the competition, tens of thousands will still gather on the Danube’s embankments on 1-2 July for the Red Bull Air Race. From the United Arab Emirates and Japan to the United States millions of fans follow the world’s best racers in excitement, who with their speed, precision and knowhow dazzle the crowds. With their lightweight aircraft, the pilots can reach speeds up to 370 km/h as they fly a slalom course 25 metres above the river, experiencing up to 10 g’s of acceleration. The especially spectacular series launched in 2003 has officially been a world championship since 2005, with the 75th race held this February in Abu Dhabi. In its more than 10 years the Red Bull Air Race has become the pinnacle of air racing. Two years ago the Challenger Cup was launched as part of it, in which new pilots can also test and show off their abilities.

The 2017 series of the Red Bull Air Race consists of eight races, with the Budapest race being the fourth. As usual the pilots will race above the Danube before the Parliament between the Chain and Margaret Bridges. Last year Péter Besenyei, one of the world championship’s founders, stepped out of retirement for an exhibition show. During his career the Hungarian pilot notched eight victories into his belt in the Red Bull Air Race, reaching the podium 20 times, five times at the end of the season, and winning the championship in 2003.

K ULTÚR ÁK BUDAPE STI R ANDE V ÚJA

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Photo: Teodรณra Bรกn

HE ADER

Entertainment under the stars Following the sporting events, spend the summer evenings under the stars, being delighted by the myriad of outdoor entertainment opportunities on offer.

Be it classical music, opera, pop music, ballet, revues or jazz, world stars representing the most unique of genres will perform on the Margaret Island Open-Air Stage, whose enchanting surroundings are hard to match. Even if Berlin’s Waldbühne is surrounded by a forest, it is not hugged by the blue Danube as Margaret Island is.

The magic of the Sziget Festival (in addition to the performers) is also enhanced by Óbuda Island’s location.

It is impossible to be bored in Budapest.

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“LIVE MUSIC IS POWERFUL” Hilary Hahn, the Summer Festival’s star performer

Photo: Sam Jones

Text: András Oláh

Hilary Hahn has been nicknamed the Ice Queen, but this is likely to have been the invention of a marketer, since one would have to search far and wide to find someone more open, empathetic and cooperative in international cultural life. She exchanges postcards with elementary school children, recounts her experiences on her website, and permits herself subtle irony in her notes. Although sparing with respect to information on her personal life, she announced the birth of her daughter on music forums in 2015. But Zelda is not the only baby to enjoy Hahn’s music, she also plays short concerts for other children.

Hahn is absolutely not bothered if they crawl around, eat or cry out.

What is important is that the joy of playing the violin reaches them.

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How did you decide to pick up the violin at the tender age of three? What kind of musical environment were you brought up in? Why did you choose the violin?

At home, my parents had the radio on constantly, to the classical music station. My father sang in a choir in his free time, so he practiced at home every day. We also had a record player and a small collection of classical LPs, which were brought out for special occasions. There was no family precedent of professional musicians, though, and no one had seriously studied music as part of their education.

Violin was a coincidence: on a walk with my father one day, we saw a sign advertising, “Music Lessons for 4 Year Olds”. It turned out there was a music school right down the street! The program was Suzuki, so I immediately had musical classmates as soon as I started my lessons. It was a really good way to start, and then I met a wonderful Russian teacher who had just emigrated from St. Petersburg. She really set me on my path towards what I do now.

Photo: Peter Miller

ENTERTAINMENT UNDER THE STARS

From Bach to Stravinsky you have played practically all of the great pieces of the classical canon. Do you have a favorite classical composer, piece or period? If yes, why? On what basis do you decide what pieces to perform with an orchestra?

The choice is collaborative. The repertoire has to work for the presenter, program, orchestra, conductor, and me!

Sometimes it is a clear decision; other times, it is logistically influenced.

It is my job to always inhabit the music I am playing by being 100 percent convinced of its worth and emotional message. In a way, it’s not my place to have favorites, since I am trying to create favorite experiences for the audience, and that takes active engagement and deep consideration rather than passive enjoyment. Interestingly, on any given day, certain pieces feel physically more natural than others.

That gives me more to work with on the musical side, this feeling of unpredictable, very real tension and resolution.

Apart from the core repertoire, you focus a lot on contemporary music, the best example of which is your 2013 Grammy-winning album In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores, where 26 pieces were written according to your request and the 27th piece was chosen from 400 entries submitted to a public competition. Since your days in conservatory you have a long and fruitful collaboration with the composer Jennifer Higdon. How did you become so involved with contemporary music?

How does working with composers inspire you?

Today’s contemporary music is tomorrow’s classic repertoire. I play music from so many eras and locations that I have come to see music history as one smooth continuum, from the ancient music we will never hear because it wasn’t written down, to the music we won’t get to hear because it is waiting to be written far in the future. I take pride in participating actively in things that are new to me, 29

30 Photo: hilaryhahn.com

ENTERTAINMENT UNDER THE STARS whether that is reexamining how I play a piece that everybody knows or asking composers to write pieces that start to fill what I perceive to be a gap in the repertoire. Working with living composers has opened my eyes to the vast variety of motivations, inspiration, and methods that lead to written music, and that has liberated my interpretive-decision-making process for older works.

What kind of memories (good or bad, strange or funny) do you have about Budapest? Is it true, that you made your international debut here in 1994 (with Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra)?

I believe this is the first time you will perform with the Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra. How do you connect with a new conductor and musicians on occasions like this?

I find Hungarian artists to be imaginative, thoughtful, humorous, and seriously intellectual. It’s a unique combination of traits that’s both charming and inspiring.

There’s never a lot of time to rehearse when working with [an] orchestra. I arrive knowing what I want to accomplish and prepared to be flexible with certain aspects of the interpretation. I have a lot of experience in soloist situations, and there are identifiable patterns that play out, so I know how to contribute my best to diverse situations.

9 June 2017 (Friday) 8 pm www.szabadter.hu Season Opening Concert with The Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Starring: Hilary Hahn A Jubilee Evening of Mendelssohn

Yes, that was the first time I traveled outside of the United States. I remember trying to sleep on that overnight flight but being too excited to rest. I had international friends and You keep as much of a close relationship with your au- an international context growing up, but I wondered what dience as possible. You've it would be like to be the written a blog on touring, foreigner where everyone given useful advice in was speaking a language I YouTube videos on playdidn’t understand. Everying the violin, share fan one was so warm and welart and you're also (incoming. I remember that ter)active on social methe chocolate pudding at dia and give a lot of free the canteen during orchescommunity concerts outtra break was delicious. side concert halls. It feels None of the architecture more real and honest was familiar to me; it’s kind than sheer publicity, but of mind blowing to be in what does this connection a place where you don’t to the audience mean to recognize anything, your you? surroundings are full of history, and yet you’re exIt is very genuine. I love periencing personal firsts how music brings people nearly every minute. The together. I get a lot of enculture was very different, ergy and reward from the too. Every menu offered contact with the audience goulash, which I hadn’t and with young violin stuheard of before. dents. I see directly that evI saw my first football eryone in the hall, whether match when the Budapest onstage or in the audience, Hilary Hahn’s Grammy-winning album, on which she performs works specifically Festival Orchestra went to written for her by contemporary composers is going through their own Ivan Fischer’s village house personal struggles and vicand they broke into two tories. Knowing my audience helps me to stay motivated on teams and played each other. Ivan was right in the middle days when I have less energy; I am reminded that every con- of it. The concertmaster bloodied his arm but didn’t care. It cert is very special to at least one concertgoer, because I hear was thrilling! Afterwards, there was a big pot of homemade their stories and see how much they look forward to these goulash for everyone. This was when low-fat was a big diet events. There’s a difference between telling yourself abstract- trend in America - people would cut the fat off meat and leave ly to do your best every time you step on stage and knowing it on their plates - so I didn’t know what to do with the fatty that someone is there for their birthday present, or they start- piece of meat placed in my bowl and was shocked when the ed playing violin because they went to your concert as a kid. Hungarians ate theirs!

I’ve “been there” as an audience member myself, so I relate.

Live music is powerful. When I share it, I think a lot about Have you had encounters with Hungarian artists or works how I would most enjoy it as a listener. that you hold dear or feel worth mentioning?

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Photo: István Práczky

A PARADE OF STARS FOR THE BUDAPEST SUMMER FESTIVAL The Margaret Island Open-Air Stage will celebrate music, dance and other genres of the stage with its diverse programme series this summer. International stars from all backgrounds will sing Gershwin’s hits along with pop, soul, jazz, and classical opera performances, including the world premiere of an open-air musical surrounded by the venue’s lush natural environment.

Text: Zsuzsa Mátraházi Il trovatore, Doctor Zhivago, Evita, Porgy and Bess, as well as the Béjart Ballet, the Hot Sardines, the Soweto Gospel Choir and Y’Akoto will all take the stage this season at the Margaret Island Open-Air Stage.

The summer series will launch on 9 June with a concert put together in honour of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, for which the celebrity guest will be the American violin virtuoso Hilary Hahn.

Mendelssohn’s works will be performed, among them his Symphony No. 5, known as the Reformation, by the Hungarian National Philharmonic conducted by Zsolt Hamar. The concert will be dedicated by the musicians and organisers in memory of two-time Kossuth Prize-winning conductor Zoltán Kocsis, who was the Philharmonic’s music director until his unfortunate passing last year.

This year, the series of world premieres will be opened on 16 June by a folk dance performance evoking the era of the AustroHungarian Empire. The Margaret Island Open-Air Stage, together with the Duna Art Ensemble and the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble, have created a spectacular production. The romantic-classical performance assembled by director-cho-

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reographer János Mucsi evokes not only the world of aristocratic ballrooms, which the work’s name The Monarchy’s Ball suggests, but it also revives the multi-ethnic folk and dance traditions of the Carpathian basin.

Gershwin’s heirs are fortunately not as insistent when it comes to casting as the composer himself was when it came to the premiere of Porgy and Bess. In the interests of authenticity, Gershwin wanted singers who had not been fully trained to perform his unique jazz opera, the music of which was written to make it appear as if the performers are improvising.

Even the language was written with a unique effect in mind. The text does not use refined English, nor typically African American speaking styles, instead creating its own folky hybrid. The libretto was constructed around DuBose Heyward’s novella, which the author based upon the story of the disabled Samuel Smalls.

Porgy and Bess was already performed at the Erkel Theatre in 1970, but, despite its popularity, the piece was removed from the programme

ENTERTAINMENT UNDER THE STARS as the company could not fulfil the demands of Gershwin’s heir, namely that the black roles be performed by AfricanAmerican singers. This year, on 23 and 25 June, in combination with a screening, Gershwin’s work will be performed in the format of a symphony concert. The work focuses on race and gender, the individual and collective tragedies of oppression, as well as the struggle against tyranny, all of which remain relevant issues to this day. Famous singers from American opera houses have been invited to the OpenAir Stage to perform in the opera. Bess will be performed

by Laquita Mitchell, while Porgy’s artistically and physically demanding role will be portrayed by Kenneth Overton.

Gershwin, who had Russian ancestry and worked to unite jazz and classical music, became a musician by accident when he made the piano bought for his brother his own.

Boris Pasternak, who was born to a painter father and pianist mother in Moscow, began with music before his career took him into literature. His famous novel Doctor Zhivago provides a panorama of Russian history from 1903-1929. His manuscript, which was secretly taken abroad, topped the New York Times bestseller list for 26 weeks. Pasternak received the Nobel Prize in 1958, but he refused it due to pressure from the Communist Party. The novel was only published in the Soviet Union 20 years after the film version became a worldwide hit. The musical version assembled with Lucy Simon’s music premiered in California in 2006, and the first Eastern European performance took place last December in the National Theatre of Gyôr. The title role is a man swept by fate through historical events beyond his control.

The open-air performance that will introduce the doctor’s romances and foreshadow dramatic historical changes will take place on 30 June on Margaret Island, with the second performance scheduled for 2 July.

Similar success is expected of this staging as was enjoyed by the summer 2016 performance of Evita, which was a collaborative effort on the part of the Open-Air Stage and the National Theatre of Szeged. Due to popular demand, the run of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical has been extended by the Margaret Island theatre.

Porgy and Bess: Laquita Mitchell and Kenneth Overton

Doctor Zhivago: Zoltán Miller and Zsófia Kisfaludy

Evita: Csilla Radnay

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Photo: 7NUKE

We will bid farewell to another production on 28 and 30 July, the dates of the final performances of Giuseppe Verdi’s Il trovatore under László Vámos’s direction, since the collaborating partner, the Hungarian State Opera is switching to a new staging of this musical drama. This summer, the main roles will be performed by international stars of the opera: Leonora will be sung by Dinara Alieva, whose beauty rivals that of Anna Netrebko. Alieva, who was born and graduated in Baku, has

won numerous international awards, such as at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia and at the Francesco Viñas and Maria Callas competitions. She has performed in Vienna’s Staatsoper, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Semperoper in Dresden, and in the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.

Alieva’s partner in the production, the Italian tenor Riccardo Massi, is no less renowned in the role of Manrico. He began his career as a stuntman in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York and in HBO’s Rome. Massi developed his singing technique in Rome with the help of his mentor David Holst, and, after receiving an invitation to the Accademia Teatro alla Scala, he debuted in December 2009 in Salerno in the role of Radamès from Aida under Daniel Oren’s direction. Ildikó Komlósi will perform Azucena, and Mihály Kálmándy will play Count di Luna.

This will be the first time that the Lausanne-based company founded by the prominent 20th century choreographer Maurice Béjart will take the stage on Margaret Island. The de34

parted Béjart’s ballets were based on classical foundations, his style was influenced by world dance, and he demanded that all of his artists have academic dance training. His productions, most of which are performed by the Béjart Ballet Lausanne as they tour the world, unite music, lyricism, theatre and movement art. The idea of passing and death is a recurring motif.

Ballet for Life, which will be performed on Margaret Island on 21 July, celebrates the lives of extraordinary artists who died very young, leaving behind an enormous legacy. The performance commemorates the young dancer Jorge Donn, while the musical foundation is an unlikely pairing of Mozart’s piano Photo: Benjamin Ealovega

On 11 and 13 August, Eva Peron’s legendary figure will once again take the stage under Tamás Juronics’s direction.

ENTERTAINMENT UNDER THE STARS Photo: Julia Kiecksee

pieces and Queen songs sung by Freddie Mercury, who passed at the age of 45. The production also commemorates fashion designer Gianni Versace, who was murdered not long after Ballet for Life’s premiere, for which he had designed the costumes. The proof of Béjart’s talent is that, despite being shrouded in death, this ballet composition expresses a will to live, for it is about youth and hope.

The Ghanian-born singer Y’akoto is often compared to Nina Simone and Billie Holiday due to her expressive voice and tendency to reinvent melodies. Her invitation to perform at the Budapest Summer Festival on 17 June will mark her Hungarian debut, with a performance promising a tapestry of blues, neo-soul and ambient pop.

Y'akoto

The unique musical programme will be further enriched on 7 June by The Hot Sardines, who represent jazz’s continued ability to reinvent itself. Their joyful music transports the audience to the world of New York City pubs, Parisian cabarets and New Orleans jazz clubs. Meanwhile, those who enjoy a blend of African gospel, spirituals and reggae should not miss out on the 23 July performance by the twotime Grammy-winning Soweto Gospel Choir. Canadian theatrical circus will be represented by Cirque Éloize, whose musical production is an acrobatic crime story that will evoke the world of westerns on 4-5 August.

Photo: Rebecca Fay

szabadter.hu

Photo: Bashkim Hasani

The Budapest Summer Festival’s opera concert series showcasing international stars is set to continue with the most beautiful melodies filling the summer skies above Margaret Island once again. At the festival’s invitation, another three famous singers will visit Margaret Island to conquer the audience’s hearts. This season’s stars are the beautiful American soprano Ailyn Pérez, who is known not only for her clear and “honey-toned” lyric voice, but also her dramatic portrayals, and the Italian baritone Gabriele Viviani, who will make his Hungarian debut, while the Kosovan tenor Ramé Lahaj will introduce a new side of himself to the Hungarian audience.

The Hot Sardines

Ramé Lahaj and Ailyn Pérez

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SZIGET TURNS 25 Text: Ágnes Karcsay • Photos: Balázs Mohai

P!nk, PJ Harvey and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are among the big names Just as in previous years, the 25th Sziget Festival will be a diverse assortment of musical genres as it awaits pop music fans from 9-16 August in Budapest.

Although the list of performers for the jubilee event has yet to be finalised, with more than 150 acts already announced we can take a look at returning giants, flavours of the month and future headliners.

Among the biggest names this year are the three-time Grammy-winning P!nk, PJ Harvey, one of the most imaginative singer-songwriters of our era who will make her Sziget debut this year, as well as the four-time Grammy-winning hip-hop duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

Additional star performers will be electronic act Major Lazer, Kasabian, who are one of today's most successful British rock groups, the American rapper Wiz Khalifa, Flume, who is one of the most popular young DJ/producers on the electronic scene, the drum and bass group Rudimental, the twentysomething pop and R&B diva Rita Ora, Scottish hard rock trio Biffy Clyro, as well as the Chainsmokers, who are one of the biggest names in international electronic pop music today.

The Chainsmokers debut album Memories…Do Not Open was released barely a month ago and immediately hit the top of the iTunes charts in 62 countries, among them the United States, Canada, Brazil, Spain and Russia. The duo will per36

form at the festival as part of a tour consisting of 40 dates.

The duo, who won a Grammy Award in the Best Dance Recording category with their single “Don’t Let Me Down” consists of Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, and their record features collaborations, such as “Something Just Like This” with Coldplay, while their videos for “Something Just Like This” or “Paris” have close to 300 million views on YouTube.

Known for its traditionally unique structures, fairy-tale decorations, installations and lighting solutions, the Sziget Festival also has guests lined up for indie fans, such as the Northern Irish Two Door Cinema Club, singer-songwriter Tom Odell, the British group White Lies, as well as two other current favourites, The Vaccines and The Courteeners.

Hip-hop and electronic music will be performed by legendary producer DJ Shadow, while East Coast hip-hop vibes will be brought to Budapest by Vince Staples. Electro House grandmaster Steve Aoki will mix melodies, as will legendary Grammy-winning Dutch DJ Paul van Dyk, in addition to

ENTERTAINMENT UNDER THE STARS Dutch DJ Don Diablo.

Additional acts taking the stage on the “Island of Freedom” are Canadian rock band Billy Talent, the English jazz singer Jamie Cullum, the wild electro-pop singer Charli XCX, Birdy, who has released three LPs despite her young age of 20, as well as American hard rock outfit Breaking Benjamin.

The festival’s World Music Stage will celebrate the 25th anniversary with a “best of ” programme featuring the festival’s greatest success stories as well as the latest world music productions. Those in search of world music can watch Goran Bregovic` or listen to the world’s only Grammy-winning klezmer band The Klematics, as well as Russian ska giants Leningrad. The stage will also feature Sicilian, Ukrainian, Malian, Zimbabwean, Turkish, Brazilian and Israeli performers.

The Glaswegian John Langan Band, which has become one of the biggest sensations of the past few years with its fusion of Celtic Punk and Balkan flamenco, will have their Hungarian debut at the festival. Among Hungarian acts to take the stage will be Bohemian Betyars, PASO, Romengó, Besh o droM, Parno Graszt, the Kerekes Band, Söndörgô, Firkin, as well as Félix Lajkó feat. Óperentzia.

According to tradition a great spectacle will close the programme series on the Main Stage, which this year will be performed by Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike, featuring a unique fireworks, light and laser show.

Additional programmes will include a contemporary circus performance exploring the differences between the genders and the roles of men and women, the meeting of digital technology and human movements by a dance production, a piece exploring the relationship between humanity and the land, and a performance evoking turn of the century circus in Montreal, not to mention numerous other unique productions.

For more information in regards to tickets, accommodation and other details, please visit sziget.hu

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38 Photo: László Körtvélyesi

Competitions in concert This summer’s entertainment will not be limited to sports or the performing arts.

It will also offer the opportunity to witness fierce competition between young musicians.

Budapest’s music competitions are ranked highly around the world and have even launched international careers.

An old competition has been revived and named after the memory of Sir Georg Solti, while a new competition bearing Béla Bartók’s name will commence this year.

Perhaps we will get our first glimpse of the next Hilary Hahn, Kristóf Baráti or Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi over the next few weeks.

Budapest and Pécs have jointly organised the conducting competition.

Featured here is the concert hall of the Kodály Centre in Pécs.

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TODAY A SMALL PLANK, TOMORROW A SOLID BRIDGE The Bartók World Competition and Festival

Photo: MTA Zenetudományi Intézet Bartók Archívum

Text: Judit Petrányi

Josef Szigeti, Bela Bartok and Benny Goodman recording Bartok's "Contrasts" in 1940

The Hungarian capital already played a prominent role in the music world when the Music Academy that today bears the name of its founder Ferenc Liszt was built. During the 150 years that have since passed world famous musicians have given concerts here, and generations of excellent musicians have graduated from its halls. András Csonka, the Programme Director for the Liszt Academy’s Concert Centre recounted with pride and joy how the respected institution reaffirmed its status among the world’s finest, by launching a prestigious new competition for young musicians.

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COMPE TITIONS IN CONCERT The Bartók World Competition and Festival is based on the defining instruments of the Hungarian composer’s work.

These are the piano, violin and the string quartet. The latter the organisers will complete with a chamber orchestra, since Bartók’s canon also features a significant chamber music repertoire. This is an initiative spanning seasons and years: the competitions for each instrument will follow each other every two years, with the in-between years featuring composition competitions. These will always be written for the instrument in the following competitions, so that the winning piece becomes part of the mandatory repertoire. “This is how we would like to support the work actually being performed. This year we launched the competition for violinists, and we are happy to announce that we had many applications. Of the 105 valid applications, the preliminary jury selected 65 competitors. We hope all of them will come and participate in the first round, which will be held from 10-17 September in the Academy. The final concert will be held in mid-December.”

Over the years an elite club of prestigious world competitions has developed. How does a competition come to be considered among this top level? According to András Csonka, the Liszt Academy’s experiences convinced everyone that the ranking of a competition like this is determined by the size of the prize, the composition of the jury, and the degree of difficulty.

Photo: István Práczky

The prizes are in accord with those awarded at European world competitions and the jury will consist of noted Hungarian and international masters who as violinists have enjoyed successful careers. The most important factor for raising the event’s prestige is its difficulty. From this perspective, it is key that Bartók’s music receives exceptionally great emphasis in the compulsory repertoire. “Many competitions are based on the standard classical repertoire. There are millions of youth who compete in them and win prizes. Ours will distinguish itself from the others by requiring the performance of difficult works. It won’t be the case that someone registers and then sees what will come of it. They must prepare for Bartók’s works, and their performance requires lots of practice. To stand out

therefore means a lot, and it raises the competition’s profile.”

An interesting observation by Csonka is that there is no competition internationally centred around Bartók, while competitions and festivals featuring Liszt’s name are organised everywhere. “Liszt is a much more international figure of Hungarian music than Bartók, who everyone immediately knows is Hungarian. Those who hear his music immediately recognise him. This is why a competition bearing Bartók’s name had to be launched by Hungary.”

At the same time Bartók’s name also has significant drawing power. It is a strange contradiction that he is seemingly more accepted abroad. Part of the Hungarian audience, Csonka continued, still considers Bartók a difficult to understand composer. “We will try to bring his music closer to those, who are not familiar enough with him.

This is why we decided that this competition should at once be a festival as well.”

Performances and various promotional events will lead up to the competition. Part of these will take place at Liszt Ferenc Square, which is always popular with international visitors. Bartók’s music will be played on the square, performed by Academy students, with the drawing also taking place there so that the competitors can meet the audience. Naturally folk music will also be present, so that Hungarian and international guests alike can feel the roots through which Bartók’s work nourished itself. The audience will be told what to look out for, what to listen for and how to listen when they sit in the concert halls. The introduction this year will only be a day long on 9 September, with the competition beginning the morning of the 10th. “Instead of a bridge this is a small plank, but it signals what we are planning for in the following years. We would like to take the audience by the hand and lead them inside the Academy of Music, into Bartók’s world.” For the jury Hungary will be represented by the violinists Vilmos Szabadi and Barnabás Kelemen, as well as the musicologist Tibor Tallián. Alongside them will be excellent violinists and professors such as Salvatore Accardo, Qian Zhou, Ivan Zenaty, Krzysztof Wegrzyn, Joel Smirnoff and Takashi Shimizu.

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THE CONDUCTOR IS NOT A RULER Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi joins

the conducting competition’s jury

Photo: Satoru Mitsuta

Text: Judit PetrĂĄnyi

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Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi will be in the jury for the Solti International Conducting Competition held this fall.

A professor emeritus at the Tokyo University of the Arts, he is also the conductor laureate of the Hungarian National Philharmonic. Perhaps surprisingly, his international career began in Budapest in 1974.

COMPE TITIONS IN CONCERT You were 34 when you won Hungarian State Television’s 1st International Conducting Competition. How were you living at the time and what were you doing?

Back home in Japan, I was starting out as a conductor and would occasionally be hired to direct an orchestra or more frequently a chorus. Since I didn’t have steady work, I worked as a piano and guitar teacher as well.

How did you learn of the competition?

I saw the announcement in a Japanese journal, but as I read it, I realised that I was too late as the registration deadline had passed.

But the material that you nonetheless submitted was so wonderful that the organisers decided to make an exception and accepted your application. What do you recall most about the competition?

What I recall is that it was exceptionally difficult. At various stages of the competition I had to conduct three different orchestras, the television cameras were on from the first moment and we only learned what we would have to conduct on site.

The field was strong, and my excellent Hungarian colleague Ádám Medveczky finished in second place. It was fantastic for me to win under such circumstances. It was like a dream that you wake up from the following day…

How did you handle the sudden fame? Where you recognised everywhere you went and met with smiles?

I had a feeling throughout that providence led me here, that it was all a gift of fate.

The competition changed your entire career and life. Your international career was launched, while János Ferencsik took you under his wing as his assistant conductor, and then upon his death you became the principal conductor of the State Symphony Orchestra (today the Hungarian National Philharmonic). But not just like that, your appointment was with the unanimous support of the orchestra.

Yes, it was a great thing, but the orchestra did not vote just once. Each year, they received blank sheets onto which they had to write whether or not they were satisfied with my work: yes or no. You could not abstain. I said that if I receive three “no” votes, I would resign, but it never happened.

and still enjoy the atmosphere of small restaurants and fine red wines. I also enjoyed Kecskemét, with the Kodály museum and the promenade alongside it, where they sold delicious strawberries and honey, and I’ll always gladly visit the Villány wine region.

You’ve retired from teaching and are a professor emeritus at the Tokyo University of Arts, but you continue to conduct. How busy are you and who do you work with?

I conduct in Japan but occasionally internationally as well. I made a recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra this year, for example. I can generally say that my schedule is not too busy these days, and I have more free time and can better concentrate on what I’m occupied with at the time.

Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi began composing music at the age of 12 and continued his studies at the Tokyo University of the Arts. His international career was launched in 1974 when he commandingly won the Hungarian State Television 1st International Conducting Competition (ahead of Ádám Medveczky). The MÁV Symphony Orchestra was the first ensemble he conducted outside of Japan, and this launched his international career.

From the 2014-2015 season, he mounted the podium as the orchestra’s honorary guest conductor. Kobayashi has performed across Europe, conducting orchestras in Germany, Austria, Great Britain and the Netherlands.

He taught for years at the Tokyo University of the Arts, the same university where he himself studied, and is today its professor emeritus, as well as being a visiting professor at the Tokyo College of Music. Kobayashi has composed his own music, with one of his notable works being his Passacaglia for Orchestra written for the 400th anniversary of Dutch-Japanese relations. He conducted the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra at the premiere in 1999.

You also conducted other Hungarian orchestras in addition to the State Symphony Orchestra. Which was your favourite?

The State Symphony Orchestra. I worked with them for 15 years, and meeting them again is always amazing.

When you were younger and later on you had serious ambitions as a composer, and conducted the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra at the premiere of your Passacaglia for Orchestra. Do you still compose these days?

Not as much. But for ten years, along with my wife Yoko, we have participated in a major project in Japan with the Special Olympics Movement. The aim is for us to introduce mentally disabled youths to music. In some cases, we put them in the orchestra, while at other times we bring them to concerts as part of the audience.

When you started to live here, what did you find strange or agreeable?

Everything was agreeable. My time spent in Budapest was largely occupied with rehearsals, and I was unable to enjoy the city’s delights as much as I would have liked. Naturally, it is always touching to conduct at the Music Academy, where Georg Solti, my mentor and after whom the competition is named, studied in addition to János Ferencsik and many other world-famous Hungarian conductors. I do not deny that I did

You will now meet young people as part of the jury. What advice would you give the next generation and those at the beginning of their conducting careers?

I would say pay more attention to relationships, which in the past were much closer, and were much more important than they are today. And perhaps also that a conductor cannot believe that he holds the power in his hands. He is not a ruler, but a servant, for music is born in the instruments and in the singers’ throats. The conductor merely provides guidance.

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Photo: solticompetition.com

BRINGING THE MUSIC CLOSER Text: Judit Petrányi

Szabolcs Szamosi, the managing director of Filharmonia ment it was worth reviving a tradition in collaboration with Hungary, was only three in 1974 when the forerunner of the Hungarian State Television. “Our aim was to present a modSolti International Conducting Competition was first held. ern and popular television programme that is contemporary, Therefore, it is only through anecdotes that he knows that ev- modern and fresh, but that still preserves high quality. As in eryone in Hungary was glued to the quiz shows, the audience can help screen during primetime. For the competitors advance with their Music competitions have a long first time in their lives, people lisvotes. Our slogan remains the same, tradition worldwide, but when tened to classical music in the unusuhowever: We bring music closer. On Hungarian State Television al way of seeing the conductor from this occasion, it will primarily be to the front. Consequently, they could those watching television.” organised the first International understand, see and feel the need for While the emphasis will be on teleConducting Competition in 1974, him before the orchestra. Szamosi vision, the locations cannot be overit was something new and a rarity looked. The first two rounds will be has no trouble remembering that a among music competitions not few years later, while still a child, how held in Budapest and Pécs, while the happy he was to “conduct” the protwo live broadcasts will consist of only in world history, but also in gramme being broadcast before him. final on 15 December and the Hungarian musical life after 1945. the The last time a televised internagala concert the following day on This tradition continues now with the 16th, the anniversary of Zoltán tional conducting competition was significant international interest. organised in Hungary was 2002. In Kodály’s birth in the concert hall of the 15 years since there has been a the Kodály Centre in Pécs, which flood of televised competitions, with most promising unique has some of the finest acoustics in the country. excitement, curiosities and spectacle, but nonetheless the This competition, which will award a total of 35,000 EUR staff of the Filharmonia, who organise music competitions in in prizes, will bring the music closer to the audience and the large concert halls, felt that in this changed media environ- young conductors closer to achieving their dreams. “A good 44

COMPE TITIONS IN CONCERT

Picture: Unitel Classica

part of the maestros known throughout Hungary today made their names at a conducting competition and now hold leading positions on the European and Budapest music scene. For example, Zsolt Hamar just returned from a five-year engagement as musical director in Wiesbaden to the Hungarian National Philharmonic, Gergely Kesselyák is one of the Hungarian State Opera’s leading conductors, and is also a founding director of the Bartók Opera Festival in Miskolc, Domonkos Héja was the music director for the Hungarian State Opera, and is currently the Augsburg Opera’s general music director, just to mention a few names. Ever since, in the absence of such a popular competition, many have been unable to shine. One of the aims of the newly relaunched competitions is to provide this limelight to the most talented young maestros.”, Szamosi said, quoting Lady Valerie Solti, who in a recorded message spoke of the exceptional difficulty young conductors today face early in their careers.

As Lady Solti said in the video, “It has great importance, such a competition, because it’s very hard nowadays for young conductors to begin. In the old days of Solti, they used to be able to continue from their academy as a répétiteur at the opera houses. Solti started at the Budapest Opera as a répétiteur.

Nowadays it’s very difficult, because people usually go to auditions, that is if they are a violin or a flute player, but you cannot tuck an orchestra under your arm and take it to an audition.

Therefore, these competitions are very important because in a way they are international auditions for young conductors. It’s very exciting, and I really do applaud this initiative.”

What is invaluable is that Lady Valerie agreed to be the patron and to allow the competition to bear the name and spirit of her departed husband, Sir Georg Solti, perhaps the world’s most famous Hungarian conductor. The competition will have a jury that in addition to managers and excellent Hungarian conductors will also include the directors of New York’s Lincoln Center and the Spanish National Concert Promoter, as well as our most famous living conductor, the composer Péter Eötvös. “We are very proud of this,” Szamosi said.

This can also satisfy the competitors, 180 of whom will arrive from more than 30 countries. For a new competition, this is an enormous number. The preliminary jury will invite 45 competitors to the first round. But it won’t be easy, that is for certain.

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46 Photo: ariahotelbudapest.com

City Guide What ties Stradivari, chardonnay and soap together in this issue?

Youth.

In this section, we will feature a young Hungarian violinmaker, who has begun crafting violins that may one day rival Stradivari’s. Additionally, this August in Budapest the Young Winemaker’s Association will introduce their wares at a festival, showcasing wines arriving from Hungary’s most notable wine regions.

A major reason why Zador soap is popular is because it is made with healing waters and is easy on the skin. Another is its packaging, which is the work of a young graphic artist making her name in the world.

Last but not least the garden in Buda’s Émile restaurant and the rooftop terrace at Pest’s Aria Hotel are both pleasant destinations to relax for the young and old alike.

Képaláírás két sorban

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IN PURSUIT OF STRADIVARI A Hungarian violinmaker achieved a rare double victory at the 2016 Violin Society of America International Instrument and Bow Making Competition.

Gábor Draskóczy, who lives with his family in London, began his journey in Budapest, and has every opportunity to make his instruments world famous.

Text: András Oláh • Photos: wineandviolin.com Gábor Draskóczy won gold medals for both “Violin Tone” and “Violin Workmanship” ahead of 400 others at last year’s competition held by the Violin Society of America, which was founded in 1973. This double victory has happened in the history of the biennial competition only three times. “This is the most prestigious competition in the world, in which one competes with violins that in exterior and design appear 300-400 years old,” Draskóczy revealed. “The instrument I submitted was not a copy, for I took what I consider the best details from Stradivari’s golden age and combined them into one instrument. The two juries examined the quality of the work, appearance, positioning, as well as sound quality, volume, the strings’ balance and playability.” What reveals the competition’s strict criteria is that among violas, cellos and basses only silver medals were awarded on this occasion.

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This is the first time Draskóczy participated in such an event.

Growing up in Víziváros below Buda Castle, he began playing the violin at the age of 6 and also enjoyed tinkering with things.

It was a combination of these two that set him on his path at the age of 10, when he arrived at an instrument workshop.

Following this, he studied violinmaking at the Liszt Academy of Music, further expanding his knowledge of instrument repair alongside other renowned craftsmen. Draskóczy refined his skills further in Bence Holló’s workshop from 1997-2004.

Later on, he struck out on his own and began crafting his own instruments in his own workshop, among which modern and baroque violins, violas and cellos could be found.

The father of five began working in Florian Leonhard's London workshop in 2010, which is considered one of the finest instrument workshops in the world. During a family trip to London the Hungarian craftsman had originally planned to sell a violin he had made, but instead he was offered a job.

Seizing the opportunity, he relocated.

“In Hungary, over the course of ten years I saw a total of three Stradivariuses up close, all of them after concerts and only briefly. In London, on the first day in three different workshops I was able to hold ten original instruments, which was when I decided that it was where I wanted to work.”

In addition to restoration work at the famous workshops, Draskóczy also prepares copies of 300-400 year-old Italianstyle antique violins. “There is great demand among musicians for these, since they are careful of their instruments, and the Stradivariuses can be damaged by different humidity levels around the world.” The copies that are prepared in

CIT Y GUIDE

The wave of nationalisation following World War II did not spare instrument makers. Many chose to emigrate, and the closing of workshops and the iron curtain led to a loss in valuable knowledge and technological backwardness. A new generation of violinmakers came of age following the system change, among them Szabolcs Bárdi, Bernd Etzler, Márton Faragó-Thököly, Gergely Ficsor, Balázs Gollob, János Héjja, Bence Holló, András Nagy and Nikola Popara, who revived old traditions and blended them with modern technology to once again make Hungarian violinmaking famous. Violinmaking is currently enjoying a renaissance, since musicians are also recognising that an instrument’s age is not necessarily what provides its quality.

An anonymous German patron purchased a legendary Ex du Pré/Harrell Stradivarius for the world famous young Hungarian cellist István Várdai. The famous instrument received its name after the English cellist Jacqueline du Pré, who died tragically young from multiple sclerosis, and after the fine American cellist Lynn Harrell. Its maker Antonio Stradivari made 1,100 instruments during his lifetime, of which 750 have survived into the present, but only 65 of these are cellos. The price of a Stradivari cello is around $1,000,000. The legendary Ex du Pré/Harrell Stradivarius was the first cello prepared by Stradivari in his own workshop after setting out on his own.

Photo: Marco Borggreve

3-4 months’ time usually sell for £20-25,000, but the Florian Leonhard branded ones can fetch up to £35,000. Owing to Draskóczy’s unique talent, after a few years he was provided with the privilege of inscribing his own name on his instruments.

What is the secret to a perfect violin? From selecting the wood to drawing the form the plastic, sizing, lacquer, glue, beam and the angle of the neck’s bend all influence the sound, therefore it’s a question of personal taste and intuition as to how a coveted violin is made.

The success in Dallas last year was a milestone in the 300year history of Hungarian violinmaking. The first instrument makers in Hungary arrived with German assistance at first to Pozsony (today Bratislava) and then Pest in the 17th-18th centuries during the era of the greatest Italian craftsmen such as Amati, Guarneri and Stradivari. The foundation of the “Hungarian school” is tied to Johann Baptist Schweitzer (1790-1865), which was continued by his most notable student, the “Hungarian Stradivari” Sámuel Nemessányi (1837-1881).

At the turn of the previous century, the rapidly developing Budapest’s vibrant musical life was inspired by the Opera, the foundation of the Music Academy, as well as the violinmakers Jenô Hubay, Ferenc Vecsey and Ede Zathureczky. Among the era’s legendary violinmakers were Pál Pilát, János Spiegel and Mihály Reményi, with Dezsô Bárány, Maximilian Frirsz and János Tóth also considered notable names.

Kristóf Baráti and the Lady Harmsworth

Kristóf Baráti, one of the world’s most sought-after musicians and Várdai’s frequent partner plays the Lady Harmsworth Stradivarius made in 1703 that is insured for $4,000,000.

“I’ve played many instruments over the years before I came across this treasure through the generosity of the Stradivari Society of Chicago,” Baráti said. The society seeks sponsors and patrons to purchase instruments. An instrument is a better investment than gold and has great cultural value in the United States. The owner of this Stradivari is a rich American who played as an amateur, but knew very well that an instrument of this calibre deserves more. Additionally, in the proper hands, its value becomes even greater.

Draskóczy plans to participate in the Violin Society of America’s 2018 competition, and is confident that soon not only will his copies be sought after, but so will the violins he designs in his own style and that bear his name as well. He plans to strike out on his own again in the near future and to continue working in his own workshop.

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YOUNG WINES – not just for the young Text: József Gyüre Photos: junibor.hu

Next year will be the tenth anniversary of the decision by 26 with them, get to know their philosophy, business strategy, fuyoung winemakers who all knew each other from university or ture plans and naturally their winemaking process, after which wine festivals to establish the Young Winemakers Association, they come to a decision. As a result, nearly all 22 Hungarian Junibor. The aim was to reach out with a new and informal wine regions are represented. tone to a new community of young wine drinkers that their forebears had not really managed to make Wine bars are opening Junibor members enjoy a situational advancontact with. “A twentysomething woman tage compared to their parents’ generation their doors one after might feel a bit intimidated asking an oldof the system change. “We have the opporanother in Budapest er, moustached winemaker with a paunch tunity to study at renowned international to discuss the meaning of barrique or batwine regions and the best universities, where and other provincial tonage, what is meant by the name cabernet we can learn to use the most modern techcities, allowing winesauvignon, or why wine contains sulphites”, nologies and latest international trends. For lovers to sample wines this reason, our wines are more up to date Tamás Hernyák, Junibor’s president says. and meet the latest A large proportion of the association’s memin terms of flavour, appearance and philosobership are scions of famous Hungarian generation of Hungarian phy,” Hernyák added. wine dynasties, and what’s surprising is that They are no better or worse than what their winemakers as they a quarter of them are women. The group parent’s produce, they just simply represent a discuss the great is therefore neither closed nor secretive, aldifferent wine culture. The labels are playful mysteries of life over though the admission of new winemakers and frequently humorous, thereby attracting takes place through a secret vote requiring the attention of younger wine drinkers. Also a glass of fine wine. a two-thirds majority. (The winemakers can worth nothing is the increased emphasis on join Junibor up to the age of 35 and can remain members until marketing by this younger generation through social media or they turn 40.) The process of becoming a member does not a presence at youth-oriented events. This extends to self-eduinvolve pulling names from a hat, but late in August each year cation, as they share the latest knowledge of soil cultivation, the Green Harvest event is held, where 20 talented youths are viticulture and plant protection among themselves in further invited. The association’s members sample their wine, converse education courses .

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CIT Y GUIDE Most recently, in late April, with the support of the Hungarian National Trading House and Junibor and with the participation of 100 Hungarian winemakers from the Carpathian Basin, the first Pannon Vinersitas further education event was organised in Ópusztaszer with the intention of establishing a new tradition. The organisers envision a professional forum to make cooperation between Hungarian winemakers within and beyond the country’s borders more dynamic, and to assist joint entry into the international market.

The aim is for the reputation of Hungarian wines to travel far and wide. The further education event also featured a presentation by Elôd Ádám, a New York-based vintner of Hungarian background, who provided examples and directions in regards to wine success stories from the previous 20 years from New Zealand to Chile and Austria. He expressed his sorrow that since the closing of the Café Des Artistes, New York City has been left without a truly Hungarian restaurant, meaning that Hungarian cuisine and wines are unknown. But there’s no reason why a small nation like the Hungarians cannot achieve international wine marketing success through its cuisine. Even more so because the Hungarian culinary arts are increasingly recognised internationally, thanks in part to Hungarian Chef Tamás Széll’s successes at the Bocus d’Or culinary competitions, also known as the Chef Olympics, and Budapest’s multiple Michelin-starred restaurants.

Tourists arriving to the Hungarian capital need not look up all 22 Hungarian wine regions to sample the wines by this new generation. Junibor will hold a festival spanning several days at the end of August on the square in front of St. Stephen’s Basilica, featuring wine tasting opportunities open to the public. Should you not be able to attend, not to worry. DiVino wine bars are opening across Budapest and in provincial cities. In addition to DiVino’s wine bars in Gozsdu Court and

Tamás Hernyák was born in 1985 and graduated from Budapest’s Corvinus University with a degree in viticulture. Winemaking runs in his family as he followed in his father’s footsteps.

Since 2007 he has regularly travelled internationally to expand his winemaking knowledge, returning regularly to France.

Hernyák visited Bordeaux (Château Grand Baril) for the first time ten years earlier, but he has also visited other wineries, such as in Sancerre (Domaine Auchère) and in Champagne (Champagne Nowack in 2011 and Bourdaire-Gallois in 2017). Therefore, it is understandable that among Europe’s wine regions, these two are his favourite.

As someone from Etyek, Hernyák naturally favours the Etyek wine region, but also considers the Tokaj region a favourite.

Hernyák’s plan is to create Hungary’s first

protected designation of origin for champagne together with the other Etyek winemakers. In relation to this, he would like to build a new champagne cellar on his own estate, where with the appropriate conditions and storage capacity the Etyek champagnes could mature over many years.

If wine is the topic of discussion, Hernyák prefers white wines from Burgundy among international wines, and among Hungarian varieties he prefers dry Furmint from Tokaj, Chardonnay from Lake Balaton, and among his own wines Grüner Veltliner, not to mention his own champagnes. Hernyák firmly believes in a strong work ethic and that his grapes can reach the quality that he observed in France. (The everyday goings-on of the Hernyák Estate, as well as Tamás’s red tractor can be following online via social media.) In his spare time Tamás loves to travel, hike, garden and to grill.

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by the basilica, a third will soon open its doors in the capital, as will new DiVino wine bars in Gyôr, Debrecen, Balatonfüred, Kecskemét and Székesfehérvár (and, if all goes to plan, then Krakow, Vienna, Prague and even London may soon follow). What makes these wine bars unique is that each one is owned by a Junibor member, and you can personally meet the winemakers to

Ladies

Angelika Árvay, Dorottya Bussay, Andrea Gere, Viktória Gere, Flóra Jekl, Birgit Pfneisl, Katrin Pfneisl, Hajnalka Prácser, Csilla Sebestyén;

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... & Gentlemen

discuss the wines, or whatever else takes your fancy, such as what it’s like to work in an industry so close to nature in today’s fast-paced world, or how they experience the contradiction that, as half the country is sitting in front the latest computer equipment, they are jumping on tractors that their grandfathers already drove.

Szabolcs Árvay, János Bolyki, Marcell Bukolyi, Endre Demeter, Péter Frittmann, Péter Gál, Zsolt Gere, Tamás Hernyák, Franz Weninger Jr., Tibor Gál Jr., Tamás Dúzsi Jr., Mihály Figula Jr., Zoltán Heimann

Jr., Ákos Kamocsay Jr., István Szepsy Jr., Arnold Jandl, Gábor Kardos, Gábor Kiss, Tamás Kis, Tamás Kovács, Dániel Konyári, Bence Laposa, Csabi Miklós, Miklós Prácser Jr., Csaba Sebestyén, András Takler, Csaba Vesztergombi, and Stefán Wille-Baumkauff.

ANG YALOK VĂ RO S A

MARGARET ISLAND OPEN-AIR STAGE 2017 June - July - August

Opening Concert More than 100 programs per season

/bnyfesztival

/szabadter

eng.szabadter.hu The Open-Air Theater Nonprofit Ltd. is operated by the Local Government of Budapest Capital

“WHAT’S MOST IMPORTANT IS THAT EVERY WORK SHOULD HAVE A STORY” Eszter Laki, the young Hungarian graphic designer who loves a challenge Text: Ágnes Karcsay • Photos: Balázs Glódi

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CIT Y GUIDE “I don’t take on any assignments that do not contain something new within them. I would not like my work to become a routine where I can design brands without trying,” declares the young graphic artist, who works primarily with branding and package design, and who years earlier made it a priority to blend free-hand techniques with graphical planning tools.

“This always provides work with a unique touch, makes it uncopiable, and I’m much more keen to start if I can draw and paint during the working process. Trends no doubt affect everyone, but it’s not my aim to become part of a homogenous international mass. What’s most important is that every work should have a story,” Laki said, whose clean and refined works can be found in Budapest cafés and restaurants, on wine and jam labels and premium soap packaging. Laki, who earned a degree in graphic design from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts and also studied typography at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, continued that Hungarian customers have growing faith in designers and consider the quality of branding increasingly important for new projects. “I always consider branding to be a collaborative product. It’s very important that the customer’s thoughts and personality are reflected in the branding.”

Laki considers three milestones from her career to be very important. Above all others is the first branding she designed for the Doboz nightclub in Budapest, the interior design of which was planned

by Péter Szendrô’s team. The branding was born from close collaboration, while the creative concept was conceived by Laki and Vera Vida.

Her second milestone was the debut of her self-published cookbooks, Menü and Menü 2, while the third most important was her own place, the restaurant Dobrumba, which is the result of six friends coming together to open a restaurant in the spirit of gastronomic diversity. In addition to all of this, there is still plenty of other work that she recalls with fondness to this day. An example is her collaboration with the Chez Dodo macaron producers, which she considers among her favourites since she was able to use a manual technique – watercolour – in her graphic design.

I also really love the packaging for Zador soap, since I had the opportunity to plan a premium product which has since enjoyed tremendous international success,” Laki states, adding that she also values her international orders, such as the design for the Indian cookbook Five Morsels of Love¸ as her visit to the South Asian country completely transformed her life.

Should the job be designing a restaurant’s branding or something much simpler, Eszter Laki approaches each job as a challenge to be conquered and constantly seeks out something new.

This is why she draws inspiration from her travels. “I frequently spend hours in stores looking at the packaging on the shelves. My friends also motivate me, and I seek out creative communities where we can share our experiences with each other”, she says. Her books Menü and Menü 2 are also the result of successful collaborations.

“The two Menü books were assembled together with my photographer friend Balázs Glódi and writer-editor Kamilla Mihály, primarily since we always wanted to have our own book,” Laki recalled, continuing that the genre of the two books is difficult to place, but many people call it a community cookbook. “The book contains the stories and recipes of our friends, who at some level work in the culinary field, but who are also active in other areas, such as architecture or filmmaking, or even being an expert in mushrooms.”

The first book was published in late 2014 and in only a month all 1,000 copies of the limited edition with serial numbers were bought. The second book featured a geographical shift as the trio’s rural friends and those who lived abroad spoke of their lives. “We travelled an immense amount, visiting Berlin, Barcelona, Rotterdam and Tel Aviv. At the moment, we are selling the final copies. There are no plans for a third book at the moment, but inspiration may strike any time.

Our creative team is tested, and we’ll certainly collaborate again in the future”, Laki stated.

Gastronomy plays an important role in Laki’s life outside of work. After beginning to collect cookbooks and planning her book, she also began cooking herself. “In each country, my first journey is to the market, and in Budapest I love the markets at Hunyadi Square and Fény Street, and of course the Great Market Hall. I derive immense joy from cooking for my friends and feeding people. Perhaps this is why we opened Dobrumba,” Laki observes. In addition to cooking, she is also passionate about hiking. She began hiking the Blue Trail leading around Hungary with friends, and when she has time they go for treks along it.

The young graphic designer is also enthusiastic about Budapest. “I really love Mikszáth Square with Lumen. I love the Alfréd Hajos Swimming Stadium and the Király Baths. I love the new Metro 4 because it makes me feel like I’m in Western Europe. I also like the Kisüzem pub, because it’s doesn’t try to be anything. And of course I can warmly recommend Dobrumba, our new restaurant,” Laki concluded. As regards the future, she did not wish to say much, only revealing that she is working on the branding of several local and international restaurants, packaging materials and a new book.

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ÉMILE IN BUDA Grandma’s cooking with sweets from Gerbeaud Text: Szonja Somogyi • Photos: György Darabos

For those of us with even a basic knowledge of Hungarian cuisine, the name of the zserbó torte and the Gerbaud confectionary will already be quite familiar. When visiting Budapest, however, guests seeking a turn of the century atmosphere and flavours would do well to visit not only the Gerbeaud complex in downtown, but also to travel to District II where you will find another member of the culinary group, Émile, among hundred-year-old buildings and shady trees.

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CIT Y GUIDE The restaurant-confectionary, which opened its doors two years ago, changed its concept this spring. “We became a more accessible, family-friendly restaurant with a more home-style kitchen and children’s area,” says Anna Niszkács on behalf of the owners. She adds that they decided that fine dining would be offered in Pest, while the emphasis would be on home-cooked flavours at Émile in Buda.

The restaurant that bears the name of the famous Budapest confectioner Émile Gerbeaud, who arrived in Hungary from Switzerland, is located in a villa built in the 1920s. The owners began to renovate it in 2014 with the aim of creating a culinary haunt in a style similar to the villa restaurants of Western Europe, all the while preserving the atmosphere and old traditions of Buda.

Everything is open in the restaurant: guests can see the goings on in the kitchen and the confectioner’s workshop. “We are proud of who makes our food as well as the ingredients, and this reinforces the intimate atmosphere,” Niszkács added.

each other too much to preserve the family milieu. The upper level radiates the atmosphere of the turn of the century villa, as we seemingly enter into a larger parlour, where it does not matter if you are dressed in a suit or wearing jeans, you can be sure of a great time. Instead of creating a small children’s corner with a few toys, the entire bottom floor has been converted for the little ones. The dining area adjacent to the open kitchen is defined through its colourful chairs and glass wall that can be written onto, where youngsters can play freely and there’s no need to worry about what furniture might receive new decorative colours. This is a space for relaxation and feeling at home, where children can play and create, and on the weekends be supervised by English-speaking professionals. Ágnes Tóth, the executive chef of Gerbeaud Gasztronómia stresses, “I wanted to introduce the flavours of my grandmother’s cooking blended with modern kitchen technology to the guests”. An important perspective when preparing the dishes at Émile is that as many of the ingredients as possible

The building’s renovation and interior are the work of Zoltán Varró, the Gold Key Award-winning designer. As Varró revealed, he was able to create a restaurant that is also an excellent place for business meetings due to its café-like bistro character, while also serving as an excellent location for afternoon gossip, and providing various generations with a great place to relax.

With its couches and large egg chairs, Émile’s inviting garden area evokes the atmosphere of Alice in Wonderland, where English village fétes and American backyard grill parties provide the inspiration for garden parties with grilled food, champagne, music and children’s programmes each weekend starting from the spring.

As guests step into the building from the garden, they will find themselves in a traditional confectioner’s, where they can see the daily offerings and unique handmade Gerbeaud packaged products, such as cat’s tongue chocolates, bonbons and cognac cherries. From here, guests can enter the children’s zone downstairs, or follow the stairs up to the upper level. As Zoltán Varró said, they consciously tried to not separate the two spaces from

are sourced from Hungarian farmers and that they should not contain preservatives. Additionally, the kitchen staff also try to avoid frozen products. The menu, assembled from natural Hungarian ingredients, was enriched using ingredients from the Gerbeaud House’s own farm in Vas County.

Tamás László, Gerbeuad Kreativ’s head of confectionary, who created the Gerbeaud culinary team’s development workshop in the Émile confectionary with his own people, explained that the Buda audience is younger, more extravagant and more open to new flavours, so they supplemented the classic Gerbeaud chocolates with new fruity desserts that give natural ingredients and colours extra emphasis.

But it is not only Émile’s unique mood and classic flavours and atmosphere set in a modern exterior that attract guests: over the summer, nearly every weekend brings wonderful programmes to the venue. Children will be introduced to quality music, while adults can savour multiple-award winning Hungarian folk singer Ági Szalóki on 11 June, and Émile will also celebrate Father’s Day and Midsummer’s Eve. 57

ARIA HOTEL Music in every room Text: Szonja Somogyi • Photos: www.ariahotelbudapest.com

One of Budapest’s newest hotels is the embodiment of love for music and features a blend of music’s gracefulness and intimate elegance. Located in the heart of the city’s historical downtown area, the Aria Hotel has been recognised as one of the world’s finest less than two years after opening its doors. In January 2017, popular travel portal TripAdvisor selected it as one of the world’s best hotels based on user votes. While this recognition based on authentic travel experiences is a source of joy, being the best also carries with it challenges and responsibilities.

Aria’s concept is based on experiences inspired by music. As a member of the Library Hotel Collection, the Aria Hotel Budapest opened its doors in the Hungarian capital in 2015 after its sister hotel in Prague. “The concept was designed by interior architect Zoltán Varró to allow the exquisite atmosphere of a classical palace to be reborn. At the same time, guests can enjoy the warmth and comfort of a private residence,” Aria Hotel Budapest’s Sales and Marketing Director Renáta Hupuczi told Budapest’s Finest.

Built in 1870, the completely renovated building has preserved its neoclassical atmosphere and Budapest apartment building character thanks to its furniture and turn of the century stucco. The marble-floored lobby features a curving “trail” that resembles piano keys and leads to the Bogányi piano. This is 58

the star attraction each evening, as lights shine into the Music Garden lobby through the glass ceiling above. Guests in the suites and rooms on the upper levels can breathe in fresh air from the balconies beneath the stars on summer evenings.

The boutique hotel has four different wings reflective of different musical genres, which are all different in style but nonetheless form a complete unit. The Classical Wing features neoBaroque statues with a panelled ceiling with Muranese chandeliers, while the grand Opera Wing elegantly pairs grey with lilac and orchid. All of the jazz rooms were inspired by American jazz clubs from the 1920s, while pop art dominates in the bohemian Contemporary Wing. The 49 rooms and suites were inspired by musical icons, such as James Brown, Bob Dylan, Maria Callas and Ferenc Liszt, who are depicted in caricatures by the world-famous Josef Blecha.

CIT Y GUIDE According to Renáta Hupuczi, although most guests are international tourists and businesspeople, the hotel is increasingly popular with Hungarian guests as well. “We consider it important that Aria Hotel Budapest becomes an integral part of Budapest’s culinary and cultural life. Our rooftop terrace, the High Note SkyBar, which is open throughout the year, has become a local favourite. We also imagined our restaurant to be a place where local and international culinary fans can spend a relaxing time together.”

As of January, the Gerbeaud Group has elevated the kitchen’s offerings, as Chef Gergely Kövér, Pastry Chef Zsuzsanna Szabó and mixologist Borbála Anger work to completely transform the restaurant and bar. “In Hungary it is unprecedented that three notable figures would work together to ensure that the dishes, desserts and cocktails are in complete harmony. In

our cocktail bar, the High Note SkyBar, guests already have the opportunity to taste a sample, while the restaurant will be a surprise, and will open to the public in the final days of spring,” she added.

The High Note SkyBar is worth a visit not merely due to its unique cocktails. From its yellow pillow-decorated wicker furniture, it offers perhaps Budapest’s best panorama for hotel guests and the general public alike. The bell tower of Saint Stephen’s Basilica is at arm’s length, meaning that the vibrations from the bell chimes can even move the ice around in your drink. Every day between 4 and 6 in the afternoon Aria Hotel hosts a wine and cheese selection free to hotel guests while the resident pianist and singer oversees the music programme. The Teatro Aria chamber room with its large movie

screen and surround sound makes it as if we were viewing a real concert from the comfort of our couch, an exceptional experience also open to diners.

Services provided by the Harmony Spa with its heated indoor pool, jacuzzi, steam room and sauna are only available to overnight guests, who as part of the rooftop yoga classes before a stunning panorama can move and relax both body and mind.

Services also include massages and beauty treatments.

Renáta Hupuczi emphasised that according to the philosophy of the founder Henry Kallan, not only is professional knowledge important when selecting the staff, but personalities are as well. Most Aria guests are the type who find personal attention to detail exceptionally important, nonetheless they can feel relaxed.

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BUDAPEST, THE CITY OF MUSIC

Photo: Fortepan.hu

“Budapest, the City of Music” is an annual concert series that will be held for the third time this year as international and Hungarian tourists as well as locals can discover music in Budapest’s most beautiful locations through 18 August. People will now have the chance to discover how exciting the balcony on the House of the Hungarians is, where each Sunday, Monday and Tuesday opera arias will be sung. On weekends in the City Park before the Mûcsarnok Hall a jazz formation will entertain audiences with classic songs. In the Great Market Hall Gypsy music will accompany visitors on Tuesdays and Fridays as they take in all the wonderful products and culinary delights. On Mondays and Fridays in Downtown Pest at Deák, Vörösmarty and Kristóf Squares French horns will duel with flutes. Those relaxing on the terrace of the famous Gerbeaud confectionary can enjoy a harp and violin chamber music duet on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Special programmes will feature in the courtyard of the Castle Garden Bazaar, one of Buda’s cultural centres during the summer. On ten Sundays and two Saturdays from 4 June mini concerts of various genres with star performers will be held, featuring big names such as the harmonica player Zoltán Orosz, the saxophonist Mihály Borbély, the pianist Béla Szakcsi Lakatos and the guitarist Ferenc Snétberger. Additional performances will be held by the Szakcsi Trio, the Götz saxophone quartet, the Amadinda Percussion Group, Csaba Ökrös’s folk group, Brass in the Five, and the Capriccio Quartet.

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Photo: Bálint Hrotkó

Small concerts across the city through 18 August

WHAT BUDAPEST WAS ONCE FAMOUS FOR (AND CAN BE AGAIN) Highly-trained Gypsy musicians were once famous worldwide.

“In addition to Hungarian folk music, they were also quite knowledgeable of the music of other ethnicities, and were always happy to play music that restaurant guests requested. For this reason, guests would return to Hungary to enjoy this music and atmosphere”, Ferenc Radics, the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble’s music director observed. Over the previous decades there has been a decline in Gypsy music, which is why a competition valued at 173 million forints was launched, after which the Hungarian Heritage House will contract the winning musicians and pay them directly. Consequently 12 Budapest restaurants will once again sparkle with the sound of live music this summer. István “Szalonna” Pál, the artistic director for the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble said “the aim of this programme is not only to support Gypsy music, but to support families that have served Hungarian culture for centuries.” The restaurants where you can hear the musicians are: Városliget Café & Restaurant, New York Kávéház, Fekete Holló Étterem, Kárpátia Étterem, Százéves Étterem, Panoráma Terasz, Márványmenyasszony Étterem, Rosé Étterem, Evezôs Sörkert, Szeged Étterem, Tepertô Magyaros Étterem and the Gerbaud Bistro.

HE ADER

HUNGARIAN HERITAGE HOUSE

Hagyományok háza hirdetés

Enchanting turn of the century atmosphere with live Gipsy music!

VÁROSLIGET CAFÉ | NEW YORK CAFÉ | FEKETE HOLLÓ RESTAURANT | KÁRPÁTIA RESTAURANT SZÁZÉVES RESTAURANT | PANORAMA TERRACE | MÁRVÁNYMENYASSZONY RESTAURANT | ROSÉ RESTAURANT EVEZŐS BEER GARDEN | SZEGED RESTAURANT | TEPERTŐ HUNGARIAN RESTAURANT | GERBeAUD BISTRO www.heritagehouse.hu/fiddlersofbudapest 61

Photo: Matthias Bothor DG

Photo: mupa.hu

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A star to close out HungarianFest RENÉ PAPE'S ARIA RECITAL 10 June, 7:30pm Hungarian State Opera

One of the leading bass singers in the world, René Pape sings for the Berlin Staatsoper, at Bayreuth and the Metropolitan Opera. The multifaceted singer will arrive for to his first recital in Hungary at the Hungarian State Opera at the zenith of his career. He selected the programme for his aria recital himself, with the first half featuring arias

by Verdi, and the second consisting of works by Wagner. The performance will be conducted by Jonas Alber.

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Parsifal returns

BUDAPEST WAGNER DAYS 8-21 June Müpa Budapest – Béla Bartók National Concert Hall It was with this highly successful production that the Budapest Wagner Days began in 2006, and it has been performed from time to time ever since to meet popular demand. The Béla Bartók National Concert Hall conveys the magical sound of the Wagnerian orchestra and this acoustic marvel in unparalleled fashion. As a musician with a native understanding of the Wagner idiom, and true to the traditions of the Budapest Wagner Days, Adam Fischer once again works here with world-renowned Wagnerian singers in the highly acclaimed staging by Magdolna Parditka and Alexandra Szemerédi.

CIT Y GUIDE

Photo: cyso.org

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Romantic melodies

CHICAGO YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 24 June, 7:30pm Müpa Budapest – Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

Dance bazaar

EVENINGS WITH THE NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE 20-31 July The Castle Garden Bazaar’s Foundry Courtyard

Photo: Edit Kozár

Despite its name, CMI-Concert Masters International is a Hungarian company that invites youth orchestras from across the world to Budapest each summer. This year they will invite a chamber orchestra and women’s, men’s and boy’s choirs at locations popular with tourists. The Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra will perform works by Dvorák, Elgar and Tchaikovsky conducted by Allen Tinkham.

For 12 nights in the middle of summer audiences can witness not only exciting folk dances from Hungary and the Carpathian Basin, but exotic expressions of movement as well. Audiences cannot only become familiar with the csárdás, bottle dances, the tango, south Indian dances and classical dances or the fundamentals of flamenco, but they can learn them as well, since each programme will feature dance instruction following the performance.

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The prima donna

ARMEL OPERA FESTIVAL AND COMPETITION 28 June – 4 July Thália Theatre and MuTh Theatre

Photo: Matthew Welch

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Responsible Publisher Publishing Director Editor Art Director Photo Management Cover photo Translation

Teodóra Bán Manager Diána Monostori Mária Albert István Práczky MitteComm Kft. István Práczky Zoltán Csipke

The 10th Armel Festival will have a host of new offerings, including a Hungarian premiere. After dazzling audiences in Manchester, Toronto, London and New York, Budapest audiences are also certain to be in awe at pop-rock artist Rufus Wainwright’s first opera in the Thália Theatre. The topic is familiar, as we follow a once popular diva who would like to once again play the role that made her famous in the hopes of returning to the limelight. The Swiss, Croatian, Polish and Szeged orchestras will compete in Vienna’s MuTh concert hall, while the jubilee awards gala to close the ceremony will be held in the Thália Theatre.

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