Hungarian Cultural Centre - Programme Brochure Mar-Jun 2011

Martin Munkácsi, Three Boys at Lake Tanganyika, c. 1930 gelatin silver print / 1994 reprint. Hungarian Museum of

HCC

Hungarian Cultural Centre

london

MARCH JUNE

2011

events

Photography, Kecskemét. Donated by Joan Munkácsi

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march 1 Mar ≥ page 03 • lecture Philately – A Cultural Bridge

5, 12, 17, 19, 24 Apr

4–8 Mar ≥ page 04 • concert Lisztomania

5 Apr ≥ page 13 • concert Cseke Gábor Trió

9 Mar ≥ page 05 • exhibition Spicy Collection in London

7 Apr ≥ page 13 • talk Liszt and the Keyboard Franz Liszt in our time

12 Mar ≥ page 06 • celebration Hungarian National Day 15–17 Mar ≥ page 06 • dance DancEUnion Dance Festival 16 Mar ≥ page 07 • dance In ‘N’ Out – Company Zadam 15 Mar–16 April ≥ page 08 exhibition, music, literature The Art of Blending in

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film Hungarians in Glasgow •

11 Apr ≥ page 14 • literature Launching Ágnes Lehóczky’s book on Ágnes Nemes Nagy 17 Apr ≥ page 15 • concert Tamás Vásáry and Tamás Érdi 21 Apr ≥ page 16 • film club The Seventh Circle

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17 Mar ≥ page 09 • lecture Public Parks and Urban Spaces 21 Mar ≥ page 10 • monday music soirees Recitals of the Students of Trinity Laban 24 Mar ≥ page 11 • film club Poligamy

26 Apr ≥ page 17 • monday music soirees extra Gábor Somfai 27 Apr ≥ page 18 • exhibition & talk A different look

11 May ≥ page 21 • literature European Literature Night 16 May ≥ page 22 • monday music soirees Péter Tóth 25 May ≥ page 23 • literature, concert Launch of John Spurling’s Book of Liszts 29 May ≥ • film Csiribiri

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june 2 Jun – 8 Jul ≥ page 25 • exhibition Unfolding

by Andrea Bátorfi 6 Jun ≥ page 26 • monday music soirees Guildhall School students Concert 9 Jun ≥ page 28 • jazz Péter Rozsnyói at the HCC 16 Jun ≥ page 28 • film club Bibliothéque Pascal 23 & 24 Jun ≥ page 29 • world music Muzsikás

may 6–9 May ≥ page 20 • film festival Europe’s Cold War in Film 7–8 May ≥ page 20 • festival May Fair in Regent’s Park – Spiegeltent

25 Jun ≥ page 30 • world music Söndörgô 30 Jun – 2 Oct ≥ page 31 • exhibition Eyewitness: Hungarian photography in the 20th century

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Hungarian Cultural Centre

e LECTURE Philately – A Cultural Bridge Have you ever looked at postage stamps or postmarks and wondered what they tell you about a country’s history, language, culture and science? Philately is often thought of as a posh word for stamp collecting but in fact it embraces study of virtually all aspects of communications using postal services. The Hungarian Philatelic Society of Great Britain will be here to explain why the fascinating subject of Hungarian philately attracts collectors world-wide and how it offers a very special way of experiencing at first hand Hungarian life throughout the last four centuries.

The earliest Hungarian postal services of the modern era date from the Renaissance but until the 19th century mail was mainly for official purposes and the volume was small. Postage stamps were introduced in 1850 and in 1867 the Hungarian Post Office (Magyar Posta) became independent. This is the classic period of Hungarian philately.

Great collections of it have been formed and intensive research has generated many important books. The wars and political upheavals of the early 20th century also generated a lot of postal material that has been a subject for philatelic research ever since.

In more peaceful times Magyar Posta has produced regular new issues of commemorative stamps celebrating virtually every aspect of Hungarian life. Many of these are intricate and beautiful, and fully justify the description of miniature works of art.

The Hungarian Philatelic Society was formed in 1964 to promote the study of Hungarian philately and foster links with collectors in Hungary and elsewhere. It has close links with the Hungarian Philatelic Federation (MABEOSZ), and the Institute for Philatelic Research (MAFITT) whose President (Mr Gábor Visnyovszki) is our Patron. The Society has about 140 members in the UK and around the world and produces four journals a year. It meets and holds auctions twice a year at Thame in Oxfordshire. Δ Further details are on the Society’s website at www.hpsgb.net Free. For reservations, please call 020 72406162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk

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the hungarian philatelic society of great britain presents

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Tuesday | 1 March | 7 pm

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Friday | 4 March – Tuesday | 8 March ≥ Royal College of Music ✉ Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BS

e CONCERT Lisztomania The HCC helps the promotion of this series of concerts in celebration of Liszt.

Friday | 4 March | 6 pm ≥ Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, RCM Discovering Liszt

Monday | 7 March | 1.05 pm ≥ Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, RCM Grand Duo

A lecture recital given by the renowned concert pianist and Liszt scholar, Leslie Howard.

RCM pianists joined by singers and instrumentalists for a celebration of Hungarian music.

Saturday | 5 March | 5 pm ≥ Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, RCM Hungarian Miniatures

Monday | 7 March | 6 pm ≥ Parry Room 3, RCM Liszt and Bach for Organ

A recital of pieces by Liszt, Heller and Kurtág.

The RCM’s organ recital including Liszt’s Prelude and Fugue on the name of B.A.C.H.

Sunday | 6 March | 11 am ≥ Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, RCM Csárdás Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies and other Hungarian folk dances and folk songs, and Hungarian dancers in celebration of Liszt.

Tuesday | 8 March | 6 pm ≥ Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, RCM Piano Masterclass with Tamás Vásáry The highly distinguished Hungarian concert pianist Tamás Vásáry works with RCM pianists.

Δ All the events are part of Lisztomania, the RCM Piano Festival.

Free, no tickets required. For further information please visit www.rcm.ac.uk

The Hungarian Cultural Centre is proud to introduce Éva Harangi and her collection of still lives. Éva’s ad hoc showcase titled Still in the HCC is a rare gem from mid-February till mid-March for all visitors to enjoy. Her paintings are skillfully executed and are soft but powerful; she focuses on representing nature idiosyncratically by using bold colours in acrylic and oil.

In 2008 Éva Harangi attended The Heatherley’s School of Fine Art in Chelsea, to widen her artistic skills in the fields of portraiture, sculpture and printmaking. In 2009 Heatherley awarded her its prize for painting. She is currently based in London where the multicultural and colourful atmosphere has greatly influenced her most recent work.

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Private view

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Chelsea Library Gallery (Public library) ✉

Chelsea Old Town Hall, King’s Road, SW3 5EZ

neonspot by judit horváth

The Art Moments project – Spicy Collection in London Art Moments is a Hungarian civil initiative, an artistic ‘Tour de Force’ that materialized first in the winter months of 2010 in downtown Budapest, the capital of Hungary and was organised by the team of Hybrid Art Management. The project had over 50 venues including the finest of galleries as well as bars, restaurants, clubs hosting 600 works of art by 80 young artists.

‘Spicy Collection’ is the collection of the 30 works voted and judged to be the most exiting ones representing the contemporary art of the young generation of today’s Hungary. Besides the professional jury’s picks, the visitors of the venues (130.000 visitors in 3 weeks) could vote (over 27.000 votes!) on their favorites both through the official website of the event ww.artmoments.hu and via the official Facebook site (Art Moments) as well.

Spicy Collection will be hosted by the Hungarian Cultural Centers of Germany/Berlin, UK/London, Italy/Rome and Austria/Vienna between February & April 2011. This event gives young artists (aged 18 to 35) the opportunity to enter the international scene.

The roadshow arrives to London at the Chelsea Library Gallery and will be officially opened by Dr Ildikó Takács, the director of the Hungarian Cultural Centre. Enjoy the collection with a glass of Hungarian wine with the organisers at the Private View on 9 March at 6 pm or simply take a stroll through the exhibition between 7 – 14 March during opening hours. Δ Admission free. For Private View reservations, please call 020 72406162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk. Opening hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday ≥ 9.30 am – 8 pm, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday ≥ 9.30 am – 5 pm, Sunday ≥ 1 pm – 5 pm

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e EXHIBITION

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Wednesday | 9 March | 6 pm exhibition open: 7 – 14 march

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Saturday | 12 March | 5 pm ≥ Szent István Ház ✉ 62 Little Ealing

Lane, London W5 4EA

e REMEMBRANCE CELEBRATION 15 March – Hungarian National Day in Remembrance of 1848/1849 The event is organised by the National Federation of Hungarians (MAOSZ) to remember the Revolution and the Hungarian War of Independence of 1848-49, when prominent political figures and writers led Hungary to rise against the oppressing Habsburg rule. programme HE János Csák, Ambassador of the Republic of Hungary in London opens the event The Life and Poetry of Mihály Vörösmarty: Hope in spite of hopelessness – talk by Robert Pátkai Timea Hegedûs’ piano recital Ádám Horváth and Attila Korpos’ poetry recital

Δ For further information please contact Márta Lindop, President of MAOSZ. Tel: 01444 414042 or martalindop@hotmail.com. Donation of £2 per person requested to cover expenses.

15 – 17 March ≥

Southbank Centre ✉

Belvedere Road, London SE1

e DANCE DancEUnion Dance Festival Following the success of its first edition, dancEUnion returns to Southbank Centre with three mixed-bill evenings, each featuring a selection of excerpts from full-length performances. With physical theatre, exclusive UK premiers and programme of free events, this is a packed dance festival from emerging choreographers eager to engage, make you think or simply make you smile.

DanceEUnion’s performing artists take part in a series of professional workshops during which they have the chance to work together with their European counterparts and forge links for possible future collaborations (Thursday 10–Sunday 13 March at the Southbank Centre). Δ To book your ticket contact the Southbank Centre on 08444 847 9910 or www.southbankcentre.co.uk

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In ‘N’ Out

Part of DancEUnion Festival

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Ádám Zambrycki and Dániel Szász Company Zadam, Hungary

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Wednesday | 16 March | 6.30 pm ≥ The Clore Ballroom, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre

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All the world’s a stage. If this is true, our life is a single performance. The writers, directors, heroes and extras, even the audience, are the performance. The work of Ádám Zambrycki and Dániel Szász is entertaining, playful and ironic, merging contemporary dance with standup comedy.

The performance reacts to the present-day problems thrown up on a global level by the balance between quality and quantity, art and commodity, show-business and self-expression. The gradually blurring boundaries between genres and the different expectations of audiences often have a contrasting impact on one another. All this creates interesting situations for both the artists and the audience.

‘The performance by Ádám Zambrzycki and Dániel Szász is seasoned with self-irony and a demand for criticism and self-criticism, in which they scrupulously put themselves under the microscope. On this occasion entertainment is not an end in itself: it holds up a mirror to creation and criticism, to the method of performance and interpretation. Their humour is intelligent, and they do not overstate the problem of criticism but hit the mark with a few very accurately formulated, well-aimed sentences.

The complex, very humorous In'N'Out is the criticism of criticism.’ Kata Ádám Zadam Company was founded in 2003 and has continued its creative work ever since.

The company has no permanent members, but assembles a company of performing artists who work together on a regular basis. The artists participating in the performances are well-respected, and stage their own productions as well. This artistic work is facilitated by the project-based way in which the company functions.

The event is part of EUNIC London’s cooperation with the EC Representation in the UK and the Southbank Centre. The Hungarian Cultural Centre supports the Hungarian artists as a member of EUNIC London. Δ Free. To book your ticket please contact the Southbank Centre on 08444 847 9910 or www.southbankcentre.co.uk

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15 March – 16 April ≥

Gallery & Project Space, Great Western Studios ✉

65 Alfred Road, London W2 5EU

e EXHIBITION, MUSIC, LITERATURE soapbox events presents

Alien Nation: The Art of Blending in An exhibition by and about all the aliens who call London home Alien Nation, a month-long exhibition including art, music and more was inspired by George Mikes’s book How to be an Alien curated by Soapbox Events. It is a one-off group show by a collective of London-based artists, photographers, writers and musicians. Whether you’re an alien or not, the capital’s cultural diversity affects us all.

This exhibition will be a celebration of that diversity – and the community of aliens who call London home.

Alien Nation celebrates the way George Mikes (Mikes György), the Hungarian writer brilliantly captures the extraordinary transition that many people experience when first moving to London. From the weather to the incomprehensible social niceties, there’s a lot to adjust to; in spite of these things, foreigners and other ‘aliens’ continue to flock here.

“The trouble with tea is that originally it was quite a good drink” George Mikes, How to be an Alien

The Main Exhibition A number of high-profile artists have produced their take on George Mikes’s influential book. Their inspiration has come from a chapter, scene, sentence or single phrase within it – and their pieces reflect the individual’s take on the topic of being an ‘alien in London.’ The collection includes: painting, illustration, photography, poetry, murals, furniture and more.

Book Illustration Exhibition Illustrators from the Central Illustration Agency (CIA) have been invited to visually recreate the book. Each artist has been given a chapter to illustrate.

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Planned in partnership with Idea Generation PR, Great Western Studios, The Central Illustration Agency and the Hungarian Cultural Centre. Δ All events are free. Opening time: Monday to Friday 10 am – 6 pm, weekends by request. For more information and all details, please visit www.howtobeanalien.com and www.greatwesternstudios.com

Thursday | 17 March | 7 pm ≥

Hungarian Cultural Centre

e FUTURE TALKS – LECTURE Luca Csepely-Knorr: Public Parks and Urban Open Spaces in Britain and in Hungary at the End of the 19th and the Beginning of the 20th Century Cultural, architectural and artistic connections between the United Kingdom and Hungary were very significant in the late 19th and early 20th century. From the point of Hungarian landscape gardening the influence of English gardens was extremely seminal, whereas for Budapest, the new and evolving capital, the examples of the English cities were not less important. This presentation will focus on a special field of landscape architecture and urban design namely the birth of public parks, and will examine the significant connections between the two countries in this area.

visualisation of palm-garden, budapest. janos hein – ferenc herczog – albert schikedanz, 1896

At the turn of the 18th century, in response to industrialisation and the enormous growth of cities, a new concept appeared in landscape architecture based on an idea that originated in Germany (Hirschfeld: Theorie der Gartenkunst), the public park, which was invented for people from every layer of society.

This presentation will examine how the principles of laying out public parks, a new and special task for landscape designers of the period, changed during the 19th century.

The investigation will focus on the question how English landscape architecture and the evolving new discipline of urban design influenced the Hungarian design theory with respect to public parks in Budapest.

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Artists include: Erica Pal, Mónika Markovits, Nishant Choksi, Lizzie Mary Cullen, Man Cheung, Chris Brown, Tina Mansuwan and more…

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Evening Events The exhibition itself will be complemented by a number of events throughout the month, including music, poetry, and more.

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plan of crystal palace park. sir joseph paxton, 1857

Luca Csepely-Knorr is a Landscape Architect (MSc Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary) and holds an MA in Art History (Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest, Faculty of Humanities, Hungary). Since 2006 she has been doing her PhD research in landscape architecture at the Corvinus University of Budapest. Her thesis studies the theoretical changes in public park design from the second half of the 19th to the first half of the 20th century. Thanks to the RIBA Goldfinger Scholarship, which she was awarded in 2010, she is currently doing an MPhil course at the Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design. Her research focuses on the connections between the United Kingdom and Hungary in the field of urban design with a particular emphasis on the work of Thomas Mawson and Bela Rerrich.

Δ Free. For reservations, please call 020 72406162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk

Monday | 21 March | 7 pm ≥

Hungarian Cultural Centre

e MONDAY MUSIC SOIREES Recitals of the Students of Trinity Laban Rebeca Omordia is a Romanian born pianist. After graduating from the National Music University in Bucharest in 2006, where she studied with the well-known pianist and professor Dana Borsan, Rebeca was granted a scholarship at the Birmingham Conservatoire to continue her studies under professors Malcolm Wilson and Mark rebeca omordia’s programme Frédéric Chopin: • Impromptu No. 1 in A-flat Major, Op. 29 • Scherzo No. 4 Op. 54 in E Major • Polonaise-Fantasie in A-flat Major, Op. 61 Ferenc Liszt: Variations on a Motive by Bach ‘Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Sagen’

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mikhail shilyaev’s programme Alban Berg: Piano Sonata Op. 1 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sonata in A Minor, K 310 Ferenc Liszt: Reminiscences de Don Juan, S.418

Δ Free. For reservations, please call 020 7240 6162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk

Thursday | 24 March | 7 pm ≥

Hungarian Cultural Centre

e FILM CLUB Poligamy (2009, feature, dir. Dénes Orosz, 85 min.)

The secret desire of most men is to sleep with every woman they find attractive. What happens if their wish comes true? András and Lilla are a young couple, who have been together for five years. András writes screenplays for television series and Lilla is an assistant lecturer at a university. Finally they move in together and it seems everything is going well. However, there is something wrong. It is as if the essence were missing from their life together. Lilla wants a wedding and a baby, while András... well, he doesn't really know what he wants. Then one day Lilla announces that she is pregnant.

András is overcome by mixed feelings.The following morning András wakes up next to

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Mikhail Shilyaev was born in 1979 in Izhevsk, Russia.

He started learning the piano at the age of six and won several regional piano competitions at a young age.

He studied in Russia, Germany and the UK. As a soloist with orchestra, he has recently performed with Musikkollegium Winterthur, the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the RNCM Concert Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Trinity College of Music and the Gulbenkian Symphony Orchestra. He worked with leading conductors such as C. Warren-Green, P. Rophé and Zsolt Nagy.

In 2009 Mikhail received Golubovich Scholarship at the Trinity College of Music and Dance where he is working towards his Master’s degree with professor Deniz Gelenbe. In July 2010 Mikhail won the Bronze Medal at the prestigious Vianna da Motta International Piano Competition in Lisbon.

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Racz. She is currently undertaking a postgraduate course at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London where she is studying with Mikhail Kazakevich.

A winner of many prizes in national and international piano competitions, Rebeca’s most recent awards include Third Prize at Béla Bartók International Piano Competition in Szeged, Hungary (2010), and First Prize at the Beethoven International Competition in Arad, Romania (2007), where she was also awarded the Beethoven Prize for the best Beethoven Sonata.

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a beautiful woman who is a complete stranger. From this point on he has relationships with a number of women, all very different from each other. Thus begins a journey to explore all the different stages and possible relationships between men and women.

This is the first feature film of Dénes Orosz, who has written scripts, made documentaries, short films and a film series.

Screenplay: Dénes Orosz Director of photography: Ádám Fillenz Cast: Sándor Csányi, Kátya Tompos, Béla Mészáros, Adrienn Réti, Eszter Bánfalvi, Bori Péterfy, Kata Bartsch, Réka Tenki, Andrea Osvárt, Nóra Parti, Vera Venczel, Ildikó Incze, Sándor Csikós, Károly Safranek Δ Free. For reservations, please call 020 7240 6162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk

5 | 12 | 17 | 19 | 24 April ≥ Glasgow Film Theatre ✉ 12 Rose Street, Glasgow G3 6RB

e FILM Hungarians in Glasgow The Glasgow Film Theatre is delighted to be hosting a tour of films that were shown as part of the Hungarian film showcase 'Check the Gate' in June 2010 in London. The films examine the topic of emigration since the end of the 19th century and illuminate the reasons why hundreds of thousands of Hungarians left Hungary behind, whether due to war, oppression or curiosity. GFT will be showing the following films: Tuesday, 5 April Hunky Blues (2009, dir. Péter Forgács, 100 m) Tuesday, 12 April ≤ Somewhere In Europe (1947, dir. Géza Radványi, 104 m) Sunday, 17 April Daniel Takes a Train (1983, dir. Pál Sándor, 95 m) Tuesday, 19 April American Torso (1975, dir. Gábor Bódy, 97 m) Sunday, 24 April The Last Report on Anna (2009, dir. Márta Mészáros, 103 m) Δ Please see www.glasgowfilm.org for further details on the season

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≥ Hungarian Cultural Centre

Wednesday | 6 April | 7.30 pm ✉ 90 Lots Road, Chelsea, London SW10

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≥ 606 Club

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e CONCERT

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Tuesday | 5 April | 7.30 pm

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Cseke Gábor Trió Gábor Cseke on the piano has become a leading force in the Hungarian jazz world. For a long time he was also one of the mainstays of Hungary’s most exciting two big bands, the Budapest Jazz Orchestra and the Modern Art Orchestra. He earned high praise from Dave Liebman while the American star was recording with the former. He is not only an absolutely amazing soloist but also one of the finest accompanists you can hear. He is the one who usually backs visiting foreign artists at the Budapest Jazz Club. You would get glowing references of him from the likes of Byron Wallen or Peter King.

Bassist Viktor Hárs is one of the charismatic figures of the Great Generation of Hungarian jazzmen, whose own compositions and arrangements also attest to his extraordinary musical intelligence. He is at home in all jazz styles but is a great innovator at heart.

Drummer György Jeszenszky is a fantastic all-rounder who crops up in the most diverse formations ranging from ethno-jazz through hard-bop right to the outer reaches of the avant-garde. At Liane Carroll’s Budapest gig his playing made her glow with pleasure. Δ Free. For reservations, please call 020 7240 6162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk

Thursday | 7 April | 6 pm ≥ Josefowitz Hall, Royal Academy of Music

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Marylebone Road, London NW1 5HT

e TALK liszt bicentenary talk:

roundtable discussion:

Liszt and the Keyboard: how the Wizard cast his Spells

Franz Liszt in our time 7.30 pm

by Alan Walker, 6 pm The Hungarian Cultural Centre in London continues its events in celebration of the Liszt Bicentenary Anniversary, following on from a series of concerts at King’s Place, London, in January 2011. On this occasion Dr Alan Walker will give a talk on Liszt and

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the Keyboard – how the Wizard cast his spells. In addition to our special guests, this talk will also be open to students and the general public.

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Following the talk, a Liszt roundtable discussion will take place at 7.30pm for one hour. The participants will include Dr Alan Walker, Dr Maria Eckhardt (Director of the Liszt Research Centre in Budapest and, until recently, Director of the Liszt Museum, and a distinguished choral conductor). At the time of writing we hope to add the names of a distinguished pianist, a conductor or composer and a musicologist to act as a moderator so as to elicit a variety of viewpoints.

Δ Free. For reservations please contact the Hungarian Cultural Centre on 020 72406162 or bookings@hungary.org.uk

Monday | 11 April | 6.30 pm ≥ Hungarian Cultural Centre

e LITERATURE national day of poetry

Launching Ágnes Lehóczky’s book on Ágnes Nemes Nagy The Hungarian Cultural Centre is proud to host the launch of Poetry, the Geometry of the Living Substance – Four Essays on Ágnes Nemes Nagy by Ágnes Lehóczky, Hungarian poet, translator and academic. The evening pays tribute to the Hungarian modernist poet and essayist Ágnes Nemes Nagy, one of the most important Hungarian writers of the 20th century.

The event will launch the first sustained study in English on her poetry, poetics prose and translations followed by readings from her work, poetry and prose in English, and a discussion on issues of translating her work in English introduced by poet and translator, George Szirtes. The renowned translator Peter Zollmann will also share his translations of Ágnes Nemes Nagy.

‘Reading Ágnes Nemes Nagy, even in translation, one cannot help but be struck by the fierce intellect, the high seriousness, and absolute concentration manifest in her poetry. It is an intellect that, however, does not work upon us in terms of ideas, but of sensibility. Had she written in English, German or French her work would now be perceived as central to mid- and late-twentieth century consciousness and beyond.

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Sunday | 17 April | 5.30 pm and 8 pm ≥ Hurstwood Farm Piano Studios ✉ The Hurst, Crouch, Borough Green, Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 8TA e CONCERT hurstwood farm piano concert with

Tamás Vásáry and Tamás Érdi Hurstwood Farm Music Society (Patron András Schiff) is located in beautiful Kent countryside, near Borough Green, where the farm grows the UK’s largest crop of cobnuts and is the sole producer of its award-winning cobnut oil. The Society began some two decades ago and its five annual recitals normally run from late February until July, when the Concert Hall reverts to its original use as a pack-house for the farm’s nut crop. tamás érdi’s programme, 5.30 pm Chopin: • Fantaisie Impromptu Op. 66 • Nocturne in E minor Op. 72 No.1 • Ballade No. 1 in G minor Op. 23 • Nocturne No. 20 in C sharp minor Op. Posth • Polonaise in A flat major Op. 53 Liszt: • Sposalizio (Deuxième Année de Pèlerinage: Italie) • Mephisto Waltz No. 1 (Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke) • Consolation in D flat major • Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 tamás vásáry

tamás érdi

This year’s programmes in March, April and May all pay tribute to the Liszt Bicentenary Anniversary. Two pianists perform on each month’s concert day with a dinner interval between. The main evening concert is given by Tamás Vásáry, and the preceding one by the young pianist Tamás Érdi.

A concertgoer pays £20 ticket fee for both recitals and a further £22–50 if dinner is booked in the Restaurant at the farm. Alternatively, guests are welcome to picnic in the grounds, or in a covered area in poor weather. There is ample parking space for

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Δ Free. For reservations, please call 020 72406162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk

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It would have lodged in our consciousness as a marker in the way we feel the world.

As it is we hear her through other voices. Lehóczky goes to the core, negotiating her interpreters, but probing the elements of the work in the original Hungarian.

The result is the uncovering of a major figure, as relevant to us now as she was in her own, partly silenced, lifetime.’ George Szirtes, from his preface

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tamás vásáry’s programme, 8 pm Schumann: Carnaval Op. 9

cars at the farm and a good rail service from Victoria to Borough Green where there is a taxi service at the station.

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Schubert: Fantasia in F minor for four hands D940 Op. Posth. (with Tamás Érdi)

Δ To book tickets, phone 07971 259 658 or email info@hurstwoodfarmpianos.com

Kodály: Dances of Marosszék Chopin: Nocturne in D flat major Op. 27 No. 2 Scherzo in B flat minor Op. 31 No. 2

Thursday | 21 April | 7 pm ≥ Hungarian Cultural Centre

e FILM CLUB The Seventh Circle (A hetedik kör) 2009, 107 min, dir. Árpád Sopsits The film is based on the motifs of two inconceivable and tragic events that recently took place in Hungary. It primarily presents the atmosphere in which such things have actually happened and the situations in which they can happen, and delivers a kind of diagnosis of the confused psyche of the times in which we live. The story is about teenagers, their odd way of experiencing life and death at the stage when both sexual desires and a wish for death awaken simultaneously in their souls.

“This film is well shot and carefully edited. Sopsits’ young cast perform wonders with sensitive performances that speak volumes for them and the director.” Dan Fainaru

Árpád Sopsits is also the director of the much acclaimed film Abandoned (Torzók), 2001, which was Hungary’s submission to the 74th Academy Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee yet went on to win Awards as the Grand Prize –

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Montreal World Film Festival, Alfred Bauer Award – Berlin International Film Festival, Official Selections: Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney International Film Festivals (among many others).

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Director: Árpád Sopsits | Screenplay: Árpád Sopsits | Director of photography: Márk Gyôri

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Cast: Benett Vilmányi, Tamás Erôss, Anna Vicsotka, László Krikkay, Gáspár Mesés, Tekla Magyar, Gábor Gavallér, Zsolt Trill, Imre Csuja, Zsolt László, Judit Danyi, Sándor Gáspár, Eszter Szakács, Dóra Létay Δ Free. For reservations, please call 020 7240 6162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk

Tuesday | 26 April | 7 pm ≥ Hungarian Cultural Centre

e MONDAY MUSIC SOIREES EXTRA introducing the liszt academy network winner

Gábor Somfai Gábor Somfai › viola | Jordi Morell › viola | Árpád Kákonyi › piano Gábor Somfai is currently studying with Rivka Golani at Trinity Laban supported by the Liszt Academy Network and a Trinity Laban Scholarship. Born in Budapest, Hungary, he started to play on the violin at age 8, changing to viola at 14 studying at the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Music with János Láposi.

Gábor received his bachelor degree from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in 2009. He won several prizes, including 1st Prize at the Third National College String Competition.

Gábor has played with the Danubia Symphony Orchestra, the MR Symphony Orchestra and the Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra. He was supported by the Klassz Talents Programme performing Yizkor by Ö. Pártos as viola soloist with the Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra.

Jordi Morell is currently studying with Rivka Golani at Trinity Laban supported by the TCM Trust Scholarship.

Born in Vilaseca, Spain, he started to play the viola at the age of 6, with Joaquim Miracle at the Music School of Vilaseca. At 13, he gave his first concert as a concerto soloist with the music school orchestra playing the Telemann Concerto for viola. The following year, he was accepted for the Oemuc (Youth Orchestra of Catalonia Music Schools). In 2007, he became a member of JONC

programme Ferenc Liszt: La lugubre gondola (in memoriam Richard Wagner) Frank Bridge: Lament J. S. Bach: Brandenburger concerto No. 6 B. Britten: Lacrymae Ferenc Liszt: Consolation No. 3

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(National Youth Orchestra of Catalonia). In the last year of the Music School, he performed Trauermusik by P. Hindemith as a viola soloist with the school orchestra.

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Árpád Kákonyi was born in Kalocsa, Hungary. His piano and composition teachers were Ferenc Fuchs, Mariann Ábrahám, István Fekete Gyôr and János Vajda.

He won the first prize at the National Youth Piano Competition in 1998 and at the National Youth Composition Competition in 2001 and 2002. He has already worked with several talented young Hungarian musicians such as Ádám Banda, István Várdai, László Mezô, Kristóf Baráti and the Accord Quartet. In 2008, Árpád worked with the Hungarian Contemporary Music Ensemble (UMZE) in Budapest and in Hamburg at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival performing and premiering Steve Reich's ‘You Are Variations’. He has played as a chamber musician and piano accompanist in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Canada and the United States. He also writes music, mostly chamber and oratoric, symphonic and stage works.

Δ Free. For reservations, please call 020 7240 6162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk

Wednesday | 27 April | 7 pm

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exhibition open: 27 april – 13 may ≥ 12 Star Gallery

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Europe House, 32 Smith Square, London SW1P 3EU

e EXHIBITION & TALK A different look The original event was organized last year at the HCC in line with 2010 being the European year combating poverty and social exclusion.

Exhibition A different look at the 12 Star Gallery is the revival of an exhibition part of a series of events originally hosted at the Hungarian Cultural Centre in London in 2010 featuring the Roma culture. We are presenting this photo exhibition in cooperation with the Romaversitas Foundation and the British Council.

The usual pictures in this topic are well-known and have become a cliché already: adorable children in worn out, dirty clothes playing in front of houses in terrible condition, young adults drinking and smoking and doing nothing, van-dwellers, old ladies with no teeth or musicians at best.

This time we are taking a different look – Peter Rákossy’s uplifting photos portray Roma university students who, maybe against all odds, are now studying to become

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lawyers, doctors and architects or finishing their PhDs. Conforming to society’s norms, these young people have a heartwarming story to tell about their life plans and future.

Talk Before the private view we will welcome two of the students whose portraits feature in the exhibition to meet the London audience. They will share with us their life experiences and future plans. High-profile experts in the field of Roma issues will also take part in the discussion. Δ Admission free. Opening hours: Mon–Fri 10 am–6 pm. For private view reservations, please call 020 72406162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk

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Friday | 6 May – Monday | 9 May ≥ Riverside Studios ✉ Crisp Road, London W6 9RL

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e FILM FESTIVAL celluloid curtain film festival

Europe’s Cold War in Film The Goethe-Institut London, in collaboration with EUNIC London, is proud to present a major European spy film festival to mark the 50th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961.

This unique series of feature films, made at the height of the Cold War on both sides of the ‘Celluloid Curtain’, will be screened over a special ‘spy film weekend’ at Riverside Studios, London.

There will be curators’ talks and a panel discussion, chaired by the BBC’s Security Correspondent, Gordon Corera.

The distinguished panel includes writer and ‘spy specialist’, Phillip Knightley. Hungarian documentary film director Gábor Zsigmond Papp will also take part in the panel discussion.

Celluloid Curtain aims to shed new light on the history of the Cold War in Europe and its depiction in film. It will focus on the Cold War ‘spook’ as a cinematic creation of the Iron Curtain and look at the legacy of the films and politics of the period. This is a subject of great topical relevance: talk of a new Cold War, Wikileaks and ‘spy stories’ dominate our news, bookshops and cinemas today. The festival will feature Zoltán Várkonyi’s spy film Fotó Háber (1963). Δ For further information contact Riverside Studios on 020 8237 1111 or www.riversidestudios.co.uk

Saturday | 7 May – Sunday | 8 May ≥ Regent’s Park, London

e EUROPE DAY FESTIVAL May Fair in Regent’s Park – Spiegeltent Come and enjoy some truly European May Fair festivities in and around Spiegeltent, the venue for music, comedy, theatre, dance, film and many more, set up in Regent’s Park for the weekend by the Embassy of Belgium/Flemish Representation in celebration of Europe Day (9 May) and to mark the Tri-EU Presidency of Belgium, Hungary and Spain.

There will be cultural events inside the tent with the generous support of the national

hungarian cultural centre • london

Wednesday | 11 May ≥ British Library ✉ St Pancras, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB e LITERATURE European Literature Night After the success of 2010, the European Literature Night is back! The event features contemporary European fiction and poetry through the presentation of six European writers. The writers will have gone through a rigorous selection process before they are chosen to represent contemporary European writing. The readings will be followed by a panel discussion chaired by the highly-acclaimed literature expert Rosie Goldsmith.

European Literature Night is a unique UK-based initiative involving 24 European cultural institutes and embassies (EUNIC), as well as various UK arts organizations, and the Representation of the European Commission in the UK with the aim to promote European literature of all genres in the UK, and its English translation and distribution.

ELN began life in May 2009 when the first ELN was held at the British Library in London with six writers presenting their work. In the ELN 2 taking place on the 12 May 2010 at the British Library seven European writers read and discussed their work in an event chaired by Rosie Goldsmith. Thirteen European capital cities from Paris through Stockholm to Budapest joined forces to celebrate the best of European literature on the same night.

For 2011 European Literature Night developed a touring programme. With the key event still taking place in London at the British Library on the 11 May 2011. There will be further ELN events outside London as a part of The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival and Manchester Literature Festival in order to expand ELN’s reach, audiences and formats and provide a platform to as many European writers as possible. Δ For further information please visit the website of the British Library www.bl.uk

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Δ For further information please contact Flanders House London on 020 7299 3592 or the Hungarian Cultural Centre on 020 7240 6162 or visit www.hungary.org.uk

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cultural institutes of the EUNIC London cluster. The theme of the event is The Green City, the importance of green spaces and green ideas in our capitals and cities, and there will be seminars relating to this main theme. In the area surrounding the tent there will be food and information stalls for everyone to enjoy the taste, sound and sight of many European cultures.

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Monday | 16 May | 7 pm ≥ Hungarian Cultural Center

e MONDAY MUSIC SOIREES Introducing Péter Tóth › winner of the Los Angeles Piano Competition in 2010 Péter Tóth is considered one of the most promising pianists among his contemporaries.

His international appearances earned him resounding reviews from Europe to the Americas.

His orchestral solos acclaim him as one of the brightest talents on the musical palette.

Despite his young age, Péter Tóth is a veteran on the concert stage. After graduating from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music Budapest (2008), he presented recitals in Russia, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Korea, Japan and China. He comes from Békéscsaba in Hungary, via Budapest, Wittenberg, Weimar, Bovino (Italy) and Los Angeles, by winning all the Grand Prizes of these respectable International Competitions. Through his recitals and recordings, he has won international acclaim since 2000. programme 1. Funerailles from ‘Harmonies Poetique et Religiouses’ #7 2. ‘Waldesrauschen’ Concert Etude #1 3. Fantasie and Fugue on the name of B A C H 4. Legende #2 ‘St.Francis de Paule marchant sur les flots’ 5. Widmung – Dedication 6. Hungarian Rhapsody #6 Piano transcription on Schumann’s song

In 2006 his Liszt CD won the ‘Grand Prix du Disque’ Award from the Franz Liszt Society. Recently he is working on his Doctoral studies at the Texas Christian University with Professor Dr.Tamás Ungár.

Reviewers commend his ‘virtuoso performances’… ‘his impressive pianism is quite extraordinarily right for playing Liszt’… ‘His always right, artistic concept (will) impress his audiences’… ‘a philosopher and a powerhouse at the piano’.

This evening’s performance is a part of the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition’s BICENTENNIAL Prize-winning tour. It will climax at the Ferenc Liszt Memorial Museum and Research Centre’s coveted Liszt Hall in Budapest, where Liszt himself conducted his Master-classes in his time.

Δ Free. For reservations, please call 020 7240 6162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk

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≥ Hungarian Cultural Center

Launch of John Spurling’s Book of Liszts John Spurling › writer János Balázs › piano Jilly Bond › reading, introduced by the writer Vali Tóth › presenter Music by Ferenc Liszt

John Spurling is a playwright and novelist. Since his first play MacRune’s Guevara was performed by the National Theatre Company in 1969, he has had some 27 plays produced on stage, television and radio.

His first two novels, The Ragged End and After Zenda, were published in 1989 and 1995.

His latest novel, A Book of Liszts, is in the unusual form of fifteen self-contained chapters in different styles from different points of view. It celebrates with humour and passion the extraordinary life of the great Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt, born 200 years ago this year, whose incomparable skill and personal charisma dazzled audiences all over Europe. A Book of Liszts will be published on May 17th by Seagull Books in their World Literature series.

The 3CD audio-book, Stories from a Book of Liszts, consisting of four chapters from the novel read by Jonathan Keeble and Jilly Bond, with a selection of Liszt’s music specially recorded at, and in collaboration with, the Palace of Arts – Budapest, by the prize-winning Hungarian pianist János Balázs, was released in January by ChomeAudio.

János Balázs (born on 19th September, 1988 in Budapest, Hungary) is a virtuoso on the piano, the youngest Hungarian pianist winning the Liszt Competition. János is one of the most determined followers of Georges Cziffra, performing Cziffra's own compositions and transcriptions in his solo concerts. He completed the masters' courses of Dmitrij Baskirov, Noel Flores, Marian Lapsansky, Péter Frankl, Tamás Vásáry and Gergely Bogányi.

He has played together with world-famous Hungarian artists like Tamás Vásáry, Zoltán Kocsis, András Schiff, Márta Sebestyén, Gergely Bogányi and Barnabás Kelemen.

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e LITERATURE, CONCERT

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Wednesday | 25 May | 7 pm

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In a unique concert tour, taking place in Hungary between October 2009 and April 2010, János played all the piano compositions, chamber music and concertos

by Frédéric Chopin. The tour was organized by the Budapest Polish Institute.

His 3rd CD was recorded in April 2010, featuring Chopin's piano compositions.

Δ Free. For reservations, please call 020 7240 6162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk

Sunday | 29 May | 11 am ≥ Hungarian Cultural Center

e FILM children’s day film screening

Csiribiri 2009, 72 min, in Hungarian The Hungarian Cultural Centre is proud to entertain children and their families on the occasion of National Children’s Day, which is celebrated all over Hungary on the last Sunday of May with fun activities and programmes for children.

Judit Halász is a legend in Hungary – for decades she has been singing the poems of Hungarian poets to children, with astonishing success. The songs have become top hits even among adults, and it is these songs that come to life in the film, which is all about the power of imagination and about how the power of love can create pure beauty and goodness. Judit Halász's picture is a genuine musical family film, told through songs. We recommend it to people of all ages. Δ Free. For reservations, please call 020 7240 6162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk

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Thursday | 2 June | 6.30 pm

Private view

exhibition open: 2 june – 8 july ≥ Hoopers Gallery

15 Clerkenwell Close, London, EC1R 0AA

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e EXHIBITION UNFOLDING – On the Border of Two Worlds A photo-graphical installation and animated film by Andrea Bátorfi In her project on display at the Hoopers Gallery, the artist steps out of the generic framework of the two-dimensional still picture and invites the visitor to a sensual and meditative journey that offers a complex experience. With the help of her nature-documentary images – which she creates with the help of a special procedure – she opens a gate to an invisible reality beyond ordinary perception. Paradoxically, inside the exhibition space the horizon is gradually expanding.

At the first stage of the journey we meet individual photo-graphics. The journey of dimension changes proceeds with the so-called lenticular works which provide a three-dimensional experience and are displayed in light-boxes. In her animated film the artist recounts the great adventure of the spirit.

The logically perfectly constructed project starts out from the state of "through a glass, darkly” and through conjecture-like, mysterious transitions it leads the spectator to the final light-state.

Andrea Bátorfi creates symmetric compositions from multiple exposure photographs, pieced together according to a strict formal order. In the multiple exposure photographs various accidental natural phenomena witnessed on the bank of the Danube – bare branches, the glitter of light reflected on the surface of the water – are superimposed within a single frame. In the images these familiar, ordinary elements become transparent because of the successive layers, and from the combination of these layers an invisible, yet for brief moments dimly perceptible dimension shows through. „...a lace-like pattern emerges, which operates like a light-structure developed from the depths of the soul: these are the snapshots of an unknown matrix, which she disentangles from the landscape to show us as road signs.” dr Béla Máriás, Life And Literature

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The images of a new world organised by order and light seem to be the bearers and keepers of enormous energies. Through the inviting light-gates and picturesque lightspaces opening in the images we may set out on a journey through dimensions towards our own barely discovered but continuously expanding interior spaces.

Andrea Bátorfi is an artist as well as an art historian who lives and works in Budapest, Hungary. www.batorfiandrea.hu Δ For further information please visit the website of Hoopers Gallery www.hoopersgallery.co.uk

For private view bookings please call 020 72406162 or email bookings@hungary.org.uk

Monday | 6 June | 7 pm ≥ Hungarian Cultural Centre

e MONDAY MUSIC SOIREES Concert of the Students of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Ashley Fripp › piano

Jennifer Miles › piano

Eleanor Laugharne › soprano

Nicholas Allen, › tenor

Act I Ashley Fripp (piano) Ashley Fripp was described as ‘disarmingly precocious’ by the New York times, he has already given solo recital and concerto performances in many of the most prestigious venues throughout the UK, such as the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Cadogan Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, Birmingham Symphony Hall and the Royal Festival Hall. He has made appearances on BBC television and radio, and has also been awarded first prizes at over a dozen prestigious competitions including the 1st Glasgow International Competition for Young Pianists in 2006 and was a Keyboard Finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year 2004. Recent international invitations have taken him to Poland, Germany and China.

Ashley studied piano and composition at the Purcell School and the Royal College of Music Junior Department. In 2007 he moved to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he is currently the inaugural Yamaha Artist Scholar, studying with Professor Ronan O'Hora. Future engagements feature performances throughout

hungarian cultural centre • london

www.ashleyfripp.co.uk

Ferenc Liszt: • Vier Kleine Klavierstücke, S. 192 i) in E major ii) in A flat major iii) in F-sharp major iv) in F-sharp major • La Lugubre Gondola I, S. 200 • Trübe Wolken (Nuages Gris), S. 199

Act II Jennifer Miles, piano Eleanor Laugharne, soprano Nicholas Allen, tenor After gaining a BA Hons degree in music at the University of York, Jennifer Miles continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music with a post-graduate diploma in Piano ccompaniment.

In 2002 – 2003, she held the Meaker Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music. She is currently studying for a Masters Degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Jennifer has given recitals with many outstanding musicians in venues throughout the UK including the Wigmore Hall, St Martin’s-in-theField, St John’s Smith Square and the Norfolk and Norwich Festival. She accompanied a Brass finalist in the televised BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. Jennifer has performed all over the world both as a soloist and as part of various duos with P&O, Fred Olsen and Saga Cruise Lines. She was on the Live Music Now! scheme, bringing music to audiences who would not necessarily be able to attend concerts themselves.

• Années de pèlerinage – Deuxieme Année – Italie, S. 161 No. 1. Sposalizio No. 7. Après une lecture du Dante ‘Fantasia quasi Sonata’

programme act ii Songs of Ferenc Liszt Im Rhein, in schönen Strome Die Lorelei Soprano › Eleanor Laugharne Three Petrarch Sonnets I Pace non trovo II Benedetto sia 'l giorno III l' vidi in terra angelifci costumi Tenor › Nicholas Allen S’il est un charmant gazon Oh, quand je dors Enfant, si j'etais roi Soprano › Eleanor Laugharne

Jennifer also works as a freelance pianist at the Royal Academy of Dance and has been Musical Director of the East Sussex School of Performing Arts for sixteen years.

Δ Free. For reservations, please call 020 7240 6162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk

2011

Ashley Fripp gratefully acknowledges generous financial support from the following: The Salters’ Company, Yamaha Music UK Ltd.

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the UK, including a début at Kings Place, London, and a commercial recording of both Chopin Concertos in Germany.

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& Wednesday | 8 June | 7.30 pm ≥ 606 Club ✉ 90 Lots Road, Chelsea, London SW10

Thursday | 9 June | 7 pm ≥ Hungarian Cultural Centre

e JAZZ A road from Bach to Liszt According to the seasoned critic of Downbeat, John McDonough, a musicians’ musician is someone whose music is too good for the audience. Pianist Péter Rozsnyói fits the bill perfectly. This enormously gifted, brilliant young pianist is held in great esteem by his fellow musicians and the cognoscenti. When he was still a student at the Ferenc Liszt Academy, Britain’s jazz piano legend, Julian Joseph already picked him out as the most talented at his master class in Budapest. Peter’s style is instantly recognizable.

He is practically unique inasmuch, unlike Jacques Loussier, he doesn’t jazz up Bach but „bachs up” jazz instead. And he does that more originally and with better taste than any of his contemporaries.

This means an extremely logical construction, which at the same time, is imbued by the spontaneity and vigor of jazz. He is also a highly original and gifted composer.

Partnering him on bass will be Tom Mason, a fantastic young musician who has already played with the likes of Questlove, Athena, Robin Eubanks, Gwilym Simcock, Famadou Don Moye, the BBC Big Band, not to mention the fantastic Anglo Hungarian Band at the 2008 London Jazz Festival fronted by Gerard Presencer and Kálmán Oláh.

Tom’s choice on the drums is George Hart, a brilliant fellow graduate from the Royal Academy of Music. Δ Free. For reservations, please call 020 7240 6162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk

Thursday | 16 June | 7 pm ≥ Hungarian Cultural Centre

e FILM CLUB Bibliothéque Pascal (Bibliothéque Pascal) 2010, 111 min, German-Hungarian coproduction, dir. Szabolcs Hajdú

Mona Paparu is bringing up her three-year-old daughter alone. Because of a trip abroad she has to leave the child with her aunt. The Child Protection Agency takes the little girl away from the aunt. When Mona returns home she has to give an account

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Cast: Orsolya Török-Illyés, Oana Pellea, Razvan Vasilescu, Andi Vasluianu, Shamgar Amram, Mihai Constantin , Lujza Hajdu, Ion Sapdaru Δ Free. For reservations, please call 020 7240 6162 or e-mail bookings@hungary.org.uk

Thursday | 23 June | 10 pm ≥ The Clore Ballroom,

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Friday | 24 June | 7.45 pm ≥ The Anvil, Basingstoke

Level 2, Royal Festival Hall

e WORLD MUSIC Muzsikás

Hungary’s world-renowned musicians are back in London! Muzsikás is the first Hungarian folk ensemble accepted by the classical music scene, as they fuse traditional Hungarian music with the classical compositions of Bartók, Kodály, Kurtág and Ligeti. This is a unique opportunity to see and hear them in London. Δ For ticket information contact the Southbank Centre on 0844 875 0073 or visit www.southbank.co.uk

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Director: Szabolcs Hajdu Screenplay: Szabolcs Hajdu Photography: András Nagy

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to the CPA on how she spent her time abroad. The film tells the story of her travels, her love and the story of her life in Western Europe... as recounted by Mona Paparu.

‘Truth is stodgier than fiction in Szabolcs Hajdu's visually impressive Bibliotheque Pascal, a dark sex-trafficking fairy tale from Central Europe. The talented writerhelmer imbues a crude and ugly business with a surrealistic beauty as he transforms the disturbing memories of a Hungarian-Romanian femme sold into the sex trade into stories and tableaux with Terry Gilliamesque touches. The pic, which won the top gong at the Hungarian Film Week and also unspools in Berlin's Forum section, is tailor-made for fests; but the story's semi-Freudian acrobatics won't wash with mainstream auds.’ Boyd Van Hoeij

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Saturday | 25 June | 9 pm ≥ Hall One, Kings Place ✉ 90 York Way, London N1 9AG e WORLD MUSIC songlines encounters at kings place:

Söndörgô Söndörgô (pronounce Shoendoergoe) is one of the most active and interesting world music groups in Hungary. They play a style of music that is hugely attractive, but little known and quite different from the traditional, fiddle-led Hungarian repertoire. Their aim is to foster and preserve Southern Slavic traditions of the Serbs and Croats as found in various settlements in Hungary. Most of these communities are situated along the Danube, but quite isolated from each other.

The group was founded in 1995 in Szentendre, a small Hungarian town near Budapest, with long-established Serbian tradition. The Eredics brothers got acquainted and started to play music together with (bass player) Attila Buzás during their high-school years.

Partly because of family reasons (Kálmán Eredics, the father of the Eredics brothers, was a founding member of the Vujicsics ensemble), all the group members are profoundly touched by, and drawn towards Southern Slav folk music. Söndörgô’s mission is to research it, arrange it and perform it on stage. The current members of the group are: Áron Eredics, Benjamin Eredics, Dávid Eredics, Salamon Eredics and Attila Buzás.

Unlike most groups playing Balkan music, Söndörgô is not playing brass band music, it is a tamburitza band. The tambura is a small and agile plucked instrument similar to the mandolin, which is occasionally supplemented by wind instruments and accordion.

Söndörgô’s traditional repertoire is made up of material gathered by Béla Bartók and Tihamér Vujicsics as well as learned from old masters of the tradition.

Söndörgô performs regularly in festivals in Hungary and around Europe. They will present here their new album Tamburising – Lost Music of the Balkans with the singer and actress Kátya Tompos.

‘Söndörgô are proving themselves to be one of Europe’s most versatile and exciting bands.’ Simon Broughton, Songlines Magazine Δ For ticket information and booking please contact Kings Place on 020 7520 1490 or visit www.kingsplace.co.uk

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30 June – 2 October 2011 ≥ Royal Academy of Arts ✉ Piccadilly, London

Eyewitness: Hungarian Photography in the 20th Century Brassaï, Capa, Kertész, Moholy-Nagy, Munkácsi ‘We need photographs to communicate our particularities and our national character’ wrote Rudolf Balogh in 1914. At the time, photography – like other forms of Hungarian art – was firmly under the influence of European practice, but within decades Hungary’s photographers had achieved worldwide recognition. Among Balogh’s countrymen were individuals who would leave their home country to profoundly influence the course of modern photography: Brassaï, Robert Capa, André Kertész, László Moholy-Nagy and Martin Munkácsi are each known for the important changes they brought about in photojournalism, art and fashion photography. Their legacies cannot be underestimated; Capa was a co-founder of Magnum Photos, and Henri CartierBresson, who himself took up photography after seeing an image by Munkácsi, later said ‘Whatever we have done, Kertész did first’.

Hungary produced a remarkable number of leading photographers.

By following their paths through Germany, France, America and elsewhere, the exhibition will signal key points of departure in modern photography.

Many Hungarians travelled the world with their cameras, but others remained in Hungary producing innovatory photography across a broad range of genres and styles. From the early twentieth century

André Kertész Satiric Dancer, Paris, 1926 Gelatin silver print, 25.2 x 20.3 cm Hungarian Museum of Photography, Kecskemét

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e EXHIBITION

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professional and club photography of Rudolf Balogh and József Pécsi, to the more recent documentary and art photography of Péter Korniss and Imre Benkô, Hungary has sustained an active photographic tradition, in which different European influences have been interpreted through a particularly Hungarian sensibility. A presentation of key works by selected photographers, alongside contextual material providing a backdrop of political and economic change in Hungary, will explore the diversity and richness of Hungary’s photographic milieu between c. 1914 and c. 1989.

Martin Munkácsi, Nude, 1935. Gelatin silver print, 27.7 x 35.5 cm. Hungarian Museum of Photography, Kecskemét

The varied subject matter will include ‘Magyar style’ images of rural Hungary; urbanite ‘New Photography’ in Budapest and Berlin; Paris as defined by Brassaï and Kertész in their evocative images of street life and the émigré community to which they both belonged (Picasso, Mondrian, Chagall et al); innovative fashion shots by Munkácsi; powerful photojournalism of war, and social documentary in post-war Hungary. The exhibition will consist of about two hundred photographs, almost all black and white, reflecting the fact that many were taken for reproduction in newspapers; throughout examples of magazines and books it will chart the dynamic relationship with the illustrated press – central to Hungarian photography at home and abroad.

The narratives of those who left Hungary will be interwoven with those who remained, bringing together photographs which were taken ‘worlds apart’ but between which there are echoes and dialogues. The collection of these individual stories will manifest the powerful cultural connection between Hungary and photography, and chart funda-

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mental changes in twentieth-century photography, such as the advent of the hand-held camera, the increasing influence of photojournalism and the movement of photography into the gallery and art market.

The exhibition is curated by independent scholar Colin Ford with Péter Baki, Director of the Hungarian Museum of Photography in Kecskemét, from which the majority of the photographs will be loaned. Additional material will travel from the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest and other holdings in Hungary and the UK. Royal Academy Publications will produce an illustrated catalogue of the exhibition with contributions from the curators and the Hungarian-born English poet and writer George Szirtes. Δ Royal Academy of Arts opening times: 10 am– 6 pm Saturday –Thursday 10 am– 6 pm Friday General enquiries: 020 7300 8000, Book tickets: 0844 209 0051 (international callers please telephone +44 (0)844 209 0051) www.royalacademy.org.uk

Károly Escher Bank Manager at the Baths, Budapest, 1938 Gelatin silver print, 23.6 x 17.9 cm Hungarian Museum of Photography, Kecskemét

Exhibition organized by the Royal Academy of Arts on the occasion of the Hungarian Presidency of the EU 2011

hcc recommends Thursday 10 March, 7.30 pm ≥ Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre Joining in with the celebrations of Franz Liszt’s bicentenary, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Tomás Netopil and Marc-André Hamelin will perform the composer’s Second Piano Concerto Tomás Netopil conductor Marc-André Hamelin piano programme Wagner: Overture, The Flying Dutchman; Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2; Brahms: Symphony No. 1 o Tickets £8-£45 Philharmonia Orchestra Box Office Freephone 0800 652 6717, www.philharmonia.co.uk

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Tuesday 15 March, 1.05 pm Trinity Laban Keyboard Department (Old Royal Naval College Chapel, Greenwich)

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Liszt Keyboard Concert Transcriptions – Trinity Laban piano students perform Liszt works in celebration of his 200th anniversary, highlighting his transcriptions. programme Caroline Seredynski–Schumann –Liszt: “Liebeslied”; Kenneth O’Neil– Saint-Saens–Liszt: “Danse Macabre”; Christine Octaviani: Rigoletto Paraphrase; Maria Nemtsova–Schubert–Liszt: 3 songs; Mikhail Shilyaev: Reminiscenes de Don Juan

Wednesday 23 March, 6.15 pm ≥ Long Gallery talk Hungary and the Presidency of the EU by Klára Breuer, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Republic of Hungary in London. o www.cambridge-szeged-society. org.uk or jmseiberboyd@aol.com Saturday 26 March, 5.30 pm & 8 pm ≥ Hurstwood Farm Piano Concerts Mark Bebbington, 5.30pm Chopin: Sonata in B minor Op. 58; Wagner (Arr. Liszt): Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde; Liszt: Mephisto Polka S217; Verdi (Arr. Liszt): Rigoletto Paraphrase de Concert ›››

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hungarian cultural centre • london

hcc recommends Hiromi Okada, 8pm Bach (Arr. Brahms): Chaconne in D minor for the Left Hand; Liszt: Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este (Troisième Année de pèlerinage), Funérailles (Harmonies poétiques et religieuses); Beethoven: 33 Variations on a waltz by A. Diabelli Op. 120 Sunday 27 March, 6.30pm ≥ Kings Place, Hall One Kodály Quartet (Attila Falvay violin, Erika Tóth violin, János Fejérvári viola, György Éder violin) One of Hungary’s most famous string quartet performs mid-period Haydn, Mendelssohn and music from their own countryman, BélaBartók. programme Haydn String Quartet in G Op. 54/1 (Hob. III:58); Mendelssohn: String Quartet in D, Op. 44/1; Bartók String Quartet No. 5 o Tickets are £16.50, Saver Seat £9.50. Kings Place Box Office: 020 7520 1490, www.kingsplace.co.uk Wednesday 13, Thursday 14, Friday 15 April ≥ Budapest, Hungary Cambridge University Jazz Orchestra performs in 3 Budapest venues. o www.cambridge-szeged-society.org.uk contact Julia Seiber Boyd at jmseiberboyd@aol.com or twg27@cam.ac.uk Friday 15 April, 7.30pm ≥ Shoreditch Church, Shoreditch High Street The Joyful Company of Singers conducted by Peter Broadbent with Gavin Roberts (Organ) continues the LISZT bicentenary celebrations with a performance of VIA CRUCIS, and the atmospheric Dusk Songs by BASCA award-winning Kerry Andrew. o www.jcos.co.uk Tuesday 3 May, 1.05 pm ≥ Trinity Laban Keyboard Department (Old Royal Naval College Chapel, Greenwich)

Liszt Keyboard Concert Années de Pèlerinage – As part of the Liszt 200th anniversary celebrations, Trinity Laban piano students perform a selection of his Années de Pèlerinage. Exact Programme TBC Friday 6 May, 7.45 pm ≥ Gonville & Caius College, Trinity Street, Cambridge Cambridge Chamber Ensemble A concert of chamber music in one of Cambridge's best-known colleges, to include Mozart's Duo for Violin & Viola K424 and Brahms' Piano Quartet in G minor Op 25, together with Haydn Piano Trio No 24. in D and a selection of Transcendental Etudes by Liszt.

Established professional artists from the Cambridge area will be joined by the exciting young Chinese violinist, Chen Xie from the Royal Academy of Music.

Interval refreshments are included in the ticket price (£10, students under 21: £5). o Contact Julia Seiber Boyd on 01223 506064, or email cam.cham.ensemble@btinternet.com or jmseiberboyd@aol.com Saturday, 14 May, 8 pm ≥ Garage (Highbury) Quimby Quimby, which has established its position among the very best Hungarian bands, plays alternative rock music influenced by a refreshing mixture of blues, psychedelic effects and even Gypsy and Latin folk tunes.

Quimby's shows are characterized by a special and vibrating relationship with the fans. It is going to be their 2nd gig after their last year's sold out UK debut. o www.drumandmonkey.org Thursday 19 – Monday 23 May ≥ Szeged, Hungary Cambridge delegation including the Mayor & her consort, attend Bridge Fair in Szeged. o Contact Julia Seiber Boyd at jmseiberboyd@aol.com.

Sunday 29 May, 5.30 pm & 8pm Hurstwood Farm Piano Concerts

≥

Grace Francis, 5.30pm Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Prokofiev: Visions Fugitives; Liszt: Petrarch Sonnet 104 (Deuxième Année de Pèlerinage: Italie), Tarantella (Deuxième Année de Pèlerinage: Italie, Venezia e Napoli) Stephen Hough, 8pm Beethoven: Sonata in C sharp minor Op. 27 No.2 (Moonlight); Janácek: Sonata 1. X. 1905 (From the street); Scriabin: Sonata No. 4 in F sharp major Op. 30, Sonata No. 5 Op. 53; Liszt: Sonata in B minor S178 Thursday 23 Jun, 7.30 pm ≥ Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre Philharmonia Orchestra Bartók: Concerto For Orchestra Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor, Christian Tetzlaff violin; programme Kodály: Dances of Galanta Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2 Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra is probably his best-known work.

All the hallmarks of Bartók’s music are here: fierce rhythmic energy, vivid extremes of colour, folk themes interwoven with glorious melodies. o Philharmonia Orchestra Box Office Freephone 0800 652 6717, www.philharmonia.co.uk Tuesday 28 Jun, 6 pm ≥ Recital Hall, Royal College of Music Royal College Of Music Chamber Series programme Kodály: Serenade Enescu: Sonata No. 3 in A minor Ligeti: 10 Stücke Bartók: Sonata No. 2 o Royal College of Music Box Office: 020 7591 4314, www.boxoffice.rcm.ac.uk

Please note that most of our events are now scheduled to start at 7 pm.

For reservations please email bookings@hungary.org.uk.

If you wish to receive more information about our upcoming events, please send an e-mail to culture@hungary.org.uk. Thank you for your interest.

The HCC team: Dr Ildikó Takács | Director Dávid Kerényi | Finance Manager Szilvia Csányi | Head of Administration and Referee of Education Gyöngyi Végh | Head of Programming and Communications Hanna Kiss | Consultant, Visual Arts Judit Kôrös | Consultant, Information Service and Film Events Dr Gábor Egri | Senior Consultant, Music Péter Pallai | Jazz Consultant If you are interested in joining the Friends of the Hungarian Cultural Centre please contact Ruth and Robert Wing on 020 7351 7653 or email r.wing@imperial.ac.uk The Reading Room, our Information Service and the rental of video films are available on Mondays and Thursdays between 11 am and 7 pm.

For more information, please call our information consultant, Judit Kôrös.

The information in this brochure is believed to be correct at the time of going to press, but as this may be three months or more before the events take place, we strongly advise you to confirm dates, times and availability before setting out for any particular event.

The HCC reserves the right to alter artists or programme details as necessary.

Hungarian Cultural Centre 10 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London WC2E 7NA Tel: 020 7240 8448 • Fax: 020 7240 4847 • Message: 020 7240 6162 e-mail:culture@hungary.org.uk

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www.hungary.org.uk

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HCC Hungarian Cultural Centre london

10 Maiden Lane Covent Garden London WC2E 7NA

Tel: 020 7240 8448 Fax: 020 7240 4847 Message: 020 7240 6162

www.hungary.org.uk culture@hungary.org.uk