RESTORED SUNSHINE OF A SPOTLESS PASSION

Franz Liszt Prize–winning conductor György Vashegyi is the founder and leader of the Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra, the chief music director of the Hungarian National Philharmonic since 2022, and an associate professor at the Liszt Academy. If we look behind the executive attire, however, we discover one of Hungary’s most committed researchers of Baroque music.

Practically all that is missing is a powdered wig, since Vashegyi and his ensembles have performed all of Joseph Haydn’s symphonies composed before his time in London, all his masses and German-language oratorios. His latest exciting undertaking is related to Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, a prolific German composer who was at least as popular in his own time as his contemporary Johann Sebastian Bach; indeed, a person whom Bach himself regarded highly. Sadly, a large portion of Stölzel’s works has been lost, and it is for this reason that the premiere of his passion dating from 1727 is such a revelation. Christened with the title Jesus as the Good Shepherd Who Suffers and Dies for the Lost Sheep, Stölzel’s work lay unperformed for nearly three centuries in a Berlin library, and has so far been performed only once – naturally by Vashegyi and his ensembles. The performance material was prepared from the original score by composer Levente Gyöngyösi, while the libretto was edited by Péter Illényi and Péter Mészáros.

9 APRIL | 7PM

Müpa Budapest – Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

HUNGARIAN STATE FOLK

ENSEMBLE: HIS CROSS BLOSSOMED DANCE DRAMA FOR THE FEAST OF EASTER

In The Spirit Of The Cross

At the centre of the cycle of Easter celebrations is Easter Sunday, the celebration of Jesus Christ’s resurrection. Although today’s urban dweller tends to forget it, the spring customs of peasant tradition are a bewilderingly rich cultural treasure trove. Moreover, if we place these traditions alongside the liturgical customs practiced by the church, then we can marvel at both in a new context. Helping us to do so are Gábor Mihályi and the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble, with their colourful extravaganza of music and dance assembled under the title His Cross Blossomed. This is a genuinely multigenerational and multidisciplinary event, in which the hsfe dancers and orchestra are joined, among others, by the Saint Ephraim Male Choir, as well as singing and dance students from several schools. The evening is not confined to replaying the various customs that precede and follow Easter. With over a hundred participants, the production has the professed aim to convey to the audience the message of the Easter season through spectacular, integrated stage tableaux. The presentation of dance traditions is enriched by a diverse range of music, comprising ritual songs, archaic folk prayers, religious folk melodies, and songs from the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Greek Catholic traditions intertwined harmoniously.