Liszt Academy Concert Magazine 2019/1 by Zeneakadémia

LISZT ACADEMY CONCERT MAGAZINE JANUARYâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;JUNE 2019

PLEASE REVIEW OUR SHORT FILM ON THE RESTORATION OF THE HUNDRED AND TWELVE YEARS OLD ORGAN OF THE LISZT FERENC MUSIC ACADEMY. AFTER A LONG SILENCE, THE ORGAN IS RE-SOUNDING IN 2018.

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It has taken over fifty years for the legendary concert organ of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music to get resurrected. The event has been an uplifting experience, one that is rare in the lives of concert goers or music teachers or any musician, indeed. The 111-year-old Voit organ has at all times been the emblem of the Grand Hall, even while some belittled it as one lagging behind the age and unreliable, or at periods while another organ, the Walcker stood behind its muted pipes, or even at the interlude during which the organ gallery stood gaping empty for the refurbishing process was feverishly underway. Concluding its adventures befitting a novel, it returned to its home at last to emit its sound on the birthday of the founder of our school Ferenc Liszt. It is not merely our romantic soul that was thrilled by the chance to SUPPORTER OF THE LISZT ACADEMY hear again the magic reverberation of those pipes made in the beginning of the 20th century: it has brought back to life the spirit of great musicians to the Grand Hall. Let me give sound to some measure of the pride I feel both as a teacher and the president of the institute, since this incomparable instrument opens up unique opportunities for the Liszt Academy. The most distinguished organists of the globe have started to visit us and our organ season ticket has sold out with lightening speed. Our students are enabled now to master the art of playing the organ on its peak level, Ministry whereas the instrument provides genuine inspiration to all contemporary of Human Capacities musicians. Nevertheless, it is not only the organ that will provide lasting memories about the concerts of the Autumn season: István Várday will play the cello and Gábor Takács-Nagy will conduct the Manchester Camerata, a most perceptive orchestra which applies each note to engage the audience in a dialogue, and people sitting in the Hall shall definitely receive their message. The evening with Ádám Fischer and the Danish Chamber Orchestra will usher in a similarly unforgettable experience. The Liszt PARTNERS OF THE UNIVERSITY Academy Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pinchas Steinberg , Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, or Gergely Vajda, the latter a representive of the young generation, has always been in the focus of increased attention. The music of Joshua Bell and Sam Haywood will transmit the ars poetica of the Liszt Academy. The joint concert of Kristóf Baráti and Barnabás Kelemen is going to be a genuine treat, as well as the trio of Péter Frankl, Miklós Perényi and Gergely Ittzés. Let me warmly recommend our quartets series since the most distinguished ones of the world will play for us: the Belcea, the Jerusalem, the Takács and the Arditti. The first four concerts of the organ series in the Liszt Academy will commence by our teachers playing, and then followed by the young talents from the student seats of the second floor balcony. While I am thinking of the above sequence of concerts the thought has emerged that Ferenc Liszt was not alive by the time of 1907 to hear our organ. Nevertheless, I am certain that possessing an innovative spirit and open personality he would have found much pleasure in it both as a composer and as an organ player. Dr. Andrea Vigh President of the Liszt Academy

It was five years ago that the gates of the Liszt Academy were reopened to visitors and our students first laid eyes on the restored classrooms. Ever since, the venerable building in Liszt Ferenc Square has become a crucially important venue for not only domestic, but also international concerts. Recently, the Grand Hall has been enriched with the renovated organ, which was inaugurated on the birthday of the very man for whom the academy was named. Such news may not sound extraordinary at first, as it is general practice that a valuable musical instrument is refurbished to make it possible to play and hear it. However, this is quite another story, as the revitalized instrument is one that had been nearly entirely destroyed, its parts had to be collected from a number of directions for reconstruction, and the swell had to be reassembled based on nothing more than two or three photographs. Anyone who has seen this incredible instrument can easily understand the enthusiasm of the experts. Its mere appearance inspires the player, commands respect and demands attention. As if it were the bridge on the Nautilus, it captures both one’s imagination and scientific curiosity. The product of systematic, comprehensive research, the reproduced instrument may be regarded as the restoration of a unique sonority. It is very much like archaeologists finding remains that have been preserved under special conditions, enabling us to picture more precisely how our ancestors had lived and what their customs were like thousands of years ago. In this case, it is only a 110-year span of retrospection, yet it is extra ordinary to understand the precise sound produced by an organ which was in operation by the time of the opening of the Liszt Academy. In other words, it is possible to reconstruct the kind of organ its creator, Dezső Antalffy-Zsiross, had in mind. Anyone who had the opportunity to listen to the Voit organ can tell that it was state-of-the-art 110 years ago, just like the building of the Academy. The refurbishment of the Academy is now complete with the reconstruction of the organ, whose sound is just as integral a part of the building as its Art Deco ornaments or Thonet chairs. In introducing the organ, our task is similar to the one we had when the building was renovated: to use it in a manner that is appropriate to the spirit of the greatness of our predecessors, to demonstrate its versatility, to develop our organist education, and to spread the word about the queen of all musical instruments. It is our wish that this extraordinary instrument should be truly appreciated far and wide. We are therefore striving to meet this goal with as many events as possible. In addition to the concerts on the organ season ticket, it is possible to find out more about the instrument and hear it on Talent Day, when László Fassang will hold an open lecture. Children are also welcome to the Grand Hall concert as part of the Liszt Kidz Academy series, where they will learn so much about the history of the Voit organ coupled with a great deal of music. We hope that you will enjoy our event offerings and that we shall meet at the Liszt Academy as regularly as possible. András Csonka Programme Director of the Liszt Academy 2

Organ: O-R-G-A-N. Melody emanates from the word itself. It is the name of musical instruments’ queen, and in the Hungarian language also the name of one of our favourite blossoming bushes the lilac, which provides the heart warming purple, pink and unsoiled whiteness in the flower bouquets on Mothers’ Day. For us at the Liszt Academy, any association to the organ recalls solemn emotions, overpowering sonority, sublime visions and a complete palette of feelings. The fabric of inspired moments, memories and tales is woven into the writings surrounded by the programmes of the fresh Concert Magazine. To push the etymological analysis applied to the Hungarian language somewhat even further, the linguist points out that our word ‘organ’ is a homonym comprising two lexical units that are connected in a number of ways: it is possible to prepare whistles – pipes – out of the twigs of the plant: this may be the root for the transmission of the name. It is especially fascinating that the Latin botanical noun for organ (Syringa) is also related to ‘tube, whistle, and flute’. Furthermore, it is feasible that the inflorescence of the organ plant resembles the cluster of pipes in the instrument and therefore provided the ground for the shared name. The refurbishment of the organ in the Grand Hall has delivered the tale of a fulfilled dream at the Liszt Academy, an unparalleled fruit of cooperation and joint workmanship. The instrument is literally incompar able with anything, either to the Voit-organs in Europe, as it is towering high above the one in Prague or Heidelberg, including the instrument at Yale University in the US, or the one in the Russian Tchaikovsky Conservatory, for the reason that our organ is a romantic concert hall instrument. The match of the hall and the organ bring about the mystery. A miracle took place right at its Inauguration Ceremony; it was perceivable in the misty eyes and the enthusiastic applause of the audience which cheered our brilliant organ teachers on the debut of the instrument. It was a graceful, noble, powerful and moving experience at the same time. A message travelled from the past to the present, as phrased by the teachers and the management of the Liszt Academy. Let us share some elements of this emotion in our Concert Magazine with its focus on the organ, to convey the musical and spiritual processes with regard to its reconstruction at the Liszt Academy. Júlia Torda Director of Communications of the Liszt Academy 3

Sibelius Monument by Eila Hiltunen (Töölö, Helsinki, Finland, 1960)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FROM THE HYDRAULIS TO THE CONCERT ORGAN

CONCERT SCHEDULE FOR JANUARY

FLOWERING PLANT OR KEYBOARD INSTRUMENT?

CONCERT SCHEDULE FOR FEBRUARY

A RECONSTRUCTION EFFORT ACCOMPLISHED – SUMMARY ON THE LAST PAGES OF A DIARY ABOUT A DREAM WHICH HAS BECOME A REALITY

CONCERT SCHEDULE FOR MARCH

PARITY – BALÁZS SZABÓ & LÁSZLÓ FASSANG – A PERFECT ORGAN IN A PERFECT HALL. AMAZING MESSAGE FROM THE PAST TO THE FUTURE

CONCERT SCHEDULE FOR APRIL

CONCERT SCHEDULE FOR MAY AND JUNE

THE QUEEN OF INSTRUMENTS IN LISZT’S OEUVRE

DIPLOMA CONCERTS IN THE GRAND HALL

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY

CONCERTS AT THE OLD MUSIC ACADEMY

’PLEASE, DO NOT SEND ME ANY MORE CORES’

CONCERT CALENDAR

104

THE BARTÓK COMPETITION AND ITS WORLDWIDE REPUTATION

106

TICKET MAP

FROM THE HYDRAULIS TO THE CONCERT ORGAN

What kind of instrument is an organ (organon, organum)? How does it work, and how does it look like? There is no short answer to these questions. On the one hand, organ has no clearly definable size or shape; during its long history the name designated many kind of instruments from hydraulic organs with a dozen pipes to a concert organ with seven manuals and thousands of pipes which can be regarded as a world record of its kind. On the other hand, the way of sounding or the size of the keys also varied over the centuries. By the time the pipe organ of the LISZT ACADEMY OF MUSIC, one of the most modern instrument of its age, was installed at the Grand Hall, the organ had changed as much as it could throughout its long journey across the past two thousand years.

The history of the organ dates back to around 250 BC, when Ctesibius of Alexandria (285–222 BC) invented the hydraulis. Although the organ was called the “King of the Instruments” by Mozart, the sound of this early mechanical pipe organ used in ancient Roman arenas might have been more displeasing than elevated. The hydraulis had a penetrating sound, similar to that of the ancient aulos (double-reeded wind instrument), and, as such, it was used as an outdoor instrument. It might have signalled the beginning and the end of the fights or the performances, in moments when decisions were made publicly over life or death.

Musicians playing on instruments (from the left to right: tuba, hydraulis and two cornua) during a gladiators’ fight. Detail from the floor mosaic in Zliten, Lybia (2nd century AD)

to several European monarchs. In 757 the French king Pepin the Short set up an organ in a church at Compiègne, which was sent to him by the Byzantine emperor, though the instrument was never used in church services.

The instrument discovered in 1931 as an exceptional find at the site of the ancient city of Aquincum, already had a slightly different function. The wife of the organ player of the Legio II Adiutrix, during her short life “amused the people playing the hydraulis so well”, as it reads the Latin inscription on her sarcophagus from the 3rd century AD. According to this inscription, the pious Aelia Sabina also played on some kind of string instrument and had a pleasant voice. Hence, the water organ had become an instrument suitable for entertaining and accompaniment to singing, which, by this time, produced sound through flue pipes. The construction of such a complex instrument might have been very expensive, and since the hydraulis was regarded as an object of great value, it served as a gift

Christianity ignored the use of the organ for a long time, since the past of the instrument was considered to be linked to paganism. Although earlier historical records can also be found, the use of the organon in major Western-European churches began to spread in the 9th century at the latest. Their main function was similar to that of bells, calling the faithful to worship, but according to several historical sources, at the moments of liturgical acclamations (like Alleluia or Kyrie) organs and bells also sounded together. On a 12th century depiction appears a new secular instrument: a small portative organ or simply called portative, the bellows of which were manipulated by the player itself. The sarcophagus of Aelia Sabina (Aquincum Museum)

The regal which has a set of reed pipes may claim an earlier origin. Another small organ called positive played an increasingly important role from the 15th century. The latter had only flue pipes, often in several rows, and because of its large size, the instrument could be moved with difficulty. The first use of pedals on large church organs dates back to the 14th century. The great organ in the cathedral of Halberstadt was described by Michael Praetorius in the second volume of his book Syntagma Musicum. Its bellows were worked by ten men, and it had three

The early pipe organs were supplied with wind by means of bellows and the instrument produced sound by drawing out stop-like sliders as it is seen on this illustration from the 12 th-century manuscript Bible of St. Etienne Harding at Dijon. 7

manuals and a pedalboard. The keys of the first and second manual were so large that they had to be pressed with the fist. Since it was not possible to change registers (stops), these type of instruments, known as Blockwerk or Mixture-Organ, could produce only a very loud sound. To vary the loudness and the timbre of the sound, multiple manuals were built, as was in the case of the Halberstadt organ. To control separately the individual ranks of pipes a valve system in the form of slider or spring chests were developed. Whilst in Italy and in the Iberian Peninsula one-manual organs became increasingly common, in the North the organ became a large instrument with several sounding divisions (Werk) visibly divided into separate chests. By the time of the Renaissance, the late medieval organ building had developed instruments with changeable timbres and registers, though their keyboards were very different compared to those used today. These improvements opened the way not just to the organ transcriptions of choral works, but also to the development of independent organ compositions of various genre and structure, which shaped the further development of the organ building. From the beginning of the 16th century regional schools of organ building began to develop throughout Europe.

A portative held by an Angel who operates a bellows with the left hand and pressing down the keys with the right hand, depicted in a detail of a painting by Hans Memling, painted around 1480.

Keyboards of the organ built for the cathedral of Halberstadt. The illustration is from the second volume of Michael Praetoriusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Syntagma Musicum. 8

The organ of the St. JACOB’S Church in Lübeck, Germany. The Gothic Blockwerk was built in 1466, the Renaissance Rückpositiv division in the front of it was added in 1573, the Baroque towers of the Pedalwerk and the Brustwerk, the latter not seen in the picture, are from 1673.

In the Baroque period, new registers were added to the instrument, and in Northern Europe builders constructed organs even with four manuals. Due to the style developed by Johann Sebastian Bach, the orchestral-like sounding registers of the organ became increasingly common. These changes paved the way for the Romantic type of organ. As a result of the larger size, the extended registers and the higher windchest pressure, a greater force was required to overcome the wind pressure and to press the keys. Still, the composers of the 19th century often ignored the capabilities of the instrument. The organ pieces of Mendelssohn and Liszt required a technique similar to that of their piano compositions, and the possibilities of the player were rather restricted on old-style instruments. To overcome these difficulties new technical solutions were introduced, and the tubular pneumatic action was invented. The operation of a tubular-pneumatic organ was accomplished by a change of air pressure within lead tubes that connect the organ’s console to its windchest. Other improvements aimed the instrument’s ability for dynamic variety according to the needs of the Romantic repertoire. As early as in the 17 th century several mechanical devices were invented in Iberian organ music to control the dynamic range of certain ranks of pipes placed in separate boxes with a pedal. Improving this device the so called swell had been developed, which became increasingly common since the 19th century, especially in France. Several technical solutions were also introduced to control registers and create crescendo during the playing. Beside these devices the late Romantic German organs were built with electro-pneumatic actions making the play easier on this orchestral-like sounding instrument. Representing the latest achievements of the instrument’s history, the organ of the Liszt Academy of Music built in 1907 marked a new era in Hungarian organ building. Balázs Méhes 9

The basaltic organ, known to scientists as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;columnar joint basaltâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, is formed by the rapid cooling of basalt lava near the surface. As it cools, contraction forces occur, forming joints or fractures at a right angle to the surface (which mostly means vertically). Later, millions of years of weathering effects (water, wind, ice shattering, frost wedging, thermal stress, crumbling etc.) increase the fracturing until the formerly solid structure becomes divided into separate columns. The process continues until the columns collapse due to weathering and erosion.

Basalt rock formations in the Azad River Gorge, Armenia

GUIDED TOURS • Guided tours in English for individual visitors (50 min.) every day at 1.30 PM • Adult ticket: HUF 2 900 + HUF 600 (with ticket for mini-concert) • With student identity card, concession card and for visitors over 65 years: HUF 1 750 • No registration needed. • Ticket purchase (also for concerts): Liszt Academy Ticket Office (1061 Budapest, 8 Liszt Ferenc square)

CONCERT CHRONOLOGY JANUARY Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Hosted concert Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior

TUESDAY 1 JANUARY, 17.00

GRAND HALL NEW YEAR’S DAY CONCERT CLASSICAL, FOLK MUSIC, JAZZ – TALENTS OF THE LISZT ACADEMY Kodály: T wo Folk Songs from Zobor Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525 – 1. Allegro J. S. Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068 – 2. Air Kodály: D ances of Marosszék Bartók: Four Slovak Folk Songs, BB 78 Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances, BB 68 Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 – 4. Rondo alla Zingarese: Presto Authentic instrumental and vocal folk music Jazz arrangements of the classical works Csongor Korossy-Khayll, Eszter Kökény, Annamária Miklós, Kristóf Tóth, Csenge Dósa, Petra Kamilla Várallyay, Attila Mihó (violin), Julianna Albert, Fülöp Görbicz, Márton Fekete (viola), Gergely Devich, Máté Tomasz (cello), Máté Tóth, István Tóth Jr., Krisztián Lakatos Pecek, Vilmos Mohácsi (double bass), Gergely Kovács, Áron Tálas, Elemér Balázs Jr., Zsigmond Pál (piano), Attila Gyárfás

(drums), Ágnes Enyedi (vocals), Soma Salamon (recorder, accordion) New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir (choirmaster: László Norbert Nemes)

Hungarian Quartet: András Keller, János Pilz (violin), Gábor Homoki (viola), László Fenyő (cello) Featuring: Miklós Perényi (cello)

Celebrating a new beginning with music really ought not to require any sort of institutionalized tradition. Despite this, such traditions do exist, and what is more, they are becoming increasingly popular. In Hungary, the past few decades have witnessed the launch of several such concert series. Now it is the turn of the Liszt Academy to join this seasonal tradition with its own event – except that our production follows an unusual and dynamic concept. Students of the Liszt Academy, under the direction of their professors, Balázs Fülei, Péter Árendás and Károly Binder, are involved in the New Year’s Day Concert, delivering a programme combining folk music, classical and jazz productions designed to highlight the kinship between different musical genres and attitudes. Guests are greeted on New Year’s Day with a glass of sparkling wine.

This recital offers the audience an opportunity to hear the first concert by Hungarian Quartet, recently re-established by András Keller, the renowned violinist, founder of Keller Quartet and music director of Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra. Alongside Keller the members of this ‘super-quartet’ are János Pilz, founding member of Keller Quartet, violin section leader of Budapest Festival Orchestra and concertmaster of Budapest Strings; László Fenyő, star soloist, cello professor at the Karlsruhe Music Academy; and violinist Gábor Homoki, former member of Kelemen Quartet. Integrating the knowledge and talent of three Hungarian musician generations, the quartet aims to continue the work of Hungarian String Quartet, founded by Sándor Végh in 1935 and later led by Zoltán Székely, which was disbanded in 1972. “We would like to renew the tradition of very personal music-playing represented by our predecessors. Jenő Hubay, Ede Zathureczky, Dénes Kovács – masters of the craft of Hungarian violin playing – “spoke Hungarian” on their instruments, however the message of their art became universal. We would like to return to this style of playing music” said András Keller.

Tickets: HUF 2 400, 3 100, 4 500, 5 900, 6 600 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

FRIDAY 4 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL NEW BEGINNINGS – HUNGARIAN QUARTET Beethoven: G reat Fugue, Op. 133 Bartók: String Quartet No. 5, BB 110 Schubert: String Quintet in C major, D. 956

András Keller

Tickets: HUF 1 500, 2 400, 3 300, 4 200 Presented by Concerto Budapest

SATURDAY 5 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL PURE BAROQUE EMŐKE BARÁTH & IL POMO D’ORO LA VENEZIANA – BARBARA STROZZI AND HER MASTERS Strozzi: Diporti di Euterpe ovvero Cantate e ariette a voce sola, op. 7 – Lagrime mie Marini: Affetti Musicali, Op. 1 – 1. La Zorzi Strozzi: Mi fa rider la speranza Cesti: S peranza ingannatrice 13

Merula: Canzoni overo sonate concertate per chiesa e camera (book 3), Op. 13 – Ballo detto Eccardo Strozzi: Cantate, ariette e duetti, Op. 2 – 4. Sul Rodano severo Strozzi: Arie a voce sola, Op. 8 – 6. Che si può fare Cavalli: Sinfonia; „Alba ch’imperli i fiori”; „Cresce, cresce il foco” – excerpts from Statira principessa di Persia Marini: Sonata sopra „Fuggi dolente core”, op. 22/21 Strozzi: Ariette a voce sola Op. 6 – 16. Chi brama in Amore Cavalli: „Vanne intrepido o mio” – excerpt from Statira principessa di Persia Emőke Baráth (soprano) Il Pomo d’Oro Conductor and harpsichord: Francesco Corti

her songs, madrigals and cantatas speak of the influence of her teacher Francesco Cavalli, a student of Monteverdi. Tickets: HUF 3 700, 5 100, 6 500, 7 800, 8 600 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Georgi Sztojanov (tenor) Laurent Winkler (actor) Françoise Rivalland (percussion) Wu Wei (sheng) Lyrics: Antonia Taddei (excerpts from Me jejoier – pièce à mâcher) Director: László Hudi Scenery: András Juhász Georgi Sztojanov

SATURDAY 5 JANUARY, 10.00

ROOM XXIII LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY AT THE TRANSPARENT SOUND NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL FAIRY TALE CHORAL IMPROVIZATIONS FOR 6–10-YEAR-OLDS Emőke Baráth

Although one of the first composers in history to be known by name was Hildegard von Bingen, a woman, men continue to dominate mainstream composition to this day. If one were to ask people in the street to name a few female composers, the majority would be unable to give a single example, irrespective of music genre. It is no secret that the January programme of the youthful yet world-famous Hungarian soprano Emőke Baráth and the early music ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro aims to change this lamentable state of affairs. Looking at the raw numbers, if we exclude the second half of the 20th century, most registered female compo sers were active in the 17th century and early 18th century. Italian Humanism was certainly more tolerant of the artistic ambitions of women than the later bourgeois world. The best-known female music composer of the 1600s was Barbara Strozzi, daughter of Venetian poet Giulio Strozzi; 14

Georges Aperghis: L e Corps á corps Georges Aperghis: L igne de fissure KeeYong Chong: Jinxin HUA Hai Wu Wei: D ragon Dance – traditional gagaku music Krisztina Megyeri: Nousnoyons-nous (Le désir de s’enfuir ou celui d’arriver) - musical theatre for for singing actor and two instruments

Animators: Orsolya Juhász, Georgi Sztojanov Teaming up with the Transparent Sound New Music Festival, the Liszt Kidz Academy stages an unusual morning session. Working from the volume of choir improvizations Silesius Études by singer and composer Georgi Sztojanov, who, along with singer and music teacher Orsolya Juhász makes the magic of singing and shared music-making accessible even for the youngest. Ticket: HUF 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre, Transparent Sound New Music Festival

The musical experience is inseparable from the spectacle of the performance and those other ‘non-musical’ moments which occur on a stage. Many composers, particularly over the past few decades, have paid special attention not only to the music arrangement but also the visuality of its performance. The increasingly rich repertoire of the annual Transparent Sound New Music Festival has provided ever more exciting opportunities for us to experience a composition not only audibly but also visually through carefully staged performances. For this occasion, the focus of the concert is directed towards traditional music and the theatre of instruments, where we come across virtuosi of Chinese and Persian instruments, as well as a music stage work written by Krisztina Megyeri for actor, singer and two instrumentalists. Ticket: HUF 1 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre, Transparent Sound New Music Festival

SUNDAY 6 JANUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL TRANSPARENT SOUND NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL OPENING CONCERT

Wu Wei

style typical of the second half of the 18th century. The modern score and performance materials of both works are based on contemporary manuscripts and are the fruits of the labours of the ensemble’s continuo player, Augustin Szokos. Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra

TUESDAY 8 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL PURCELL CHOIR AND ORFEO ORCHESTRA Österreich: Plötzlich müssen die Leute sterben – motet Werner: Der gute Hirt – oratorio Ágnes Kovács (soprano), Péter Bárány (countertenor), Zoltán Megyesi (tenor), Lóránt Najbauer (bass) Purcell Choir Orfeo Orchestra (concertmaster: Simon Standage) Conductor: György Vashegyi Anyone buying a ticket for this Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra concert is destined to see an event of great noteworthiness: alongside the new-age world premieres we have almost come to expect from these two ensembles – directed by György Vashegyi – there are, this time, plenty of Hungarian associations. Gregor Joseph Werner was Kapellmeister at the Eszterházy court, and on his death he was succeeded by Joseph Haydn. A surviving manuscript score by György Thonner of the oratorio Der gute Hirt, which was first performed in Hungary, is preserved in the music collection of the National Széchényi Library.  Born in Magdeburg, Georg Österreich studied under Kapellmeister Johann Schelle in the famous Thomasschule zu Leipzig, and he then became director of music for the prince in Gottorf castle. Modernity and extravagance are evident in his works; his church music has operatic and theatrical elements, and his sparkling musical ideas were forerunners of the

Tickets: HUF 1 990, 2 990, 3 990, 4 990 Presented by Sysart Kft., Orfeo Music Foundation

FRIDAY 11 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA AMBASSADORS OF POLISH MUSIC Moniuszko: H alka – overture Mozart: Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major, K. 299 Szymanowski: Symphony No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19 Jacques Zoon (flute), Andrea Vigh (harp) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Łukasz Borowicz

was father of the genre of Polish national opera and a system of teaching music. His best-known opera, Halka, premiered in 1848.  Karol Szymanowski, like many of his contemporaries, started to compose music under the influence of Wagner and Richard Strauss until he discovered his own sound. Symphony No. 2, which reveals varied melodies of a folk music nature, was presented in 1911.  Mozart’s remarkable double concerto, written for a French aristocrat and his daughter, is performed by a Hungarian-Dutch duo. The French, gavotte-like theme of the closing movement refers to the ‘dedicatees’. Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 500, 6 000 Presented by Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

SATURDAY 12 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST Messiaen: H ymne au Saint-Sacrement Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33 Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 in E major Steven Isserlis (cello) Concerto Budapest Conductor: András Keller

Łukasz Borowicz

Hand on heart, if one were asked to make a list of Polish composers, most of us would not be able to get beyond Chopin and perhaps our famous contemporaries Penderecki and Lutosławski. Our concert fills this gap in many people’s knowledge. Lukasz Borowicz, chief conductor of the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Warsaw Opera, presents the two most famous Polish composers of Romanticism. Stanislaw Moniuszko, the ‘Polish Erkel’,

“My mother played piano, as did my oldest sister, although she wanted to play the viola; my middle sister and my father played violin, in other words, we lacked a cellist.” This is how in an interview Steven Isserlis dryly reflected on the obvious course of his choice of career and instrument. He went on to say: “Chamber music was our elementary school.” Known also for his music writing, the British instrumentalist appears in two concerts at the invitation of András Keller, first playing Camille Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor. One of the benchmark contemporary recordings of this concerto, written in 1872, also preserves an Isserlis solo.  “One day I came home and was very sad; I said to myself: the master cannot 15

live much longer; and suddenly the C-sharp minor Adagio came to me.” This is how Anton Bruckner remembered the birth of the most famous part of his Symphony No. 7; thus, the Adagio became associated with the impending death of his much-admired Wagner.  Luckily for posterity, the opening number of this fascinating concert, Hymne au Saint-Sacrement, came to Messiaen’s mind not once but twice, because the work composed in 1932 was lost during World War II and the composer later reconstructed it from memory.

Steven Isserlis

Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900 Presented by Concerto Budapest

SUNDAY 13 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST Messiaen: H ymne au Saint-Sacrement Schumann: C ello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129 Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 in E major Steven Isserlis (cello) Concerto Budapest Conductor: András Keller “Concert piece for violoncello with orchestral accompaniment.” This slightly ambiguous determination is how Schumann defined his Cello Concerto in A minor, written in the autumn of 1850, thereby stating he was fully aware that the work diverged from the ‘official’ model of the First Viennese School. The work is presented here with the solo played by Steven Isserlis, who has a deep commitment to 16

Schumann. Indeed, he has appeared in print as ‘defence attorney’ for the German. “There is no composer to whom I feel closer than Schumann. He has been a beloved friend since I was a child ...” said the world-famous British cellist and audience favourite here in Budapest. The other two works in the programme evoke sacrality, albeit in different ways: the presumed death of a creative genius worshipped as a god and the Eucharist itself. Olivier Messiaen’s work originally dates from 1932, but as a consequence of World War II the composer was forced to rewrite this spiritually-inspired piece from memory in 1947.  Anton Bruckner’s ‘Lyric’ symphony, and particularly the beautiful Adagio movement, was born out of the composer’s realization that his idol, Wagner, did not have long to live – and in fact, news of the maestro’s death reached Bruckner while he was writing the Adagio.

TUESDAY 15 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CONCERT TO COMMEMORATE THE INNOCENTS M. Haydn: Missa sub titulo Sancti Leopoldi M. Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in C major M. Haydn: Vesperae pro festo Sanctorum Innocentium J. Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross, Hob. XX:2 – excerpts J. Haydn: Symphony No. 44 in E minor, Hob. I:44 (‘Mourning’) Eszter Zemlényi, Nóra Ducza, Andrea Meláth (vocals) László Borsódy (trumpet) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Children’s Choir (acting choral director: Judit Walter) Conductor: Martin Haselböck

Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900 Presented by Concerto Budapest

MONDAY 14 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA THE MUSIC HATER Martin Haselböck

Symphonic music stand-up concert with Péter Janklovics Péter Janklovics Danubia Orchestra Óbuda Conductor: Máté Hámori

Péter Janklovics

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 4 800, 6 500, 7 900 Presented by Danubia Orchestra Óbuda

Michael Haydn, Joseph Haydn’s younger brother by five years, served for over four decades in Mozart’s birthplace, Salzburg. He composed in virtually all the genres of the period and was considered particularly outstanding for his church music. His brother also enthused over Michael’s music written for the church, while in the early 19th century E. T. A. Hoffmann held him in particularly high regard: “All connoisseurs of music know, and have known for some time, that as a composer of sacred music, Michael Haydn ranks amongst the finest of any age or nation.” The concert features one of the most virtuoso trumpet concertos of the period, a Joseph Haydn symphony and oratorio, as well as two works by his younger brother, written for the liturgy of

the Massacre of the Innocents, commemorating those children murdered following the birth of Christ. Tickets: HUF 2 800, 3 500, 5 000, 6 000 Presented by Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles

WEDNESDAY 16 JANUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL CARMEN PERFORMANCE BY THE LISZT FERENC ACADEMY OF MUSIC Bizet: Carmen Carmen: Anna Fürjes Don José: Miroslav Sykora Escamillo: Azat Malik Micaëla: Estefanía Avilés Frasquita: Katoh Hiroko Mercedes: Gabriella Fenyvesi Dancairo: Bence Gulyás Remendado, Morales: Attila Szűcs Zuniga: Ferenc Endrész Costumes: Judit Sinkovics Choreographer: Krisztián Gergye Musical assistant: Mónika Baja Chamber reorchestration: Stephen McNeff Anima Musicae Ensemble Conductor: Szabolcs Sándor Director: László Keszég Head of department: Andrea Meláth

Every year the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, as organizer of the Opera Exam Festival, prepares for this international meeting with one of its own productions. This year’s music theatre project is managed by theatre director László Keszég, and once

again we can see and hear students of the opera department of the Liszt Academy. In 2019 it is the turn of the world-famous Bizet opera Carmen to be staged. Of course, we can expect to come across another truly remarkable performance to chamber music accompaniment. British composer Stephen McNeff, who is also famous as a contemporary opera author, reorchestrated the work at the request of Mid Wales Opera in 2014. Bizet often employed an orchestra to evoke a Spanish ambience, and this chamber orchestra version remains true to this concept.

Vukán to classical music and jazz. There are popular classical compositions, works by Chopin, Fauré, Liszt and Gershwin, as well as several Vukán pieces; but the programme also devotes plenty of time to jazz and improvizations. Dr Anita Herczegh, wife of the president of the republic, and Dr Péter Erdő, cardinal, primate and archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, have agreed to be patrons of this evening, which raises funds for people with autism.

Ticket: HUF 1 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

WEDNESDAY 16 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL GYÖRGY VUKÁN MEMORIAL CONCERT WITH JÁNOS BALÁZS AND FELLOW MUSICIANS FRANCISCAN CHARITY CONCERT FOR PEOPLE WITH AUTISM Works by Chopin, Liszt, Gershwin, Fauré and Vukán, jazz standards János Balázs (piano) Orsolya Sáfár (soprano), Ninh Đúc Hoàng Long (tenor), Adél Bihari (vocals), Andrea Vigh (harp), Ars Nova Sacra Choir, Tamás Freund (clarinet), Elemér Balázs Jr. (piano), Creative B Trio: József Balázs (piano), Balázs Berkes (bass), Elemér Balázs (drums) Host: Ádám Bősze Multifaceted creativity and a wellspring of musicality: these expressions so fitting for György Vukán, who passed away in 2013, apply equally to this concert dedicated to his memory. His spirit imbues the charitable aspect of this evening’s concert, too, rightly so since this great pianist and composer was tireless in working for similar worthy causes right to the end of his life. The concert, showcasing the talents of János Balázs and his musician friends, also brings to life the dual attraction of

György Vukán

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 4 100, 5 200, 6 500 Presented by Franciscan Order of Our Lady of Hungary, Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 17 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA Takemitsu: Visions Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 Sibelius: The Oceanides – tone poem, Op. 73 Debussy: L a Mer Júlia Pusker (violin) Danubia Orchestra Óbuda Conductor: Ricardo Casero

Danubia Orchestra Óbuda

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200, 3 800, 4 700 Presented by Danubia Orchestra Óbuda 17

FRIDAY 18 JANUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL VENETIAN FESTIVITIES PERFORMANCE BY THE GENEVA UNIVERSITY OF MUSIC Campra: Les fêtes vénitiennes (Venetian Festivities) Anthony Rivera, Cindy Favre, Zoé Vauconsant, Emily Rooke, Bastien Combe, Joseph Zeinstra, Ana Vieira Leite (vocals) Alejandro Alvarez, Alain Christen (dance) Featuring: Baroque Ensemble of the Old Music Department of the Geneva University of Music Musical director: Dorota Cybulska Choreographer: Alain Christen Director and lighting designer: Daniel Estève

Ticket: HUF 1 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 19 JANUARY, 15.30

GRAND HALL ZUGLÓ PHILHARMONICS BUDAPEST Barber: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 Mahler: Kindertotenlieder Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551 (‘Jupiter’) Andrea Meláth (mezzo-soprano) Zugló Philharmonics Budapest Conductor: Péter Oberfrank

Tickets: HUF 2 300, 2 500, 2 900 Presented by Zugló Philharmonics Budapest

SUNDAY 20 JANUARY, 11.00

GRAND HALL UNDERSTANDABLE MUSIC DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK MILESTONES IN MUSIC Beethoven: S ymphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 – 4. Finale. Presto, Allegro assai

Andrea Meláth

The by-now traditional Opera Exam Festival is once again serving up special performances. The Haute école de musique de Genève HEM has prepared for listeners the rarely performed Venetian Festivities, an early work by the French Baroque opera composer André Campra. It consists of a prologue and three entrées (four or five in subsequent versions). Each entrée has its own independent intrigue and characters, and the various acts are loosely linked together by a tenuous thread (in this case, the Venice location). The performance of the Haute école de musique de Genève HEM presents short excerpts selected from the piece with the baroque dances scenes in the center of the show. The fine harpsichordist Dorota Cybulska is responsible for the musical side of the production, while the staging of the project is coordinated by French director Daniel Estève.

wrote; it was composed in 1788, three years before his death. Even though symphonies had virtually poured out of him unchecked up to that time, for some reason this was to become Mozart’s final effort in the genre. Perhaps he felt that this work marked the high point of his classical symphony skills.

As they say, there won’t be a dry eye in the house. The arrangement for string orchestra of the slow movement of American composer Samuel Barber’s string quartet (Op. 11) generally brings a tear to the eye of even the least sensitive amongst us. The Adagio features as incidental music in numerous films – one just has to think of Amélie or Elephant Man – but its melody was heard at the funeral of Einstein and the announcement of the deaths of presidents Kennedy and Roosevelt.  Austrian Gustav Mahler, outstanding representative of late Romanticism and at the same time its last great master, was engaged with the poetry of Friedrich Rückert from the age of 40. Among his unpublished verses there were 428 poems written while suffering the agonies of losing his two young children in 1833–34.  Mozart’s art is full and complete even though God allowed him just 35 years in which to create his stunning oeuvre. The ‘Jupiter’ symphony performed at this concert is the final symphony Mozart

Szilvia Rálik (soprano), Lúcia Megyesi Schwartz (alto), Boldizsár László (tenor), Krisztián Cser (bass) Budapest Academic Choral Society (choral director: Csaba Tőri) Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Narrator and conductor: Gábor Hollerung

Gábor Hollerung

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is considered to be a landmark in Romanticism, the composer being the first to involve the listener in the struggle of creation. The first three movements of the symphony could even be the most extensive and coherent composition of the composer’s oeuvre; yet, even then, before the finale he decides that he desires even more and even better in the form of a huge recitativo, a style uncommon in the genre of the symphony and which employs a theme that is the symbol of both joy and love. The vocals in the fourth movement and the other

musical thoughts put into words unquestionably made the 9th symphony the unparalleled archetype of the genre. Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 200, 2 700, 3 200 Presented by Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok

SUNDAY 20 JANUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL MINI OPERAS PERFORMANCE BY THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC LJUBLJANA

gripping, being comprised of newly composed 15-minute operas. We can reckon on a similar imaginative offering this time around with the staging of five contemporary mini operas. All the composers study at the Academy of Music Ljubljana, as do the conductors. These short works have chamber orchestral accompaniment: students of composition have written their exam operas for a seven-person instrumental ensemble. Students of the Slovene Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television are also involved in the production and are responsible for the visual presentation of the evening.

natural talent. Besides the fact that he plays even the most difficult pieces on the piano with the lightest of touch and absolute taste, he composes dances and variations which on hearing entrance the music connoisseur.” Elsewhere, others consider that this wunderkind was the one “who could step into the shoes of Mozart.” His works written in childhood and in his teens are performed at the combined recital of Budapest Strings and János Balázs. (By the way, it is irrelevant that the above was written about Chopin not Mendelssohn. It applies equally well!)

Ticket: HUF 1 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Tickets: HUF 2 800, 3 800, 4 800, 5 800 Presented by Budapest Strings

SUNDAY 20 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST STRINGS Matic Romih: Gaja Libretto: K atja Gorečan Matej Kastelic: Anatomy of Thought Libretto: M atej Kastelic Iztok Kocen: Useless Libretto: J akob Barbo Federica lo Pint: L ullaby without windows Libretto: N ejc Potočan Tilen Slakan: W hat the old man does is always right Libretto: ( after H. C. Andersen): Jakob Barbo

Mendelssohn: String Symphony No. 10 in B minor Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21 Mendelssohn: Octet for Strings in E-flat major, Op. 20 János Balázs (piano) Budapest Strings (concertmaster: János Pilz, artistic director: Károly Botvay)

MONDAY 21 JANUARY, 19.00

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA HUNGARIAN EVENING Liszt: L es Préludes – symphonic poem Doráti: Cello Concerto Kodály: T heatre Overture Kodály: D ances of Marosszék

Students of the singing, instrumental and conducting departments of the Academy of Music Ljubljana Stage design, costumes: students of the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (University of Ljubljana) Directors: Eva Hribernik, Jan Krmelj This is the sixth occasion that the Liszt Academy has organized the Opera Exam Festival, when foreign institutes of higher music education come to Budapest to stage unconventional ‘opera exams’. The Academy of Music Ljubljana, which functions as part of Ljubljana University, were also present at the Opera Exam Festival in 2017. Its presentation then was extremely

Miklós Perényi

Miklós Perényi (cello) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Gábor Takács-Nagy

János Balázs

Which 8-year-old composer does the following report refer to? “A true musical

Like all Hungarian conductors who put together a programme solely comprising works by Hungarian composers, Gábor Takács-Nagy also provides a review of the history of Hungarian symphonic music. The concert starts with Ferenc Liszt’s Les Préludes, first performed in Weimar in 1854. Works 19

by Zoltán Kodály include a rarity in Theatre Overture, as well as the popular Marosszék Dances. Between Liszt and Kodály, we are witnesses to a real find in the newly discovered Cello Concerto by world-famous conductor Antal Doráti. Doráti was in his mid-teens when he studied composition at the Liszt Academy, and although he launched his glittering career as a conductor shortly thereafter, he still managed to compose nearly 30 works in the course of his life. Miklós Perényi, a composer himself, is well known for his enthusiasm in rediscovering and presenting previously lost works. The fruits of one such ‘expedition’ are on display this evening.

This masterpiece by Purcell is played under the imposing direction of Paul McCreesh, with the focus on orchestral and vocal interpretation. This specialist, celebrated worldwide for period performances of Renaissance and Baroque music, arrives at the Liszt Academy at the head of his own ensemble, Gabrieli Consort & Players, founded in 1982.

he played all of the works for solo piano written by the Polish artist over two days at Müpa in Budapest. The performance of works by Liszt and Mozart also plays an important role in his oeuvre. In recognition of his achievements, he was awarded the Junior Prima Prize in 2008, and a Prima Prize in 2011. This solo recital features works by Schumann and Schubert.

Tickets: HUF 3 700, 5 100, 6 500, 7 800, 8 600 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000, 8 000, 10 000 Presented by Besszer Concert, Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 24 JANUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL COMPLETE WORKS LIVE SCHUMANN’S PIANO CHAMBER MUSIC/1 SERIES EDITOR: DÉNES VÁRJON

Tickets: HUF 4 500, 5 000, 5 500 Presented by MÁV Symphony Orchestra

TUESDAY 22 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF VOCAL MUSIC PAUL MCCREESH & GABRIELI CONSORT Purcell: King Arthur Anna Dennis, Mhairi Lawson, Rowan Pierce (soprano), Jeremy Budd, James Way (tenor), Ashley Riches (bass-baritone), Roderick Williams (baritone) Gabrieli Consort & Players Conductor: Paul McCreesh

Paul McCreesh and Gabrieli Consort

Henry Purcell’s semi-opera King Arthur (1691) combines dance, song, prose recitation and spectacular stage effects. While it does not give a vocal part to the legendary ruler of Britain, it provides voices to a whole series of other mythological figures. 20

GRAND HALL MVM CONCERTS GERGELY BOGÁNYI PIANO RECITAL

Schumann: F antasy Pieces, Op. 88 Schumann: S onata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105 Schumann: Bilder aus Osten (Pictures from the East), Op. 66 Schumann: P iano Trio No. 3 in G minor, Op. 110

Schubert: Impromptu in F minor, Op. 142/4 Schubert: Sonata for Piano No. 13 in A major, D. 664 Schumann: C arnaval, Op. 9

Hanna Weinmeister, Mary Ellen Woodside (violin), Rafael Rosenfeld (cello), Izabella Simon, Dénes Várjon (piano)

Gergely Bogányi

WEDNESDAY 23 JANUARY, 19.30

Gergely Bogányi (piano) Kossuth and Liszt Prize-laureate Gergely Bogányi has been an active participant on the domestic music scene for decades. Born in 1974, he started playing piano aged just four; he gained admission to the Liszt Academy Special School for Young Talents at 10 years old, before continuing his studies at the Helsinki Sibelius Academy, and finally at the Indiana University of Bloomington, over which time he was a student of László Baranyay, Zsuzsa Esztó, Matti Raekallio and György Sebők. His most important competition victory was the 1996 Liszt Ferenc International Piano Competition. There is a special place for Chopin in the repertoire of Bogányi: in fact,

Dénes Várjon

Within the Complete Works Live series, Schumann’s piano chamber works are performed over six concerts. At one time, the compilers of the Great French Encyclopaedia set themselves the task of systemizing their world and laying out the “boundaries of certainty, possibility and the dubious”. Similar objectives drive, at least in part, those who compile

a compendium of complete works for a given composer, whether it be in writing or – as in the current case – in their performance. The investigation of these boundaries is especially important when it comes to the oeuvre of Robert Schumann (1810–1856). This is because many in the music world have, in the past few years, been stunned by the claims by a German psychiatrist that Schumann’s admission into a mental institution was not brought on by a disease of the mind but rather by his frustrated and desperate wife. Since preeminent researchers of the Schumann oeuvre have tended to approach the composer’s later works from the perspective of the onset of insanity, every new ‘overview’ gives us the opportunity to reconsider these long-accepted viewpoints and judgements. Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

tition and Festival, the French-Dutch artist Cosima Soulez-Larivière. Despite her youth, Soulez-Larivière has already given numerous concerts in Europe and Asia, and both the jury and audience were amazed by her beautiful recital at the Budapest competition. She started learning the violin at the age of three, and around the age of eight she won a scholarship to the Yehudi Menuhin School in the UK, where she was a student of Natasha Boyarsky. She has earned podium places at many music contests: prior to the Bartók World Competition, in 2015 she came third at the Postacchini Competition in Fermo, Italy, where she also picked up the Bach Prize, while in the same year she won first prize at the Brahms Competition in Pörtschach, Austria. At the Liszt Academy, she plays Pēteris Vasks’s Violin Concerto with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra in between the ensemble’s recital of two symphonies: the first symphony was written by Prokofiev in the 20th century, while the closing work is by Franz Schubert and dates from the boundary between Classicism and Romanticism. Tickets: HUF 2 900, 4 200, 5 500, 6 900 Presented by Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra

Cosima Soulez-Larivière

THURSDAY 24 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL COSIMA SOULEZ-LARIVIÈRE & FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 (‘Classic’) Pēteris Vasks: Violin Concerto (‘Distant Light’) Schubert: Symphony No. 3 in D major, D. 200 Cosima Soulez-Larivière (violin) Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (concertmaster: Péter Tfirst) In this Liszt Academy series featuring violinists, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra takes the stage with the Paris-born winner of the 1st Bartók World Compe-

FRIDAY 25 JANUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL COMPLETE WORKS LIVE SCHUMANN’S PIANO CHAMBER MUSIC/2 SERIES EDITOR: DÉNES VÁRJON Schumann: S tudies in the Form of Canons for Organ or Pedal Piano, Op. 56 (arrangement by Theodor Kirchner) Schumann: T welve Piano Pieces for Young and Older Children, Op. 85 Schumann: V iolin Concerto in D minor, WoO 23 – 2. Langsam (arrangement by Steven Isserlis) Schumann: P iano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 63 Hanna Weinmeister, Mary Ellen Woodside (violin), Rafael Rosenfeld (cello), Izabella Simon, Dénes Várjon (piano)

Rafael Rosenfeld, Mary Ellen Woodside

‘Counterpoint – as prescribed.’ This is how one could sum up in a nutshell the background to works framing the second recital of Schumann’s piano chamber pieces. Both the Six Studies in Canonic Form (1845) and Piano Trio in D minor (1847) reveal Schumann’s contrapuntal fascination, although it was not solely professional motivation that drove the composer to reach for these methods from an earlier age: some researchers believe that in the midst of serious depression, he attempted to regain control through the intensive study of cool and strictly regulated counterpoint techniques. Schumann shows a completely different side with the far lighter tones of 12 Piano Pieces for Young and Older Children (1849), that of an imaginative father willing to play four-hand with his daughter Maria. Yet even the most wildly imaginative Schumann enthusiast could never come up with something more dramatic than the real backstory to the Violin Concerto in D minor (1853), transcribed for cello and played only in part at this concert. A stern wife, a manuscript left to languish, a seance and Nazi propaganda: these are all part of this exciting story. Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 26 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK András Gábor Virágh: Sinfonietta Dvořák: C ello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 Shostakovich: S ymphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10 21

Domonkos Hartmann (cello) Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Conductor: Yeruham Scharovsky

Domonkos Hartmann

SUNDAY 27 JANUARY, 11.00

SUNDAY 27 JANUARY, 19.30

SOLTI HALL LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY STORIES FOR PIANO FOR 10–15-YEAR-OLDS

GRAND HALL CHANTICLEER THEN AND THERE – HERE AND NOW

Beethoven: P iano Sonata No. 4 in E-flat major, Op. 7 – 1. Allegro molto e con brio Liszt: L egend in E major – St. François de Paule marchant sur les flots (St. Francis of Paola walking on the waves) Chopin: Ballade in F minor, Op. 52 Ravel: Miroirs – Une barque sur l’océan Debussy: L ’isle joyeuse

András Gábor Virágh wrote thus about the Sinfonietta to be played at the concert: “During the composition, it became clear to me that the start of the work had to be ‘celebratory’, which was translated into the language of music I use. Since I rarely write for orchestra, while penning my many solo and chamber works, countless ideas welled up inside me that I could envisage more in an orchestra setting.”  Antonín Dvořák began composing his Cello Concerto in B minor while staying in New York, completing it ‘on home turf’ in 1895. On hearing the work, Brahms remarked enviously: “If I had known that it was possible to compose such a concerto for the cello, I would have tried it myself!” There is a secret reference in the work: the composer incorporated his earlier song ‘Leave Me Alone’ into its slow movement, supposedly a reference to his first love – and later his sister-in-law – Josefina. When on returning to his homeland he learned of her death, he rearranged the original coda of the composition to include the melody recalling his onetime love.  The soloist of the evening is the young, multiple award-winning cellist Domonkos Hartmann; conductor is the Israeli Yeruham Scharovsky.

Narration and piano: Balázs Fülei

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 3 500, 4 000 Presented by Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok

Ticket: HUF 1 500 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

It is often said that music is like a language, a language in which the instruments speak. But what does music say, and how is it capable of relating a story if it is not supported by text? The spring 2019 concerts of the Liszt Academy’s youth series, Liszt Kidz Academy, which is targeted at 10–15-year-olds (as well as their parents and grandparents), seek answers to these questions. The first performance in the season ticket series sees Liszt and Junior Prima Prize-winner Balázs Fülei, head of the Liszt Academy Chamber Music Department, presenting exactly what his instrument, the piano, is capable of saying and how it can frequently communicate emotions and messages to the audience more effectively and more profoundly than any text. It becomes clear from the playing and narrating of Fülei why composers were once referred to as ‘poets of sound’.

Lassus: Surrexit pastor bonus Palestrina: G aude gloriosa Gibbons: O Clap Your Hands Byrd: Ave Verum Corpus Stucky: W hispers Allen Shearer: N ude Descending a Staircase Morley: N ow is the Month of Maying (Evan Price’s transcription) Mason Bates: Sirens – 3. Stelle, vostra mercè l’eccelse sfere Arcadelt: Il bianco e dolce cigno William Hawley: I o son la Primavera Salazar: S alve Reina de los cielos R. Strauss: Drei Männerchöre – 1. Vor den Türen, 2. Traumlicht, 3. Fröhlich im Maien Steven Sametz: I Have Had Singing Gershwin: Summertime (Kirby Shaw’s transcription) Michael McGlynn: Dúlamán Jackson Hill: I n Winter’s Keeping Járbă, máré járbă - traditional roma vocals (Stacy Garrop’s transcription) Ellington: Creole Love Call (Harry Frommermann’s transcription) Secunda: Bei mir bist du schön (Brian Hinman’s transcription) I Want to Die Easy - spirituale (Alice Parker and Robert Shaw’s transcription) J. W. Alexander és J. Whitaker: Straight Street (Joseph Jennings and Jeremy Johnson’s transcription)

Chanticleer

Chanticleer: Cortez Mitchell, Gerrod Pagenkopf, Kory Reid, Alan Reinhardt, Logan Shields, Adam Ward (countertenor), Brian Hinman, Matthew Mazzola, Andrew Van Allsburg (tenor), Andy Berry, Zachary Burgess,

Matthew Knickman (baritone and bass) Musical director: William Fred Scott This amazing and uniquely toned American formation celebrates its 40th anniversary, on the occasion of which they have put together a compilation of the finest and most popular pieces from their wide repertoire. In an astonishingly diverse and carefully compiled programme, we can enjoy Renaissance and Baroque works, spirituals, as well as compositions and arrangements by 20th-century American composers, including a good few written specifically at the request of the group. The uncrowned kings of a cappella have graced the Liszt Academy with their peerless productions on several occasions: this is another opportunity to marvel at what the human voice is capable of. Tickets: HUF 1 400, 2 100, 3 500, 4 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

MONDAY 28 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL KONZI CONCERTS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & WIND ORCHESTRA OF BARTÓK CONSERVATOIRE

Symphony Orchestra and Wind Orchestra of Bartók Conservatoire Conductor: Gergely Dubóczky, Zoltán Kiss “Always conduct with the score in your head, not your head in the score,” Hans von Bülow, one of the most famous, productive and ruthless conductors of the 19th century, is reputed to have once said. Of course, in the matter of sarcasm and perfectionism, his younger colleagues were not necessarily so different; for instance, musicians of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, headed by Gustav Mahler for many years, regularly used to complain about not only his style but his extraordinarily high expectations. And even if verbal cruelty is not an essential part of the vocation of conducting, these two great artists were certainly absolutely correct in believing that orchestral productions of the highest quality can only ever be born out of persistent effort and concentrated collaboration between conductor and members of the orchestra, and the recognition that the acquisition of the complex musical attention required for these goals cannot start at early enough an age. This concert, through a programme which is part classical and part adjusted to the demands of education, gives an overview of the in-depth training that members of the symphony orchestra of the Bartók Conservatoire receive week in, week out. Ticket: HUF 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

TUESDAY 29 JANUARY, 19.30 Gergely Dubóczky

J. S. Bach: Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 (Willy Hautvast’s transcription for wind ensemble) Persichetti: S ymphony No. 6, Op. 69 (‘Symphony for Band’) Samuel R. Hazo: In Heaven’s Air John Powell: How to Train Your Dragon (motion picture soundtrack) Beethoven: S ymphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (‘Fate’)

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Beethoven: D er glorreiche Augenblick (The Glorious Moment) – cantata, Op. 136 Beethoven: V iolin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 Beethoven: S ymphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 Gabriella Létay Kiss, Éva Bátori, Gergely Boncsér, Szabolcs Hámori (vocals)

Tseng Yu-Chien (violin) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad) Conductor: Tamás Vásáry, Martin Rajna

Tseng Yu-Chien

Taiwanese violinist Tseng Yu-Chien is just 24 but he has already performed remarkably well in several prestigious competitions, such as the Queen Elizabeth Music Competition, the International Tchaikovsky Competition and the Singapore International Violin Competition. For his Budapest appearance, he dazzles with a rendition of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. The opening number is a real rarity, the Beethoven cantata The Glorious Moment, which has often been the focus of analysis by music historians. The composer completed Symphony No. 2, which is performed in the second half of the concert, in 1802, around the same time as his Heiligenstadt Testament. In this document, Beethoven confesses to his brothers about his increasing deafness and his inconsolable emotional state. Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 500, 6 000, 7 000 Presented by Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles

WEDNESDAY 30 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL SZABOLCS SZAMOSI & HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA KEYBOARD CONCERTO Debussy: P rélude à l’après-midi d’un faune Poulenc: O rgan Concerto in G minor Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 (‘Organ’) 23

Szabolcs Szamosi (organ) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Zsolt Hamar

Szabolcs Szamosi

The Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra programme sweeps the audience into the magical empire of French music. The chosen works are full of energy, variation, dynamism and virtuosity – and they also provide the ideal backdrop to reveal the scale of the Liszt Academy’s recently restored organ. The Claude Debussy piece awards the leading part to the flute; the instrument is given a particular character by the dream-like prelude and descending melody. The speciality of Poulenc’s work lies in the way the majestic colours of the organ blend into the orchestra’s tone. Finally, the ‘Organ’ symphony was written in tribute to Ferenc Liszt.

est composers of the time. Joseph Haydn, who mentored both Mozart and Beethoven, was court conductor and composer for the family of Prince Esterházy for nearly 30 years. His marvellous oeuvre is in large part attributable to the fact that his art patron prince allowed him to work with the most accomplished musicians of the day. L’isola disabitata (The Desert Island) is a Haydn opera performed in Eszterháza in 1799; its orchestral prelude opens the recital. This is followed by Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major and Mozart’s Symphony in E-flat major. The latter is one of the last three symphonies written by Mozart and can be considered a summation of his symphonic art. Soloist for the evening is Antal Zalai, who went on from the Liszt Academy to complete studies at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. He has been invited to perform in London, Vienna, New York, Moscow, Geneva and Brussels. He has recorded nearly ten CDs, including all of Bartók’s works for solo violin. In 2018, Israeli conductor Daniel Boico first appeared in Hungary at a hugely successful concert by MÁV Symphony Orchestra.

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 3 900, 4 900 Presented by Filharmónia Magyarország

THURSDAY 31 JANUARY, 19.00

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Haydn: L ’isola disabitata – overture, Hob. Ia:13 Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K. 543

Antal Zalai

Tickets: HUF 4 500, 5 000, 5 500 Presented by MÁV Symphony Orchestra

Antal Zalai (violin) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Daniel Boico This concert offers an insight into the age of the First Viennese School, with one work each by the three great24

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Arizona, USA

FLOWERING PLANT OR KEYBOARD INSTRUMENT? The etymological background of the Hungarian word orgona A fragrant flower or a set of pipes? The Hungarian word orgona simultaneously means both ‘lilac’ and ‘pipe organ’. Is there any semantic link between the two meanings or is this just a linguistic coincidence? We investigated the history of the word orgona with the help of etymologist Adrienne Dömötör

The Hungarian word orgona has two different meanings, but it is quite difficult to discover any kind of relationship between them. How is it possible that a particular word form has such different contexts? In present-day Hungarian, the word orgona has two meanings: the instrument and the flower. At first, it is not easy to see the connection between these two seemingly completely different meanings; however, the etymological literature describes various semantic links between them. According to one of these theories, organ pipes could also be made with the stems of the lilac, and this connection provided the basis for the metonymy. This assumption is underpinned by the fact that there are also similar semantic relationships in other languages. For example, the botanical name for the lilac (Syringa) is related to the Greek word surinx, which means ‘tube, pipe; reed’. Another hypothesis suggests a similarity between the instrument and the flower clusters of the lilac. (I myself do not see this similarity; in my view, the group of parallel lilac stems has more in common with the organ pipes. But since the latter is not discussed in etymological dictionaries, it can be regarded as a simple observation by an amateur gardener.) The word orgona appears in ancient texts, including the Old Testament, to describe an instrument. Is the latter the oldest meaning of this word or does the word go back to an earlier root? The word comes from a Latin word family, and its roots, if traced back further, lead to the Greek word organon. The Latin organum means ‘implement, tool’ and ‘musical instrument’. In the Lexicon of Mediaeval Latin of Hungary, the first meaning of the word is ‘musical instrument’. Since the majority of the Hungarian literature in the Middle Ages consisted of literary translations from Latin, many Latin words entered Hungarian at that time. The lexicon shows that this word form was used primarily for the instrument in Hungary. What do we know about the development of the word in Hungarian? How far back can we date its first occurrence? Of course, we do not have records for the spoken language in the Middle Ages, but the word for ‘organ’ can be traced back in the surviving Hungarian linguistic records of the mid-15th century. In these records, the word orgona is linked to the subject of happiness, feasting and music. The word can even be found in the earliest surviving Hungarian manuscript, the

Jókai Codex, which was copied around 1448. The codex contains the legends of Saint Francis of Assisi in Hungarian, and the word for ‘organ’ can be found there as a derivative in a story about Saint Clare of Assisi: “És testi fileimvel és lelkivel hallám mend az éneklést és az orgonálást.” (I heard both the sound of the organ and the responsories as if I were present there.) The oldest Hungarian Bible translation, the Hussite Bible, was copied almost at the same time, around 1450. The Codex of Vienna, which contains parts of the Old Testament, contains the following: “És menden népek örölnek vala ... organákban és hegedőkben.” (They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.) The Festetics Codex provides a third example. This is a prayer book copied around 1493 for the wife of Hungarian general Pál Kinizsi. In this manuscript the word orgona can be found in Psalm 150: “Dicsérjétek őtet lanthúrokban és orgonában.” (Praise Him with stringed instruments and organs.) Now let’s talk about the Hungarian word orgona in the sense of ‘lilac’. When did this meaning emerge in Hungarian and what factors were involved in the process? The word orgona as the name of the flower emerged much later, only in the 18th century, and it can be regarded as the result of a Hungarian linguistic development. In addition to the theories noted earlier, it is important to know that the originally Slavic word orgovány was also used in Hungarian dialects for ‘lilac’. Certainly, this could also have contributed to the spread of the word form known today. We have already noted organum as a root word in the Latin word family. This word form is also used in Hungarian in the sense of ‘voice’ as well as of ‘journal, newspaper’. However, interestingly, unlike other languages, Hungarian uses a different word for the general description of human body parts. Why is the Hungarian word szerv ‘(bodily) organ’ used instead of the Latin equivalent? While the Hungarian word orgánum dates back to the 18th century, the word szerv only appears in the late 19th century. The word szerv was created by Hungarian language reformers with the addition of the -v suffix to the root word szer ‘tool; substance’. During the Hungarian language reform period (1790–1820), the revival of old suffixes was a well-established practice. The word orgánum had several meanings: ‘sensory organ’, ‘tool’, ‘voice’ and ‘newspaper’. Eventually, the latter two became widespread in Hungarian. The Latin word organa, the plural form of the neuter noun organum, is the direct Latin precursor to the Hungarian word orgona. Anna Unger

René Magritte: La grande guerre (1964) 27

Svartifoss Waterfall, Iceland

CONCERT CHRONOLOGY FEBRUARY Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Hosted concert Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior FRIDAY 1 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE WOLFGANG REDIK, ÉVA MIHÁLYI, GYÖRGY PORZSOLT, ENDRE BALOG AND KÁLMÁN DRÁFI

where he had been instructed to try out string quartet movements. The overtly romantic music expresses the feelings Webern harboured for his cousin, later his wife, Wilhelmine Mörtl.  Mozart’s only work in the home key of E minor derives from Paris in 1778. This was not a happy period in the life of the composer: the work was poorly received, and he lost his mother. Some music historians point to these circumstances when explaining the, for the most part, sombre mood of the two-movement work, which is lightened for just a moment by the minuet’s trio in E major. The closing number, the so-called Rosamunde Quartet, takes its name from the melody in the second movement that Schubert had already used in incidental music for Rosamunde and in a piano impromptu.

an instant hit and opened new perspectives in symphonic music. Debussy had the following to say about The Sea (La Mer): “The sound of the sea, the outline of a horizon, the wind in the leaves, the cry of a bird; these set off complex impressions in us. And suddenly, without the consent of anyone on this earth, one of these memories bursts forth, expressing itself in the language of music, bearing its harmonies within ...”

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 2 FEBRUARY, 15.30

GRAND HALL ZUGLÓ PHILHARMONICS BUDAPEST Wolfgang Redik

Schubert: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in A minor, D. 385 Webern: Langsamer Satz Mozart: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 21 in E minor, K. 304 Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A minor, D. 804 (‘Rosamunde’) Wolfgang Redik, Éva Mihályi (violin), György Porzsolt (viola), Endre Balog (cello), Kálmán Dráfi (piano) The evening’s concert begins with a sonatina written by Schubert when he was just 19; as with other works in the key of A minor by the composer, this one too has tragic associations. The second piece is a youthful Anton Webern’s string quartet movement, the Langsamer Satz (Slow Movement). It was created in 1905 when Webern was at the Schönberg school (the Second Viennese School)

Bartók: Transylvanian Dances, BB 102b Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 1, BB 48a Debussy: P rélude à l’après-midi d’un faune Debussy: L a Mer Ágnes Langer (violin) Zugló Philharmonics Budapest Conductor: Péter Dobszay Béla Bartók’s orchestral piece Transylvanian Dances is the orchestrated version of Sonatina composed for piano in 1915. The composer, who was deeply involved in the collection and systemization of folk music, prepared the orchestrated version himself in 1931. It debuted a year later under the baton of Massimo Freccia. The early two-movement violin concerto, which we know today as the first violin concerto, was published only after the death of Bartók. There are two Debussy works after the interlude. Afternoon of a Faun, inspired by a Mallarmé poem, was

Péter Dobszay

Tickets: HUF 2 300, 2 500, 2 900 Presented by Zugló Philharmonics Budapest

SUNDAY 3 FEBRUARY, 10.30

GRAND HALL SECRETS OF MUSIC MONSTERS AT AN EXHIBITION Monsters at an Exhibition (premiere) In Medias Brass Quintet: Richárd Kresz, Tamás Pálfalvi (trumpet), János Benyus (horn), Attila Sztán (trombone), József Bazsinka Jnr (tuba) Music: Dániel Dinyés Lyrics: György Hegyi Narrator: Artúr Kálid Director: Pál Göttinger Do you know what Krümpül is? What about Bucilus? What should we do with a child overcome by Tötyör? This fairy tale concert by In Medias Brass offers a solution to these knotty problems! 29

Taking an artistic and scientific approach, they present the secret world of our everyday monsters and their damaging effects on our lives, not to mention practical ways of warding them off. Bumba bungling? Zakazakk behind the collar? There’s a fix for them all!

In Medias Brass Quintet

Ticket: HUF 2 500 Presented by Filharmónia Magyarország

Kim Shiyeon, Lee Joo Ahn (violin), Chung Jiin (viola), Bai Il-Hwan, Hwang Nha Yoon, Kim Hwijin, Kim Seulgi, Kong Yusun, Oh Juhyoun, Park, Bo Kyung (cello), Han Geulim (soprano), Woo Daeun (piano), Kwak Eun Ah (gayageum), Park Hyeohn (daegeum), Kim Kyunghun (pansori – traditional singing)

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

The mission of this joint concert by the Liszt Academy and EWHA Womans University is to create harmony between well-known and popular melodies (Dohnányi, Mendelssohn, Mozart), cello ensemble arrangements with a Hungarian rhythm (Brahms, Kodály) and the traditional South Korean tonal-scape, as well as singing and opera literature. South Korean traditional instruments are played as one of the highpoints of the recital, associating the body resonances of vocals and embedded in classical works, thus introducing an element of the exotic to familiar melodies. The concert’s diverse programme shows a cross section of the activities of the two schools, as well as giving insight into the wide range of international relationships pursued by the Liszt Academy.

SUNDAY 3 FEBRUARY, 19.00

MONDAY 4 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS PÉTER KISS PIANO RECITAL

SOLTI HALL HOSTED IN THE LISZT ACADEMY CHAMBER CONCERT BY STUDENTS OF EWHA WOMANS UNIVERSITY FROM KOREA AND THE LISZT ACADEMY

J. S. Bach: English Suite No. 5 in E minor, BWV 810 György Orbán: P iano Suite Melis: B lack & White Piano Suite (excerpts) J. S. Bach: E nglish Suite No. 3 in G minor, BWV 808 Péter Kiss (piano)

Péter Kiss

In his professional life, Péter Kiss makes every effort to find a balance between giving concerts and teaching. He has been a chamber music teacher at the Liszt Academy for many years, while also performing on concert stages in Hungary and abroad. He was awarded the Annie Fischer performer scholar 30

ship three times, in 2011 he picked up the Artisjus Prize for promoting contemporary Hungarian music, and in 2015 he received the Junior Prima Prize in recognition of his successes as a performer. Naturally, his repertoire also includes works by masters of the classics. All the works performed in this concert, part of the Black and White Colours season ticket series, belong to the suite genre, although their origins span a period of some three centuries. We have two modern pieces sandwiched between Bach’s works dating from the 1710s: György Orbán’s eight-movement piano suite, and excerpts from the suite by László Melis.

Dohnányi: Piano Quintet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 1 – 1. Finale: Allegro animato Brahms: Vier ernste Gesänge, Op. 121 (excerpts) Korean traditional music on daegeum and kayagum Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor Kodály: E vening Song (for male choir) Michael Kibbe: Mellow Cellos Tango Piazzolla – Michael Kibe: L ibertango Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 – 1. Adagio – Allegro vivace Gounod: “Ah! je ris de me voir si belle…” – Marguerite’s Jewel Song from the Faust Mozart: “Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Papagena!” – Duet of Papageno and Papagena from the The Magic Flute Mendelssohn: Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 – 1. Allegro moderato ma con fuoco Students of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music: Eszter Kökény, Csenge Dósa (violin), Fülöp Görbicz (viola), Máté Tomasz (cello), Lőrinc Kósa (baritone), Imola Pogány (piano) Students of the EWHA Womans University:

EWHA Womans University from Korea

Free tickets for the concert can be obtained from the Liszt Academy box office one month before the concert. Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

WEDNESDAY 6 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE ISTVÁN VÁRDAI, GÁBOR TAKÁCS-NAGY AND MANCHESTER CAMERATA

Haydn: C ello Concerto No. 2 in D major, Hob. VIIb:2 Debussy: T wo Dances A. Kraft: Cello Concerto in C major, Op. 4 Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K. 543 István Várdai (cello) , Andrea Vigh (harp) Manchester Camerata Conductor: Gábor Takács-Nagy Ever since their foundation nearly half a century ago, Manchester Camerata have ranked among the highest-quality British orchestras; however, the artistic direction of Gábor Takács-Nagy has raised them to rest among the finest in the world. According to the conductor, who holds a Bartók–Pásztory Prize, boundless trust is what makes their combined work so hugely effective. This modern and bold formation, who are open to jazz, pop and folk as well, played in front of a Liszt Academy audience for the first time in 2015, and just as back then, they are joined in this concert by István Várdai, who performs one concerto by Haydn and one by Haydn’s student Antonín Kraft, principal cellist of the orchestra of Prince Esterházy. The programme of the orchestra also includes Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 and Bartók’s Divertimento.

István Várdai

Tickets: HUF 3 700, 5 100, 6 500, 7 900, 9 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 7 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL COMPLETE WORKS LIVE MOZART VARIATIONS AND SONATAS FOR PIANO AND VIOLIN/4

Mozart: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 27 in G major, K. 379 Mozart: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 28 in E-flat major, K. 380 Mozart: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 29 in A major, K. 402 (fragment, finished by M. Stadler) Mozart: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 30 in C major, K. 403 (fragment, finished by M. Stadler) Mozart: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 31 in C major, K. 404 (fragment, finished by M. Stadler) Mozart: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 32 in B-flat major, K. 454 Vilmos Szabadi (violin), Gábor Farkas (piano)

had time to write out the violin part and so he sat at the piano and played with a blank score. Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 7 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Stravinsky: Pulcinella – suite Copland: Clarinet Concerto Rachmaninov: S ymphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44 Martin Fröst (clarinet) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Kirill Karabits

Gábor Farkas, Vilmos Szabadi

If the name of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the expression ‘unfinished’ are brought together, most of us immediately think of the final work by the composer, Requiem, which was ultimately completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr. However, this is not the only work left incomplete by Mozart and supplemented by a contemporary. Of his 36 sonatas for piano-violin, four were finalized by Abbé Maximilian Stadler, who became a good friend of Mozart in the late 1780s, and then moved to Vienna in 1796 partly to oversee the legacy of his colleague who had died tragically young. This fourth concert in the Complete Works Live series includes three part-sonatas finalized by Stadler, and two two-movement pieces dating from 1781, soon after Mozart arrived in Vienna, alongside the B-flat major sonata of April 1784, which was composed for the violinist and guitarist Regina Strinasacchi from Mantua. Accor ding to legend, the debut was planned for a Vienna concert featuring the Italian guest artist one week after the work was to have been completed, but Mozart only

Martin Fröst

This concert features works by three composers, all three of whom, like so many others in the 20th century, finished their lives in America. Copland’s parents emigrated from Lithuania; Rachmaninov and Stravinsky arrived from Russia. Three powerful characters, three musical styles. Rachmaninov wrote dyed-in-the-wool Romantic music, even as an émigré. Stravinsky’s ballet Pulcinella, which was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev, debuted in Paris in 1920 with scenery and costumes designed by Picasso. He rearranged the music of Baroque composer Pergolesi; this is when his Neoclassical creative period started. Aaron Copland wrote his Clarinet Concerto at the request of famous jazz clarinettist Benny Goodman 31

in 1950, mixing jazz elements with what a critic called “bittersweet lyricism”. This kaleidoscope of images is presented by a superb Swedish clarinettist and a conductor who started his studies in Ukraine and graduated in Vienna. Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 500, 6 000 Presented by Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

Tickets: HUF 1 400, 2 100, 3 500, 4 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 9 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL ORGAN INAUGURATION GÁBOR BOLDOCZKI AND LÁSZLÓ FASSANG TRUMPET-ORGAN RECITAL

FRIDAY 8 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL JAZZ IT! BÉLA SZAKCSI LAKATOS IMPROVIZATIONS Gábor Boldoczki, László Fassang

Béla Szakcsi Lakatos (piano)

Béla Szakcsi Lakatos

Béla Szakcsi Lakatos is a celebrity in Hungarian jazz circles, a living legend who has been in the business for nearly 60 years. Generations of artists have grown up listening to his music. Alongside the fact that this 75-year-old Kossuth Prize-winning pianist speaks the language of jazz fluently, his musical sensitivity and virtuosity have been turned to good effect in many other genres, with his name associated with several stage productions and musical collections. His bands are world famous and his recordings enjoyed in all parts of the world. Improvization remains his favourite area: his play combines American bebop with features of Roma music, pop and classical, and this synthesis is permeated throughout with that inimitable passion, that childlike playfulness and that scientific attitude characterized by one word: Szakcsi. 32

G. B. Martini: T occata in D major (arrangement by Marie-Claire Alain) Improvisation Albinoni: Sonata in C major (transcription for trumpet and organ) J. S. Bach: Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582 Purcell: The Fairy-Queen – suite (arrangement by László Fassang) Improvisation Fauré: Aprés un rêve (arrangement by László Fassang) Improvisation Enescu: L égende (arrangement by László Fassang) Liszt: M ephisto Waltz No. 1 (arrangement by László Fassang) Händel: Suite in D major for trumpet and orchestra, HWV 341 (arrangement by László Fassang)

in even the most demanding of pieces and share these uplifting moments with audiences. The organ-trumpet pairing is mainly to be heard in Baroque works, thus compositions by 17th–18th-century composers are in the majority in this concert. Romanticism is represented by Liszt and Fauré and the 20th century by Enescu, whose Légende dates from around the same time as the building of the Liszt Academy organ. Both halves of the concert wind up with complete dance suites, but the arrangements promise to be real points of interest, while the programme is further enlivened with improvizations. The whole experience is enhanced by the fact that we can once again revel in the sounds of the finely restored 112-year-old organ of the Liszt Academy. Tickets: HUF 1 400, 2 100, 3 500, 4 900, 5 600 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SUNDAY 10 FEBRUARY, 11.00–18.30

SOLTI HALL, AUDITORIUM, ROOM X, ROOM XXIII, CUPOLA HALL TALENT DAY 2019 Students of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and Bartók Music Secondary School Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (artistic director: Péter Tfirst)

Gábor Boldoczki (trumpet), László Fassang (organ) A perfect pairing: this is true as much for the instruments as for the artists. Both Gábor Boldoczki and László Fassang are performers acknowledged at international level, performers who have proved on numerous occasions that playing chamber music is very much in their blood. Their playing is the occasion for joyous music; neither artist is challenged technically, so in making music together they are able to concentrate on carefree enjoyment

The dialogue that has revolved around the term ‘talent’ has been going on for years and will, in all likelihood, continue for long in the future. Centuries ago, it was felt that the development of talent was exclusively influenced by one’s

environment; later, the emphasis moved on to the inheritance of talent; while today talent is generally considered to be a complex construction influenced by many factors. Whatever the case, we do know that a gift for music is one of the talents that appears earliest in a person’s life. In some, extraordinary abilities make their appearance even before the age of six, while others only achieve greatness after many years of practice and study. The Talent Day is an opportunity for the public to get to know musicians at the start of their careers, those talented artists studying in the Liszt Academy who will no doubt become key players in Hungary’s concert life in decades to come. Additionally, the all-day programme gives visitors a glimpse into the mysteries of the teaching conducted by the Liszt Academy.

young person but his or her master, too,” remarked Dr Andrea Vigh, president of the Liszt Academy of Music. She was speaking in connection with the all-day Talent Day organized by the Liszt Academy in February 2018, but her statement applies equally to the 2019 programme. This concert by the Chamber Orchestra of the Liszt Academy sheds light on the level of collaboration between young artists at the threshold of their careers and their masters, with none other than János Rolla at the head of the ensemble, while instrumental soloist for the recital is associate professor of the wind department, clarinettist Zsolt Szatmári. And who better to dominate a programme on the subject of talent than the great Mozart? After all, he was the most brilliant, natural talent to shine in the history of music.

Ticket: HUF 1 500 (all-day ticket) Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Ticket: HUF 1 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SUNDAY 10 FEBRUARY, 19.00

MONDAY 11 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL TALENT DAY 2019 CONCERT BY THE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF THE LISZT ACADEMY

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Gergely Vajda: G loomy Sunday – Variations (premiere) Piazzolla: B andoneon Concerto (‘Aconcagua’) Stravinsky: Petrushka John Adams: N ixon in China – The Chairman Dances Mihály Demeniv (accordion) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Gergely Vajda

Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525 Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622 Tchaikovsky: Serenade in C major, Op. 48 Zsolt Szatmári (clarinet) Chamber Orchestra of the Liszt Academy Artistic director and concertmaster: János Rolla “Génie oblige, as Liszt avowed, and this applies not just for the talented

Mihály Demeniv

The greatest masters respected as exemplars, from Bach and Haydn through

Mozart to Stravinsky, had no compunction whatsoever about using popular melodies and motifs that in themselves had little artistic value yet offered a great deal of utility, for instance, they were easy to whistle or dance to. Astor Piazzolla discovered his musical raw material in the tango; Stravinsky used Russian tunes and hurdy-gurdy airs as much as inimitable Viennese waltzes for Petrushka; while there is a foxtrot to be discerned in the dances of John Adams’s (in)famous opera. Gergely Vajda’s latest work was inspired by a global hit, the song known internationally as Gloomy Sunday, written by Rezső Seress in the 1930s. Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000 Presented by Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles

TUESDAY 12 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST STRINGS Shostakovich–Barshai: Chamber Symphony in C minor, Op. 110a J. S. Bach: Piano Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056 J. S. Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C major, BWV 1066 Shostakovich: P iano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 35 Zoltán Fejérvári (piano), Gábor Devecsai (trumpet) Budapest Strings (concertmaster: János Pilz, artistic director: Károly Botvay) This concert by Zoltán Fejérvári and Budapest Strings features pieces by two composers, Bach and Shostakovich, which allow artists to give full expression to tone, character and emotion. The audience can revel in light-heartedly joyful and lyrical moments, as well as musical expositions of grotesque or indeed tragi cally disenchanting situations. Zoltán Fejérvári performs two concertos, while the orchestra have the opportunity to reveal their dedication to chamber music 33

in a work that the author, Shostakovich, originally intended for a string quartet.

Zoltán Fejérvári

Tickets: HUF 2 800, 3 800, 4 800, 5 800 Presented by Budapest Strings

work for just two string instruments. After the intermission, Gabriel Fauré’s Impromptu is performed by French harpist Xavier de Maistre. The concert closes with Henriette Renié’s Trio, when the harpist is rejoined by the Latvian violinist Baiba Skride and the German cellist Daniel Müller-Schott. All three artists have won numerous prizes at competitions – Skride is a former winner of the Queen Elisabeth violin prize – and are much sought after as soloists. Tickets: HUF 2 800, 3 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

WEDNESDAY 13 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE BAIBA SKRIDE, DANIEL MÜLLERSCHOTT AND XAVIER DE MAISTRE Ibert: Trio for Violin, Cello and Harp Ravel: Sonata for Violin and Cello Fauré: Impromptu for Harp in D-flat major, Op. 86 Renié: Trio for Violin, Cello and Harp Baiba Skride (violin), Daniel MüllerSchott (cello), Xavier de Maistre (harp)

Máté Hámori

Concerto Budapest Conductor: András Keller “Yesterday, the distinguished Herr Doctor and Director of Music Haydn left here for Buda, so that at the summons of Her Imperial Crown Princess Palatine he can have his master work known under the title ‘The Creation’ sung and played ...” the Viennese Magyar Hírmondó (Hungarian Herald) reported in February 1800, announcing that less than two years after the first private performance of The Creation, and a year after the first public performance of the oratorio in Vienna, the near 68-year-old maestro and his already famous work had left for Pest-Buda. It was here in the city that he directed the very first performance in Hungary of The Creation on 8 March, the evening before the birthday of Palatine Joseph. Since then, the Haydn oratorio, a superb musical representation of the story of Genesis, has become a consistent part of concert life in Hungary, and for the last few years it has been back on the repertoire of András Keller and Concerto Budapest.

THURSDAY 14 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA Thomas Adès: Asyla Beethoven: S ymphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 Danubia Orchestra Óbuda Conductor: Máté Hámori

Baiba Skride, Daniel Müller-Schott and Xavier de Maistre

This recital features a violin, cello and harp, individually, in pairs and as a trio. Trio, the first production of the evening, was written by Jacques Ibert specifically for this unusual line-up. Ibert was one of a minority of 20th-century composers who did not write excessively dramatic ‘audience-scaring’ works. He endowed French music with witty, light melodies that could be categorized as more or less Neoclassical but that sometimes did touch on more profound themes. Ravel’s four-movement duo is a sparse chamber 34

Andrea Rost

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200, 3 800, 4 700 Presented by Danubia Orchestra Óbuda

FRIDAY 15 FEBRUARY, 19.30 SATURDAY 16 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST Haydn: T he Creation, Hob. XXI:2 Andrea Rost (soprano), Gyula Rab (tenor), Miklós Sebestyén (bass-baritone) Purcell Choir (artistic director: György Vashegyi)

Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900 Presented by Concerto Budapest

SATURDAY 16 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC BABRA FOLK MUSIC OF SOUTH SLAVS Arrangements of Serb, Croatian, HungarianSerb, Hungarian-Croatian, and Macedonian folk music

Dániel Koller (tamburas, vocals), Dávid Pozsonyi (tamburas, tapan, vocals), Bence Babcsán (tamburas, clarinet, recorder, saxophone, vocals), Benedek Réti (accordion), Veronika Varga (tambura bass, vocals)

György Kurtág: F our Akhmatova Poems, Op. 41 György Kurtág: S cenes from a Novel, Op. 19 – 15 Songs to poems by R. Dalos Ligeti: String Quartet No. 1 Ligeti: Kammerkonzert Tony Arnold, Andrea Brassói-Jőrös (soprano), András Keller (violin), Vilmos Buza (double bass), András Szalai (cimbalom) Keller Quartet: András Keller, Zsófia Környei (violin), Gábor Homoki (viola), László Fenyő (cello) Ligeti Ensemble Conductors: András Keller and Zoltán Rácz

babra

Founded in 2004, Babra is reviving the multifaceted musical traditions of the Balkan and South Slavic peoples in Buda pest, the East European point of intersection between East and West and the melting pot of vibrant traditional and resurgent urban cultures. The five-member band is joined to the music of southern Slavs settled along the Danube by their enthusiasm for Balkan culture and, not least, through family ties. Retaining the originality and temperament of this music, they create new musical forms from traditional melodies, endeavouring to fashion a unique sound and style. The band not only spends time touring, but they are at home in the Balkan cultural communities that still exist around Buda pest, where through their music they are active participants in the dance house scene. The Babra ‘personality’ is defined by the combined sound of the tamburas, the clarinet and accordion. They feel their principal mission is to bring to the stage this wealth of musical tradition and its individual interpretation. Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 500 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SUNDAY 17 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL HERE AND NOW KURTÁG – LIGETI

Novel (1982), inspired by Rimma Dalos poems, and Four Akhmatova Poems, dating from the period 1997–2008. Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 21 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CZF 2019 ERIKA MIKLÓSA, FÉLIX LAJKÓ AND JÁNOS BALÁZS Arias by Donizetti, Verdi, Strauss, Piazzolla, arrangements by György Cziffra and improvizations Erika Miklósa (vocals), Félix Lajkó (violin), János Balázs (piano)

györgy Kurtág - györgy Ligeti

It is almost certain that the names of György Ligeti and György Kurtág will be conjoined in the music history collective memory of the future in the same way as the ‘exemplary great twins’ Bartók and Kodály. Works by these two giants of 20th-century and contemporary Hungarian composition joined in this programme, the quality of which is guaranteed by the expertise of András Keller and Zoltán Rácz. The recital, which showcases superb works from the oeuvres of both masters, features Keller Quartet and the recently founded Ligeti Ensemble, alongside two sopranos, Andrea Brassói-Jőrös and Tony Arnold. From Ligeti’s oeuvre we can hear the String Quartet No. 1, written in Budapest in 1953–54, and the micropolyphonic Kammerkonzert, dating from 15 years later, which perfectly illustrates his experimental nature. Two days following this concert, György Kurtág celebrates his 93rd birthday; from his oeuvre, the concert organizers have picked two song cycles, Scenes from a

János Balázs

Three instruments, three genres, three virtuosi, three very different personalities: all are bound together by improvizational skill and a fascination for new areas of music. A world-famous soprano, a violinist who is a law unto himself, and the pianist who has brought improvization back to the podium, have never before worked together for an entire concert. Now is the moment to find out what happens when these three explosive personalities are mixed together. This is not, however, the first joint musical expedition for Erika Miklósa and János Balázs, with their ZongOpera production being one of the most successful concerts of the 2018 Cziffra Festival: whoever enjoyed that performance will not be disappointed here. Félix Lajkó and János Balázs have in fact long played as partners; their 35

combined musical adventures matured into a recording several years ago, since when we have experienced at several quite unforgettable concerts what it is like to be in the presence of virtuosi testing their chosen instruments to the limit. Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000, 8 000, 10 000 Presented by Besszer Concert

SATURDAY 23 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CZF 2019 ISTVÁN VÁRDAI AND JÁNOS BALÁZS Kodály: S onatina Kodály: C ello Sonata, Op. 8 Chopin: S onata for Violin and Piano in G minor, Op. 65 István Várdai (cello), János Balázs (piano)

in what was to be the composer’s final public appearance, on 18 February 1848; it was also the last work to be published in Chopin’s lifetime. On the other hand, Kodály’s Sonatina, and more so his Cello Sonata, are justifiably two of the most frequently performed works by the Hungarian composer; through its unbelievably expressive and unique solutions, the latter piece is one of the most demanding and, at the same time, most rewarding opuses in the cello canon. Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000, 8 000 Presented by Besszer Concert

2019 concerts of the Liszt Academy’s youth series, Liszt Kidz Academy, which is targeted at 10–15-year-olds (as well as their parents and grandparents), seek answers to these questions. The second performance in the season ticket series explores the hidden messages in classical chamber music and examines how we can decipher them. Chamber works by Mozart, a champion of the cryptic message, are performed by Korossy String Quartet and pianist Gergely Kovács, all of them students of the Liszt Academy. Narrator Dániel Mona, music historian, will assist the children in ‘breaking’ the codes.

SUNDAY 24 FEBRUARY, 11.00

Ticket: HUF 1 500 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SOLTI HALL LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY STORIES FOR CHAMBER MUSIC FOR 10–15-YEAR-OLDS Mozart: Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat major, K. 493 – 3. Allegretto Mozart: String Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K. 421/417b – 1. Allegro moderato Mozart: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 23 in D major, K. 306

István Várdai

Composing for the cello represented a diversion for the pianist Chopin in the last years of his life, whereas cellist Kodály wrote perhaps his best instrumental work for this instrument while still young. This is the very first time that István Várdai, celebrated cellist and head of department at the Music Academy in Vienna, and excellent pianist, János Balázs perform together. They are around the same age as Kodály was when he completed his Sonatina and, a little later, the Cello Sonata. Chopin’s cello-piano sonata is rarely performed in concert halls, yet it is still something really special: it was written for his friend and superb cellist Auguste Franchomme, with whom he performed the last three movements 36

Gergely Kovács (piano) Korossy String Quartet: Csongor KorossyKhayll, Kristóf Tóth (violin), Julianna Albert (viola), Gergely Devich (cello) Narrator: Dániel Mona

SUNDAY 24 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CZF 2019 JOSÉ CURA AND JÁNOS BALÁZS ARGENTINE RECITAL GALA CONCERT AND AWARDS CEREMONY José Cura (vocal), János Balázs (piano) José Cura, the charming, Argentine tenor with an amazing voice, has been visiting Hungary for nearly two decades, and this time he arrives with a programme sure to attract not only opera buffs but those who love Latin music as well. Now in his mid50s, the singer – who originally studied conducting and composition – has been a celebrated star of opera stages for a quarter of a century, but thanks to his sporting past he looks considerably younger. His remarkably suggestive formulations are set down in many recordings, some of which are prize-winning, and more than a dozen opera films. For this out-of-the-ordinary concert, Cura sings not opera arias but songs of his homeland, accompanied by János Balázs on piano. As is now a tradition, Cziffra Festival prizes are presented in the first half of the concert.

José Cura

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000, 8 000, 10 000 Presented by Besszer Concert

MONDAY 25 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CHAMBER MUSIC – TUNED FOR GRAND HALL JOSHUA BELL AND SAM HAYWOOD Beethoven: S onata for Violin and Piano No. 4 in A minor, Op. 23 Prokofiev: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in D major, Op. 94a Grieg: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in G major, Op. 13

a “marvellous musician, modest and extremely sincere.” There is no need to introduce the American violinist himself: his rise to stardom and status as a truly great artist happened in front of the eye of Budapest audiences. Between the two sonata classics, it is the turn of Prokofiev’s second violin-piano sonata, which dates from 1943: the composer, reckoning on the brilliance of David Oistrakh, rewrote the principal part for violin after being originally composed for flute in the previous year. Tickets: HUF 6 300, 8 200, 11 500, 14 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

TUESDAY 26 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL HÄNDEL: JOSHUA Händel: Joshua, HWV 64 (Hungarian premiere) Joshua, leader of the Israelites: Dávid Szigetvári Achsah, Caleb’s daughter: Krisztina Jónás Othniel, a young warrior: Kornélia Bakos Caleb, Joshua’s companion: László Jekl Angel: Nóra Ducza Kodály Choir Debrecen (choral director: Máté Szabó Sipos) Savaria Baroque Orchestra (on period instruments) Conductor: Pál Németh

Joshua Bell and Sam Haywood

Joshua Bell (violin), Sam Haywood (piano) “This is one of my favourite places in the world,” said Joshua Bell in bidding farewell to his Budapest audience at the sonata recital at the Liszt Academy in 2016. Naturally, after this statement, we had to welcome him back again. This time he comes again to the Grand Hall to play chamber music, in the company of his wonderful piano accompanist Sam Haywood. Bell has characterized the Australian-born British pianist, his equal partner in performances, as

Of Händel’s late oratorios, Joshua was one of the most popular. Of those oratorios composed after Samson, only Judas Maccabeus was presented more frequently during the lifetime of the

composer. A large part of the latter’s popularity was due to the movement beginning “See the conqu’ring hero comes”, which Händel had originally written for Joshua, being transferred to this work following the first season of performances. Dramatic events such as the fall of the walls of Jericho, the setting on fire and destruction of the city, how Joshua halts the movement of the Sun and the Moon in the sky, and how he shapes an army out of defeated troops, not to speak of the triumphant return of the warrior from battle, frame a heroic story that would inspire any composer. Perhaps it comes as no surprise that the destruction of Jericho in the second act inspired Händel to write one of his greatest and most thunderous choral movements, a movement which had such a huge impact on Haydn at a performance of the work in Westminster Cathedral in 1791. Tickets: HUF 1 200, 2 200, 3 200, 4 200 Presented by Hungarian Händel Society, Savaria Baroque Orchestra

WEDNESDAY 27 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL VOCAL MUSIC, SO CLOSE MEDITERRANEAN SONGS THEODORA RAFTIS Obradors: Chiquitita la novia Obradors: Con amores la mi madre Rodrigo: Esta niña se ileva la flor Rodrigo: Estribillo Rodrigo: En los trigales Rodrigo: Coplas del pastor enamorado Rodrigo: Adela Rodrigo: 4 madrigales amatorios – 3. ¿De dónde venís, amore?, 4. De los álamos vengo, madre Moreno Torroba: La Paterna de Falla: R itual Fire Dance from the Three-Corner Hat Delibes: Les filles de Cadix Gounod: La siesta Debussy: C hanson espagnole Obradors: El vito Seiber: Four French Folk Songs – 4. Marguerite, elle est malade, 2. J’ai descend Granados: T welve Spanish Dances – 2. Orientale 37

Spathis: To Layarni (The Black Lamb) Samara: T is kopellas to nero (The Girl’s Water) Spathis: Den m’agapas (You Don’t Love Me) Skalkottas: Lafina (The Deer) Ravel: Five Greek Folk Songs Theodora Raftis (soprano) Estefanía Avilés (soprano), Katalin Alter (piano), Mira Farkas (harp), Miklós Környei (guitar) The song recital at the Liszt Academy on 27 February offers something really exciting. The core of the programme comprises songs by famed and lesserknown Spanish composers or others working in Spain: the Catalan Ferran Jaumeandreu Obradors, popular primarily for his vocal compositions, Joaquín Rodrigo, renowned for his guitar compositions, not to mention Manuel de Falla, rated the greatest Spaniard. Besides them, the Spanish trend adopted by French composers is represented by Delibes, Gounod and Debussy; they are joined by Mátyás Seiber’s French-inspired songs and Greek-like compositions. Theodora Raftis and Estefanía Avilés guarantee a genuine Mediterranean feel and authentic performance style.

Theodora Raftis

Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre 38

THURSDAY 28 FEBRUARY, 19.00

THURSDAY 28 FEBRUARY, 19.30

SOLTI HALL ILONA PRUNYI PIANO RECITAL

GRAND HALL GERGELY BOGÁNYI AND ANIMA MUSICAE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA MOZART+

Mendelssohn: Lied ohne Worte (C minor), Op. 38/2 Mendelssohn: Lied ohne Worte (E major), Op. 19b/1 Mendelssohn: Lied ohne Worte (G minor), Op. 53/3 Schumann: H umoreske, Op. 20 Liszt: T hree Concert Etudes – 3. Un sospiro, 2. La Leggierezza Liszt: C onsolations Gounod–Liszt: W altz from the Faust Ilona Prunyi (piano)

Ilona Prunyi

Beautiful, soft-flowing melodies, ethereal accompaniment, soft pianos and rich fortes – these are some of the characteristics of the style of Ilona Prunyi, who, although a constant presence over several decades at the Liszt Academy as both teacher and concert artist, still has the skill to surprise audiences time and time again with the refined nature and rare diversity of her play. “Even at the age of nine, on observing my fellow pupils, I asked them why they ‘scraped’ the top of the keys when it was such a good game to strike them in different ways ...” she once said. 19th-century piano works offer the greatest possibilities for revealing her very special technique, so it is no coincidence that she has become one of Hungary’s finest exponents of this repertoire. This recital will present gems of Romantic music to the audience. Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Mozart: Divertimento in D major, K. 136 Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 Schnittke: Moz-Art à la Haydn Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467 Gergely Bogányi (piano) Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra (artistic director: László G. Horváth) Sparkle, drama, joie de vivre: these three descriptions perfectly suit the three Mozart works performed at this concert featuring Anima Musicae and pianist Gergely Bogányi. The Divertimento in D major, written during Mozart and his father’s first tour of Italy in 1772, evokes the youthful Mozart with playfully carefree opening and closing movements and a flood of melodiousness in the middle movement. The two piano concertos, one in D minor, the other in C major, written just a month apart in 1785, were born in the most successful creative period of the mature Mozart. It is as though the composer had determined these two works to be counterparts, with the sombre, dramatic tones of the D minor concerto counterbalanced by the C major work projecting happiness and the joy of living. But what about the plus sign in the title? It refers to the work Moz-Art à la Haydn by Alfred Schnittke, one of the most fascinating composers of the 20th century. Besides the musical ‘quotes’, it also displays the theatrical side to the two masters of the classics with remarkable effects. Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 5 000, 7 000 Presented by Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra

KATI & BARNA

FOCUS on QUALITY!

KHAOS and HARMONY

20–28 July 2019 Liszt Academy | “Vigadó” of Buda

Artistic Directors: Katalin Kokas and Barnabás Kelemen

A RECONSTRUCTION EFFORT ACCOMPLISHED – summary on the last pages of a diary about a dream that has become a reality

Among the many problems we faced during the restoration of the historic building of the Academy of Music in 2011–13, our most complex challenge was likely the “question of the organ”. At the beginning of the reconstruction effort, we knew that the musical instrument in the Grand Hall met neither the requirements of public performance and education nor the criteria for historical restoration that combined historical fidelity with state-of-the-art technology. Based on our experience, we assumed that the adventure of building a new organ would exceed the limits of the restoration in terms of time, space and funding. Hence, we planned, from the beginning, a separate and independent project, which would achieve the historical renovation of the building with the support of EU resources. The 1907 Voit organ was built as an integral part of the historic building of the Liszt Academy of Music. The professional rationale for the reconstruction was developed by two young professors at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, László Fassang and Balázs Szabó, and their arguments were submitted to the decision-making body of the Academy. Taking educational and artistic aspects into account, the Academy Senate took the decision to reconstruct the original instrument in 2010, which was also supported by Decree 1502/2012. (XI. 16.) issued by the Hungarian Government. The organ project had started adventurously, and it went on in the same way, from the quest for the original components through the difficulties of storing the instrument with a capacity of nearly 100 m 3 to the elimination of the well-known technical problems of the original organ. Particular attention was paid to the parts which had a crucial effect on the final sound and intonational balance of the instrument. Compared to the conditions in 1907–08, the wind supply to the organ was considerably increased by the builders to sustain its sounding power even for the tutti fortissimo. During the restoration of the Grand Hall, the decades old thermal bridge behind the instrument was also eliminated: we sealed the flues running along the other side of the wall behind the organ, which had allowed cold air to blow over the instrument. The air-conditioning system in the Grand Hall was also designed according to the specific needs of the organ.

“Based on our experience, we assumed that the adventure of building a new organ would exceed the limits of the restoration in terms of time, space and funding.”

„WE WERE AMAZED BY THE FORMER SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN THE CONCERT HALL AND THE INSTRUMENT.”

“the Grand Hall regained also a highly valuable performance site, the organ gallery above the stage.”

Among the surviving parts of the ill-fated instrument, the facade pipes stand out. They form the key visual element of the Grand Hall; without this division, the appearance of historical fidelity would be inconceivable. During the reconstruction of the Academy, we located the traces left in the building structure intended to house the original instrument, allowing us to see not just the original position of the facade pipes, but the first evidence of the unity between the instrument and the building achieved 110 years ago. With the repositioning of the facade, which had been condemned to silence as of the late 1960s, the Grand Hall regained not just the original proportions of its interior design, but also a highly valuable performance site, the organ gallery above the stage. This was one of the first moments in which we were amazed by the former symbiosis between the concert hall and the instrument. The location of the registers is not just practical and space-saving, but purposely facilitates the formation of the required sound. The extremely large surface of the Voit organ is spectacular: compared to the total surface area of the surrounding walls,

“Among the surviving parts of the ill-fated instrument, the facade pipes stand out.”

the proportions of the facade and the two side divisions are much larger than those of most concert hall organs. The hall and the instrument complement each other perfectly. The organ has a wide dynamic range and a great tonal variety, with a sound that is graceful and elegant, free from obtrusion, affectation and ostentation.

“The organ has a wide dynamic range and a great tonal variety, with a sound that is graceful and elegant, free from obtrusion, affectation and ostentation.”

Following an international public tendering procedure in 2015, the reconstruction of the Voit organ was carried out by the Germany-based Johannes Klais Orgelbau GmbH & Co. KG, founded in 1882, and its Hungarian partner AerisOrgona Kft. According to Philipp Klais, the owner and managing director of the internationally renowned German organ building workshop, the reconstruction effort was realised through international cooperation which made it possible once again for a truly significant European instrument to be played in the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy of Music. The effort was also a remarkable contribution to the protection of the European Cultural Heritage, in which we can take great pride. Gergely Lakatos Chief engineer and project manager for the organ reconstruction

CHORAL CONCERTS DISCUSSION ABOUT EDUCATING TALENTED STUDENTS

FILM SCREENING

CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERTS

STUDENTS OF THE BARTÓK KONZI MUSIC HISTORY PERFORMANCE

GROUP ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS

STUDENTS OF THE LISZT ACADEMY

CHAMBER CONCERTS

DOCTORAL STUDENTS SOLO CONCERTS

SPECIALLY GIFTED STUDENTS

CLASSES OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, WITH VILMOS SZABADI, KÁLMÁN DRÁFI AND ANDREA MELÁTH

TALENT DAY

WORKSHOP SECRETS OF THE LISZT ACADEMY CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERTS, PIANO CONCERTS PLAYED BY THE STUDENTS OF THE LISZT ACADEMY OF MUSIC

10.02.2019

CONCERT CHRONOLOGY MARCH Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Hosted concert Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior FRIDAY 1 MARCH, 19.00

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Enescu: R omanian Rhapsodies No. 2 in D major, Op. 11 Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2, BB 117 Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 Barnabás Kelemen (violin) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Péter Csaba

George Enescu, Romanian composer, who similarly was a proficient violinist. George Enescu’s life played out in two principal locations: his homeland and Paris. There is a strong thread of Romanian folk music running through his best-known works, including the two rhapsodies, but there is also an indelible impression of his studies in Paris and his famous teachers, Jules Massenet and Gabriel Fauré.  The pairing of Enescu and Bartók’s ‘great’ violin concerto is not mere chance either: the two composers were born in the same year.  Of Brahms’s four symphonies, the last one falls into the group of major works summarizing his oeuvre. The first symphony is the rebirth – after painful labour – of the Beethoven legacy, the second is all light-hearted happiness and joy, and the third is a profound human drama and the quiet sadness that follows. After all this, we attain a sort of Olympian height from where it is possible to look back on everything we have left behind. Tickets: HUF 4 500, 5 000, 5 500 Presented by MÁV Symphony Orchestra

SATURDAY 2 MARCH, 15.30

GRAND HALL ZUGLÓ PHILHARMONICS BUDAPEST J. S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245

Barnabás Kelemen

The uniqueness of this concert is the meeting of three violinists via three works: Barnabás Kelemen, Kossuth and Liszt Ferenc Prize Hungarian violinist, soloist, chamber musician, teacher at the Liszt Academy; conductor Péter Csaba, who started his career as a violinist; and

Evangelist: Dávid Szigetvári (tenor) Jesus: Csaba Horváth (baritone) Pilate, Peter: István Kovács (bass) Andrea Csereklyei (soprano), Eszter Balogh (mezzosoprano), Zoltán Megyesi (tenor) King St Stephen Oratorio Choir Zugló Philharmonics Budapest Conductor: Alexander Mayer Johann Sebastian Bach, the great master of Baroque music, was made cantor of Thomasschule zu Leipzig in February 1723. Since his appointment fell in Lent, he debuted with Passion music for Good Friday services. This

work, the unparalleled St John Passion will be presented at this concert.

Alexander Mayer

Tickets: HUF 2 300, 2 500, 2 900 Presented by Zugló Philharmonics Budapest

SATURDAY 2 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK Haydn: S ymphony No. 46 in B major, Hob. I:46 Miklós Csemiczky: Violin Concerto Mendelssohn: Lauda Sion, Op. 73 Katalin Kokas (violin) Katalin Szutrély (soprano), Eszter Balogh (alto), Márton Komáromi (tenor), Lóránt Najbauer (bass) Purcell Choir Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Conductor: György Vashegyi The opening number of this evening’s performance is the Symphony No. 46 in B major dating from Haydn’s Sturm und Drang period. Its key was considered unusual in the 18th century. The work was commissioned by Prince Pál Esterházy, for whom Haydn worked as Kapellmeister until his death. Following this, we have the violin concerto from 2017 by Miklós Csemiczky, a leading Hungarian composer, with solo by Katalin Kokas. The final work by Mendelssohn is without doubt one of the most significant compositions of church music by the composer. This is what conductor György Vashegyi wrote about the piece: “The closing Lauda Sion, which in my view is one of the finest compositions of 19th-century Catholic mysticism, is both a summation of all 45

those styles that had gone before and a decisive step forward towards (not only German) Grand Romanticism: in tonality, it clearly presages the music of Brahms, Bruckner, Wagner and Liszt, and at the same time Verdi’s Requiem.”

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 200, 2 700, 3 200 Presented by Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok

MONDAY 4 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL MVM CONCERTS DAVID FRAY PIANO RECITAL J. S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 David Fray (piano)

György Vashegyi

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 3 500, 4 000 Presented by Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok

SUNDAY 3 MARCH, 11.00

GRAND HALL UNDERSTANDABLE MUSIC DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK MILESTONES IN MUSIC – DAMNATION AND APOTHEOSIS Mozart: Don Giovanni, K. 527 – Finale from the Act 2 Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Narrator and conductor: Gábor Hollerung Mozart’s Don Giovanni is a milestone in opera literature. Mozart was the first in the barely 200-year-old history of opera to step outside the closed world of social conventions, the grip of mythological parables and exalted social morals, and openly step over moral platitudes. In his opera moral is approached from the sense of life, and without a shadow of doubt, Don Giovanni himself is the absolute hero of opera, a hero with whom it is possible, and worthwhile, to identify. Although Don Giovanni is condemned to eternal damnation, and Mozart – pressured by outsiders – supplemented the work with a moralizing finale, the work is still the overture to 19th- and 20th-century freedom of thought and the increasingly open expression of moral questioning. 46

Anybody undertaking a performance of the Goldberg Variations must not only possess rare stamina but also be up to a very special kind of intellectual challenge. While evolving a single theme, Johann Sebastian Bach’s sole variation series goes beyond the boundaries of the genre to encompass an entire world. Although for a long time it had rarely ben played, in the second half of the 20th century, following a recording by Glenn Gould in 1955, it moved once again into the spotlight, and has become, since then, an essential item on the repertoires not only of harpsichordists but also pianists with an affinity for the music of Bach. One of today’s most interesting and most erudite performers of Bach, Frenchman David Fray, devotes his Budapest appearance to this magnum opus of keyboard works. It would be a pity to let this rare opportunity slip by!

David Fray

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000, 8 000, 10 000 Presented by Besszer Concert, Liszt Academy Concert Centre

TUESDAY 5 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Glinka: R uslan and Lyudmila, Op. 5 – overture Glinka: K amarinskaya – Fantasy on two Russian Folksongs Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 Ágnes Langer (violin) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Conductor: János Kovács

Ágnes Langer

Not long ago, Ágnes Langer came third in the final of the Bartók World Competition and Festival playing a brilliant Bartók interpretation with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. One of her prizes was the opportunity to perform once again with the Radio Orchestra, this time showcasing the evergreen Tchaikovsky violin concerto. The concert programme, dedicated to Russian Romanticism, also includes Glinka works and a Tchaikovsky symphony. According to Stravinsky, the particular Russian nature of Tchaikovsky’s music “does not appear specifically Russian to everybody ... yet it is quite as Russian as Pushkin’s verse or Glinka’s song.” Tickets: HUF 2 800, 3 500, 5 000, 6 000 Presented by Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles

WEDNESDAY 6 MARCH, 19.30

THURSDAY 7 MARCH, 19.00

GRAND HALL CHAMBER MUSIC – TUNED FOR GRAND HALL PÉTER FRANKL, MIKLÓS PERÉNYI AND GERGELY ITTZÉS

SOLTI HALL BÉLA BARTÓK CHAMBER CHOIR SZOLNOK & GUESTS ARE YOU HAPPY?

Haydn: K eyboard Trio in G major, Hob. XV:15 Brahms: S onata for Cello and Piano No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38 Schubert: Introduction and Variations on Trockne Blumen, D. 802 Haydn: K eyboard Trio in D major, Hob. XV:24 Péter Frankl (piano), Miklós Perényi (cello), Gergely Ittzés (flute) Péter Frankl and Miklós Perényi together on a concert stage: an exceptional event which would be regarded as a red letter day in any concert hall on any continent. The Liszt Academy is no exception, all the more so because both great musicians were raised within its walls and set off on their conquest of the world from here. The two senior masters are joined by flautist Gergely Ittzés as they present the arc of development in Haydn’s piano trios, from the performance of an early trio to another from his mature period.  The Sonata No. 1 for Cello and Piano in E minor of Brahms brings to life the shifting and yet eternal partnership of these two instruments. In Schubert’s composition the principal part is given to Gergely Ittzés as he performs the variations series set to the moving song, the eighteenth, of the Miller’s Beautiful Daughter cycle.

Humour in a cappella – Unconventional jubilee concert

Béla Bartók Chamber Choir Szolnok

Béla Bartók Chamber Choir Szolnok (artistic director: Éva Molnár) The women’s choir of Szolnok have vowed to pour unalloyed pleasure and joy on all for the duration of one concert. Is this at all possible? YES! Under-50s and over-50s alike are welcome to attend this unconventional concert, part of the ensemble’s 50th jubilee series. Ticket: HUF 1 500 Presented by Béla Bartók Chamber Choir Szolnok

THURSDAY 7 MARCH, 19.45 FRIDAY 8 MARCH, 19.45

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA József Bazsinka

Haydn: S ymphony No. 80 in D minor, Hob. I:80 Valery Strukow: T uba Concerto Mozart: Serenade in D major, K. 250 (‘Haffner’) József Bazsinka (tuba) Budapest Festival Orchestra Conductor: Gábor Takács-Nagy

Miklós Perényi, Péter Frankl and Gergely Ittzés

Tickets: HUF 3 100, 4 300, 5 400, 6 500 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

to the next. The concert starts with Symphony No. 80 by the master of the genre. We get several flashes of Haydn’s sense of humour in the piece: while the raging emotions characteristic of Sturm und Drang can easily carry one away, the work is punctuated in near shocking suddenness by sun-filled melodies. And although the tempestuous mood does not subside altogether, light humour wins the day by the end of the symphony. József Bazsinka, one of the finalists in the orchestra’s Végh Sándor Competition, plays a true delicacy as the second work in the concert. As far as the musician is concerned, the Strukov tuba concerto is a sincere tribute to the tuba master Mel Culbertson. Mozart wrote the festive Serenade in D major for the wedding of Elisabeth Haffner, daughter of the enormously wealthy mayor of Salzburg. This most elegant of works, including fine violin solos, is where, according to musicologist H. C. Robbins Landon, “technical ability and musical genius are perfectly wedded.”

Gábor Takács-Nagy’s energy and imagination are inexhaustible when it comes to the music of Haydn or Mozart. The élan, floating elegance and Mozartian genius on show here are complemented by a special tuba concerto in which everything can change from one second

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 7 000, 11 800 Presented by Budapest Festival Orchestra

SATURDAY 9 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL HERE AND NOW STUDIO 5 COMPOSERS’ RECITAL ABOVE CRITICISM Alberto Alessio: B embe Máté Bella: Visions András Gábor Virágh: Tetra 47

Árpád Solti: A mit szívedbe rejtesz (What You Hide in Your Heart) Judit Varga: Escapex2 Bence Kutrik: Rituale Diána Kiss (soprano), Judit Nagy (cello), János Szepesi, Péter Szűcs (clarinet), Erzsébet Seleljo (alto saxophone), Roland Szentpáli (tuba), Gergely Kovács, Irén Seleljo, Árpád Solti, Judit Varga (piano), Beáta Móri, András Szalai (cimbalom), Zoltán Mihály Varga, Ádám Maros (percussion), Anastasia Razvalyaeva (harp)

concertmaster in the latter ensemble. He plays an instrument crafted by Giovanni Testore in 1777, the refined tones of which the Liszt Academy audience can enjoy in three virtuoso pieces at the joint recital with Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra. Tickets: HUF 2 900, 4 200, 5 500, 6 900 Presented by Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra

József Lendvay

SATURDAY 9 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL JÓZSEF LENDVAY AND FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

STUDIO 5

Members of the Studio 5 composers group are linked not primarily by some commonly avowed aesthetic but rather the conviction that new music should not merely count on the attention of a small initiated group. The amount of feedback they received following their recent concerts staged in St Stephen’s Basilica and the Solti Hall of the Liszt Academy suggest that they are on the right track. The vast majority of works in the Here and Now season ticket series have enjoyed rapturous receptions on all fronts: from the general public, from professional critics, and from those performing the compositions. For instance, Bence Kutrik’s work Rituale was voted one of the works most recommended to play on European radio stations at the International Rostrum of Composers in 2018. The opening piece of the concert won the special prize from Studio 5 at the Bartók Composition Competition. Tickets: HUF 1 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre 48

Stravinsky: Violin Concerto in D major Saint-Saëns: Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28 Waxman: Carmen Fantasie Weiner–József Lendvay: Divertimento Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70 József Lendvay (violin) Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (concertmaster: Péter Tfirst) Soloist for this recital, József Lendvay, Liszt Prize laureate and awardee of the Bronze Order of the Cross of the Republic of Hungary, once entranced an audience in the Vatican with his remarkable violin skills; his artistic activities were recognized with the Papal Bronze Medallion. His career started early: he was already playing the violin aged four and he later studied at the Liszt Academy’s School for Exceptional Young Talents. At a young age he triumphed at top violin competitions in Budapest, the Czech Republic and Amsterdam, following which he was absolute winner of the Tibor Varga Competition in Switzerland in 1997. He gave concerts in several countries as soloist with, among others, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Dutch Radio Orchestra, Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Suisse Romande, and the Orchestra of Nations, which was founded by Justus Franz and Leonard Bernstein: he was also

SUNDAY 10 MARCH, 10.30

GRAND HALL, SOLTI HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST / MOZART DAY Artistic director: András Keller Amira Abouzahra, Mariam Abouzahra, Arvid Engegård, András Keller (violin), Máté Szűcs (viola), László Fenyő (cello), Orsolya Kaczander (flute), Csaba Klenyán (clarinet), Zsófia Stefán (bassoon), Péter Frankl, Edit Klukon, Ferenc Rados, Dezső Ránki, Izabella Simon , Marcell Vajda (piano) Engegård Quartet János Rolla and Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra Concerto Budapest Conductor: Arvid Engegård, András Keller

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

“He’s life itself,” is what the great English conductor Sir Colin Davis said of Mozart, neatly summing up what we all feel about the maestro. Mozart Day celebrates the phenomenon, with Concerto Budapest and terrific guest performers – including Ferenc Rados, Arvid Engegård and his excellent quartet, Dezső Ránki, Edit Klukon and Izabella Simon, who also takes care of the children’s programme – playing in the Grand Hall and Solti Hall of the Liszt

Academy from morning to late evening. The artists play works from the oeuvre of one of history’s greatest creative minds during this keynote event on Sunday at least as much for their own pure delight as for our pleasure: the simple fact is that Mozart is not only an evergreen favourite of concert-going audiences but of musicians, too. Joy and beauty, drama and purification, noble exultation and puckish humour: this is a one-day excursion through the elevated and yet so human empire of Mozart’s brilliance. Tickets: HUF 1 200-5 900 Presented by Concerto Budapest

MONDAY 11 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE LISA BATIASHVILI, FRANÇOIS LELEUX AND CAMERATA SALZBURG

remember those Hungarian conductors who have directed or assisted the world-beating work of the ensemble since their formation in 1952: Sándor Végh, Géza Anda and András Schiff. The ensemble regularly gives concerts with François Leleux, indeed, they have recorded several joint albums together; for their appearance at the Liszt Academy, they are joined by the oboist-conductor’s wife, Georgian Lisa Batiashvili, thus allowing a completely authentic rendition of Georgian composer Giya Kancheli’s Chiaroscuro (2011). The work’s purposeful simplicity and novelty act as a counterpoint to popular creations by Mendelssohn and two 18th-century composers, Mozart and Lebrun. Tickets: HUF 3 700, 5 100, 6 500, 7 900, 9 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Mendelssohn: The Hebrides – overture, Op. 26 Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in D minor Giya Kancheli: C hiaroscuro – for violin and chamber orchestra Lebrun: Oboe Concerto No. 1 in D minor Mozart: Symphony No. 31 in D major, K. 297 (‘Paris’) Lisa Batiashvili (violin), François Leleux (oboe) Camerata Salzburg

Daring, unique and energetic. Among their many international authorities in the field, Camerata Salzburg proudly

Works of the modern classics – John Cage, Igor Stravinsky, Steve Reich – and contemporary composers – József Sári, Sebő Kaszab, Márk Csernovszky – counterpoint with acton painting – it’s a selection that would equally suit a festival programme. However, the performers are not internationally renowned artists totally committed to modern arts, with tastes that might be somewhat more ‘adventurous’ than the repertoire commonly found in concert halls, but teachers and students of the Bartók Conservatoire, who appear before an audience in the Solti Hall with the most exciting productions of the past years in the New Music Project, a contemporary music workshop conducted in the school. Ticket: HUF 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

TUESDAY 12 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL ENDRE HEGEDŰS AND BUDAPEST PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY ORCHESTRA

Orchestra of Bartók Conservatoire

TUESDAY 12 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL CONCERTS OF THE BARTÓK CONSERVATOIRE NEW MUSIC PROJECT SELECTION FROM THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTIONS OF PREVIOUS YEARS

Lisa Batiashvili

Students of the Bartók Conservatoire and teachers of New Music Project

Cage: S ix József Sári: For Echo Sebő Kaszab: Summa – for viola, piano and percussion Stravinsky: Ragtime Steve Reich: Music for Pieces of Wood Márk Csernovszky: Sea winds Performance of the Nándor Götz Audiovisual Workshop: action painting for the music of Frank Zappa

Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11 Liszt: P iano Concerto in A major Liszt: L es Préludes – symphonic poem Endre Hegedűs (piano) Budapest Philharmonic Society Orchestra Conductor: Gergely Ménesi

endre hegedűs

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000 Presented by Stúdió Liszt Kft. 49

WEDNESDAY 13 MARCH, 19.30

THURSDAY 14 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL FOUR BY FOUR BELCEA QUARTET

GRAND HALL DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA

Haydn: S tring Quartet No. 61 in D minor, Hob. III:76 Britten: String Quartet No. 3 in G major, Op. 94 Beethoven: S tring Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132

Sofia Gubaidulina: Offertorium Vivaldi: T he Four Seasons, Op. 8 Cosima Soulez-Larivière (violin) Danubia Orchestra Óbuda Conductor: Antal Zalai

in Vienna as soloist in the Concerto in B-flat major. Mozart himself considered the latter a complex work not easy to play, and modern pianists also rank it as among the most difficult Mozart concertos. Naturally, the audience will sense nothing whatsoever of this since both compositions are performed by a true aficionado of Mozart’s music in Dezső Ránki. We get to enjoy the two concertos in the company of a pair of rarely played pieces. Budapest Strings perform an early Mozart symphony with an Italian inspiration and a chamber music variation of the Michael Haydn string quintet. For many years this piece was mistakenly attributed to Joseph Haydn because of its stylistic traits.

Danubia Orchestra Óbuda Belcea Quartet

Belcea Quartet: Corina Belcea, Axel Schacher (violin), Krzysztof Chorzelski (viola), Antoine Lederlin (cello) Outstanding Romanian-born violinist Corina Belcea established Belcea Quartet in 1994 with three other students of the London Royal College of Music. Following further studies with the Chilingirian String Quartet and then Alban Berg Quartett, the ensemble was one of the first discoveries of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists mentor programme. Six years after the quartet was founded they were playing in New York Carnegie Hall, after which they gave concerts at London’s Wigmore Hall as resident string quartet for five years. Their first album was chosen as Recording of the Year by Gramophone. Since then they have made another 11 albums, including complete Bartók and Beethoven string quartets. They give a sample of the latter at this Liszt Academy appearance after performing a quartet each by Haydn and Britten. Tickets: HUF 1 200, 1 700, 2 800, 3 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre 50

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200, 3 800, 4 700 Presented by Danubia Orchestra Óbuda

Tickets: HUF 2 800, 3 800, 4 800, 5 800 Presented by Budapest Strings

TUESDAY 19 MARCH, 19.00

SATURDAY 16 MARCH, 19.30

SOLTI HALL AMADINDA PERCUSSION PROJECT

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST STRINGS M. Haydn: String Quintet in C major Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat major, K. 449 Mozart: Symphony No. 23 in D major, K. 181 Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 15 in B-flat major, K. 450 Dezső Ránki (piano) Budapest Strings (concertmaster: János Pilz, artistic director: Károly Botvay)

Dezső Ránki

Mozart completed the Piano Concerto in E-flat major on 9 February 1784, and barely a month later he was applauded

Steve Reich: Drumming Amadinda Percussion Group: Károly Bojtos, Aurél Holló, Zoltán Rácz, Zoltán Váczi, Szabolcs Joó (percussion) Percussion students of the Liszt Academy and Bartók Conservatoire: Tímea Haász, Kornél Hencz, Dániel Láposi, Bence Siptár, Klaudia Bereczki, Sára Bolyki, Zsófia Soós (vocals), Kristóf Siklósi (piccolo) After a long journey Amadinda Percussion Group, holders of the Kossuth and the Bartók–Pásztory Prizes and currently celebrating their 35th anniversary, have reached the point where today they are considered exemplars on the international contemporary music and percussion scene. Members of the ensemble established the foundations of their totally unique instrument ‘fleet’ by playing on the streets of Western Europe, and in the lukewarm environ-

ment of late socialism they have built – with improbable ambition, in just a few years – a noteworthy modern and contemporary music repertoire, a repertoire which was then broadened with their own compositions and arrangements. Yet they have not forgotten the struggle of those early years: this fact is reflected in their decision to launch the Amadinda Percussion Project, which is designed to share the knowledge and experience they have accumulated over the decades. Within the framework of the programme, younger generations can participate in Amadinda’s work under the guidance and with the participation of members of the group, naturally using the ensemble’s instruments. This concert shines a spotlight on one of the most successful percussion works by Steve Reich, born in 1936, who is renowned for his minimalist techniques and repetitive patterns.

Nikolai Lugansky’s career as a pianist began with a red toy piano that his father gave him at the age of five and a half. Hearing his father’s off-key play, the precocious child showed him which keys to strike in order to obtain a good tune. From here, it was a straight line to becoming a musician: music school, competitions, then in 1996 debuting at the Hollywood Bowl at a concert on the tour of the Kirov Theatre Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev. Since then, Lugansky has appeared on numerous stages with leading orchestras; he has also been to Hungary several times. His Rachmaninov and Chopin recordings are especially highly rated. Besides performing and recording, the Russian artist teaches at the Moscow Conservatory as assistant to professor Sergei Dorensky.

Nikolai Lugansky Amadinda Percussion Project

Tickets: HUF 2 200, 2 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

TUESDAY 19 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL MVM CONCERTS NIKOLAI LUGANSKY PIANO RECITAL Debussy: S uite bergamasque Debussy: D eux Arabesques Debussy: L ’isle joyeuse Scriabin: P iano Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp minor, Op. 19 (‘Sonate-fantasie’) Scriabin: P réludes (excerpts) Scriabin: P iano Sonata No. 3 in F-sharp minor, Op. 23 Nikolai Lugansky (piano)

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000, 8 000, 10 000 Presented by Besszer Concert, Liszt Academy Concert Centre

WEDNESDAY 20 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL SÖNDÖRGŐ Söndörgő: Áron Eredics (prime tambura, tambura samica, darbuka, vocals), Benjámin Eredics (viola tambura, trumpet, vocals), Dávid Eredics (clarinet, saxophone, kaval, prime tambura, bass prime tambura, vocals), Salamon Eredics (accordion, recorder, hulusi, bass prime tambura), Attila Buzás (tambura bass, cello tambura, tapan, vocals)

Söndörgő

The Eredics brothers pulled together members of the wider family and their best musician friends to found the now internationally renowned tambura band Söndörgő in the mid-1990s. With appropriate respect, refined senses and good taste, they dip into the well of south Slav music tradition, drawing from Béla Bartók’s, Tihamér Vujicsics’s and their own collections. Far from dampening their ambitions, this strong sense of respect for traditions has actually had a catalyzing effect on the tireless work with which – for several decades now – they have represented this culture and which provides a constantly renewing, contemporary dynamism to the musical treasures of the Slavs living along the Danube. Material from their eighth album is being showcased in the course of a world tour, the first concert of which is in the Liszt Academy. During the recital, Béla Bartók is once again evoked, tribute is paid to the work of the early Vujicsics ensemble, and the mysterious ‘Constantinople’ collection of Béla Vikár is unveiled. Tickets: HUF 4 400, 5 500, 6 900, 8 900, 9 800 Presented by Söndörgő Cultural Association

THURSDAY 21 MARCH, 19.00

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Haydn: C ello Concerto No. 2 in D major, Hob. VIIb:2 Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 Maria Solozobova (violin), Iris-Meongwon Cho (cello) 51

MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Leoš Svárovský

Mozart: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 36 in F major, K. 547

This fine concert is made all the more special for its diverse, multi-ethnic ‘guest artist team’. Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D major includes a solo by Iris-Meongwon Cho. The cellist lives in Austria and is a member of the famous Tonkünstler Orchestra; in addition to orchestral appearances, she enjoys being a soloist in chamber music productions.  Soloist for the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, dating from 1844, is Maria Solozobova, who was born in Moscow and completed her studies in Zürich and Basel. She now lives in Switzerland and is first concertmaster of Suisse Romande.  Czech conductor Leoš Svárovský is artistic director of the Prague State Opera. The evening closes with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E minor.

Vilmos Szabadi (violin), Gábor Farkas (piano)

Iris-Meongwon Cho

Tickets: HUF 4 500, 5 000, 5 500 Presented by MÁV Symphony Orchestra

THURSDAY 21 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL COMPLETE WORKS LIVE MOZART VARIATIONS AND SONATAS FOR PIANO AND VIOLIN/5 Mozart: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 33 in E-flat major, K. 481 Mozart: Sonata for Violin and Piano in B-flat major, K. 372 (fragment, finished by M. Stadler) Mozart: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 35 in A major, K. 526 52

Chopin: Ballade No. 3 in A-flat major, Op. 47 Chopin: Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52 Liszt: P iano Sonata in B minor Luka Okros (piano)

Vilmos Szabadi and Gábor Farkas

In this last concert of the 2018/2019 Complete Works Live series, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s final piano-violin sonatas, written between 1785 and 1788, are performed in the Solti Hall of the Liszt Academy. The Sonata in E-flat major (K. 481), dating from December 1785, so delighted music publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister that he printed the work at his own expense. The No. 35 sonata (A major, K. 526) sits between Eine kleine Nachtmusik (K. 525) and Don Giovanni (K. 527) in the Ludwig von Köchel catalogue. In fact, this work is Mozart’s last mature-style sonata for piano and violin because the next, the F major composition (K. 547), completed on 10 July 1788, returns in its structure to the very earliest of sonatas by Mozart, with the violinist merely shadowing and accompanying the pianist. The programme includes an earlier sonata movement that Mozart never completed: this task was realized by his friend, Maximilian Stadler. Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

FRIDAY 22 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL LUKA OKROS PIANO RECITAL Chopin: Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 Chopin: Ballade No. 2 in F major, Op. 38

London-based Georgian pianist Luka Okros ranks as one of his generation’s most promising artists thanks to his inspired playing. He has picked up numerous first prizes at international competitions, the juries of which have included such greats as Peter Donohoe, Péter Frankl, Andrzej Jasiński, Olga Kern, Steven Osborne, Pascal Rogé and Mikhail Voskresensky. He was just 18 when he debuted at Carnegie Hall, and since then he has played at the Wigmore Hall, Salle Cortot, Roy Thompson Hall, Hong Kong City Hall and the Royal Opera House, Mumbai. So far, audiences in more than 25 countries have heard the pianist play live. The skills of Luka Okros have been recorded and broadcast by the likes of BBC Radio 3, France Musique, Hong Kong Radio 4 and Georgian Radio 1.

Luka Okros

Tickets: HUF 5 300, 6 000 Presented by Molto Group Management

FRIDAY 22 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO ARMONICO VENICE AND LONDON, OBOES AND ORGAN PIPES… Albinoni: Double Concerto for Oboe in F major, Op. 9/3 Albinoni: Sonata in G minor, Op. 2/11

Albinoni: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 2/2 Albinoni: Oboe Concerto in D minor, Op. 9/2 Händel: Oboe Concerto No. 3 in G minor, HWV 287 Händel: Concerto Grosso in B minor, HWV 330 Händel: Organ Concerto No. 13 in F major, HWV 295 (‘The Cuckoo and the Nightingale’) Emanuel Abbühl, Seung Eun Lee (oboe) Miklós Spányi (organ) Concerto Armonico (concertmaster: Gábor Homoki, artistic director: Miklós Spányi)

SATURDAY 23 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE KATALIN KOKAS, MAXIM RYSANOV, DÓRA KOKAS AND LILY MAISKY Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50 Schumann: M ärchenbilder, Op. 113 Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60 Katalin Kokas (violin), Maxim Rysanov (viola), Dóra Kokas (cello), Lily Maisky (piano)

spelling out her name in keys, with certain modifications: ‘C-B-A-G-sharp-A’. Since this motif also regularly appears in other Brahms compositions, it is possible that the imaginative musicologists have got it right this time. Tickets: HUF 2 800, 3 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

MONDAY 25 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERT BY THE MUSIC ENSEMBLES OF ELTE Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 Rossini: Stabat Mater

Concerto Armonico

The wind section comprises a significant group of instruments. Their sound is produced by the vibration of a column of air enclosed in a tube. The sound waves generated by the vibration of the air column in the instrument are transmitted to the air particles, the changing density of which carries the sound, the characteristics of which are, in turn, determined by the size and form of the instrument’s pipe. It is perhaps obvious to most that the oboe is a wind instrument, but fewer may associate the organ with the wind section. The fact is, however, that in essence the ‘queen of instruments’ is nothing more than a wind instrument composed of flue and reed pipes fitted with a wind box. The pipes are operated partly through keyboards and partly through pedals. The oboe and the organ team up with string ensemble Concerto Armonico in this refreshing spring concert of works by Albinoni and Händel. Tickets: HUF 1 400, 2 100, 3 500, 4 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre, Concerto Armonico

Dóra Kokas and Katalin Kokas

Tchaikovsky’s trio scored for violin, cello and piano fills the first half of this concert by the Kokas sisters and their two famous foreign partners. The piece has just two movements but lasts around forty-five minutes. The first movement concludes with an elegiac funeral march (opus 50 dedicated to the memory of composer Nikolai Rubinstein); the second movement is an unusual set of variations beginning in the major key but ending up in the minor which recalls one of the opening movement’s melodies and yet chiming with the funeral march. This is followed after the interlude by Schumann’s four-movement Märchenbilder (Fairy Tale Pictures) for viola and piano. Unfortunately, the composer never revealed which tales he was thinking about while he was composing the piece. Finally, it is the turn of the Brahms Piano Quartet in C minor (four movements). It was once known as the Werther Quartet, after Goethe’s famous work, because of its melancholic tone. Some musicologists have speculated that Brahms wove the Clara motif – named after Schumann’s widow – into it,

Louisa Staples (violin) Lilla Horti (soprano), Atala Schöck (alto), Boldizsár László (tenor), István Kovács (bass) Eötvös Loránd University Béla Bartók Choir and University Concert Orchestra Vocal training: Bence Juhász Concertmaster: Éva Dúlfalvy Conductor: László Kovács

the Music Ensembles of ELTE

Artistic director of the Eötvös Loránd University Béla Bartók Choir and University Concert Orchestra is conductor László Kovács, Liszt Prize laureate and director of the ELTE ‘Eötvös’ Artists Ensemble. The university choir and orchestra are amateur groups with a membership comprising current and former students and teachers. Their repertoire spans Baroque, the classics, Romantic and contemporary works, a cappella choral pieces, oratorios, concertos and symphonies, but they are equally happy 53

to sojourn on the borders of pop and classical music. They see their mission as the interpretation of works by key composers of the 20th century, among them Bartók and Kodály, but their concert repertoire also includes pieces by contemporary (mainly Hungarian) composers, too. György Orbán, Péter Tóth, Sándor Szokolay, Emil Petrovics, Kamilló Lendvay, Zoltán Jeney, Miklós Kocsár, László Dubrovay, János Vajda, Levente Gyöngyösi, Kálmán Oláh and Zoltán Kovács have written orchestral and choral works partly commissioned by the university which are dedicated to the ensemble and its conductors. Over the past few decades, the choir established by Gábor Baross in 1948 and the (currently string) orchestra set up in 1957 have won prizes at countless domestic and international competitions and festivals. Tickets: HUF 1 800, 2 800, 3 700, 5 500 Presented by ELTE Artistic Ensemble

WEDNESDAY 27 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL COMPLETE WORKS LIVE SCHUMANN’S PIANO CHAMBER MUSIC/3 SERIES EDITOR: DÉNES VÁRJON Schumann: F ive Pieces in Folk Style, Op. 102 Schumann: Ballscenen (Scenes from a Ball), Op. 109 Schumann: P iano Quartet in C minor, WoO 32

The winter of 1848/49 and the months following proved to be an astonishingly fertile period in the life of Schumann. His chamber works with various instrumentalizations created around this time speak of extremely concentrated work: Five Pieces in the Popular Style, scored for cello and piano, took just three days to complete. Its plain structure and Biedermeier images evoke an intimate atmosphere of music-making at home. The same holds true for Scenes from a Ball (1851), composed as a piano fourhand, which is a showy garland for the fashionable dances of the age: Polonaise, Walzer, Ungarisch, Française, Mazurka, Ecossaise, and Walzer. Contrary to all that precedes it in the concert, the Piano Quartet in C minor (1829) is a work from Schumann at the dawn of his career: he was just 19 when he completed it. We learn from his diary that even decades later he clearly remembered a defining moment in the process of putting this quartet together: while writing the middle part of the third movement “a spirit [of Romanticism] different from earlier music manifested itself, and a new poetic life appeared to disclose itself to me.” Despite this, he did not consider the piece worthy of being put into print and it had to wait until 1979 before being published.

István Várdai (cello), Izabella Simon, Dénes Várjon (piano) Originally, Schumann completed Three Romances in late 1849 for oboe and piano after a mere three days’ work. However, the publisher was concerned that in this form it would not sell, so despite the protestations of Schumann it was marketed with ‘hotter’ instrumental line-ups, in versions for violin and piano, and for clarinet and piano. Concert number 4 in the Complete Works Live series features the dessus on viola. The Sonata in D minor from 1851 is another work featuring the musical puzzles so favoured by Schumann: the work’s D-A-F-D motif is code for the name of Ferdinand David (1810–1873), the great violinist who was in a close professional working relationship with both Schumann and Mendelssohn and to whom the work is dedicated. Finally, after Children’s Ball, a charming fourhand composition with six little dances from 1853, there is a ‘surprise’ piece also common in the Schumann oeuvre: the composer has tucked away one of his charming lieders in the F major piano trio, dated 1847. Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 28 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL COMPLETE WORKS LIVE SCHUMANN’S PIANO CHAMBER MUSIC/4 SERIES EDITOR: DÉNES VÁRJON

IZABELLA SIMON and DÉNES VÁRJON

Antje Weithaas (violin), Máté Szűcs (viola), István Várdai (cello), Izabella Simon, Dénes Várjon (piano) 54

Schumann: T hree Romances, Op. 94 Schumann: S onata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121 Schumann: K inderball, Op. 130 Schumann: P iano Trio No. 2 in F major, Op. 80 Antje Weithaas (violin), Máté Szűcs (viola),

Lilla Horti

FRIDAY 29 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL VOCAL MUSIC, SO CLOSE GYPSY SONGS Máté Hollós: Căra luma phírav (I Walk the World) Brahms: Z igeunerlieder (Gypsy Songs), Op. 103 Dvořák: C igánské melodie (Gypsy Songs), Op. 55

Ravel: Tzigane Imre Széchényi: The Three Gypsies Brahms: Vier Zigeunerlieder (Four Gypsy Songs), Op. 112/3-6 Liszt: T he Three Gypsies György Orbán: S ecular Melodies – Gypsy Madrigal

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K. 503 Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 (‘Pathétique”) Jeremy Denk (piano) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Zsolt Hamar

Lilla Horti (soprano), Bernadett Wiedemann (mezzo-soprano), Katalin Kokas (violin, viola), Emese Virág (piano) Just what is it in a piece of music that allows us to refer to it as being typically ‘Gypsy’? This inventive recital of songs seeks an answer, or answers, to this question. During the evening we come across 19th-century rousing verbunkos-style works (‘recruitment songs’), as well as contemporary compositions that hark back to the authentic folk music of the Roma community. Ferenc Liszt outraged the Hungarian public of the day when he identified verbunkos music, which he had considered to be Hungarian folk music, as Gypsy music. Today this theory, which does not stand up to scientific scrutiny, is worth rethinking as being one of the first musical manifestations of a cultural coexistence, of multiculturalism, which can be detected not only in the work of Liszt but that of many of his contemporaries like Brahms and Dvořák. Another of them, Imre Széchényi, holds a special position: his setting to music of Lenau complements the Liszt version of the same poem in an interesting way. The panorama is made whole with Ravel’s violin piece Tzigane alongside modern-day compositions from Máté Hollós and György Orbán. Ticket: HUF 2 500 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

FRIDAY 29 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 4 in G major, Op. 61 (‘Mozartiana’)

Zsolt Hamar

That Mozart’s glorious Piano Concerto in C major features on the same programme as symphonic works by Tchaikovsky would have made the latter composer extremely proud. The Russian master described Mozart as “musical Christ” and looked up to him all his life. The result of this devotion was the Orchestral Suite No. 4, more commonly known as Mozartiana (‘Homage to the memory of Mozart’), in which a few forgotten piano works by Mozart and the Ave verum corpus motet are reworked for orchestra. The Mozartiana is rarely heard in concert although it contains some brilliant parts. A German critic of Tchaikovsky said of Suite No. 4 that it appeared as though the Russian composer did not have his own theme, which is why he resorted to Mozart melodies. Tchaikovsky convincingly refuted this mischievous remark six years later when at the age of 53 he composed the Pathétique Symphony. Jeremy Denk, soloist for the recital, is a pianist living in New York. He was recently made a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. His wide repertoire also includes György Ligeti études. Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 500, 6 000 Presented by Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

SATURDAY 30 MARCH, 10.30

GRAND HALL SECRETS OF MUSIC WINGED AND HOOFED Duna Symphony Orchestra Conductor: András Deák Narrator: Szilvia Becze Duna Symphony Orchestra, in the company of great composers such as Strauss, Vivaldi, Haydn, Bartók and Mussorgsky, lead us into the wonderful world of nature. How can we discover birds, bears or wolves with the help of instruments? Which rich and colourful expressive modes are at the disposal of music? All these answers and more are provided in this concert.

Duna Symphony Orchestra

Ticket: HUF 2 500 Presented by Filharmónia Magyarország

SATURDAY 30 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS MARCELL SZABÓ PIANO RECITAL RUSSIAN STORIES Prokofiev: Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 75 Tchaikovsky–Pletnev: The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a Prokofiev–Nikolajewa: Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67 Marcell Szabó (piano) Marcell Szabó has been winner or podiumplacer in a great many competitions in Hungary and abroad. In 2015 he was selected as artist of the Liszt Academy Career Office, and each 3 years between 2016 and 2018 he won an Annie Fischer 55

scholarship set up to assist young performance artists. He debuted as soloist at Müpa, Budapest, two years ago with Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 From beginning to end, this recital, organized as part of the Black and White Colours series, is Russian. Excerpts of the ballet Romeo and Juliet were selected and rearranged by Prokofiev himself in the 1930s. The ‘symphonic fairy tale’ Peter and the Wolf dates from the same period; its transcription for piano a few years later was the work of Tatiana Nikolayeva. The two Prokofiev works are bookending The Nutcracker Suite, which contains melodies of the popular ballet by Tchaikovsky, compiled by pianist Mikhail Pletnev in 1978.

youth series, Liszt Kidz Academy, which is targeted at 10–15-year-olds (as well as their parents and grandparents), seek answers to these questions. In this, the third and somewhat unusual concert, children are introduced to the newly organ of the restored Liszt Academy, which was inaugurated at the end of October 2018. There are many fascinating stories connected with Buda pest’s first concert organ, which is the same age as the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy, and has become a symbol of the institution. Liszt Ferenc Prize laureate organist László Fassang and music historian Gergely Fazekas, who is well-known to regulars of the Liszt Kidz Academy, relate the story of the organ’s past and those famous musicians who have played on it, accompanied by organ music spanning more than two centuries.

Marcell Szabó

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SUNDAY 31 MARCH, 11.00

GRAND HALL LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY STORIES ABOUT THE LISZT ACADEMY ORGAN FOR 10–15-YEAR-OLDS Works by J. S. Bach, Mozart, Liszt, Antalffy-Zsiross and improvizations László Fassang (organ) Narrator: Gergely Fazekas It is often said that music is like a language, a language in which the instruments speak. But what does music say, and how is it capable of relating a story if it is not supported by text? The spring 2019 concerts of the Liszt Academy’s 56

appeared on stage together, and at some 500 concerts they have played the cream of the piano duo repertoire, from Bach and Mozart right up to the music of our days, including the greater part of four-hand and two-piano works by Schubert, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, Satie, and Messiaen – not only in Hungary but in the US, Japan and all over Europe. Barnabás Dukay’s pieces, written and dedicated to them, are frequently on the programme. Of their two sons, the elder, Soma, became an architect while the younger, Fülöp, also studied piano. Although only recently graduated from the Liszt Academy, Fülöp has been performing at home and abroad for many years; he is particularly attracted to the music of Liszt. The three family members occasionally take the stage together and have played Bach’s trio concertos and Dukay’s compositions for three pianos on numerous occasions, including in France and Japan. They often give charity concerts and feel that the current one is particularly important, since it is in all our interests that doctors and nurses receive as much assistance as possible. The concert is followed by an informal chat with the performers.

Ticket: HUF 1 500 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SUNDAY 31 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL ARTIST TALES – CONVERSATION CONCERT WITH THE RÁNKI FAMILY CHARITY CONCERT FOR THE SZENT JÁNOS HOSPITAL GASTROENTER OLOGICAL DEPARTMENT Works by J. S. Bach, Kodály and Liszt Edit Klukon, Dezső Ránki, Fülöp Ránki (piano) Conversation partner: Dr György Székely For the past three decades, Edit Klukon and Dezső Ránki have regularly

Edit Klukon and Dezső Ránki

Tickets: HUF 1 400, 2 100, 3 500, 4 900 Presented by Dr István Kunitzer Foundation, Liszt Academy Concert Centre

PARITY

LÁSZLÓ FASSANG AND BALÁZS SZABÓ ’To hear them sounding first time, one-by-one, gave me goosebumps’ – says Balázs Szabó, pointing at the facade pipes of the organ. ’We’ve been watching them for 50 years without hearing them’ – adds László Fassang with a smile. ’First manual, Diapason 16’ – they chorus, talking about the pipes of the organ in the Grand Hall at the Academy of Music, the pipes that have been parts of the scenery above the stage since the beginning, only having been muted since 1967… till now.

A perfect organ in a perfect hall. Amazing message from the past to the future In the final stage of the restoration we sit on the gallery of the Grand Hall with László Fassang and Balázs Szabó, looking down at the stage full of lumber and pipes lying around while staff members are trying to communicate with each other between the stalls and the case of the organ in German. All of a sudden the voice of a pipe tuned overwhelms everything else, including our voices, and forces us to go down to the ground floor. The tuba. This rank used to be heard even in the Solti Hall in those days – says Balázs Szabó already in the calm café. Now teacher at the Keyboard and Harp Department of the Academy has been – as a student – dreaming of having the opportunity to play the restored Voit organ in the Grand Hall. But in the early 2000s a West-German organ, made in 1967 was in place of the original world-class Voit & Söhne instrument and Balázs seemed to be the only one taking care about the old organ, 57

investigating its fate, spooking archives and digging himself into vintage organ cases, since he believed that the Voit organ would come back home one day. When did you first feel that your dream could come true? B. Sz. – When I met Laci (organist László Fassang), here, at the Liszt Academy of Music, in 2008. When we were talking for the first time, he asked my oppinion on what instrument could I imagine for the Academy. I felt it was time to get the plan off the ground. L. F. – We all knew the reconstruction of the building would start soon, and final or terminal deconstruction of the organ in the Grand Hall would be necessary. The question was: which direction to choose for our next steps. Deconstructing then reconstructing a concert organ is not an easy matter at all. I didn’t know too much about the former Voit organ or Voit organs in general and I didn’t have an enhanced plan but Balázs was so cogent that I said okay, lets keep the possibility of rebuilding the original instrument in mind. We necessarily had to take three aspects into consideration. We wanted an organ that would match the building and would be worthy to enrich concert life and organ collection of the city – so purchasing a modern concert organ like the one in Müpa Budapest wouldn’t have made sense. But we had to take in account the fact that the Academy, as it is a school, needs an instrument applicable for the largest possible scale of teaching purposes and able to inspire students. The original Voit organ, born in the late Romanticism, seemed to meet all three expectations, not at all negligibly for the reason that there are only a few of grandiose romantic organs serving educational purposes. Only two schools have organs comparable to this one in size and quality, the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory and the Yale University in the USA.

“Deconstructing then reconstructing a concert organ is not an easy matter at all.”

This organ was originally designed for and built up in this building, in this very Grand Hall. But it has been dismantled, carried away and scattered about. How many locations its pickings were to be found? B. Sz. – We knew that most parts had gotten to Győr and Fertőd, so we first visited those places. We found a lot of pipes and important and valuable parts there. But several pipes and – practically speaking – complete ranks were found in five other locations. These parts became rebought by the Academy during those years. Actually, we got back everything known to be existing. The research, however, was not easy as the original documentation and blueprints from 1907 had disappeared and no copies could have been found. Neither in the archives of the Academy nor in the National Archives. We had to find another way to find out what to look for. On the occasion of the 1925 restructuring, Angster Organ Manufacture made blueprints of the organ’s inner structure and measurements of its state. Checking the blueprints against the original parts, we saw the drafts of the inside thay had made, were completely accurate. So based on these we could reconstruct the positions of all the blowers and windchests, the supporting structure, the order of ranks… important pieces of information that had not survive in any other form but play an important role in the authenticity of sound.

Was this investigation or research accomplished by Balázs? B. Sz. – Yes, my life has been dedicated to the Voit organ since 2005. I began my research in the archives of the Academy going on in several Hungarian and German archives of places where Voit organs could be found. Even in the files of the Walcker company – producer of the organ that took the place of the original Voit here – I could find photos taken before the deconstruction. Photographs and heritage of organ coursebook author Dezső Antalffy-Zsiross also helped a lot. The idea that motivated me, was not a nostalgic attitude towards reclaiming a piece of the past, but the belief or rather persuasion that this instrument was an incomparable masterpiece with its unique quality of sound all around the globe.

“THIS LEVEL OF FAITH AND ENTHUSISASM BROUGHT US TOGETHER AS A COMMON FEATURE.”

“The idea that motivated me, was not a nostalgic attitude towards reclaiming a piece of the past, but the belief or rather persuasion that this instrument was an incomparable masterpiece with its unique quality of sound all around the globe.”

Laci, what did you think about this young colleague so enthusiastic towards his dream? L. F. – I just remembered, listening to him talking now, how impressed I had been by his enthusiasm, though he then was just a graduate fresh out of school. But this level of faith and enthusiasm brought us together as a common feature. I still keep marvelling the amount of energy he begins a new task with. Request or guarantee we had none from anybody, so being entrusted with this project seemed to be a dream for us. But one thing was clear: nothing will happen if we don’t do everything we can. Gergely Lakatos, chief engineer of the Liszt Academy of Music supported the restoration by all means and made important steps during the renovation of the building itself, which aimed the implementation of the organ restoration project possible. Organist teacher colleagues István Ruppert and János Pálúr helped by all possible means as well and we decided to get this to a point of no return. All that without money? L. F. – At that point in time: yes. We lived an adventurous life in that guerilla-period. Getting back the original organ parts with an actual lack of resources before the official project gets the go-ahead was exciting and it challenged all our creativity. Gergely Lakatos connecting the issue with the greater project of restauration after a decision of the Academy Senate made things easier, giving us larger freedom to act. B. Sz. – Production of the preparatory phase documentation itself took thousands of working hours. Meanwhile the moment of renovation reaching the organ facade has become closer and closer every day. Which facade was originally 60 cm behind the Walcker’s. The ’organ seats’ here, made for the students can be seen on old photos. The decision to go on with the construction meant that the Voit had to return as the Walcker could not have been placed to the new, tighter place. L. F. – The Walcker organ was built behind the plain of the facade of the Voit in the 60s. These pipes were mute, the whole thing was a horror with friezes cut and pipes propped up with dexion accessories and iron bars. But in case we restored the original facade, a new organ would be needed. And then we got to the decisive moment. The zero hour. We already had everything – documentation, plans, blueprints, quotations – loaded, we just had to put it onto the table and say: here you are, the Voit.

“IT WAS A MOMENT BEYOND EXPRESSION. EVEN THINKING OF IT GIVES ME GOOSEBUMPS. A SOUND WE DID NOT – WE COULD NOT – EXPECT WAS HEARD.”

„What came off here went above and beyond all expectations”

It’s done. It has sounded. What is it like? B. Sz.– It went above and beyond all my expectations. We touched and pawed every single pipes, blew them with our mouths saying ’wow, listen to this one, no, that one, hey, what a fantastic sound this one has etc.’ without hearing their real sound in the Hall. When it was able to work – the wind blew, the magnets worked and the system stood up, we began to sound the pipes of the facade one by one. It was a moment beyond expression. Even thinking of it gives me goosebumps. A sound we did not – we could not – expect was heard. Extremely clear in each register. Not goodhere-but-slurring-and-cracked-there-and-there, no, excellent sound in all ranges. A perfect organ in a perfect hall. An unbelievebly clear message from the past to the future. L. F. – I am sure that it will overwrite our image of the organ as an instrument. Both the professionals’ and the audience’s. And as of the students, it opens up a brand new world for them. The Academy hasn’t had an organ since I have started teaching here. We have been teaching in the Bach Hall at the Old Academy Building and in several churches around Budapest. It feels uplifting to think it over: what a high level they will start off, the ones who will not struggle and make compromises like us, but will be inspired by such an organ in such a perfect building with such a past. Ágnes Mester

CONCERT CHRONOLOGY APRIL Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Hosted concert Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior

as well as his unsurpassed depth of knowledge of the piano. However, what I find most important is that unifying force that apparently cannot be formulated in words, which forms works that are enormously different from each other and in themselves meaningful and valuable into a coherent and monumental cycle.” Tickets: HUF 1 000, 1 500, 2 000, 2 500, 3 000, 4 000 Presented by Besszer Concert, Liszt Academy Concert Centre

WEDNESDAY 3 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL MVM CONCERTS FÜLÖP RÁNKI PIANO RECITAL Liszt: T ranscendental Études Fülöp Ránki (piano)

Péter Bársony and József Balog

THURSDAY 4 APRIL, 19.00

SOLTI HALL HERE AND NOW PÉTER BÁRSONY AND JÓZSEF BALOG CHAMBER RECITAL

ant was the presentation in San Francisco in 1949 of the sonata dedicated to him by Ernst Krenek. The programme of this chamber evening also has room for the premiere in Hungary of the viola duo by Péter Eötvös, written in 2001 and reformulated in 2018, as well as the viola version of the saxophone sonata, spiked with jazz elements, by Erwin Schulhoff. It is to the great credit of Péter Bársony that the Schulhoff piece is perfectly accommodated to the viola.  Composer László Weiner, who died tragically young, dedicated his violapiano sonata to violist Pál Lukács, born 100 years ago.  Increasingly found on the programmes of top artists, György Ligeti’s solo pieces present their performers with extraordinary challenges; this recital’s two musicians are experienced interpreters of the oeuvre of this Hunga rian composer. Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 4 APRIL, 19.00

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Fülöp Ránki

Over the past few years, a performer has appeared among the ranks of outstanding artists who does not seek fame or celebrity status but rather serves: Fülöp Ránki devotedly serves fine music and art to appreciative audiences. Once again, this young pianist is preparing for a superhuman effort with this performance of Liszt’s fiendishly difficult series that moves in universal dimensions. Notwithstanding the complexity of the music, Ránki’s knowledge, culture and technical capabilities are guarantees that this undertaking will be crowned with success. The exceptional artist took his masters diploma in 2018 and had the following to say about the series served in this concert: “Liszt’s Transcendent Études reveal the harmony of the composer’s compositional and improvizational skills,

László Weiner: Sonata for Viola and Piano Ligeti: Viola Sonata Péter Eötvös: D uo for Two Violas (Hungarian premiere) Krenek: Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 117 (Hungarian premiere) Ligeti: Etudes for Piano (excerpts) Schulhoff: Hot-Sonate (transcription for viola and piano)

Dvořák: S tabat Mater, op. 58 Ingrid Kertesi (soprano), Lúcia Megyesi Schwartz (alto), Attila Fekete (tenor), Marcell Bakonyi (bass) Debrecen Kodály Choir Conductor: Péter Csaba

Péter Bársony (viola), József Balog (piano) Wenting Kang (viola) Today, few remember Hungarian-born violist Ferenc Molnár, who lived in America and was a founding member of the famous Roth Quartet. The concert by Péter Bársony and József Balog is an ideal opportunity to recall this artist, his life full of dramatic twists and turns, and the highpoints of his musical career, amongst which one of the most import-

Ingrid Kertesi

Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi, who lived in the 13th century, wrote the famous verse that describes the 61

overwhelming sense of desolation experienced by the mother of Jesus as she stood at the foot of the Cross. In the centuries that followed, many composers wrote works to this poem, one of the finest being the piece by the great Czech composer Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904). The text was tragically pertinent for Dvořák: in the months following its creation, he lost three of his own children. The piece is divided into ten parts, with each movement having its own musical character. Following a dramatic orchestral introduction, the choir begin singing their first words in descending chromatic scale. The main theme of the closing movement is the same, thus framing the entire work. Stabat Mater debuted in Prague in 1880. The first performance of the work abroad was in London in 1883, where its ecstatic reception cemented Dvořák’s reputation in England.

pier times, the Mediterranean did not have borders north and south, east and west: quite the opposite, it was a symbol of the dialogue between different regions. And for this character to survive, the arts must initiate dialogue – not only between regions, but between souls.

and recently graduated students. Their main objective is to revive the tradition that István Párkai established at the Liszt Academy through the Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir. The diverse programme compiled by László Norbert Nemes, who has led the New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir since September 2014, covers a wide range of music history eras, styles, trends and parallels. There is a performance of young Hungarian composer Máté Bella’s composition written to a poem by Gyula Juhász, as well as various spiritual works by Baroque and contemporary authors. Finally, we hear a collection of motets by contemporary Hungarian composers belonging to younger and older generations – Barna Szabó, György Orbán, Levente Gyöngyösi and János Vajda – which link past and present.

Jordí Savall

Tickets: HUF 4 500, 5 000, 5 500 Presented by MÁV Symphony Orchestra

FRIDAY 5 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL JORDÍ SAVALL AND HESPÈRION XXI EAST-WEST – A DIALOGUE OF SOULS Lior Elmaleh (vocals), Waed Bouhassoun (vocals, oud) Hespèrion XXI (artistic director: Jordí Savall) It is the ambition of Jordí Savall and his formation Hespèrion XXI to not only perform the music of bygone ages in a totally authentic way, but to experimentially convey such correlations, interactions and cultural symbioses that bring us closer to resolving a whole host of contemporary problems. Savall has never thought in terms of geographical, historical or stylistic pigeonholes; as far as he is concerned, the Mediterranean region forms a single organically coherent cultural unit with a diverse linguistic and religious system of relations. In hap62

Tickets: HUF 4 900, 6 900, 9 900, 11 900 Presented by Budapest Spring Festival, Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 6 APRIL, 19.00

SOLTI HALL AT HOME IN THE LISZT ACADEMY NEW LISZT FERENC CHAMBER CHOIR COR MUNDUM CREA IN ME DEUS Victoria: A ve Maria Handl: Pater noster Rheinberger: M iserere mei Barna Szabó: O quanta qualia Máté Bella: Piece (to the poem by Gyula Juhász) György Orbán: C or mundum Levente Gyöngyösi: Te lucis ante terminum János Vajda: Alleluja Hovland: A gnus Dei New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir György Lakatos (bassoon) Choral director: László Norbert Nemes The New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir pick their ‘team’ from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music Alma Mater Choir

New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir

Ticket: HUF 1 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 6 APRIL, 19.30 SUNDAY 7 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST Brahms: P iano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat major, Op. 10 Shostakovich: P iano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102 Concerto Budapest Conductor and pianist: Boris Berezovsky “He is the true successor to the great Russian pianists of the past.” This is how a few years ago the highly respected Gramophone magazine characterized Boris Berezovsky, who has been a regular

guest artist at concerts by Concerto Buda pest. The Moscow-born, world-famous pianist deepens his collaboration with the orchestra by this time also undertaking conducting duties at this daringly enterprising concert, the programme of which contains no fewer than three piano concertos featuring Berezovsky solos. The programme spans almost exactly a century, with first piano concerto of Brahms written in 1858, and the Shostakovich work dating from 1957.  Brahms originally planned his D minor composition as a sonata for two pianos, then he began thinking in terms of a symphony, but finally it ended up as a piano concerto.  In the early 1910s, at barely 20 years of age, Prokofiev didn’t exhibit as much indecision: “The First Concerto was perhaps my first more or less mature composition as regards both conception and fulfilment,” he wrote in his memoirs.  Shostakovich penned the F major concerto to celebrate the 19th birthday of his son Maxim. It seems to be easy for the hands, yet it demands considerable virtuosity.

Boris Berezovsky

Debussy: P iano Trio in G major Debussy: S onata for Cello and Piano Haydn: S ymphony No. 104 in D major (‘London’), Hob. I:104 (transcription by J. P. Salomon for flute quintet) Júlia Gyenge, Éva Osztrosits (violin), Dénes Ludmány, Péter Tornyai (viola), István Varga, György Déri, Tamás Zétényi (cello), Zsófia Bíró (flute), Domonkos Csabay, Balázs Demény, Júlia Hámos, János Palojtay (piano), András Csáki (guitar) This concert series establishes interactions between the early and late compositions of composers. The early works are often perfect compositions already, and are only differentiated from their creator’s mature pieces by a style that is not yet dominated by those characteristics that make the later opuses unmistakable. Libraries could be filled with those books that discuss how the late works of one composer or another synthesise a life’s experience, and how the music is shaped more by an inner voice than by external expectations, revealing unprecedented prospects or exhibiting unadulterated serenity. The first concert of the series selects from the early and late chamber pieces of Debussy and Haydn, with some of the works presented in special, contemporaneous arrangements. Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Budapest Spring Festival

Tickets: HUF 2800, 3 800, 5 100, 6 200, 7 500 Presented by Concerto Budapest

TUESDAY 9 APRIL, 19.30

TUESDAY 9 APRIL, 17.00

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

SOLTI HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL BEGINNING OF THE PATH – END OF THE PATH • 4.1 HOMMAGE À HAYDN Debussy: H ommage à Haydn Haydn: S tring Quartet No. 8 in E major, Hob III:8 (transcription for cello and string trio)

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet

Born in Rome, conductor-composer Sesto Quatrini, in his mid-30s, is one of the most impulsive artists of our day. Stars such as Roberto Alagna and Elina Garanca have been overwhelmingly positive in their comments about him, while internationally-renowned conductor Fabio Luisi reckons he has all the abilities needed to create a sublime connection between singers, orchestral musicians and theatre directors: it is not by chance, therefore, that Quatrini’s career as an opera director has rocketed in the past few years. At this Liszt Academy concert he conducts compositions by Italian composers alongside Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major, with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, a specialist in the art of Ravel, as soloist. Tickets: HUF 2 800, 3 500, 5 000, 6 000 Presented by Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles

TUESDAY 9 APRIL, 19.30

SOLTI HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL BEGINNING OF THE PATH – END OF THE PATH • 4.2 CAPRICCIOS AND CONCERTINOS

Respighi: Vetrate di chiesa (Church Windows) Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major Verdi: Quattro pezzi sacri

R. Strauss: Sextet from the Capriccio Ligeti: Two Capriccios Haydn: P iano Trio No. 35 in A major, Hob. XV:35 Stravinsky: Concertino R. Strauss: Duet Concertino

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad) Conductor: Sesto Quatrini

Réka Baksai, Júlia Gyenge, Éva Osztrosits, Júlia Pusker, József Rácz, Lisa Romain (violin), Dénes Ludmány, Péter Tornyai (viola), István Varga, 63

György Déri, Tamás Zétényi (cello), Zsófia Bíró (flute), Noémi Sallai (clarinet), Dávid Ádám Nagy (bassoon), Krisztián Andor, Domonkos Csabay, Balázs Demény, Júlia Hámos, János Palojtay (piano) How large the perceived distance is between the styles of an early and a late work by the same composer may vary from one period to the next. With the masters of the 20th century, however, we usually find that no relationship can be discovered between a juvenile work and a mature composition. Even experts are hard put to discover parallels between György Ligeti’s stylistic exercises from his academy years – such as the 1947 Two Capriccios – and any piece from his mature period. It is a curious thing to contemplate that Richard Strauss and György Ligeti were contemporaries in the strictest sense of the word. While Ligeti was writing his diploma pieces, Strauss was working on his last orchestral work, the Duet Concertino. Alongside this late composition, another piece from Strauss’s final period will also be performed at this concert, the overture to his last opera, Capriccio.

With many composers, the etude is more than a mechanical exercise that concentrates on tricks of the given instrument’s playing technique, and represents instead the acme of their art. For instance, Chopin’s etudes – the first, Op. 10 series of which he wrote at the age of twelve – are still regularly performed at concerts. Some composers, like Scriabin, wrote etudes throughout their careers, while others, Debussy and György Ligeti included, took an interest in the form in their last creative period. The third, unfinished cycle of Ligeti’s etudes won the Grawemeyer Award, one of the most prestigious acknowledgements for contemporary music today. In addition to Chopin, Scriabin, Debussy, and Ligeti, the concert programme also includes various chamber arrangements of the etudes Schumann wrote for pedal piano.

THURSDAY 11 APRIL, 19.30

WEDNESDAY 10 APRIL, 19.30

J. S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

WEDNESDAY 10 APRIL, 17.00

Berg: Piano Sonata, Op. 1 Fauré: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 120 Debussy: S yrinx Schoenberg: V erklärte Nacht, Op. 4

Júlia Gyenge, Júlia Pusker, Éva Osztrosits (violin), Tamás Zétényi

Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Budapest Spring Festival

SOLTI HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL BEGINNING OF THE PATH – END OF THE PATH • 4.3 SUPREME ÉTUDES Chopin: Etudes (excerpts) Scriabin: E tudes (excerpts) Debussy: E tudes (excerpts) Ligeti: Etudes (excerpts) Schumann: Six Etudes in the Form of Canons, Op. 56 (Transcription for chamber ensemble)

Art Nouveau and the Vienna Secession can be more or less clearly defined in the visual arts, musicologists have never reached consensus on what compositions fulfilled the criteria of the style – or what, for that matter, the criteria were. Performed at the last concert of this series will be works with one characteristic or another that makes them qualify as Secessionist: a winding melodic line, rich ornamentation, a dynamic form, or the “two-dimensional” appearance of the music. Interestingly, these pieces were either the earliest or the last works of their composer. Berg’s and Schoenberg’s respective piece is an early composition, while Fauré and Debussy wrote such works that feature the attributes mentioned in the last phase of their careers.

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL J(I). S. BACH: GOLDBERG VARIATIONS JI’S PIANO CONCERT

SOLTI HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL BEGINNING OF THE PATH – END OF THE PATH • 4.4 ART NOUVEAU

Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Budapest Spring Festival

(cello), Anett Jóföldi (flute), Krisztián Andor, Domonkos Csabay, Balázs Demény, Júlia Hámos, János Palojtay (piano)

Ji-Yong Kim (piano)

Áron Dóczi, Dávid Pintér, Júlia Pusker (violin), Dénes Ludmány, Péter Tornyai (viola), György Déri, Orsolya Mód, István Varga (cello), Anett Jóföldi (flute), Zoltán Fejérvári, János Palojtay (piano) The period in musical history that coincided with the time of the Vienna Secession is difficult to pinpoint. While

Ji-Yong Kim

Already inviting considerable international interest with a genuinely fresh, original approach to classical music, Ji is a truly 21st-century performing artist. The South Korean pianist studied at the Juilliard School. At the age of ten, he was the youngest pianist to win the New York Philharmonic Orchestra’s Young Artists Competition, and in 2012 he finished first at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In 2016, millions saw the commercial in which he performed Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata on two pianos, one with all the usual pitches of the instrument, the other tuned so that each key played the same note. He released his recording of Bach’s monumental Goldberg Variations in January 2018. “For me, as a twenty-something living in this day and age, the biggest lesson I learned decoding the things beyond the notes was empathy.”

most popular musicians, who reawakened the interest of millions in choral music and in singing in choirs. Hundreds of amateur and professional choirs keep his compositions on their repertoire, and singers from 110 countries have participated in his online virtual choral projects. Extremely attractive and decorative, his compositional style draws on a variety of styles and periods, and defies pigeonholing: it is probably no accident that several of his compositions (such as Lux Aurumque, and A Boy and a Girl) are among the most frequently performed pieces of the modern choral repertoire. His own ensemble, The Eric Whitacre Singers perform the most beautiful pieces of choral literature, from Monte verdi and Bach to Benjamin Britten and Morten Lauridsen. Their first record, Light & Gold, was already a huge success, and won the Grammy for the best choral recording.

Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 900, 7 500, 9 900 Presented by Budapest Spring Festival

FRIDAY 12 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL ERIC WHITACRE SINGERS Eric Whitacre: L ux Aurumque Eric Whitacre: Sainte-Chapelle Eric Whitacre: L eonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine Caroline Shaw: Sarabande J. S. Bach: Komm, süßer Tod (Come, Sweet Death) (arranged by Erwin London) Eric Whitacre: H urt Eric Whitacre: I carry Your Heart Missy Mazzoli: Vesper Sparrow Eric Whitacre: I Fall Moses Hogan: Three American Spirituals Eric Whitacre: S leep Eric Whitacre Singers Conductor: Eric Whitacre Grammy Award-winning composer and conductor Eric Whitacre is one of today’s

Eric Whitacre

P iano Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056 Piano Concerto in F major, BWV 1057 Piano Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052 Balázs Szokolay (piano) Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (artistic director: Péter Tfirst) Seven concertos, twenty-one movements. Hear all the solo concertos Bach wrote for keyed instruments on the same evening. Performed now by Balázs Szokolay, these compositions are eminently important moments in the history of the piano concerto; nor does it make them any less pioneering that none of them was originally written for a keyed instrument, each being an arrangement of some earlier violin or oboe concerto. Some suggest the first performances of these works may have been improvisations, with Bach referring to the music of existing compositions, and then incorporating the experiences of the performance in his subsequent notations. With this concert, Balázs Szokolay and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra continue with the special endeavour when they were joined by three young pianists – Diána Szőke, István Lajkó, and Imre Dani – to perform Bach’s complete concertos for two, three, and four harpsichords at a single concert.

Tickets: 2 000, 3 200, 4 500, 5 900 Presented by Budapest Spring Festival, Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 13 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL BALÁZS SZOKOLAY AND FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA BACH’S ENTIRE PIANO CONCERTOS Johann Sebastian Bach: Piano Concerto in E major, BWV 1053 Keyboard Concerto in A major, BWV 1055 Keyboard Concerto in D major, BWV 1054 Keyboard Concerto in G minor, BWV 1058

Balázs Szokolay

Tickets: HUF 1 200, 1 700, 2 800, 3 800 Presented by Budapest Spring Festival 65

TUESDAY 16 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL LISZT RECITAL BY THE LISZT ACADEMY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Liszt: O rpheus – symphonic poem Liszt: P iano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major Poulenc: S tabat Mater Fülöp Ránki (piano) Zita Szemere (soprano) Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra Alma Mater Choir (choral director: Csaba Somos) Conductors: Gergely Ménesi and Csaba Somos

Stabat Mater in 1950; this tonally unusual work received a rapturous reception at its premiere and at performances in years thereafter. Tickets: HUF 1 200, 1 700 Presented by: Budapest Spring Festival, Liszt Academy Concert Centre

WEDNESDAY 17 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF VOCAL MUSIC PURCELL CHOIR AND ORFEO ORCHESTRA PASSION PASTICCIO

kömmt, which has served as the subject of extensive musicological research and the starting point of audacious theories for many decades, is preserved in the collection of the Berlin State Library. The performance by the György Vashegyi ensembles is based on this priceless document of music history. Tickets: HUF 1 400, 2 100, 3 500, 4 900, 5 600 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 18 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA J. S. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245 Klára Kolonits (soprano), Kornélia Bakos (mezzosoprano), Gyula Rab, István Horváth (tenor), István Kovács (bass) Kodály Choir Debrecen (choral director: Máté Szabó Sipos) Danubia Orchestra Óbuda Conductor: Máté Hámori

Alma Mater Choir

A real concerto sandwiched between two rarely heard masterpieces: this is the musical food served up by the Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra at the Budapest Spring Festival. Ferenc Liszt’s symphonic poem Orpheus was penned as the prelude for Gluck’s opera of the same name; the composer then expanded it into a work in its own right. Besides the unusual circumstances of its origin, it is also surprising that the piece, unlike other symphonic poems, is not programme music. Nor does the highly popular Piano Concerto in E-flat major follow a specific programme, condensing as it does the traditional three-movement form into a single movement, thereby representing a real challenge for pianist virtuosos. It is not just Parisian and French culture but also a deep Catholic faith that established a connection between Liszt and the recital’s other composer, Francis Poulenc. The French master composed 66

György Vashegyi

J. S. Bach–C. H. Graun–Telemann: W er ist der, so von Edom kömmt – passion-pasticcio (Hungarian premiere by the manuscript of the Berlin State Library) Purcell Choir Orfeo Orchestra Conductor: György Vashegyi Máté Szabó Sipos

The evening offers an 18th-century German pasticcio – or more precisely, a Passion pasticcio, and what’s more, a premiere in Hungary – in a performance by two of the most ambitious of early music formations, Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra, two ensembles of György Vashegyi. This church music ‘potpourri’, compiled around 1750, includes Johann Sebastian Bach’s music in three movements, as well as compositions by Carl Heinrich Graun and Georg Philipp Telemann. The only extant manuscript of Wer ist der, so von Edom

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200, 3 800, 4 700 Presented by Danubia Orchestra Óbuda

MONDAY 22 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL TCHAIKOVSKY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND PRAGUE PHILHARMONIC CHOIR Brahms: S chicksalslied (Song of Destiny), Op. 54 Dvořák: Te Deum, Op. 103

Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet – Fantasy Overture Shostakovich: H amlet – suite, Op. 32a Polina Pasztircsák (soprano), Anatolij Fokanov (baritone) Prague Philharmonic Choir Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Jan Latham-Koenig

TUESDAY 23 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL MVM CONCERTS PIANOPERA / ERIKA MIKLÓSA AND JÁNOS BALÁZS Arias by Donizetti, Verdi, Strauss and Piazzolla; arrangements by György Cziffra and improvizations Erika Miklósa (soprano), János Balázs (piano)

to each other on stage, in the process providing huge entertainment for the audience, including within the framework of a more informal concert like that presented this evening. Tickets: HUF 1 500, 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000, 8 000 Presented by Besszer Concert, Liszt Academy Concert Centre

WEDNESDAY 24 APRIL, 19.00

SOLTI HALL CONCERTS OF THE BARTÓK CONSERVATOIRE COMPETITION WINNERS Students of the Béla Bartók Conservatoire

Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra

The ensemble, founded in 1930 as the Symphony Orchestra of Russian Radio, is the longest established and certainly one of the best internationally recognized Russian formations. They have been directed by celebrity conductors such as Nikolai Golovanov, Aleksandr Gauk and Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Vladimir Fedoseyev took over the baton in 1974, and he led the orchestra, which has borne the name of Tchaikovsky since 1993, to the greatest concert halls in Europe, America, Japan and Australia. The ensemble has hosted most of the top soloists in the world – Pavarotti, Richter and Kremer included – and they are proud to have given young artists such as Vadim Repin, Evgeny Kissin and Maxim Vengerov a start on their rise to global fame. Dmitry Shostakovich characterized the orchestra simply as “an excellent ensemble made up of excellent musicians”, revealing that its members are individually capable of giving superb performances in solo and chamber productions. Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 500, 4 900, 6 500 Presented by Budapest Spring Festival

Erika Miklósa

Virtuosity: this is the common denominator for the two artists appearing on stage. Erika Miklósa has been a celebrity on the Hungarian opera and concert scene for some 25 years. She broke into the limelight with her superior interpretation of the particularly difficult coloratura-soprano role of the Queen of the Night, and then went on to conquer the greatest opera stages of the world in the same part. Since then she has starred primarily in lyrical and dramatic coloratura roles; however, her brilliance has also been apparent whenever she has explored lighter musical fields far from the opera stage. Her partner in this recital, János Balázs, is known as a pianist for whom interpretation of virtuoso pieces is the natural form of instrumental self-expression: it is no coincidence that he looks up to György Cziffra as his role model. The two artists have found they are ideally suited

Each year students of the Liszt Academy preparatory school, the Bartók Conservatoire, achieve incredible results in music competitions organized for teenage classes both in Hungary and throughout Europe. Over the course of the academic year, the school noticeboard gradually fills with certificates and awards issued in Budapest, Debrecen, Szeged, or perhaps Germany and Italy, signalling that once again students of the Conservatoire have reached great heights. And there is always one evening in the institution’s Liszt Academy concert series when an audience can enjoy the performances of competition winners – piano, strings, wind and vocals – in the Solti Hall.

Students of the Béla Bartók Conservatoire

Ticket: HUF 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre 67

WEDNESDAY 24 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Beethoven: F idelio – overture, Op. 72 Beethoven: 3 . Leonore – overture, Op. 72b Beethoven: S ymphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 Orsolya Hajnalka Rőser, Judit Németh, Péter Balczó, István Kovács (vocals) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choirmaster: Zoltán Pad) Conductor: Tamás Vásáry A symphony, the manuscript of which was declared in 2001 part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, alongside such items as James Cook’s ship’s log for 1768–71 and the 180,000-piece papyrus collection in the Austrian National Library; and an opera overture, which in the last 100 years has frequently been performed as an intermezzo of the second act of the work, and which according to Bence Szabolcsi, “portrays and relays the message of the opera more perfectly than the opera itself ...”: both of these hugely significant works go far beyond themselves, having impacted musical thinking for 200 years; and both works quite perfectly fit the end of a cycle dedicated to the music of Beethoven.

Zoltán Fejérvári regularly performs in concert halls in Hungary and around the world. Besides the Liszt Academy Grand Hall, he has featured at other major venues such as New York’s Carnegie Hall. On the domestic concert scene, he has played with the likes of the Festival Orchestra and Hungarian National Philharmonic as soloist. His 2011 recording of Liszt’s Piano Concerto in E minor won the Liszt Society album Grand Prix, and in 2017 he won the prestigious Montreal International Piano Competition. In the first half of this Black and White Colours season ticket recital we hear two Romantic pieces comprising short movements with natural themes. This is followed by a contemporary work from Péter Tornyai, who is almost the same age as the pianist, then the concert closes with Musica Ricercata by György Ligeti, which was composed between 1951 and 1953.

Zoltán Fejérvári

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 500, 6 000, 7 000 Presented by Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles

FRIDAY 26 APRIL, 19.00

SOLTI HALL BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS ZOLTÁN FEJÉRVÁRI PIANO RECITAL

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Schumann: W aldszenen, Op. 82 Janáček: On the Overgrown Path, Book 2 Péter Tornyai: S ubito piano Ligeti: Musica Ricercata Zoltán Fejérvári (piano) 68

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Gergely Kesselyák We have come to expect unusual programme choices at Gergely Kesselyák concerts, which are designed to introduce audiences to lesser-known composers or more obscure works by the greats. The first surprise this evening is his own introduction as a composer, what’s more, with religious works. At the beginning of his career, even before his studies as conductor, he wrote two oratorios, three masses and an Ave Maria. St Margaret Mass was written for liturgical purposes for the Church of St Margaret on Villányi Road; the inspiration for the piece was sparked by the sound of a female choir merging with an orchestra. There is yet another rarity on show in the form of Ernő Dohnányi’s Stabat Mater, composed for a schoolboys’ choir in 1952 during his years of emigration in America, although at its premiere it was performed by a women’s choir. Many composers have written music to the text of this ancient church hymn which describes the pain of Christ’s mother as she stood in front of the Cross, the best known being the earliest, by Pergolesi, to which Dohnányi clearly refers in his work. The outstanding Angelica Girls’ Choir take the lead part in this concert. To ensure that the orchestra’s part is not restricted to choral accompaniment alone, the concert ends with Beethoven’s most lively Symphony No. 4, in which it is easy to discern the great composer’s humour.

Gergely Kesselyák: Saint Margaret Mass Gergely Kesselyák: Ave Maria Dohnányi: Stabat Mater Beethoven: S ymphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60 Ágnes Molnár (soprano), Angelica Girls’ Choir (choral director: Zsuzsanna Gráf)

Ágnes Molnár

Tickets: HUF 4 500, 5 000, 5 500 Presented by MÁV Symphony Orchestra

SATURDAY 27 APRIL, 19.45 SUNDAY 28 APRIL, 15.30 MONDAY 29 APRIL, 19.45

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA Verdi: La forza del destino (The Force of Destiny) – overture Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467 (‘Elvira Madigan’) Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 Leif Ove Andsnes (piano) Budapest Festival Orchestra Conductor: Manfred Honeck

Manfred Honeck

We hear the sounds of a fateful evening game, a romance, a graceful waltz and heartfelt prayer, until the sound of victory explodes from Tchaikovsky’s symphony. Austrian Manfred Honeck is a deeply devout person, and this devotion guides him during his music-making. Modest and generous, honest, humorous and open, Honeck has worked a great deal in Scandinavia, putting him on the same wavelength as the Norwegian pianist who solos in this concert. Leif Ove Andsnes, winner of a Gramophone prize, was described by the New York Times as an artist of masterful elegance, expressive power and interpretative skill. The overture to Verdi’s passionate and bloody opera The Force of Destiny

intertwines a feverish fate motif with a prayer-like melody. In two years in the period 1884–1886, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote an astonishing eleven piano concertos and brought out The Marriage of Figaro. The Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major was also born in this fertile period. In the first movement, the piano claims the stage like a prima donna, the melody calms in the intimate and lyrical second, then the piece closes with good-hearted teasing that evokes the sense of comic operas. The ‘fate’ motif breaks out again at the end of the concert, binding the movements of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, though, at the same time, undergoing significant transformation. Initially, the motif evokes a funeral ceremony; later it swells into a triumphal march. It is precisely this fateful struggle and a deep-rooted belief in victory that made the work so popular in World War II that it was also played during the Siege of Leningrad. Even the bombing that started during the second movement could not interrupt the concert, given in the autumn of 1941. Tickets: HUF 3 000, 5 100, 6 600, 9 400, 15 300 Presented by Budapest Festival Orchestra

SUNDAY 28 APRIL, 11.00

SOLTI HALL LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY STORIES FOR BAROQUE MUSIC FOR 10–15-YEAR-OLDS Vivaldi: F our Seasons – Spring, RV 269 C. P. E. Bach: Trio Sonata in C minor, Wq 161/1 (‘Sanguineus und Melancholicus’) – 1. Allegretto – Presto J. S. Bach: B randenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050 – 1. Allegro

(artistic director: Zsombor Németh) Narrator: Dániel Mona

It is often said that music is like a language, a language in which the instruments speak. But what does music say, and how is it capable of relating a story if it is not supported by text? The spring 2019 concerts of the Liszt Academy’s youth series, Liszt Kidz Academy, which is targeted at 10–15-year-olds (as well as their parents and grandparents), seek answers to these questions. Simplicissimus Ensemble whisk the young audience off to the world of Baroque music in this final programme of the series, back to an age when everything was about expression in music, and when instrumental music was considered the daughter of vocal music, so that as children imitate their mothers, singers had to be imitated by instruments. We will find out how Johann Sebastian Bach’s highly talented son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, and Antonio Vivaldi were able to tell stories purely with the help of notes, and we will learn what messages these works relay. Ticket: HUF 1 500 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Zsombor Németh (Baroque violin), Beatrix Belovári (Baroque flute), Noémi Konta (harpsichord) Simplicissimus Ensemble 69

YOU CAN BE OUR STUDENT AS WELL! If you are a student at any school, you can get into our concerts for just HUF 500. Show us a valid student ID card and you can purchase a HUF 500 student ticket one hour before the concert for vacant seats and standing places in the 2nd floor student gallery of the Grand Hall. Only one student ticket can be purchased per student ID card for each performance.

CONCERT CHRONOLOGY MAY-JUNE Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Hosted concert Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior WEDNESDAY 1 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CHAMBER MUSIC - TUNED FOR GRAND HALL KRISTÓF BARÁTI AND BARNABÁS KELEMEN WORKS FOR TWO VIOLINS Spohr: Duo for Two Violins in D major, Op. 67/2 Wieniawski: Etude-Caprice for Two Violins in G minor, Op. 18/1 Wieniawski: Etude-Caprice for Two Violins in E-flat major, Op. 18/2 Moszkowski: Suite for Two Violins and Piano, Op. 71 Prokofiev: Sonata for Two Violins in C major, Op. 56 Bartók: Fourty-Four Duos for Two Violins, BB 104 (excerpts) Shostakovich: F ive Pieces for Two Violins and Piano

Barnabás Kelemen and Kristóf Baráti

Kristóf Baráti, Barnabás Kelemen (violin) Megumi Hashiba (piano) For this recital, two of the most active and skilled violinists of their generation and of Hungarian classical music life take the stage together. Barnabás Kelemen, mastermind of the concert, is not, on this occasion, appearing with his wife, but those hoping for some kind of string

‘duel’ with Kristóf Baráti will be sorely disappointed. In a rich programme showcasing a varied range of works for this delicate instrument combo – everything from a romantic Louis Spohr composition to Polish-born violinist genius Henryk Wieniawski’s two étude-caprices and Sergei Prokofiev’s daringly experimental Sonata in C major from 1932 – we are sure to witness profound collaboration between two devoted chamber musicians who are both virtuosi and Kossuth Prize artists. Of those works featuring two violins without accompaniment, naturally we should mention the selection of Béla Bartók’s 1931 duo series, which comprises four books evoking Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian, Serb, Ruthenian and Arab folk melodies. Tickets: HUF 5 900, 7 600, 9 900, 11 500 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 2 MAY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL JAZZ IT! RAFAEL MÁRIO TRIO FEATURING BÁLINT GYÉMÁNT Rafael Mário Trio: Rafael Mário (piano, keyboards), Vince Bartók (bass guitar), Tamás Hidász (drums) Bálint Gyémánt (guitar) Mário Rafael is one of the greatest prospects among the supremely gifted pianists of the young Hungarian jazz generation. He established his eponymous trio with equally talented artists Vince Bartók, bass guitarist, and Tamás Hidász, drummer. Their first album, My Hope, which contains exclusively their own compositions, is solid proof of the band’s attitude, which is structured on musical dialogues that are sensitive to each other’s play. Their music embodies the symbiosis of heart and mind using infinitely delicate artistic means. For this concert, they are joined by the similarly young jazz guitarist Bálint Gyémánt, a name well-known to local jazz fans. Gyémánt is one of the

most successful Hungarian musicians of the past decade, beloved by critics and the public alike. Their joint gig features compositions by the trio and Gyémánt.

Rafael Mário Trio

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 2 MAY, 19.30 SATURDAY 4 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST Berlioz: Le carnaval romain Debussy: N octurnes Ligeti: Clocks and Clouds Ravel: Bolero New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir (conductor: László Norbert Nemes) Concerto Budapest Conductor: Zoltán Rácz

Zoltán Rácz

In a nutshell, this concert promises everything French, with an Easter egg surprise. It opens with Le carnaval romain, Berlioz’s most popular overture. The music for the work was taken from opera – Berlioz reworked two scenes from his opera Benvenuto Cellini in 1844, six years after its premiere (and failure) – 71

yet the piece remains an unmistakeable concert overture. Initially, Debussy’s Nocturnes also met a chilly reception in the early 1900s, although later the trinity of Clouds, Festivals and Sirens, inspired by Whistler paintings, became a classic composition of music Impressionism.  Clouds also find their way into the György Ligeti work from 1972–73, and in the same way as Debussy’s third nocturne (Sirens), here, too, a female-only choir is called for.  “It’s a very slow dance, conforming the melody, harmony and rhythm, this last is played continuously by the snare drum. The only element of difference is the crescendo in the orchestra.” This is how Ravel succinctly described Bolero, which at its 1928 world premiere saw a lady cry out several times, “The madman! The madman!” to which the composer reportedly replied, “That lady… she understood.” Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900 Presented by Concerto Budapest

Vladimir and Vovka Ashkenazy

FRIDAY 3 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL MVM CONCERTS VLADIMIR & VOVKA ASHKENAZY TWO-PIANO RECITAL Schubert: Fantasia in F minor, D. 940 Brahms: Sixteen Waltzes, Op. 39 Ravel: La Valse (the composer’s transcription) Rachmaninov: S uite No. 1 (‘Fantaisie-tableaux’), Op. 5 Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vovka Ashkenazy (piano) 72

Born in the Soviet Union but currently resident in Switzerland as a citizen of Iceland, 82-year-old Vladimir Ashkenazy is not only a true citizen of the world but a living legend as ‘all-round’ musician: his career as instrumentalist dates from international competition triumphs in 1955 and 1956, though today he is recognized as much for his conducting as for being a pianist. This time he pays us a visit in the latter capacity, together with his son Vovka Ashkenazy. Vovka made his debut in 1983, since when he has garnered international acclaim not only as a performer but as a teacher as well. The musical rapport between father and son is particularly strong, something we are sure to witness in this full programme for two pianos: after works by Schubert and Brahms that are particularly popular in Hungary, there is Ravel’s La Valse in an arrangement for two pianos, before the programme closes with Suite No. 1 by Rachmaninov, one of the favourite composers of Vladimir Ashkenazy. Tickets: HUF 5 000, 6 000, 8 000, 10 000, 13 000, 15 000 Presented by: Besszer Concert, Liszt Academy Concert Centre

enough, from the work Catch written in 1991 by Thomas Adès for a quartet of violin, cello, piano and clarinet. In this early work, Adès puts the instruments through an unusual ‘choreography’: a traditional trio plays on stage, with the clarinettist standing apart in the literal and figurative sense, joining in the musical flows with a sort of stand-offish attitude. The main thread of the Trio Catch concert in the Solti Hall is similar: the programme, which presents early 20th-century music, starts and ends with trios, while the works in between evoke a sense of missing something or someone, of absence or estrangement.

Trio Catch

Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 4 MAY, 19.00

SATURDAY 4 MAY, 22.00

SOLTI HALL HERE AND NOW TRIO CATCH

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST – PREMIER II.

Juon: T rio Miniaturen Berg: Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 5 Webern: Sonata for Cello and Piano Webern: Two Pieces for Cello and Piano Webern: Three Little Pieces for Cello and Piano, Op. 11 Berg: Piano Sonata, Op. 1 Zemlinsky: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 3

Alessio Elia: Implicate Inklings (Clarinet Concerto) – premier

Boglárka Pecze (clarinet), Eva Boesch (cello), Sun-Young Nam (piano) The trio formed by Boglárka Pecze, Eva Boesch and Sun-Young Nam, which specializes in modern and contemporary music, take their name, oddly

Csaba Klenyán (clarinet) Concerto Budapest Conductor: Zoltán Rácz “My clarinet concerto attempts to discover the world of invisible notes, that is, it aims to sound those notes which, although not set down in the score, yet still become perceptible and audible through orchestration. The title of the piece refers to the theory of the great 20th-century quantum physicist David

Bohm, according to which everything we sense in the world is in fact the manifestation of implicit, hidden things. In every detail of the work there are latent, concealed aspects, which manifest themselves in the following parts, causing unexpected, surprising sound experiences for the listener.” This is how Alessio Elia described his new work. Over the past few years he has won several composer prizes and is now considered one of the most original talents of his generation. The world premiere of the concerto by the composer, who was born in 1979 in Rome but now lives here in Budapest, features two open-minded and experienced masters of contemporary music performance, soloist Csaba Klenyán and conductor Zoltán Rácz, who are ideal partners in the search for transforming invisible notes into sound.

Alessio Elia

Ticket: HUF 1 000 Presented by Concerto Budapest

respective careers, this latest edition in the popular conversation concert series uncovers much beauty in their music. Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000 Presented by Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles Cantemus Mixed Choir Nyíregyháza

In this concert, the orchestra carries its audience into the world of ballads and imagination. The Ballad of László Fehér, for solo baritone and orchestra, was the young composer’s diploma project. The cantata is based on a folk ballad and reworks the story of the deception of horse thief László Fehér and his sister Anna, who stood by him.  Bartók’s Cantata profana, based on Romanian folk poetry, is a tale about young men yearning for the purity of nature who step outside society and become enchanted stags.  Symphonie fantastique is five-movement programme music in which the composer revives the dreamlike visions and imagined adventures of a young artist. The special feature of the piece is the presence of an idée fixe, an obsessively recurring musical theme constantly awakening new sensations and emotions in the listener. Tickets: HUF 3 000, 3 500, 4 000 Presented by Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok

SUNDAY 5 MAY, 19.30

MONDAY 6 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BEYOND THE MUSIC… MOZART & SCHUMANN…

Péter Andorka: B allad of Fehér László Bartók: Cantata Profana, BB 100 Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 István Horváth (tenor), Csaba Szegedi (baritone) Budapest Academic Choral Society (choral director: Csaba Tőri) Cantemus Mixed Choir Nyíregyháza (choral director: Soma Szabó) Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Conductor: Péter Dobszay

Tamás Vásáry’s conversation concert Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Tamás Vásáry Tamás Vásáry tells the story of Mozart and tragically fated German composer Robert Schumann. As well as exploring the parallels and differences in their

TUESDAY 7 MAY, 19.30 WEDNESDAY 8 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF THE ORCHESTRA KEN-ICHIRO KOBAYASHI AND LISZT ACADEMY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Beethoven: S ymphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (‘Fate’) Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi

Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi

Instrumental students at the Liszt Academy are also coached for work in an orchestra, with the university’s symphonic ensemble facing the audience in the Masters of the Orchestra series. Over the past few years, several famous conductors have directed the student orchestra, and another legendary musician, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, is here once again to oversee the ensemble. Hungarians know the Japanese conductor well because he won the 1st International Conducting Competition of Hungarian Television in 1974, and later he was leader of the Hungarian State Concert Orchestra. This concert boasts two hugely popular symphonies, Beethoven’s fifth and Tchaikovsky’s fourth. Both compositions are associated with the word ‘fate’ or ‘destiny’. 73

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, one of the most recognized works in the classical music repertoire, premiered in 1808. The Tchaikovsky work was finalized exactly 70 years later. Tickets: HUF 1 400, 2 100, 3 500, 4 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 9 MAY, 19.00

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Mozart: Piano Concerto in A major, K. 414 Mozart: Piano Concerto in A major, K. 488 Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944 (‘The Great’) Dezső Ránki (piano) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Péter Csaba

a student of Pál Kadosa, in the company of Zoltán Kocsis, Jenő Jandó and András Schiff. The bedrock of his career was the first prize he took at the 1969 International Schumann Piano Competition in Zwickau; he has since performed with a succession of world-famous conductors and is a double Kossuth Prize laureate. For this concert he plays two Mozart piano concertos. While we are all familiar with these works, it is as though with Ránki’s performance we are really hearing them for the first time. Schubert’s Great C major symphony of ‘heavenly length’ follows after the interlude. This marvellous composer, who died tragically young, did not experience real success in his lifetime and he was never to hear this wonderful work performed in concert. The piece was forgotten following his death and only ‘rediscovered’ by Mendelssohn decades later, before being finally presented to the world in Leipzig by the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Since then, it has been ranked as one of the seminal pieces of the symphonic canon. Tickets: HUF 4 500, 5 000, 5 500 Presented by MÁV Symphony Orchestra

FRIDAY 10 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL FOUR BY FOUR JERUSALEM QUARTET

Péter Csaba

Any concert which features Dezső Ránki as soloist is a cause for celebration. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what makes his productions so different from others by equally excellent pianists, but certainly the radiance of his personality, his unqualified humility towards the work and its author, and his respect for the audience contribute to his uniqueness. Dezső Ránki graduated from the legendary piano class of the Liszt Academy as 74

Haydn: S tring Quartet No. 60 in G major, Hob. III:75 Bartók: String Quartet No. 5, BB 110 Dvořák: S tring Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96 (‘American’) Jerusalem Quartet: Alexander Pavlovsky, Sergei Bresler (violin), Ori Kam (viola), Kyril Zlotnikov (cello) Jerusalem Quartet was formed in 1993 but they only gave their debut public performance after three years of preparatory work. Since then, this Israeli string quartet has become sought-after musicians worldwide and has released no fewer than 13 albums, in the process winning a

Diapason d’Or and BBC Music Magazine Award. The quartet, lauded for its passion, precision and intimate sound, opens the Liszt Academy programme with the first in a quartet series written by Joseph Haydn and dedicated to Count János György Erdődy. The ensemble follows this with Béla Bartók’s String Quartet No. 5 from 1934, which the composer dedicated to the generous American chamber music patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. Concluding the concert, we have Antonín Dvořák’s string quartet, which was composed while the maestro was in the United States in 1893 and which reveals Afro-American influences.

Jerusalem Quartet

Tickets: HUF 1 200, 1 700, 2 800, 3 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 11 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC DANCE HOUSE DAY Dance House Day is traditionally staged nationally on the anniversary of the formation of the first ‘urban’ dance house in Hungary. This celebratory concert of folk music is co-organized by the Hungarian Heritage House and Liszt Academy Concert Centre and provides the opportunity to formally present two prestigious awards. The Halmos Béla Trophy, established by the Hungarian Heritage House, takes the physical form of the violin once owned by Béla Halmos. It is presented to a musician under 40 years of age actively playing traditional folk instrumental music in dance houses, who also maintains contact with Hungarian communities living beyond the country’s borders. The Halmos Béla

Memorial Medal, established by the Association of Friends of the Hungarian Heritage House, recognizes outstanding professional and community ‘background work’ within the framework of the Dance House Movement.

Ticket: HUF 1 600 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre, Hungarian Heritage House

SUNDAY 12 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE ÁDÁM FISCHER & THE DANISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

they are still more closely identified with pure and highly imaginative recitals of the repertoire of the First Viennese School. Under the baton of Ádám Fischer, they have made numerous landmark recordings of Mozart symphonies and operas, while they release an album in the spring of 2019 of Beethoven’s entire symphonies. One of the works they bring to the Academy is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4. Berlioz was so enamoured by the work that he stated the 2nd movement was not the work of a human but Archangel Michael. Tickets: HUF 3 700, 5 100, 6 500, 7 900, 9 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

WEDNESDAY 15 MAY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE ZIMMERMANN TRIO Schoenberg: S tring Trio, Op. 45 J. S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

Haydn: L a fedeltà premiata – overture, Hob. Ia:11 Mozart: Symphony No. 38 in D major, K. 504 (‘Prague’) Beethoven: S ymphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60

Frank-Peter Zimmermann (violin), Antoine Tamestit (viola), Christian Poltéra (cello)

Danish Chamber Orchestra Conductor: Ádám Fischer

This concert by Zimmermann Trio was not conceived under the star of light entertainment. It starts with the late String Trio of Schönberg, which was composed using the dodecaphonic (‘twelve-tone’) method. The work was commissioned by Harvard University in 1946 when Schönberg was in his early seventies; however, after he had prepared the first draft, he suffered a heart attack. Happily, he recovered; but afterwards he began to consider that the one-movement work should be a musical portrait of the suffering and hope he had experienced. The second work is an arrangement for string trio of the Goldberg Variations. The Bach work was published in 1742 as the final volume of the Klavierübung series. Legend has it that the piece was ordered by an insomniac count, who had his in-

Ádám Fischer

In the wake of British and Austrian orchestras, the next concert in the Orchestra in the Centre season ticket series welcomes the Danish Chamber Orchestra, which was founded in 1927. Although the ensemble has performed contemporary works in partnership with rock bands,

house harpsichordist, Johann Theophil Goldberg, play the series at night to ease the diplomat’s mind. It must be said that the title page of the printed score makes no mention of this. The theme is followed by thirty variations, ending each time with a return to the theme. Every third variation is a canon – the 30th is the so-called Quodlibet – and the others are either character pieces or virtuoso harpsichord works for two manuals. The arrangement, particularly of the latter, for string trio must have caused some headaches for those musicians undertaking the project.

Zimmermann Trio

Tickets: HUF 2 800, 3 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 16 MAY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE OF THE LISZT ACADEMY ZSOLT SEREI COMPOSER’S EVENING Chamber works by Zsolt Serei Students of the Liszt Academy

CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

For the most part, practice for the solo repertoire, chamber music and symphony orchestra lie at the core of studies pursued 75

by instrumental music students of the Liszt Academy. In addition, special emphasis is devoted to teaching the various period styles, including the contemporary music course during which students gain an awareness of 20th–21st-century composers and their techniques. At the end of 2018, the programme was a compilation of works by British composer and clarinettist Mark Simpson, while in 2019 the course and public concert pay respects to the work of composer Zsolt Serei. This event is also our way of celebrating the artist on his 65th birthday. Zsolt Serei, who is a teacher in the composition department of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, is a leading figure on the Hungarian contemporary music scene. Besides two operas, his oeuvre mainly comprises instrumental and vocal chamber and solo compositions. For this composer’s evening, the audience hears a few characteristic works performed by students of the Liszt Academy. Free tickets for the concert can be obtained from the Liszt Academy box office one month before the concert. Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

István Várdai (cello) National Choir (choral director: Csaba Somos) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Hannu Lintu Globally celebrated for his sensitivity to orchestral timbres and tones, not to mention a characteristic dynamism on the podium, Hannu Lintu, music director of the Finnish Radio Orchestra, is regularly hosted in America, Asia and Europe. Naturally enough, in his programmes he devotes particular attention to his homeland. This time he conducts the final fantasia-like symphony – which unusually is just a single movement – by Sibelius, the father of Finnish national music. Stravinsky’s Funeral Song is also unusual: long thought to have been lost, it was rediscovered in 2015; Symphony of Psalms is far better known and a classic of 20th-century music, expertly combining choir and orchestra. Yet more excitement is promised in the form of one of Prokofiev’s final opuses, the extraordinarily complex cello concerto, which moves in symphonic dimensions and was dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich and which here features a solo by the international music celebrity, István Várdai. Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 500, 6 000 Presented by Hungarian National Philharmonic

FRIDAY 17 MAY, 19.00 Hannu Lintu

THURSDAY 16 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA SYMPHONIES – DIFFERENTLY Stravinsky: Funeral Song, Op. 5 Prokofiev: Sinfonia concertante, Op. 125 Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms Sibelius: Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 105 76

SOLTI HALL WORKSHOPS OF THE LISZT ACADEMY ADVANCED WIND MUSIC WOODWIND STUDENTS OF THE LISZT ACADEMY Students of the Wind Department of the Liszt Academy It must have been a great moment of discovery when our early ancestors found it was possible to extract musical notes by

blowing across the end of a hollow bone, horn or bamboo stem. This marked the start of the history of woodwind instruments. While these simple instruments are still to be found in many primitive cultures, others underwent significant evolution as the march of civilization continued. In Europe, shaping of what we know today as the woodwinds began during the Renaissance, reaching their apogee in the Age of Romanticism, when they were employed for their rich tonal qualities. Here, students of the Liszt Academy present the wealth of sounds represented by the bassoon, oboe, clarinet and flute.

Free tickets for the concert can be obtained from the Liszt Academy box office one month before the concert. Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

FRIDAY 17 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL ORGAN INAUGURATION JÁNOS PÁLÚR AND ÁBRAHÁM CONSORT Purcell: Abdelazer – Suite J. S. Bach: Harpsichord Concerto in D major, BWV 1054 (transcription for organ) J. S. Bach: Sinfonia, BWV 1045 Händel: Organ Concerto in F major, HWV 292 J. S. Bach: Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen! – cantata, BWV 51 János Pálúr (organ), Márta Ábrahám (violin), László Borsódy (trumpet), Eszter Zemlényi (soprano) Ábrahám Consort (artistic director and concertmaster: Márta Ábrahám)

In the 110 years since the inauguration of the Liszt Academy organ, the beautiful facade of the instrument, resplendent with coat of arms and all its Art Nouveau ornamentation, has become a true symbol of the institution. After many vicissitudes and the work of several years, since autumn 2018 the ‘queen of instruments’ has once again been dressed in all its original finery. The experienced organist János Pálúr plays this wonderful instrument in the company of a young and extremely talented vocalist, as well as Ábrahám Consort, who specialize in the performance of 17th–18th-century music. Works by two giants of Baroque music, Bach and Händel, are complemented by a piece by Purcell, an artist who is sadly little performed in Hungary. ‘Praise Ye God, in all Lands!’ is the translated title of the closing work, a cantata written by Bach for soprano and trumpet – and it is also perhaps the most apposite description of this programme, which celebrates the rebirth of the famous organ.

Messiaen: O Sacrum Convivium Aurél Holló: Zen Gardens Zoltán Váczi: R ECONSTRUCTION / beFORe JOHN6 “Szerelem, szerelem...” (South Dunántúl) “A Bakonyban lakom...” (Szatmár) Mkazi wa mulomo ( Malawi) Bodonkúti hajnali (Kalotaszeg, Transylvania) Xylophone Fang ( Gabon) Slow csárdás from Kalotaszeg Dances from Kalotaszeg Sirató (Zimbabwe) Amadinda (Uganda) Gahu (Ghana) Improvisations from Mezőség (Transylvania) Otea ( Tahiti) Music from Gyimes (Transylvania)

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 4 100, 5 200, 6 500 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 18 MAY, 22.45

Amadinda Percussion Group

Amadinda Percussion Group: Károly Bojtos, Aurél Holló, Zoltán Rácz, Zoltán Váczi Muzsikás Ensemble: Mihály Sipos, László Porteleki, Péter Éri, Dániel Hamar Ildikó ‘Fecske’ Tóth, Zoltán ‘Batyu’ Farkas

János Pálúr

Tickets: HUF 1 400, 2 100, 3 500, 4 900, 5 600 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 18 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL AMADINDA 35 IMAGINARY LANDSCAPE

tation of percussion-based music derived from archaic, folk and non-European cultures also plays an important role in their performance practice. Furthermore, they are heavily involved in researching the meeting points of the expressive means in classical and popular music, as well as the discovery of the multiplicity of collaborative forms with leading figures in the most varied fields of music. The two evening concerts provide a full picture of the varied work of the group. This first concert programme features an arrangement of a 1930s’ Messiaen work alongside their own compositions, plus Hungarian and non-European folk music – all with the help of Muzsikás, Ildikó ‘Fecske’ Tóth and Zoltán ‘Batyu’ Farkas.

Amadinda Percussion Group really do rank as one of the most significant percussion formations in the world. Over the last 35 years they have become not only standard-bearers for the revolutionary emancipation of percussion instruments in classical music, but they have also written themselves into the annals of today’s music. Major contemporary composers – Cage, Ligeti, Reich included – have written important works for them, and members of the ensemble conduct ground-breaking activities in the areas of composition and transcription. They have a remarkable classical, modern and contemporary repertoire, but the presen-

SOLTI HALL AMADINDA 35 NIGHT MEDITATION John Cage: Four4 Amadinda Percussion Group: Károly Bojtos, Aurél Holló, Zoltán Rácz, Zoltán Váczi

Amadinda Percussion Group

Night Meditation: this is the title of the late evening closing concert celebrating the 35th anniversary of Amadinda Percussion Group, when we hear a 72-minute-long work by one of the 20th century’s most significant innovators of music. John Cage’s Four4 was written especially for the ensemble and completed in 1991, just one year before he died. It is 77

characterized by limitless openness in several senses of the word: it places great freedom in the hands of the performers; it does not specify the range of instruments to be used. On the other hand, it engenders great openness in the imagination of audiences: the sound, the quiet and the noise make up a variable structure in which the empire of ‘musical sound’ in the traditional sense and the wider environmental boundaries are almost blurred. Ticket: HUF 1 900 (holders of tickets for the Amadinda concert in the Grand Hall earlier the same evening receive a 50% discount) Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SUNDAY 19 MAY, 11.00

GRAND HALL UNDERSTANDABLE MUSIC DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK MILESTONES IN MUSIC – HARMONY OF PAST AND FUTURE Bartók: The Wooden Prince – Suite, BB 74 Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Narrator and conductor: Gábor Hollerung The oeuvre of Bartók was in itself a milestone in the search for a way forward in the 20th century, but within that The Wooden Prince was a particular special moment. Just as the irreconcilable difference between man and woman and the general darkness of their relationship is formulated in Bluebeard’s Castle, so the resignation and sacrifice undertaken for each other in the hope of enduring love is played out in The Wooden Prince.

Pete Churchill: Expectation Wheeler: Brueghel Wheeler: The Bereaved Swan Wheeler: The Lover Mourns Ellington: Come Sunday Martino: E state Nikki Iles: W esterly Bennet–Pete Churchill: Weep O Mine Eyes Bennet–Pete Churchill: I Know Not Why I Cannot Cry Pete Churchill: Shame On You, Shame On Me Pete Churchill: Who We Are Pete Churchill: Cut From The Same Cloth Pete Churchill: Tapestry Of Life New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir (choral director: László Norbert Nemes) Nikki Iles (piano) Conductor: Pete Churchill This evening promises to be a fascinating moment when two superb jazz musicians team up with New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir. The programme, organized around the topic of migration and exile, includes the setting of poems to music by European composers, as well as jazz arrangements and spirituals. Conductor, and at the same time composer of one half of the programme, is Pete Churchill, teacher of jazz composition at the London Royal Academy of Music and head of the jazz voice department of the Brussels Conservatoire. Pete Churchill and his choir have worked with the likes of Bobby McFerrin, Kenny Wheeler and Norma Winstone; for this keynote concert, we have Nikki Iles, winner of the 2017 Brit Jazz Award, on piano.

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 200, 2 700, 3 200 Presented by Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok

SUNDAY 19 MAY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL AT HOME AT THE LISZT ACADEMY NEW LISZT FERENC CHAMBER CHOIR SONGS OF DESOLATION AND DESIRE – JAZZ IN CHORAL MUSIC 78

Nikki Iles and Pete Churchill

Ticket: HUF 1 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 23 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST Wagner: T ristan und Isolde – Prelude and Isolde’s Love Death Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 Beethoven: S ymphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 (‘Eroica’)

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider

Fülöp Ránki (piano) Concerto Budapest Conductor: Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider This concert offers a virtually representative setting of 19th-century German music history from Beethoven to Wagner, even if it does run in reverse order. “… from the most timid confession and tender attraction to anxious longing, hope and apprehension, complaints and desires, rapture and torment and, finally, to the most powerful impulse […] that might open a way for the inexhaustible craving heart to enter the sea of love’s endless delight.” This is how Wagner characterized the prelude of Tristan, the concert hall performance of which is often linked by Isolde’s Love-Death. Both Tristan and Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1, penned when the composer was 22 years old, premiered in Munich, both in the presence of the King of Bavaria. At just 24, the astoundingly gifted Fülöp Ránki takes on the role of soloist for the three interconnected movements of the concerto. The conductor is Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider who, although one of the busiest star violinists in the world, has over the past few years increasingly turned his attention to wielding the conductor’s baton. In the second half of the

recital we find out how Eroica, which has played a key part in the concert repertoire for a good 200 years, sounds under the direction of the virtuoso musician. Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900 Presented by Concerto Budapest

THURSDAY 23 MAY, 22.00

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST – PREMIERE III. WORKS BY ZOLTÁN JENEY Zoltán Jeney: Alef – Hommage à Schönberg (transcription, world premiere) Zoltán Jeney: Chinese Temple (premiere)

lead an ‘aquatic lifestyle’, with its seemingly constant surface and inner vibration.” Officially ostracised (and even penalized) at the time due to its “oriental notes”, Alef since has taken its rightful place among the most prominent Hungarian compositions of the past few decades, and now it is presented with new orchestration. The other work to be performed is also a new version of an earlier composition: an orchestra piece composed for László Vidovszky’s 60th birthday, entitled Chinese Temple. The orchestra is conducted by Zoltán Rácz, who is an expert at performing contemporary music. Ticket: HUF 1 000 Presented by Concerto Budapest

FRIDAY 24 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST

Zoltán Jeney and Zoltán Rácz

Concerto Budapest Conductor: Zoltán Rácz “Certainly the first word to come to my mind when I think of him is: master.” That was the opening sentence of an article by Zoltán Kocsis honouring Zoltán Jeney on his 70th birthday in 2013. In the five years since then, his relevance as a master of brilliant compositions has grown even further. This concert presents both the Zoltán Jeney of today and the early 1970’s, as his composition paying homage to the middle movement (Farben) of Schönberg’s Five Pieces for Orchestra, entitled Alef, was first heard by the audience, and the somewhat confused and even angry critics of the time, in 1972. The great György Kroó, however, provided a nuanced characterisation of the composition even then: “the piece does not bring up the questions of ‘where from’ and ‘where to’; instead it ventures to

Wagner: T ristan und Isolde – Prelude and Isolde’s Love Death Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 Beethoven: S ymphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 (‘Eroica’) Henning Kraggerud (violin) Concerto Budapest Conductor: Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider

Henning Kraggerud

Born in Copenhagen, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider is guest conductor of the programme featuring two epochal, legendary creators of 19th-century music – indeed of European culture – with a decidedly romantic and virtuoso concerto in the middle. Szeps-Znaider, famous around the world as a violinist

yet ever more sought-after as a conductor, works together with Norwegian Henning Kraggerud, who regularly performs with the biggest names in chamber music, and Concerto Budapest in Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor (1866). The perhaps most popular composition by Bruch – who battled throughout his long life with Wagner and his influence – is preceded by the famous ‘Tristan chord’. The second part of the concert is given over to the Eroica Symphony, which is forever associated with one of the most famous Beethoven anecdotes of all time: originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, the composer ripped the dedication from the sheet music in rage on hearing, in May 1804, that the first consul had declared himself emperor, or as Beethoven put it, “tyrant”. Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900 Presented by Concerto Budapest

SATURDAY 25 MAY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL COMPLETE WORKS LIVE SCHUMANN’S CHAMBER MUSIC FOR PIANO/5 SERIES EDITOR: DÉNES VÁRJON Schumann: Märchenbilder (Fairy Tale Pictures), Op. 113 Schumann: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in A minor, WoO27 Schumann: A dagio and Allegro, Op. 70 Schumann: P iano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 47 Veronika Eberle (violin), Tabea Zimmermann (viola), Christoph Richter (cello), Szabolcs Zempléni (horn), Izabella Simon, Dénes Várjon (piano) Similarly to numerous other masters of Romanticism, Schumann was also fond of fabulous and mysterious elements spun into music. There is a good example of this in the first half of the fifth concert in the Complete Works Live series, in which alongside Fairy Tale Pictures, composed in 1851, there is a work, the 79

3rd violin-piano sonata of 1853, which contains a secret music code. Originally, the work, which was prepared for József Joachim, perhaps the foremost violinist of his day, was the fruit of ‘teamwork’ between Schumann, Brahms and Albert Dietrich. The piece is also known as the F-A-E sonata after its principal motif; the cryptic letters refer to Joachim’s ars poetica (Frei, aber einsam, that is, ‘Free, but solitary’). Four years earlier, the horn soloist at the world premiere of Adagio and Allegro applauded the work in his diary thus: “The piece is splendid, fresh and passionate, just as I like it!” The 1842 Piano Quartet in E-flat major can be enjoyed by those who are close not only to the music of Schumann, but Beethoven and Mendelssohn as well: the influence of both masters is clearly evident in this richly stratified and inventive, albeit rarely performed, composition.

Szabolcs Zempléni

Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 25 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL AGATA SZYMCZEWSKA AND FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Schumann: A ndante and Variations, Op. 46 Schumann: P iano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44

Agata Szymczewska

At this season-closing concert, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra appear on stage with the young Polish violinist Agata Szymczewska, about whom The Times wrote: “She plays with a poise, authority and musical intelligence beyond her years, sounding at times like a fiery young Ida Haendel.” The comparison to the grand dame of violinists is not unwarranted because both she and her compatriot have won the highly prestigious Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition – albeit with a 70-year gap between – and in both cases the win opened the door to fame for the artists. Agata Szymczewska has taken to the stage of the New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., London’s Wigmore Hall, Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Sala São Paulo in Brazil. At this Liszt Academy recital, the artists present a piece by the highly influential Polish composer Henryk Górecki, who died in 2010, beside Leó Weiner’s opus Pastorale, Fantasia and Fugue, and the string orchestral arrangement of Debussy’s quartet. Tickets: HUF 2 900, 4 200, 5 500, 6 900 Presented by Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra

SUNDAY 26 MAY, 19.30

Weiner: Pastorale, phantaisie et fugue, Op. 23 Górecki: Concerto-Notturno for Violin and String Orchestra Debussy: S tring Quartet (version for string orchestra)

GRAND HALL COMPLETE WORKS LIVE SCHUMANN’S PIANO CHAMBER MUSIC/6 SERIES EDITOR: DÉNES VÁRJON

Agata Szymczewska (violin) Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (concertmaster: Péter Tfirst)

Schumann: M ärchenerzählungen (Fairy Tales), Op. 132 Schumann: F antasy Pieces, Op. 73

Tabea Zimmermann

Veronika Eberle, Zsófia Környei (violin), Tabea Zimmermann (viola), Christoph Richter, Gergely Devich (cello), Szabolcs Zempléni (horn), Jörg Widmann (clarinet), Dénes Várjon, Izabella Simon (piano) Anyone who enjoys Schumann and the Kegelstatt Trio, named after Mozart’s favourite pastime, skittles, should not miss the closing concert in the Complete Works Live series. The opening number, Fairy Tales, dating from 1853, has the very same unusual instrumental line-up of viola-clarinet-piano as the Mozart work. It is possible to select from the very same instruments when putting on the Fantasy Pieces written in 1849. Schumann originally dedicated the work for clarinet and piano, but the wind part may also be played on the viola. Now for an even more unlikely grouping: the lush sound of two pianos, two cellos and a horn blend in Andante and Variations (1843), in which the pianists are undoubtedly the leaders, but in one breathtaking moment the cellists can unpack a typical Schumann surprise, taken from the song cycle A Woman’s Love and Life. The concert concludes with the Piano

Quintet in E-flat major, which was the crowning achievement not only of 1842, considered the ‘year of chamber music’ in the Schumann oeuvre, but in fact of the artist’s entire piano chamber music oeuvre. Tickets: HUF 1 400, 2 100, 3 500, 4 900, 5 600 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

FRIDAY 31 MAY, 19.45 SATURDAY 1 JUNE, 19.45 SUNDAY 2 JUNE, 15.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA Mendelssohn: Hebrides – overture Schumann: Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129 Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 (‘Pathetique’) Gautier Capuçon (cello) Budapest Festival Orchestra Conductor: Leonidas Kavakos

 Frenchman Gautier Capuçon is the 21st century’s ambassador of the cello, an artist who is moved first and foremost by intuition in music. He has an expressive and dramatic presence, yet he retains an otherworldly etherealness. He plays the highpoint of Schumann’s cello concerto, the poignant, lyrical second movement, on the brilliantly sounding Goffriller cello.  Symphony No. 6 was the last symphony completed by Tchaikovsky. The first and closing movements are drenched in profound pain and sorrow, while in the middle two movements there is light dance music and an impetuous march. According to Tchaikovsky, the symphony had a ‘subjective’ programme; but the composer was never to reveal what he meant by this, a fact which has fed much speculation. Following his unexplained death, which occurred nine days after the premiere of Symphony No. 6, there was increasing feeling that actually the dramatic work constituted the ‘farewell letter’ of the composer. Tickets: HUF 3 000, 5 100, 6 600, 9 400, 15 300 Presented by Budapest Festival Orchestra

SUNDAY 2 JUNE, 19.30

Leonidas Kavakos

Leonidas Kavakos is a soloist considered as simply outstanding by each and every member of the Festival Orchestra. The Greek violinist has also been hugely successful as conductor; here we see this side of him. Mendelssohn wrote one of his most popular overtures at the age of 22 as a reflection on his Europe roundtrip; it was specifically inspired by the breathtaking sight of the group of islands off the coast of Scotland after which the piece was named. Motifs of the Hebrides Overture, which evoke the ever-changing state of the sea, have been used in feature films, cartoons and even video games.

GRAND HALL CHAMBER MUSIC - TUNED FOR GRAND HALL PÉTER NAGY, DAISHIN KASHIMOTO, AMIHAI GROSZ AND CLAUDIO BOHÓRQUEZ Mozart: Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat major, K. 493 Beethoven: S tring Trio in C minor, Op. 9/3 Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26

sician takes to the stage in the company of Japanese Daishin Kashimoto, first concertmaster of the Berliner Philharmonic, Israeli Amihai Grosz, who also plays with the same marvellous German ensemble, as well as cellist Claudio Bohórquez, who was born in Germany to South American heritage and who is much sought-after all over the world. This ad hoc multinational chamber formation invites the audience to the lands of the First Viennese School and German Romanticism. Between piano quartets by Mozart and Brahms, the three guest artists play the final piece of the trio series of the young Beethoven of 1798, written in C minor, a key that was later to play such an important role in the composer’s works.

Daishin Kashimoto

Tickets: HUF 3 100, 4 300, 5 400, 6 500 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

WEDNESDAY 5 JUNE, 19.30

GRAND HALL IVÁN MADARÁSZ 70 Iván Madarász: Nyitány egy képzeletbeli operához (Overture to an Imaginary Opera) Iván Madarász: Egy történet fejezetei (Chapters of a History) Iván Madarász: R AP-petíció (RAP-etition) Iván Madarász: Utolsó keringő (Last Waltz)

Péter Nagy (piano), Daishin Kashimoto (violin), Amihai Grosz (viola), Claudio Bohórquez (cello)

Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Conductor: Gábor Hollerung

It would be unimaginable to conceive of the concert life at the Liszt Academy without the presence of Péter Nagy, a person strongly loyal to his alma mater. The Liszt Prize laureate and dedicated chamber mu-

It is easy to spot the character traits of the protean personality in the compositional build of Iván Madarász. An ‘all-knowing’ creative individual with broad horizons who studies his vocation with a research81

er’s interest, a person who, if the situation arises, is capable of taking on completely unexpected forms. A fellow artist said of him that Iván Madarász is a multilingual composer. When his compositional achievements were recognized with a Kossuth Prize, the laudation cited his versatile creativity and “rich career maturing significant works in several musical genres”. In every key segment of this career Madarász has composed an opera, and the three works fundamentally differ from one another both stylistically and in their relation to genre traditions. His third opera based on Gábor Görgey’s stage work Afternoon Tea premiered in the Hungarian State Opera in 2003. But Madarász is not only inspired by existing theatre; he is just as gripped by scenes of imagination as possibilities of language, singing or speech that may in future become elements of a new opera style.

brilliant and musical of violinists […] Alexander Markov will certainly leave his mark on the music lovers of the world and in the annals of the violin virtuosi of our day.” Exactly ten years ago, the Russian-born American violinist first played with MÁV Symphony Orchestra as soloist in the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. Tchaikovsky wrote the Manfred Symphony in 1885, between symphonies numbers 4 and 5. The literary core of the work comes from Byron’s dramatic supernatural poem in which the hero is a contradictory figure: fighting for freedom while his soul is oppressed by the knowledge of his own sins and melancholy. It is Tchaikovsky’s only programmatic symphonic poem that has several movements; however, it cannot be listed amongst his symphonies. The action takes place in the Alps: Tchaikovsky had recently visited the area and its inspirational majesty was still fresh in his mind. Tchaikovsky considered Manfred to be one of his most successful works, yet later he wanted to destroy the score. Happily for posterity, he didn’t carry out this threat.

Iván Madarász

Presented by: Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok, Liszt Academy Concert Centre THURSDAY 6 JUNE, 19.00

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA TCHAIKOVSKY RECITAL Alexander Markov

Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony, Op. 58 Alexander Markov (violin) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Gábor Takács-Nagy Sir Yehudi Menuhin wrote of the soloist: “He is without doubt one of the most 82

Tickets: HUF 4 500, 5 000, 5 500 Presented by MÁV Symphony Orchestra

SATURDAY 8 JUNE, 19.45 SUNDAY 9 JUNE, 15.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

Vivaldi: C oncerto in G minor, RV 576 Rebel: Les caractères de la danse Zelenka: S ymphony in A minor, ZWV 189 Vivaldi: C oncerto in G minor, RV 577 Händel: Trio Sonata in F major, HWV 392 Telemann: V iolin Concerto in F major, TWV 51:F4

Mirijam Contzen

Mirijam Contzen (violin) Budapest Festival Orchestra Conductor: Reinhard Goebel German Reinhard Goebel, who journeys through all the key moments of Italian, French, Czech and German Baroque, was extolled by the New York Times as “a beacon in a sea of mediocrity.” Stravinsky supposedly made the following waspish comment about Vivaldi: “Vivaldi did not write 400 concertos; he wrote one concerto 400 times.” True or not, one of the greatest strengths of the Italian Baroque master was the concerto. This concert features two G minor violin concertos that Vivaldi wrote for the astoundingly virtuosic Dresden Staatskapelle, famed across Europe, which was founded in 1548 and is still operating today. After the Italian Baroque, there is also room for the French, the most innovative composer of which was Jean-Féry Rebel. His short cycle Dance Characters is the quintessence of fashionable dances of the period: it is as though characters suddenly appear for a brief moment out of the whirl of a masked ball.

Reinhard Goebel was one of the individuals responsible for rediscovering the Czech Jan Dismas Zelenka. Czech folk music had a deep impact on the musical language of the composer. His art stands closest to Bach’s, although his numerous unexpected dynamic and harmonic twists and turns test the boundaries. Works by Händel and Telemann let us glimpse into other corners of the Baroque landscape. Händel probably wrote his dramatic F major trio sonata, which leads to a chromatic ending, at the age of 21. The piece was also written for the aforementioned Dresden orchestra, as was the Telemann violin concerto that winds up the concert. Telemann allows the solo violin to shine while, at the same time and virtually unnoticeably, it is gradually blended into the orchestra.

Liszt: L audate dominum Twardowski: „ Sie nynie” – Slavonic motet Penderecki: Benedicamus Domino – motet László Sáry: „ Énekeljetek az Úrnak” – psalm canon From Annunciation until Pentecost: 1. Mikor Máriához; 2. Kimenék én ajtóm elejibe; 3. Szergej Jekimov: Babilon folyóvizei mellett; 4. Szimera me Márta Sebestyén: „ A Pünkösdnek jeles napján” – paraphrase Saint Ephraim Male Choir & Róbert Kovács: Song and Organ Improvisation

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 7 100, 11 800 Presented by Budapest Festival Orchestra

Márta Sebestyén (vocals) Róbert Kovács (organ) Saint Ephraim Male Choir (choral director: Tamás Bubnó)

MONDAY 10 JUNE, 19.30

This is certainly a feast for eyes and ears. The Saint Ephraim Male Choir, Róbert Kovács and Márta Sebestyén are forged into a single unity so that these religious works are performed in a way that will stay fresh in the memory for a very long time. We can enjoy pieces from fine composers like Johann Sebastian Bach, Ferenc Liszt, Olivier Messiaen and Maurice Duruflé. They allow us a glimpse into the musical world of each period, and they trace the development of the musical culture.

GRAND HALL MÁRTA SEBESTYÉN, RÓBERT KOVÁCS AND SAINT EPHRAIM MALE CHOIR KEYBOARD CONCERTO J. S. Bach: Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist – Chorale Prelude, BWV 667 Codex Sanblasianus: V eni Pater – Veni Sancte Spiritus Grigny: Veni creator Hymnus – Duo – Dialogue sur les grand jeux Gradual Book from Eperjes: „Könyörögjünk keresztények” „ Szentséges Szűz Mária” – pilgrim song of the Pentecost from Csíksomlyó „ Mennyei király” – Greek Catholic song from Hungary Matfej archimandrita: „Carju nebesznij” – Russian motet Duruflé: P rélude, adagio et choral varié sur le ‘Veni Creator’, Op. 4 Messiaen: D iptyque, essai sur la vie terrestre et l’éternité bienheureuse

Saint Ephraim Male Choir

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 3 900, 4 900 Presented by Filharmónia Magyarország

FRIDAY 14 JUNE, 19.00

SOLTI HALL END-OF-YEAR OPERA EXAM MOZART: TITUS, IDOMENEO

Opera students of the Liszt Academy Budapest Strings (concertmaster: János Pilz, artistic director: Károly Botvay) Conductor: Zsolt Hamar Director: András Almási-Tóth Head of Department: Andrea Meláth

End-of-year exams of the vocal department have, over the past few years, matured into major public events. This year’s opera exam is built around the plot of La clemenza di Tito and Idomeneo. La clemenza di Tito, which was the composer’s last opera, premiered in Prague in 1791 when Leopold II was crowned King of Bohemia. Although for many years it has been considered a less significant work of Mozart, interest in this opera has revived in the last half century. Roman Emperor Titus stands at the centre of the plot; the conspiracy against the ruler, the emperor’s marriage policy and the tangled love network of the court are all evoked on stage. The Münich premiere of Idomeneo, composed 10 years earlier, brought along the first major success in opera for Mozart. The piece about the king of Crete was a turning point for the future of the genre as well, by easing and reviving the stiff form of the Baroque period and giving opera seria a new impetus. Free tickets for the concert can be obtained from the Liszt Academy box office one month before the concert. Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Mozart: La clemenza di Tito, K. 621 (excerpts) Mozart: Idomeneo, K. 366 (excerpts) 83

THE QUEEN OF INSTRUMENTS IN LISZT’S OEUVRE

Schumann composed a few works for the pedal piano, an instrument used by organists for practice at home. This may have prompted Liszt to install such a “piano-organ” in his home in Villa Altenburg in Weimar.

The first written accounts of Liszt as an organist date back to his heyday as a virtuoso. Both the writer Georges Sand and the linguist Adolphe Pictet wrote of Liszt’s improvisation on the church organ in the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Fribourg during a tour of towns in Switzerland in December 1836. The French poet Joseph Autran (1813–1877) also shared his experience of a lifetime in 1845 after Liszt played on the organ of the Cathedral of La Major in Marseille for him alone, probably anticipating the thematic material for his well-known piano piece, the Dante Sonata: “He played, he improvised, a passionate and magnificent symphony based on Dante’s Divina Commedia, of which we had been talking just previously. In succession he led me through the Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise, with a range of expression and emotion, the recollection of

“The first pipe organ associated with Liszt was an instrument with one manual and no pedals in the church of his native village of Doborján (Raiding) in the Burgenland region of Austria that borders Hungary.”

which will never fade from my memory. The sea, in the intervals, roared on the shore in a confused din of applause. Such a chef d’oeuvre for a single listener, this really was more than munificence. This music, which ought to have demanded an admiring crowd, spread through the empty church with an overflow of sonority that at times became terrifying.” The first pipe organ associated with Liszt was an instrument with one manual and no pedals in the church of his native village of Doborján (Raiding) in the Burgenland region of Austria that borders Hungary. It was built with a donation of 100 ducats the composer had made during a visit home in 1840. Previously exhibited at Liszt’s birthplace, which has been re-opened as a museum, the instrument is currently being restored and is scheduled to be displayed in working condition in Raiding next autumn. It was presumably Mendelssohn’s prompting that led Liszt to take a profound interest in Bach’s organ music. In 1840 Mendelssohn, who himself composed pieces for the organ, gave a performance of Bach’s organ works in St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Schumann was keen to write about this concert. Not much later, in 1841 Liszt wrote literal piano transcriptions of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in A minor and of that in E minor, and the very same year he included these pieces in his piano performances in Berlin. From 1845 onwards, Schumann composed a few works for the pedal piano, an instrument used by organists for practice at home. This may have prompted Liszt to install such a “piano-organ” in his home in Villa Altenburg in Weimar. This complex instrument was made in 1854 under the supervision of Berlioz by the Paris-based firm of Alexandre Pére et Fils, using an 1853 Érard concert piano. It was a huge combination of piano and harmonium with three manuals and a pedal board. It was named the “Piano-Liszt” by the firm. Today the instrument, which is still in working condition, is exhibited in the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde collection in Vienna. This musical instrument was used by Liszt in 1850 in composing his great four-part fantasia on themes from Giacomo Meyerbeer’s opera The Prophet. Originally, he had envisaged the fourth part, the fantasia and fugue based on the chorale melody “Ad nos, ad salutarem undam”, for four hands, with the second player also working the pedals. A minor change was called for such that the piece would be performed by one player on the organ. This monumental work, one of the most renowned organ pieces by the composer, is only known today in this version as Liszt’s first and lengthiest original organ composition. His second major organ composition was the Prelude and Fugue on the B-A-C-H Theme, of which a transcription was also written later for piano. During his Weimar years, the organ also played an important role in works he composed in different genres, e. g. in the Gran Festival Mass, the Faust Symphony, the symphonic poem Hunnenschlacht (The Battle of the Huns) and the last section of the Dante Symphony, known as The Magnificat. However, in his oratorios the choral parts are definitely supported by the harmonium as is the case in the movement “O filii et filiae” in the Christus oratorio, and in the chorus of angels in The Legend of St. Elizabeth. Invented in the early 19th century, the harmonium was originally intended to resemble the organ, yet be suitable for flexible dynamic transitions. In Liszt’s oeuvre, the harmonium was used to play liturgical music or pieces with a religious character, partly to provide accompaniment to choral works and partly as an alternative instrument for certain organ works without any pedal parts and even for pieces intended for the piano. The stylized simplicity 85

The piano part of the “piano-orgue” was constructed by Sébastien Érard in the autumn of 1864, and the combined instrument was made by Alexandre Pére et Fils in 1865.

This complex instrument was made in 1854 under the supervision of Berlioz by the Paris-based firm of Alexandre Pére et Fils, using an 1853 Érard concert piano. It was a huge combination of piano and harmonium with three manuals and a pedal board. It was named the “Piano-Liszt” by the firm.

of Liszt’s late organ works, e. g. Rosario or the Missa pro Organo (Organ Mass), both composed in 1879, is closely linked to the church music reform ideas of the Cecilian movement. The piece Via Crucis was also composed in this style. Completed by Liszt in his Budapest apartment in 1879, the organ setting of the latter is one of the most precious autographs of the Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum of Budapest. The library in Liszt’s apartment in Budapest included the volumes for Repertorium für Orgel, Harmonium oder Pedalflügel, a series of organ compositions brought out by Wilhelm Gottschalg (1827–1908). Gottschalg, who maintained close ties with Liszt’s Weimar circle, was a teacher and organist in Tiefurt, near Weimar, and then, from 1870 became the court organist to the Weimar Grand Duke. One of Gottschalg’s goals was to provide his fellow organists with conceptually valuable yet technically not too demanding organ music. He had this goal in mind when he launched his organ series, which had been revised by Liszt, who from that time on had most of his organ works published in them. These works included the organ transcription of the “Offertorium” movement from the Hungarian Coronation Mass, which had originally been composed for orchestra. During his Weimar years, it might have been his relationship with Gottschalg that led Liszt to enrich organists’ repertoire with transcriptions of both his own works and works by other composers (Bach, Chopin, Lassus, Otto Nicolai, Wagner and Verdi) intended for other instruments. Liszt used two different harmoniums at his apartments in Budapest, both of which are still in working condition and held in the Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum. The first one is a so-called “piano-orgue” or “pianoharmonium”, a smaller version of the complex instrument used in Weimar. It was commissioned by Liszt himself when he was in Rome. The instrument has two independent manuals: the upper one belongs to the piano, and the lower one is part of the harmonium. According to Berlioz, the effects of this hybrid instrument resemble an orchestral sound. The piano part of the “piano-orgue” was constructed by Sébastien Érard in the autumn of 1864, and the combined instrument was made by Alexandre Pére et Fils in 1865. At first, Liszt used this “piano-orgue” when he was in Rome, and then he had it sent to the city of Pest (in present-day Budapest) in 1871, when he rented his first permanent residence in Nádor Street in the city centre. Later it was used in his various service apartments in Budapest. The second important musical instrument is a large American concert harmonium, a so-called “Cabinet Organ”, which was given to Liszt in 1877 by the Boston-based company Mason & Hamlin. It is less known that the first pipe organ set up in the grand building of the Academy of Music on Sugár (now Andrássy) Avenue was chosen by the founder–president of the institution, Ferenc Liszt, and its first director, Ferenc Erkel. At Liszt’s request, Erkel sought to establish the Departments of Organ Music and of Choir Singing (which essentially covered church music) in 1876, but these subjects were only included as late as in the curriculum of 1882–83. The conditions in the new building

The piece Via Crucis was also composed in this style. Completed by Liszt in his Budapest apartment in 1879, the organ setting of the latter is one of the most precious autographs of the Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum of Budapest.

made it possible for the institution to build a new organ and to establish new departments. The new organ in the concert hall had two manuals, 54 keys and 22 registers, and it was made in the workshop of Antal Dangl and Son in the city of Arad (in present-day Romania). Liszt was pleased with both the beauty and sound of the organ. So he wrote about the performance of the instrument to the builder itself: “With the perfectly built organ in the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music, you have provided beautifully sounding proof of your skill.” The first pipe organ at the Academy of Music was inaugurated on 16 February 1883 by the then 30-year-old Hans Koessler, the first professor of the organ and later professor of composition at the conservatoire. Koessler, who later taught Bartók, Dohnányi and Kodály, had the opportunity to play on both of the pipe organs at the Academy of Music: as a young professor, he played on the institution’s first instrument in the grand old building on Sugár (now Andrássy) Avenue, and later he also played on the Voit organ in the Grand Hall of the new building erected in 1907. Nevertheless, it is no coincidence that at the inauguration ceremony for the Academy’s first pipe organ, the organ transcription for the orchestral introduction to the oratorio The Legend of St. Elizabeth was also played by Koessler, among other compositions, in the presence of the composer: the president of the Academy. Zsuzsanna Domokos 87

DIPLOMA CONCERTS IN THE GRAND HALL 7 JANUARY 2019

14 MAY 2019

20 FEBRUARY 2019

19 MAY 2019

Dávid László Ács (Organ) Zsófia Soós, Ágnes Bartal and Dávid Farkasházi (Choir Conducting) 27 MARCH 2019

Balázs Sándor (Clarinet) 2 APRIL 2019

Gergely Kovács (Piano) 8 APRIL 2019

Haruka Nagao (Viola) 25 APRIL 2019

Mátyás Hotzi (Cello) 30 APRIL 2019

Mátyás Katrin (Clarinet)

Aria Exam Máté Soós (Violin) 21 MAY 2019

Edina Békefi (Oratorio and Lead Voice) 22 MAY 2019

Composition 27 MAY 2019

Barnabás Brindás (Trombone) 28 MAY 2019

Kristina Vocetková (Cello) 29 MAY 2019

30 MAY 2019

Sára Goda and Erzsébet Jenei (Harp) 7 JUNE 2019

Eszter Agárdi (Cello) 11 JUNE 2019

Máté Herczeg (Oratorio and Lead Voice) 12 JUNE 2019

László Váradi (Piano) 23 JUNE 2019

Bence Hajnóczky (Organ) 23 JUNE 2019

Marcell Tüzes (Organ)

László Kaczor, Bence Juhász and Mátyás Mészáros (Choir Conducting)

For details, further diploma concerts and other free events, go to: http://lfze.hu/programok

WORLD-CLASS PERFORMERS EXCLUSIVE CONCERTS CULTURE AS A GIFT! ADMISSION TO THE WORLD OF MUSIC With the Gift Card of the Liszt Academy, you may come to the events organised by the Liszt Academy Concert Centre as many times as the amount held on the card allows. The Gift Card is valid for 12 months from the date of top-up. The Gift Card can be purchased in the Ticket Office of the Liszt Academy The Gift Card can be purchased in the Ticket Office of the Liszt Academy 88

FANTASY, MELODY, HARMONY

ISTVÁN VÁRDAI LISA BATIASHVILI ÁDÁM FISCHER

JOSHUA BELL KRISTÓF BARÁTI & BARNABÁS KELEMEN

ARDITTI QUARTET MIKLÓS PERÉNYI

BAIBA SKRIDE

ZENEAKADEMIA.HU/EN/SEASON-TICKETS

LISA BATIASHVILI

SEASON TICKETS 2019

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY Every child is born with music in them. There is not a single infant who would not be stirred by the music of Mozart or Bach. Or maybe Gangnam Style, depending on what they hear at home. Naturally, the youth programmes of the Liszt Academy are not intended to acquaint kids with the values of pop culture, but instead with the three traditions of music that define the academy’s teaching and concert life: classical music, folk music and jazz.

It is frequently said that music is like a language – a language spoken by instruments. But what can music tell us and how can it tell that without being supported by words? That is the question the Liszt Kidz Academy spring concert series tries to answer to young teenagers (and, of course, for their parents and grandparents). In the first concert Head of Chamber Music Department at the Academy of Music, Liszt Prize and Junior Prima Award winning Balázs Fülei is giving an introduction to the way his instrument, the piano, tells stories, transmits emotions and delivers messages to the audience. The second concert is about hidden messages conveyed by classical chamber music and how to find and decode them, starring Mozart, the uncrowned king of encrypted messages, interpreted by Academy student pianist Gergely Kovács and the Fortuna Quartet of Academy students. The somewhat unusual third concert is focusing on the newly restored organ of the Academy, which was inaugurated in late October, this year. On the closing event the chamber orchestra Simplicissimus Ensemble is taking the audience into the musical universe of Baroque, where expression was everything, and instrumental music was considered to be the daughter of vocal music, while instrumentalists were expected to imitate singers with their instruments the way children imitate their mother. Season tickets are also available to the series. Detailed information can be found in the concert schedule pages of the magazine. Season tickets cost 4,800 HUF till the first concert. What has not changed is – using big words – our credo. We continue to think and profess that music is more than just fun and entertainment. It teaches us the essence of what is to be human, and this is why it is never too early to start learning about it. In the fall of 2019 we restart our Liszt Kidz introduction to music events for small groups of primary school students at 10:00 am on Saturdays in the Main Building and run a Jazz Playground for 6–15-yearolds once a month with double opportunity on Saturdays at 10:00 and 11:30 am. Parents are not allowed to take part in the classes but are welcome to the rehearsal in the Grand Hall (in case the artists do not object to it). Introductory classes cost 900 HUF Jazz playgrounds cost 1,200 HUF (Only children attending the classes have to have tickets, entrance for parents is free of charge.) Further details: zeneakademia.hu/liszt-kidz-academy Facebook: www.facebook.com/lisztkukacokakademiaja #lisztkukacokakademiaja

MUSIC LABYRINTH GUIDED TOURS AT THE LISZT ACADEMY FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL CLASSES 30-minute tour around the world’s most magical building. Nooks and crannies, mini concert, LEGO Liszt Academy.

Details and applications: zeneakademia.hu/en/junior

CONCERTS AT THE OLD MUSIC ACADEMY LISZT MEMORIAL MUSEUM MORNING CONCERTS AT 11 AM 05.01.2019 12.01. 2019 19.01. 2019 26.01.2019 02.02.2019 09.02.2019 16.02.2019 23.02.2019 02.03.2019 09.03.2019 16.03.2019 23.03.2019 30.03.2019 06.04.2019 13.04.2019 20.04.2019 27.04.2019 04.05.2019 11.05. 2019 18.05.2019 25.05.2019 01.06.2019 08.06.2019 15.06.2019

Márta Ábrahám & the Ábrahám Consort Gergely Kovács (piano) Éva Osztrosits (violin), Gergely Devich (cello) and Imre Dani (piano) Nagao Haruka (violin) and Gábor Farkas (piano) Gyöngyi Keveházi and Anna Falvai (piano) Artist of the Budapest Philharmonic Society Orchestra Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra László Borbély (piano) and the Central European String Quartet Francophone Festival Gillés Combecave (singing) and István Lajkó (piano) Krisztina Baksa (cello) and Márton Takáts (piano) Christian Grovlen (piano) Judit Rajk (singing) and László Borbély (piano) Gergely Devich (cello) and Mária Kovalszki (piano) Balázs Demény (piano) Márta Ábrahám (violin) and Mária Kovalszki (piano) Emese Vári Kovács (singing) and Márta Gál (harpsichord) László Váradi (piano) Antonia Miller (piano) Concert related to our temporary exhibition: Ines Schuttengruber (piano) 1László G. Horváth (violin), Richárd Rózsa (cello) and Zsuzsa Homor (piano) Winner of the Los Angeles Liszt Competition Thomas Kamieniak (piano) Ádám Banda (violin) and Adrienn Sós (piano) You Ju Lee (piano)

Location: Old Liszt Academy of Music, tickets: 2,000 HUF (1,000 HUF for students)

MORE EVENTS AT THE OLD ACADEMY 30.01.2019 18.00 RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FERENC LISZT MEPHISTO PORTRAITS Adrienne Kaczmarczyk and Fülöp Ránki 22.02. 2019 18.30 SIMONE VALLEROTONDA AND I BASSIFONDI ENSEMBLE 19.03. 2019 19.00 SONATA EVENING WITH CHISA KITAGAWA AND ERNŐ FEHÉR 24.04.2019 18.00 RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FERENC LISZT HUNGARIAN COMPOSERS IN THE BUDAPEST CIRCLE OF OLD LISZT Emese Virág and the students of singing programmes at Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music 04.05.2019 19.00 CHAMBER EVENING WITH GÁBOR SELMECZI, ISTVÁN MAJOR JR. AND DÁVID BÁLL Location: Old Liszt Academy of Music, tickets: 2,000 HUF (1,000 HUF for students)

LISZT FERENC MEMORIAL MUSEUM AND LISZT RESEARCH CENTRE

VÖRÖSMARTY STREET 35, 1064 BUDAPEST OPEN: MO - FR: 10 – 18 SATURDAY: 09 – 17 WWW.LISZTMUSEUM.HU

Tha museum is open during the whole year except for Sundays and holidays. We can arrange guided tours for pre-announced groups in several languages. HUF 12.000 (max. 25 persons/group, to be announced previously). • Audioguides are available in 14 languages (700 HUF). Entrance fee: HUF 2000 Ft. • Students (International Students’ Card) and seniors: HUF 1000, (EU citizens only! • Exceptional opening hours may be requested. We charge double prices for the entrance fee and the guided tour. • Concert tickets/Combined tickets: – Concert ticket: HUF 2000 – Students (International Students’ Card) and seniors: HUF 1000 – Combined ticket (for visiting the Museum AND the concert): HUF 3000 – Combined ticket for students and seniors: HUF 1500 (individual visitors only)

“PLEASE, DO NOT SEND ME ANY MORE SCORES” SELECTION OF THE MOST IMPRESSIVE SCORES FROM THE LISZT-HERITAGE Recent temporary exhibition of Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum and Research Center can be visited 12 May 2018 – 4 May 2019 on the first two floors of the museum in the Old Academy building.

His private library of books and scores Liszt Ferenc bequeathed by will to the Academy of Music forms an important part of the Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum’s collection. An exclusive sample selection from these 2500 stunningly illustrated scores has been exhibited by the Museum to give visitors a rare glimps to a special segment of musical and visual culture in the 19th century. The exhibition keeps Liszt’s contemporaries and their works in focus with scores from composers Liszt met or corresponded with, among the ones he taught, encouraged or supported, thus Bedřich Smetana, César Cui, Robert Franz, Kornél Ábrányi, Mihály Mosonyi and Camille SaintSaëns are also represented by scores in the cases. In the early 19th century covers with less or no decoration were typical but developement in graphic techniques – with lithography in the forefront – resulted splendidly ornamented covers to become prevalent. Among many unsigned covers, works by Károly Lotz, Mihály Munkácsy, Árpád Feszty and Mihály Zichy are also exhibited. The scores are grouped by themes: ones with flowers, birds, ornaments, portraits, Hungarian landscapes or genre scenes, cities, sights or flags on their cover can be found upstairs, and exotic sceenes, putti, children, angels and instruments as well as fictional heroes and fairy tale characters are to be seen on the ground floor. The scores are accompanied by pieces of allied applied arts such as stamps from the Stamp Museum and design objects from the Budapest History Museum – Kiscelli Museum with motifs comparable to the ones on the covers.

Curators: Anna Peternák, Júlia Fedoszov, Lilla Bokor Installed by: Tímea Bősze Lending institutions: Stamp Museum Budapest History Museum – Kiscelli Museum German National Library – Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music Research Library National Széchényi Library Manuscript Collection

Next temporary exhibition at the Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum and Research Center focusing on Liszt in Austria is going to be implemented in cooperation with Austrian partners and with musicologist Dr. Martin Czernin’s help. Presumed opening: May 2019.

stalactite organ 95

CONCERTCALENDAR Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior University Other

JANUARY 8 (TUESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

PURCELL CHOIR AND ORFEO ORCHESTRA

JANUARY 11 (FRIDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

JANUARY JANUARY 1 (TUESDAY) 17.00 GRAND HALL

NEW YEAR’S DAY CONCERT CLASSICAL, FOLK MUSIC, JAZZ – TALENTS OF THE LISZT ACADEMY

JANUARY 12 (SATURDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

CONCERTO BUDAPEST

JANUARY 4 (FRIDAY)

JANUARY 13 (SUNDAY)

19.30 GRAND HALL

NEW BEGINNINGS – HUNGARIAN QUARTET

JANUARY 5 (SATURDAY) 10.00 ROOM XXIII

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY AT THE TRANSPARENT SOUND NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL FAIRY TALE CHORAL IMPROVIZATIONS FOR 6–10-YEAR-OLDS 19.30 GRAND HALL

PURE BAROQUE EMŐKE BARÁTH & IL POMO D'ORO LA VENEZIANA – BARBARA STROZZI AND HER MASTERS

JANUARY 6. (SUNDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

TRANSPARENT SOUND NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL OPENING CONCERT 96

HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA AMBASSADORS OF POLISH MUSIC

CONCERTO BUDAPEST

JANUARY 14 (MONDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA THE MUSIC HATER

19.30 GRAND HALL

GYÖRGY VUKÁN MEMORIAL CONCERT WITH JÁNOS BALÁZS AND FELLOW MUSICIANS FRANCISCAN CHARITY CONCERT FOR PEOPLE WITH AUTISM

JANUARY 17 (THURSDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA

JANUARY 18 (FRIDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL VENETIAN FESTIVITIES PERFORMANCE BY THE GENEVA UNIVERSITY OF MUSIC

JANUARY 19 (SATURDAY) 15.30 GRAND HALL

ZUGLÓ PHILHARMONICS BUDAPEST

JANUARY 20 (SUNDAY) 11.00 GRAND HALL

JANUARY 15 (TUESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CONCERT TO COMMEMORATE THE INNOCENTS

JANUARY 16 (WEDNESDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL CARMEN PERFORMANCE BY THE LISZT FERENC ACADEMY OF MUSIC

UNDERSTANDABLE MUSIC DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK MILESTONES IN MUSIC 19.00 SOLTI HALL

OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL MINI OPERAS PERFORMANCE BY THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC LJUBLJANA 19.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST STRINGS

JANUARY 21 (MONDAY)

JANUARY 26 (SATURDAY)

FEBRUARY

19.00 GRAND HALL

19.30 GRAND HALL

FEBRUARY 1 (FRIDAY)

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA HUNGARIAN EVENING

DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK

JANUARY 22 (TUESDAY)

JANUARY 27 (SUNDAY)

19.30 GRAND HALL

11.00 SOLTI HALL

MASTERS OF VOCAL MUSIC PAUL MCCREESH & GABRIELI CONSORT

JANUARY 23 (WEDNESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

MVM CONCERTS GERGELY BOGÁNYI PIANO RECITAL

JANUARY 24 (THURSDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

COMPLETE WORKS LIVE SCHUMANN’S PIANO CHAMBER MUSIC/1 SERIES EDITOR: DÉNES VÁRJON 19.30 GRAND HALL

COSIMA SOULEZ-LARIVIÈRE & FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

JANUARY 25 (FRIDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

COMPLETE WORKS LIVE SCHUMANN’S PIANO CHAMBER MUSIC/1 SERIES EDITOR: DÉNES VÁRJON

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY STORIES FOR PIANO FOR 10–15-YEAR-OLDS 19.30 GRAND HALL

CHANTICLEER ENSEMBLE THEN AND THERE – HERE AND NOW

19.00 SOLTI HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE WOLFGANG REDIK, ÉVA MIHÁLYI, GYÖRGY PORZSOLT, ENDRE BALOG & KÁLMÁN DRÁFI

FEBRUARY 2 (SATURDAY) 15.30 GRAND HALL

ZUGLÓ PHILHARMONICS BUDAPEST

JANUARY 28 (MONDAY)

FEBRUARY 3 (SUNDAY)

19.30 GRAND HALL

10.30 GRAND HALL

KONZI CONCERTS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & WIND ORCHESTRA OF BARTÓK CONSERVATOIRE

JANUARY 29 (TUESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JANUARY 30 (WEDNESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

SZABOLCS SZAMOSI AND HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA KEYBOARD CONCERT

JANUARY 31 (THURSDAY) 19.00 GRAND HALL

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

SECRETS OF MUSIC MONSTERS AT AN EXHIBITION 19.00 SOLTI HALL

BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS PÉTER KISS PIANO RECITAL

FEBRUARY 4 (MONDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

HOSTED IN THE LISZT ACADEMY CHAMBER CONCERT BY STUDENTS OF EWHA WOMANS UNIVERSITY FROM KOREA AND THE LISZT ACADEMY

FEBRUARY 6 (WEDNESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE ISTVÁN VÁRDAI, GÁBOR TAKÁCS-NAGY & MANCHESTER CAMERATA

FEBRUARY 7 (THURSDAY)

FEBRUARY 12 (TUESDAY)

FEBRUARY 23 (SATURDAY)

19.00 SOLTI HALL

19.30 GRAND HALL

COMPLETE WORKS LIVE MOZART VARIATIONS AND SONATAS FOR PIANO AND VIOLIN/4 19.30 GRAND HALL

HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FEBRUARY 8 (FRIDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

JAZZ IT! BÉLA SZAKCSI LAKATOS IMPROVIZATIONS

FEBRUARY 13 (WEDNESDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE BAIBA SKRIDE, DANIEL MÜLLER-SCHOTT & XAVIER DE MAISTRE

FEBRUARY 14 (THURSDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA

FEBRUARY 9 (SATURDAY)

FEBRUARY 15 (FRIDAY)

19.30 GRAND HALL

ORGAN INAUGURATION GÁBOR BOLDOCZKI & LÁSZLÓ FASSANG TRUMPET-ORGAN RECITAL

FEBRUARY 10 (SUNDAY)

CONCERTO BUDAPEST

FEBRUARY 16 (SATURDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC BABRA FOLK MUSIC OF SOUTH SLAVS

11.00 – 18.30 SOLTI HALL, AUDITORIUM, ROOM X, ROOM XXIII, CUPOLA HALL TALENT DAY 2019

19.30 GRAND HALL

19.00 GRAND HALL

FEBRUARY 17 (SUNDAY)

TALENT DAY 2019 CONCERT BY THE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF THE LISZT ACADEMY

CONCERTO BUDAPEST

19.30 GRAND HALL

HERE AND NOW KURTÁG – LIGETI

FEBRUARY 11 (MONDAY)

FEBRUARY 21 (THURSDAY)

19.30 GRAND HALL

HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 98

BUDAPEST STRINGS

CZF 2019 ERIKA MIKLÓSA, FÉLIX LAJKÓ & JÁNOS BALÁZS

CZF 2019 ISTVÁN VÁRDAI & JÁNOS BALÁZS

FEBRUARY 24 (SUNDAY) 11.00 SOLTI HALL

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY STORIES FOR CHAMBER MUSIC FOR 10–15-YEAR-OLDS 19.30 GRAND HALL

CZF 2019 JOSÉ CURA & JÁNOS BALÁZS ARGENTINE RECITAL GALA CONCERT AND AWARDS CEREMONY

FEBRUARY 25 (MONDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC – TUNED FOR GRAND HALL JOSHUA BELL & SAM HAYWOOD

FEBRUARY 26 (TUESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

HÄNDEL: JOSHUA

FEBRUARY 27 (WEDNESDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

VOCAL MUSIC, SO CLOSE MEDITERRANEAN SONGS THEODORA RAFTIS

FEBRUARY 28 (THURSDAY)

MARCH 5 (TUESDAY)

MARCH 10 (SUNDAY)

19.00 SOLTI HALL

19.30 GRAND HALL

10.30 GRAND HALL

ILONA PRUNYI PIANO RECITAL 19.30 GRAND HALL

GERGELY BOGÁNYI & ANIMA MUSICAE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA MOZART+

MARCH MARCH 1 (FRIDAY) 19.00 GRAND HALL

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

MARCH 2 (SATURDAY) 15.30 GRAND HALL

ZUGLÓ PHILHARMONICS BUDAPEST 19.30 GRAND HALL

DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK

MARCH 3 (SUNDAY) 11.00 SOLTI HALL

UNDERSTANDABLE MUSIC DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK MILESTONES IN MUSIC – DAMNATION AND APOTHEOSIS

MARCH 4 (MONDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

MVM CONCERTS DAVID FRAY PIANO RECITAL

HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

CONCERTO BUDAPEST / MOZART DAY

MARCH 6 (WEDNESDAY)

MARCH 11 (MONDAY)

19.30 GRAND HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC – TUNED FOR GRAND HALL PÉTER FRANKL, MIKLÓS PERÉNYI & GERGELY ITTZÉS

MARCH 7 (THURSDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

SZOLNOK BÉLA BARTÓK CHAMBER CHOIR & GUESTS ARE YOU HAPPY? 19.45 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

MARCH 8 (FRIDAY) 19.45 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

MARCH 9 (SATURDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

HERE AND NOW STUDIO 5 COMPOSERS’ RECITAL ABOVE CRITICISM 19.30 GRAND HALL

JÓZSEF LENDVAY & FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE LISA BATIASHVILI, FRANÇOIS LELEUX & CAMERATA SALZBURG

MARCH 12 (TUESDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

KONZI CONCERTS NEW MUSIC PROJECT SELECTION FROM THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTIONS OF PREVIOUS YEARS 19.30 GRAND HALL

ENDRE HEGEDŰS & BUDAPEST PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY ORCHESTRA

MARCH 13 (WEDNESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

FOUR BY FOUR BELCEA QUARTET

MARCH 14 (THURSDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA

MARCH 16 (SATURDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST STRINGS

MARCH 19 (TUESDAY)

MARCH 25 (MONDAY)

MARCH 31 (SUNDAY)

19.00 SOLTI HALL

19.30 GRAND HALL

11.00 GRAND HALL

AMADINDA PERCUSSION PROJECT 19.30 GRAND HALL

MVM CONCERTS NIKOLAI LUGANSKY PIANO RECITAL

MARCH 20 (WEDNESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

CONCERT BY THE MUSIC ENSEMBLES OF ELTE

MARCH 27 (WEDNESDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

COMPLETE WORKS LIVE SCHUMANN’S PIANO CHAMBER MUSIC/3 EDITOR OF THE SERIES: DÉNES VÁRJON

SÖNDÖRGŐ

MARCH 21 (THURSDAY) 19.00 GRAND HALL

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 19.00 SOLTI HALL

COMPLETE WORKS LIVE MOZART VARIATIONS AND SONATAS FOR PIANO AND VIOLIN/5

MARCH 22 (FRIDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

LUKA OKROS PIANO RECITAL 19.30 GRAND HALL

CONCERTO ARMONICO VENICE AND LONDON, OBOES AND ORGAN PIPES…

MARCH 23 (SATURDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE KATALIN KOKAS, MAXIM RYSANOV, DÓRA KOKAS & LILY MAISKY

100

MARCH 28 (THURSDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

COMPLETE WORKS LIVE SCHUMANN’S PIANO CHAMBER MUSIC/4 EDITOR OF THE SERIES: DÉNES VÁRJON

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY STORIES ABOUT THE LISZT ACADEMY'S ORGAN FOR 10–15-YEAR-OLDS 19.30 GRAND HALL

ARTIST TALES – CONVERSATION CONCERT WITH THE RÁNKI FAMILY CHARITY CONCERT FOR THE SZENT JÁNOS HOSPITAL GASTROENTEROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT

APRIL APRIL 3 (WEDNESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

MVM CONCERTS FÜLÖP RÁNKI PIANO RECITAL

MARCH 29 (FRIDAY)

APRIL 4 (THURSDAY)

19.00 SOLTI HALL

VOCAL MUSIC, SO CLOSE GYPSY SONGS LILLA HORTI, BERNADETT WIEDEMANN 19.30 GRAND HALL

HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

MARCH 30 (SATURDAY) 10.30 GRAND HALL

SECRETS OF MUSIC WINGED AND HOOFED 19.00 SOLTI HALL

BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS MARCELL SZABÓ PIANO RECITAL RUSSIAN STORIES

HERE AND NOW PÉTER BÁRSONY & JÓZSEF BALOG CHAMBER RECITAL 19.00 GRAND HALL

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

APRIL 5 (FRIDAY) 10.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPESTI SPRING FESTIVAL JORDÍ SAVALL & HESPÈRION XXI EAST–WEST – A DIALOGUE OF SOULS

APRIL 6 (SATURDAY)

APRIL 11 (THURSDAY)

APRIL 22 (MONDAY)

19.00 SOLTI HALL

19.30 GRAND HALL

AT HOME AT THE LISZT ACADEMY NEW LISZT FERENC CHAMBER CHOIR COR MUNDUM CREA IN ME DEUS 19.30 GRAND HALL

CONCERTO BUDAPEST

APRIL 7 (SUNDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

CONCERTO BUDAPEST

APRIL 9 (TUESDAY) 17.00 SOLTI HALL

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL BEGINNING OF THE PATH – END OF THE PATH • 4.1 HOMMAGE À HAYDN 19.30 GRAND HALL

HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 19.30 SOLTI HALL

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL BEGINNING OF THE PATH – END OF THE PATH • 4.2 CAPRICCIOS AND CONCERTINOS

APRIL 10 (WEDNESDAY) 17.00 SOLTI HALL

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL BEGINNING OF THE PATH – END OF THE PATH • 4.3 SUPREME ÉTUDES 19.30 SOLTI HALL

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL BEGINNING OF THE PATH – END OF THE PATH • 4.4 ART NOUVEAU

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL J(I). S. BACH: GOLDBERG VARIATIONS JI’S PIANO CONCERT

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL TCHAIKOVSKY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & PRAGUE PHILHARMONIC CHOIR

APRIL 12 (FRIDAY)

APRIL 23 (TUESDAY)

19.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL ERIC WHITACRE SINGERS

APRIL 13 (SATURDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL BALÁZS SZOKOLAY & FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA BACH’S ENTIRE PIANO CONCERTOS

APRIL 16 (TUESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL LISZT RECITAL BY THE LISZT ACADEMY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

APRIL 17 (WEDNESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

MASTERS OF VOCAL MUSIC PURCELL CHOIR & ORFEO ORCHESTRA PASSION PASTICCIO

MVM CONCERTS PIANOPERA / ERIKA MIKLÓSA & JÁNOS BALÁZS

APRIL 24 (WEDNESDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

KONZI CONCERTS COMPETITION WINNERS 19.30 GRAND HALL

HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

APRIL 26 (FRIDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS ZOLTÁN FEJÉRVÁRI PIANO RECITAL 19.00 GRAND HALL

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

APRIL 27 (SATURDAY) 19.45 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

APRIL 18 (THURSDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA

101

APRIL 28 (SUNDAY)

MAY 4 (SATURDAY)

MAY 10 (FRIDAY)

11.00 SOLTI HALL

19.00 SOLTI HALL

19.30 GRAND HALL

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY STORIES FOR BAROQUE MUSIC FOR 10–15-YEAR-OLDS 15.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

APRIL 29 (MONDAY) 19.45 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

MAY MAY 1 (WEDNESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC - TUNED FOR GRAND HALL KRISTÓF BARÁTI & BARNABÁS KELEMEN WORKS FOR TWO VIOLINS

MAY 2 (THURSDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

JAZZ IT! RAFAEL MÁRIO TRIO FEATURING BÁLINT GYÉMÁNT 19.30 GRAND HALL

CONCERTO BUDAPEST

MAY 3 (FRIDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

MVM CONCERTS VLADIMIR & VOVKA ASHKENAZY TWO-PIANO RECITAL

HERE AND NOW TRIO CATCH 19.30 GRAND HALL

CONCERTO BUDAPEST 22.00 GRAND HALL

CONCERTO BUDAPEST – PREMIER II.

MAY 11 (SATURDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC DANCE HOUSE DAY

MAY 5 (SUNDAY)

MAY 12 (SUNDAY)

19.30 GRAND HALL

DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK

MAY 6 (MONDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BEYOND THE MUSIC… MOZART & SCHUMANN…

MAY 7 (TUESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

KEN-ICHIRO KOBAYASHI & LISZT ACADEMY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

MAY 8 (WEDNESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

MASTERS OF THE ORCHESTRA KEN-ICHIRO KOBAYASHI & LISZT ACADEMY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

MAY 9 (THURSDAY) 19.00 GRAND HALL

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 102

FOUR BY FOUR JERUSALEM QUARTET

ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE ÁDÁM FISCHER & DANISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

MAY 15 (WEDNESDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE ZIMMERMANN TRIO

MAY 16 (THURSDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE OF THE LISZT ACADEMY ZSOLT SEREI COMPOSER’S EVENING 19.30 GRAND HALL

HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA SYMPHONIES – DIFFERENTLY

MAY 17 (FRIDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

WORKSHOPS OF THE LISZT ACADEMY WIND MUSIC AT A HIGH LEVEL WOODWIND STUDENTS OF THE LISZT ACADEMY

19.30 GRAND HALL

ORGAN INAUGURATION JÁNOS PÁLÚR & ÁBRAHÁM CONSORT

MAY 18 (SATURDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

AMADINDA 35 IMAGINARY LANDSCAPE 22.45 SOLTI HALL

AMADINDA 35 NIGHT MEDITATION

MAY 19 (SUNDAY) 11.00 GRAND HALL

UNDERSTANDABLE MUSIC DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK MILESTONES IN MUSIC – HARMONY OF PAST AND FUTURE 19.00 SOLTI HALL

AT HOME IN THE LISZT ACADEMY NEW LISZT FERENC CHAMBER CHOIR SONGS OF DESOLATION AND DESIRE – JAZZ IN CHORAL MUSIC

MAY 23 (THURSDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

CONCERTO BUDAPEST 22.00 GRAND HALL

CONCERTO BUDAPEST – PREMIERE III.

MAY 24 (FRIDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

CONCERTO BUDAPEST

MAY 25 (SATURDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

COMPLETE WORKS LIVE SCHUMANN’S CHAMBER MUSIC FOR PIANO/5 EDITOR OF THE SERIES: DÉNES VÁRJON 19.30 GRAND HALL

AGATA SZYMCZEWSKA & FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

19.30 GRAND HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC - TUNED FOR GRAND HALL PÉTER NAGY, DAISHIN KASHIMOTO, AMIHAI GROSZ & CLAUDIO BOHÓRQUEZ

JUNE 5 (WEDNESDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

IVÁN MADARÁSZ 70

MAY 26 (SUNDAY)

JUNE 6 (THURSDAY)

19.30 GRAND HALL

19.00 GRAND HALL

COMPLETE WORKS LIVE SCHUMANN’S PIANO CHAMBER MUSIC/6 EDITOR OF THE SERIES: DÉNES VÁRJON

MAY 31 (FRIDAY) 19.45 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

JUNE JUNE 1 (SATURDAY) 19.45 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

JUNE 2 (SUNDAY) 15.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA TCHAIKOVSKY RECITAL

JUNE 8 (SATURDAY) 19.45 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

JUNE 9 (SUNDAY) 15.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

JUNE 10 (MONDAY) 19.30 GRAND HALL

MÁRTA SEBESTYÉN, RÓBERT KOVÁCS & SAINT EPHRAIM MALE CHOIR KEYBOARD CONCERTO

JUNE 14 (FRIDAY) 19.00 SOLTI HALL

END-OF-YEAR OPERA EXAM MOZART: TITUS, IDOMENEO 103

THE BARTÓK WORLD COMPETITION AND ITS REPUTATION AROUND THE WORLD The competition has proven to be extremely popular with young composers all over the world.

Even the organizers were surprised by the number of applicants for the composition round of Bartók World Competition & Festival. 204 young composers from 53 countries all over the world submitted works for the competition, and since the entrants were allowed to submit multiple entries, there were 214 piano compositions to be selected from by the pre-jury of the Academy of Music. The musical scores and audio files submitted until the closing date of 31st August were judged anonymously in early September by the members of the pre-jury, Gyula Fekete and his fellow professors. On the 19th of September twelve compositions were forwarded to the jury consisting of international acclaimed composers. The six award-winning works selected by Thomas Adés, Chaya Czernowin, Unsuk Chin and Andrei Korobeinikov were performed at the final Gala Concert by highly esteemed Hungarian pianists including the Junior Prima, Artisjus and Liszt award-winner Balázs Fülei, and the Junior Prima and Liszt Awardwinner János Balázs.

At this special Gala Concert the works of the most talented young composers are performed together with the masterpieces of Bartók

The Selection Committee of the Bartok World Competition

At this special Gala Concert the works of the most talented young composers are performed together with the masterpieces of Bartók. Although the entries were not required to be linked to Bartók’s music in style or in motifs, some of the applicants were audibly inspired by the oeuvre of the Hungarian composer. The submitted compositions are diverse and exciting: they are the imprints of today’s world and music, which, at the same time, give pianists the opportunity to show both their musical and technical skills. The latter is relevant as the obligatory contemporary pieces of the 2019 piano round of Bartók World Competition & Festival will be chosen from the winning compositions of this year’s competition. The annual rounds of competition are tied together to form a unique structure which puts Hungary and the Competition centrestage of the musical world. The great number of entries submitted to this year’s competition shows the inspirational power of Bartók’s name. “Bartók is at home in Hungary, his language is ours, and apparently the world is curious about our interpretation of his compositions. Musicologists and performers collect and grow together this Hungarian treasure preserving the national heritage. The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music was Bartók’s alma mater, and the Bartók World Competition greatly improves the reputation of Hungary” – emphasized Andrea Vigh, the rector of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music.

104

Basalt organs in the Szent Gyรถrgy Hill, Hungary

105

TICKET MAP GRAND HALL

CHOIR LEFT 10 – 19

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

V IV III II I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

M1 M2 M3

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

8 7 6 5 4 3 2

1 M3 M2 M1

RIGHT 12 – 1

LEFT 1 – 12

6 7

3 2 1

4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1 6 5 4 3 2 1 6

LEFT 9–1

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1

2 3 4 5 6 6 5 4 3 2

I II III IV V VI

CENTRE-LEFT CENTRE-RIGHT 1–7 1–7

CENTRE BALCONY 106 118

6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5

I II III IV V VI

1 2 3 4

5 5

9 8

8 9

STALLS

6 5 7 1 2 3 4 6 5 1 2 3 4 6 5 1 2 3 4

RIGHT 1–9

12 – 1

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

BALCONY RIGHT

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

24 – 13

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVI XVIII

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12

ONSTAGE SEATS: 80 SEATS

24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

STAGE

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10

24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

V VI III II I

BALCONY LEFT

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20

24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13

1 – 12

30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30

24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13

13 – 24

Information on the seating arrangement in the Grand Hall and ticket categories for a particular performance are available when you purchase your tickets online.

RIGHT 19 – 10

TICKET MAP SOLTI HALL

CONTACT AND VISITOR INFORMATION Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music: 1061 Budapest, Liszt Ferenc tér 8. Tel (central): (+36-1) 462-4600 Customers can make inquiries at kozonsegkapcsolat@zeneakademia.hu and on (+36-1) 462-4680.

TICKETING The Liszt Academy Concert Centre ticket office can be found by the main entrance to the Liszt Academy at Liszt Ferenc tér 8. It is open from 10am to 6pm daily and during concerts until the end of the first interval. For concerts starting at 10am or earlier, the ticket office opens half an hour prior to the performance. Ticket office contact details: Tel: (+36-1) 321-0690 / Email: jegy@zeneakademia.hu Ticket office staff will be pleased to help you with any inquiries related to concert tickets. Further information on ticketing is available on the Liszt Academy website: zeneakademia.hu/en. Last-minute tickets are sold to students with a valid student ID for 500 HUF in the hour before each performance held in the Grand Hall or Solti Hall.

STAGE A

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

III

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

III

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

VII

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

VII

VIII 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

VIII

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

XII

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

XII

XIII 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

XIII

1 2 3 3 2 1

XIV

LISZT ACADEMY OPENING HOURS AND GUIDED TOURS Come and visit the singularly beautiful Nouveau Art main building of the Liszt Academy. Guided tours are held in Hungarian for individual visitors from 1.30pm on Fridays and Sundays. English-language guided tours take place daily from 1.30pm. Tours last approximately 50 minutes and may be completed with a 10–15-minute mini-concert by students at the Liszt Academy. No previous registration is necessary; tickets for guided tours and extra mini-concerts can be purchased right before the tours. Foreign-language group tours are to be booked in advance. These are available in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Finnish, Czech, Slovak, Romanian and Japanese. Minimum group size: 12; maximum group size: 35. For tour booking, appointments, further information and partnership with travel agencies, contact turizmus@zeneakademia.hu

XIV M3 M2 M1

M1 M2 M3 LEFT 1–7

RIGHT 7–1

STALLS

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

1 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

14 13 12 11 10 7 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

8 7 6 5 4 3

2 1

1 8 7 6 5 4 3 LEFT 1–7

RIGHT 8–1

BALCONY

Ticket prices: Guided tours in Hungarian: 1,500 HUF Guided tours in other languages: 2,900 HUF Mini-concerts (optional): 600 HUF Students with a valid student ID, senior citizens over 65 (with a valid pensioners’ card) are entitled to a 50% discount. These prices also include 27% VAT. Liszt Academy audiences can park for a discounted price just two streets from Liszt tér at the automated parking garage at Akácfa u. 60. You can obtain a coupon entitling you to one hour of free parking at the Academy’s ticket office on presenting your parking stub and concert ticket on the day of the concert, no later than the end of the first interval. A wheelchair-accessible entrance to the building is available on Király street. 107

IMPRESSUM PUBLISHER: Dr. Andrea Vigh, President, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Júlia Torda, Director of Communications, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music

MANAGING EDITOR: Márta Katona, Musicologist

EDITORS: Júlia Bársony-Belicza, Musicologist, Member, Office of Communications and Media Content, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music Lívia Hajdú, Musicologist

COPY EDITOR: Andrew Symons, Thomas Williams

PUBLICATION MANAGER: Erzsébet Issekutz

AUTHORS: Gábor Bóka – Critic Mátyás Bolya – Folk musician, ethnomusicologist, Assistant Lecturer, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music; Assistant Research Fellow, Institute for Musicology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Zsuzsanna Domokos – Museologist, Director, Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum and Research Centre Rudolf Gusztin – Musicologist, PhD student, Doctoral School, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music; Assistant Research Fellow, Institute for Musicology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Zsófia Hózsa – Musicologist Sándor Kovács – Musicologist, Teacher, Musicology and Music Theory Department Ferenc László – Journalist, critic, cultural historian Zsuzsanna Lakatos – Musicologist Balázs Méhes – Vice Dean, College Professor, Head of Department, Teacher Training Faculty, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary Péter Merényi – Student, Musicology Department Ágnes Mester – Member, Office of Communications and Media Content, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music Szabolcs Molnár – Musicologist, Teacher, Liszt Academy Bartók Music Secondary School Dániel Mona – Musicologist Zsombor Németh – Musicologist, Research Fellow, Institute for Musicology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Zsuzsanna Rákai – Musicologist, Teacher, Liszt Academy Bartók Music Secondary School György Szentgallay – Jazz bassist, composer, journalist Anna Unger – Member, Office of Communications and Media Content, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music Tamás Várkonyi – Musicologist, Senior Journalist, Gramofon magazine Bálint Veres – Lecturer, Institute for Theoretical Studies, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design

LAYOUT: Allison Advertising Kft.

ARCHIVE AND CONCERT PHOTOS, PORTRAITS OF ARTISTS: Adrián, Zoltán; Arens, Uwe; Bäcker, Mats; Barczyk, Bartek; Benkő, Sándor; Bertazzi, Giorgia; Bézsenyi, Zsolt; Bojesen, Mathias; Borggreve, Marco; Böröcz, Balázs; Broede, Felix; Csányi, István; Ealovega, Benjamin; Éder, PRINT: Veronika; Emmer, László; Fazekas, István; Fejér, Gábor; Felvégi, Andrea; Keskeny és Társai 2001 Kft. Giralt, Sebastian; Göndör, Attila; Graeme-Baker, David; Gundersen, Lars; Harmos, Réka; Hart, Samy; Hohen, Gregor; Holm, Susanne; Hrotkó, Bálint; Published in 2 000 copies by the Office of Ignaszewski, David; Kähkönen, Veikko; Keenan, Jonathan; Kondella, Communications and Media Content, Mihály; Kővágó, Dániel/Aquincum Museum; Lund, Nikolaj; Molina, Josep; Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music Mudra, László; Nagy, Károly Zsolt; Nánási, Pál; NCPA; Orbán, Domonkos; Petneki, Ábel; Pilvax Studio; Posztos, János; Rabovsky, Daniil; Raffay, Zsófia; The organizers reserve right to make Reichardt, Joerg; Romik, Robert; Royce, Marc; Rózsa, Zsuzsanna; Rühle, PLEASE REVIEW OURtheSHORT FILM ON THE RESTORATION OF THE HUNDRED AND TWELVE changes to the programmes. Lennard; Sarcophagus of Aelia Sabina, Reg. No.: 63.10.138. Budapest History YEARS OLD ORGAN OF THE LISZT FERENC MUSIC ACADEMY. AFTER A LONG SILENCE, Museum–Aquincum Museum; Schiller, Kata; Tasheff, Tashko; The Orbital THEDEADLINE: ORGAN IS RE-SOUNDING IN 2018. Strangers Project; Torrers, Robert; Török, Miklós; Tuba, Zoltán; Uesugi, Kei; Valuska, Gábor; Várady, Nikolett; Várhegyi, Klára; Wágner-Csapó, József 14 November 2018

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STUDIO 2000 Kft.

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