Budapest's Finest 2017 autumn

GÖDÖLLÔ: AT BUDAPEST’S GATE

THE NEW ART FESTIVAL

AUTUMN | 2017

BUDAPEST’S BEER REVOLUTION

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UNIVERSITYLEVEL DANCE ARTISTRY

ZUGLÓ

THE GREEN DISTRICT

INTRODUCTION Photo: © urabnfoto.hu

Photo: © itthon.hu

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DEAR READER, I welcome you to the heart of Europe, Budapest, which is enjoying a new golden era. Since the turn of the century, our city has attracted cosmopolitan travellers who are just as interested in authentic historic treasures and legendary baths as they are in our inspirational contemporary cultural offerings.

Allow me to offer some good advice: regardless of how much time you spend here, set aside some time to peer into the everyday lives of the locals in addition to the pulsating rhythms of downtown. In addition to enjoying the city’s many attractions and programmes, roam the idyllic Buda hills, drink a glass of one our notable wines and enjoy the fruits of our culinary revolution in Budapest and its surrounding areas. No matter where you go, I hope that, as you explore the city’s many facets, you will also discover the one thing that is most important: great hospitality.

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When my international friends visit Hungary for the first time, I always make certain that they discover not only the Pearl of the Danube, but also the neighbouring towns of which we are so proud: every one of my guests has been amazed by the beauty found in the Danube Bend. I hope you also come across many things worth discovering, and that we see you soon once again!

Regards, Dr. Zoltán Guller Managing Director Hungarian Tourism Agency

DEAR GUEST, Those walking around Budapest are likely to encounter ever more environmentally-friendly vehicles with green license plates, while a Budapest-based company has received permission to test self-driving cars on public roads. As safety is of utmost importance during the live testing period, one of the fundamental conditions for the permit is that a trained driver must sit behind the wheel. We can therefore rest assured that we won’t find a vehicle without a driver, or empty cars driving around on Budapest’s streets.

The reader should also not be surprised if artificial intelligence is mentioned among the many other topics dealt with during the 26th CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival. According to a Hungarian theoretical neurobiologist, it is a positive that the topic of artificial intelligence is appearing in the performing arts, as this allows people to learn that these systems are now present in our everyday lives, that they aid and impact our lives, and that they will play an even greater role in the coming decades. The question of how and for what we wish to use technology and how we want to control it is timeless and speaks to the future. These questions will be posed and answered by the various artists of the festival so we, as organisers, must also provide these creators and performers with inspiration for this new reality, and audiences with the opportunity to discover them.

Teodóra Bán Director Budapest Festival and Tourism Center

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HE ADER

TARTALOM

2017 | Ôsz

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Zugló – the green district

Gardens, Greenery & Inspuration

Nature, culture, leisure and sport in district XIV 6 Ballet class above the café 13 Ballerina Lili Felméry 14

At Budapest’s gate: Gödöllô Royal residence from war hospital Sisi and the Hungarians

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Young artists at CAFe Budapest Mini Festival Jazz - A synthesis of styles Space, time, man Unique home textiles in FUGA Mezzoforte Super-strong

Budapest Guide

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CAFe 2017 Tan Dun opens the Festival

The Rizmájer Brewery

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A festival of new arts - CAFe 2017 22

Sisi and the Hungarians

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Budapest’s gardening company turns 150 Discover the city St. George Residence Hotel FÁMA restaurant Rizmayer Brewery Slow Fashion - NON+ Kempinski anniversary

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On the cover: The scale replica of the Ják Church located in the City Park in District XIV

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2017. november 10. – 2017. december 31.

Vörösmarty tér / Vörösmarty square

www.budapestkaracsony.hu

Photo: © István Práczky

Gardens, Greenery and Inspiration Text: András Oláh

Visitors to District XIV (Zugló) would do better than to search for ancient or medieval architectural ruins, for instead they will find imposing tree-lined avenues, romantic villas and art nouveau and art deco public buildings. This part of the capital mirrors the rise of the middle class in the 19th century.

The City Forest that became the City Park is surrounded by the former palaces of famous artists and industrialists, the kitchens of which were served by the vegetable and fruit gardens found alongside the Rákos Stream.

The open spaces also provided locations for film studios, sporting facilities, special schools and hospitals. Today residential buildings stand where the gardens once did, and the palaces now serve commercial or institutional purposes, but to this day Zugló still possess treasures worth discovering.

The National Institute for the Blind is one of Budapest’s art nouveau architectural masterpieces

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Photo: © zoobudapest.com

NATURE, CULTURE, LEISURE AND SPORT IN DISTRICT XIV

Photo: © Zoltán Bagosy

Z UGLÓ

ALWAYS CLOSE TO NATURE Buskers and restaurateurs established themselves among the City Park’s trees and the Pest Zoo opened in the summer of 1866, which was also visited by Empress Elisabeth. With her intervention, in 1868, the year following the coronation of Franz Joseph as King of Hungary, the Schönbrunn Palace donated a giraffe to the constantly expanding institution.

The elephant-decorated main gate only opened its doors much later following three years of renovation works. It was then that the zoo’s architectural character was developed via the animal enclosures designed by Károly Kós in a folk style.

Over time the Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden became surrounded by the growing city, meaning that any continued development would require special plans. The future Pannon Park will occupy the former site of the amusement park that is closer to Hungária Boulevard. This state of the art demonstration complex will bring to life the ancient wildlife of the Carpathian Basin and its central structure will be a so-called biodome. Inside an exhibition space will be developed that can provide hours of entertainment should the weather take a turn for the worse. The Pannon Park facility will open in several stages, and will fully open to the public by the end of the decade.

Zugló’s history stretches back to the middle ages. In the past it was known as Rákos Meadow, named after the Rákos Stream that flows into the Danube, and was the site of national assemblies and where armies marching to war assembled. The part of this forested and swampy land closest to the city was selected by the palatine Archduke Joseph in the early 19th century to be transformed into the City Park. First called the City Forest, it became Europe’s first free public park, and was soon a popular destination for hiking and relaxing.

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Photo: © zoobudapest.com

The main entrance to the Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden

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Z UGLÓ Photo: © norbertperness.com

Photo: © István Práczky

The Gundel Restaurant

A lake for rowing in summer, it becomes an ice rink in the winter

The world famous Széchenyi Thermal Baths

In the winter months the lake transforms into the City Park Ice Rink. Nearby, the neo-renaissance and classicist Széchenyi Baths, one of the continent’s largest bathing complexes, are fed by waters that rise to the surface at 70 degrees Celsius from a depth of 100-1,000 metres. With its medicinal and wellness services it won the best international thermal bath prize at the International Medical Travel Journal Awards in 2016. The

healing waters rich with various minerals are exceptionally effective for treating joint pain and inflammation. Those looking for something new can check out the beer bath or enjoy the Palm House VIP services.

The Liget Budapest project aims to redevelop the City Park and will go beyond restoring the millennium facilities, since it also aims to renew green spaces, build new playgrounds and also bring about gardening developments, in addition to the development of the new museum quarter.

Although reconstruction works are ongoing at multiple locations in the City Park, several storied and high quality restaurants continue operating in picturesque surroundings near the City Park Lake and the zoo. One such example is the successor to the legendary Vampetics, the Gundel Restaurant, which took its name from that outstanding figure of Hungarian gastronomy, Károly Gundel. Quality delicacies from Hungarian and French cuisine are available from its menu since 1910.

The restaurant’s guestbook bears witness to visits from royalty, film stars, world famous musicians, composers, and important public figures, such as Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, American President George H.W. Bush, Pablo Casals, Robert The Robinson Restaurant

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Redford, Paul Newman, Roger Moore and Jennifer Lawrence.

Across from the Gundel towards the lake is the Robinson Restaurant, which has awaited guests with light French dishes and steaks for 30 years.

IN SERVICE OF FAITH AND THE PUBLIC Zugló’s oldest sacred building is the Hermine Chapel located on the street of the same name. Consecrated in 1856, the building was built according to a design by József Hild in memory of Archduke Joseph’s daughter Hermine, who was the Princess-Abbess of the Theresian Royal and Imperial Ladies Chapter of the Castle of Prague and was known for her charity.

Nearby, the National Institute for the Blind awaits music fans in its Palatine Hall, which was also named after the archduke, who is considered “the most Hungarian Habsburg”. One of Budapest’s most beautiful art nouveau halls, its fantastic acoustics make it a popular concert location. The hall’s exceptional centrepiece is Hungary’s largest connected stained-glass composition. The institute and the adjacent Teleki Blanka Gymnasium are two of the finest examples of Hungarian art nouveau.

Photo: © István Práczky

The greatest change in the park’s appearance that can be felt to this day was the result of the national exhibitions at the end of the 19th century, among them the 1896 exhibition celebrating the 1,000 year anniversary of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin. The exhibition’s pavilions were converted into museums, with the Transportation Hall becoming the Transportation Museum, which is currently closed for renovations. The Millennium Underground Railway launched in 1896 as a part of the celebrations was the first underground railway in continental Europe. At Heroes’ Square the Mûcsarnok Hall opened to exhibit contemporary art. The Hungarian Museum of Agriculture in turn moved into the Vajdahunyad Castle com-

plex, which was built for the millennium exhibition and represents various historical architectural styles and buildings located throughout historical Hungary. In 1906 the Museum of Fine Arts opened opposite the Mûcsarnok Hall, and has the country’s largest visual arts collection. This institution is currently being renovated and is expected to reopen in autumn 2018.

Photo: © budapestinfo.hu

THE AGE OF ASCENSION

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Photo: © Csizik Balázs

Photo: © István Práczky

Z UGLÓ

The Stefania Palace

The stained-glass windows of the Nádor Hall

The Church of Saint Anthony of Padua at Bosnyák Square has a simple exterior, but its excellent organ is frequently played for secular concerts. The square is a transportation hub and pantry, since its market offers many tasty treats.

Multiple national health institutions are also located here owing to Zugló’s calm green environment: the Uzsoki Street Hospital, which is a teaching hospital of Semmelweis University, as well as the National Institute of Clinical Neurosciences, Europe’s third largest neurosurgery centre. Following the system change, the Bethesda Children’s Hospital was returned to the Hungarian Reformed Church. Its central building is the former Bartl villa, which along with its garden provided a home for the rich cultural life of the 19th century, where even Ferenc Liszt performed concerts. On Amerikai Road one can find Central Europe’s only Jewish hospital, which belongs to the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary.

FROM ZUGLÓ TO THE SCREEN Róna Street-based Gyarmat is a centre for professional film productions and is the successor to the former Hunnia Filmgyár Rt., which was once Hungary’s largest and oldest film production centre. To this day modest films can be made in Mafilm Zrt.’s workshops, but the site focuses more on producers’ offices and workshops that provide background services. Large pro10

ductions are now on the edge of or outside the city, with the old complex in part being operated by TV2.

Many stars of the screen, stage and even sciences lived for some time in Zugló. Among them was the star of the film operetta Bál a Savoyban Gitta Alpár, film director Frigyes Bán, the “father” of Hungarian cinematography György Illés, the writer Béla Hamvas, Oszkár Asboth, who participated in the development of the helicopter, and last but not least Ferenc Puskás, the captain of the football Golden Team of the 1950s. But more on him later.

The editors, photographers and producers of the future may graduate from Budapest Metropolitan University. The institution, founded as a business college in 2001, was raised to university status in 2016. Future musicians meanwhile may take the stage after studying at the Szent István Music Arts High School. The conservatory’s symphonic orchestra consisting of alumni plays an active role in the district’s musical life.

The Radnóti Miklós Gymnasium is a famed educational institution. Following the Great Compromise 150 years ago, the idea was broached to establish a gymnasium for those of the Jewish faith. The plans were only completed in 1923, and the entire building only finished in 1931, with the design by the notable architect Béla Lajta. Despite taking a long time, the result is that one of Budapest’s most beautiful Jewish monuments is an art deco building.

Istvánmezô developed in parallel to the City Park, which similarly to Herminamezô, was named after Archduke Joseph’s son Stephen. Following in the footsteps of his father, Stephen was the last to hold the title Palatine of Hungary. The main boulevard of the neighbourhood is Stefánia Road, which starts from the City Park, with villas belonging to high society built on either side or in the surrounding streets. Philip de László, known for his portraits of royals and aristocrats, who was also knighted by George V of the United Kingdom, had a workshop on the corner of Zichy Géza Street. György Zala, who sculpted the central figures of the Millennium Memorial at Heroes’ Square, had his villa on the corner of Ajtósi Dürer Row and Stefánia Road.

Today a smaller diplomatic quarter has developed, since six countries (Iran, Libya, Switzerland, Italy, Romania and Slovakia) have their embassies here. The neo-baroque structure of the Stefánia Palace preserves the aura of yesteryear, which was transformed from an aristocratic club and casino into a cultural centre cared for by the Hungarian Defence Force.

From the 1890s multi-storied buildings appeared in the area.

A fine example of this is the Hungarian National Geological Institute’s building, which is an outstanding example of Hungarian art nouveau and was built according to the designs of Ödön Lechner, who created his own style. Today the building provides a home to the Geological and Geophysical Institute of Hungary.

Olympic Centre, the Millenáris Velodrome was built in 1896, and is the only facility suitable for hosting adult track cycling events in the country. In addition to numerous athletics and cycling competitions, it also hosted the first public Hungarian football match in 1897. Later on the facility hosted the Davis Cup and ice hockey games in the winter. The velodrome The façade of the Radnóti Gymnasium

Photo: © Csizik Balázs

THE CENTRE OF SOCIAL LIFE, THE DIPLOMATIC QUARTER

ZUGLÓ, THE CRADLE OF HUNGARIAN COMPETITIVE SPORT Continuing on Stefánia Road, the south-eastern corner of Istvánmezô belongs to sporting facilities. Called the Budapest 11

lete, the boxer László Papp who was said to have the most elegant punch, gave his name to the Sports Arena next door. The enormous arena is suitable for exhibitions, horse demonstrations, musicals, and classical and pop music concerts.

INDUSTRIAL HISTORY AND LEISURE Zugló’s other neighbourhoods (Alsórákos, Kiszugló, Nagyzugló, Törökôr and Rákosfalva) are primarily residential.

The largest among them is Alsórákos, which is bordered by the Vác railway line on the west, providing the Hungarian State Railways with an excellent opportunity to create a transportation history exhibition. Since 2000 the Hungarian Railway History Park has operated on the site of the former locomotive shed, in which more than 100 rail vehicles, including many locomotive rarities can introduce the railways and its Hungarian memories. The park, which spans more than 70,000 square metres contains garden trains, horsecars, model railroads, steam locomotives and handcars. For more than a decade it has hosted the European Garden Train Convention and the Steam Locomotive Grand Prix.

Photo: © vasuttortenetipark.hu

gained its current form in 1927-28 according to plans by the first Hungarian Olympic champion swimmer and architect Alfréd Hajós together with Aladár Matyók. Additional stadiums were added near the velodrome following World War II on the former horse racing track. The Népstadion (People’s Stadium) was completed in 1953, and once had a capacity of 70,000. In 2002 it was renamed after Ferenc Puskás, the Hungarian footballer who is an Athlete of the Nation and is also considered one of the legends to have played for Real Madrid.

The stadium was known not only for national team matches, but also for world athletics competitions and concerts. The stadium has hosted concerts by Louis Armstrong, Queen, Genesis, Guns N’ Roses, U2, the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Depeche Mode, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Dianna Ross and Andrea Rost. The stadium is currently being rebuilt and is expected to be completed by the end of 2019, so that it can host matches in the Euro 2020 football tournament. In addition to the velodrome and Puskás Stadium, smaller sporting facilities such as the Aladár Gerevich National Sport Hall, the Körcsarnok and Kisstadion help professional athletes in their preparations. The other world famous Hungarian ath-

BALLET CLASS ABOVE THE CAFÉ

The maiolican decorative roof of the Hungarian State Geological Institute

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Photo: © Csizik Balázs

Photo: © István Práczky

Z UGLÓ

Located in Zugló (District XIV), the Hungarian Dance Academy is the flagship of Hungarian dance education. Its predecessor was the State Ballet Institute that developed out of the Ferenc Nádasi private school.

Ferenc Nádasi was an international star in the 1920s and 30s.

Following the Nazi rise to power, he returned to Budapest from Berlin, and rented the first floor above the famous café located in the Drechsler Palace, which is opposite the Hungarian State Opera. There he opened his own studio. The institute was formed in 1950 with the unification of the Opera’s school with the private school, which over time took over nearly the entire building.

With the rapid development of the curriculum, it became increasingly apparent that the palace’s proximity to the opera house would not make up for its lack of usability. In 2001 the by then Hungarian Dance Academy finally received a worthy operating location in Zugló.

The campus on Columbus Street has constantly expanded as the curriculum grew ever wider, and in February 2018 the Choreography and Dance Teaching Institute will relocate here. The institution will expand not only with new departments, but also new halls built for special requirements and a dormitory. As such in 2017 the famous college was upgraded to university status.

“It’s unique in the entire world to find the various specialisations of artistic training on the same campus”, György Szakály, the Dance Academy’s rector said. “Classic ballet, folk dance, modern dance and theatre dance, as well as choreography and dance teaching are all directed by the same leadership within the institution. The task is not only to ensure a unified requirement system and background, but for each area to receive equal attention and opportunities.”

The academy has successfully applied for grants from the Eu-

ropean Development Fund. Currently a 1.2 million forint real estate development programme on the basis of plans by Stúdió In-Ex will impact three building areas. Six dance halls, three classrooms, nine guest rooms, dressing rooms, departmental and administrative offices, public areas, a green roof and terrace will all be built across three levels in response to 21st century demands.

Szakály also spoke of how over the previous years the Dance Academy’s regional professional relationships have made it into a Central European education centre. A new development is that they will launch a cross-semester classical ballet-teaching master’s programme in Slovenia in collaboration with the university Alma Mater Europaea - Evropski Center, Maribor.

Similar dance teacher training was launched in the past in Zagreb, where the first graduating class recently completed their studies. International relations with the Far East and the United States are also expanding. According to the rector the best way to measure this is that all of the 40 students earning a degree in dance artistry graduate with signed contracts or continue on to the master’s programme.

Although their most important partner is the Hungarian State Opera, the Hungarian Dance Academy also plays a role in Zugló’s cultural life. Their own Nutcracker performances each Christmas are performed to packed houses at the on-campus theatre. The alumni and educators also regularly participate in the district’s Zugló Philharmonics educational performances, where they introduce the relationship between dance and music.

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Ballerina Lili Felméry on her years in school For the Hungarian National Ballet soloist Lili Felméry, her years spent studying at the Hungarian Dance Academy were formative. The multiple prize-winning young artist, who has performed as Marie in The Nutcracker, the title role in Giselle and as Snow White, highlights her excellent instructors and extensive training, and the joy that performing on stage provides as her most important experiences.

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How did the academy and its ballet masters define your relationship with classical ballet?

I owe a lot to my ballet masters. In my career, it is very important to work with the right people. I was launched onto my path by my ballet mistress Erzsébet Dvorszky. She taught me for six years and remains a role model to this day. She prepared us to maintain a great amount of humility, diligence and demanded that we give 100 per cent. She was an unbelievably inspirational personality! Self-confidence is important, but she gave us faith that we could achieve anything. Imre Dózsa, who is renowned across Europe and today teaches ballet, also spent a lot of time with me. I made it to every prestigious competition and course, thereby gaining valuable experience.

Consequently, I could see how fellow students from other countries were developing.

I saw struggles and rivalries that I gradually learned to handle. Of course, I also made friends abroad. These competitions contributed to forming who I have become today. During my studies at the Dance Academy, we were able to participate in countless performances. We performed The Nutcracker in the Thália Theatre, we’ve performed in the Castle Theatre, and the school also has a large theatre.

As students, we already tested ourselves in front of an audience on the stage. In addition to all the hard work, we got the chance to taste the love of dance and the joy that it provides.

You studied classical ballet. A speciality of the training is that other styles of dance are also taught to the students.

Yes, through the various subjects, we are able to explore other genres, such as historical pair dancing or folk dance or modern dance. I enjoyed all of this immensely, because I am happy to try other genres. It also helped bring the class together when we all had to work with something different together. We were also examined on these subjects, so we had to know them to a decent standard. But it’s also true that nothing made an impression on me like classical ballet.

As you mentioned, you successfully participated in multiple competitions, among which the most outstanding is the famous and prestigious Prix de Lausanne, where you finished first among the women at the age of 16. How did the Dance Academy help you in your preparations?

I owe a lot to my teachers, because they decide who is sent where. It means a lot if the academy gives someone a vote of confidence and allows them to represent the country and insti-

tution at an international forum. Naturally, a lot of preparation preceded these competitions. We were always sent on our way being told that the path and preparation is what really matters, independent of how we placed at the competition. Of course, I always tried my best to place as high as possible, but gaining experience was what was really important, the opportunity to dance and practice variations.

The nine years of ballet training require serious attention from both a physical and intellectual perspective and demands a person give their all. This does not leave much free time for students. How was this for you?

Yes, it’s frequently said that we miss out on our childhood. It’s a fact that from 8 in the morning to 7 in the evening we were in school being trained or studying at the Nádasi Ferenc Gymnasium. I didn’t desire to be on the playground; I lived my childhood in the ballet hall. That’s how my youth was happy, complete and whole, so I didn’t give anything up or miss out, since we never had a dull moment.

Photo: © Tamás Gács

“WE NEVER HAD A DULL MOMENT”

Photo: © Tamás Gács

Z UGLÓ

How well did the Dance Academy prepare you for the situation that you encountered in adulthood as a soloist at the Hungarian National Ballet?

When you graduate, you believe that you are quite prepared for theatre life, but in practice there are always surprises. There are many of us in a troupe, and during the practicing process everyone is responsible for themselves, they do not work as much with a dancer as they do a student in school. It’s also important to note that I felt at home from the first moment at the Hungarian National Ballet. It was a huge experience to step through the Opera’s doors and to hold the same pole in the practice room that so many other exceptional European and world-famous dancers had. In addition to this, ballet masters, colleagues and role models still keep an eye on us. The ballet director Tamás Solymosi who led my class did so much for us. He taught us what teamwork with a partner means.

What was your reaction to the upgrade of the Dance Academy, your former alma mater, to university status?

It’s fantastic that current graduates receive a university degree, and they can be very proud of where their school now stands.

If I were nine years old, I would still apply to it and would fight for the opportunity to earn a diploma there.

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Photo: © István Práczky

HE ADER

At Budapest’s gate:

Gödöllô Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Gödöllô is enjoying its fourth era of prosperity. Founded in the Middle Ages, the town was levelled during the Ottoman occupation before being rebuilt in the 1600s, with the town officially receiving its name in 1868 the year after the AustroHungarian Compromise. At the same time the Grassalkovichs’ palace became the royal couple’s summer residence. That was when its third era of prosperity commenced, which continued into the early years of the 20th century. Aladár Körösfôi-Kriesch, who founded the central school for Hungarian art nouveau along with a famous artist colony, took up residence in the city in 1901.

Following World War I this colony emptied, and Gödöllô suffered in World War II as the palace’s treasures were looted and horses and tanks trampled its English garden.

The main entrance to the Royal Palace at Gödöllô

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ROYAL RESIDENCE FROM WAR HOSPITAL Text: Zsuzsa Mátraházi • Photos: Gödöllô Royal Castle

Following the war an agricultural university was established in the town, which was expanded in 2000 to become Szent István University, thereby starting the town’s fourth era of prosperity. Gödöllô played an important role in 2011 when Hungary held the rotating EU presidency. Mostly restored to its former grandeur, Empress Elisabeth’s palace received notable international guests.

The inner courtyard of the royal palace

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A ROYAL RETREAT IN GÖDÖLLÔ

FOUNDED BY A SECRET ADVISOR

The cult of Sisi, as Empress Elisabeth was affectionately known, continues to this day in Gödöllô.

During the time of the Austro-Prussian War, she moved to Hungary with her children Rudolf and Gisela. At first they rented a villa in Buda, which Sisi found too small, after which the summer heat proved to be too much in Buda Castle. Sisi desired a countryside palace, and came across one in Gödöllô. The first time Elisabeth visited Gödöllô was when she visited the military hospital established in the palace’s riding hall to treat the injured from the Battle of Königgrätz. Emperor Franz Joseph’s oath taken at his coronation ceremony required regular stays in Hungary, and the Grassalkovich Palace, purchased by the Hungarian state in 1867, was given as a coronation gift to the emperor and empress.

The building was more than 130 years old at the time at the time of Franz Joseph’s coronation.

Construction on this estate was originally begun by one of the most prestigious members of the nobility, Antal Grassalkovich I in 1735, based off the plans of András Mayerhoffer. From the palace’s historical introduction available online, in ten years’ time the ceremonial hall and the living quarters that form a U shape around the inner courtyard were completed, and the Catholic church that exists to this day was completed by 1749. That is how Empress Maria Theresa must have seen it when she visited Grassalkovich in August 1751. The keeper of the crown has a large role in the empress’s accession to the throne, later becoming a secret advisor.

Grassalkovich’s descendants expanded and beautified the palace. The first baroque-winged stone theatre, which opened in 1785 and exists to this day, is the result of Antal’s son. The 90 square metre stage that gently slopes toward the audience was operated with advanced technology for its era. The stage’s spatial effect was achieved through movable wings as well as decorative canvases hanging from above, and it only operated when its builder resided in Gödöllô. The 24-member house orchestra that travelled with him also participated in the productions, to which local aristocrats were also invited.

The construction of the orange house is tied to Antal’s grandson, as is the transformation of the garden into the French style of the Versailles model. The ornamental garden was adorned with lemon, orange and laurel trees and soon became famous for flora that were special or rare within Hungary, as well as

for its statues of mythological subjects. A fountain flowed in the centre, behind which a hedge maze was formed. In the lower areas a vegetable garden, game park and pheasant nursery were established. The French garden was transformed into an English garden in the early 19th century by Antal Grassalkovich III and his wife Leopoldina Esterházy in line with contemporary trends. They preserved the wild chestnut row, but the new park no longer represented the nobility’s wealth, instead possessing romantic characteristics. Lakes for swans were also formed by damming the Rákos stream.

The palace entered a new golden age in 1867. In the main façade wing one can find the ceremonial hall which hosted balls and receptions, and it was from this hall that the four rooms that served as Franz Joseph’s residential quarters opened. It contained a smoking room, a bedroom, a working room and dressing room. Corn-coloured wooden panels and grey silk wallpapers covered the walls, which were decorated with hunting trophies and landscapes and still lifes from

primarily Hungarian painters. The furniture was upholstered with yellow leather.

Empress Elisabeth’s salon, writing room, dressing room and bedroom were characteristically in violet, her favourite colour.

To these was attached the reading room, where Ida Ferenczy introduced Hungarian volumes to the empress. The reading sofa that is part of the exhibit is among the palace’s original furniture pieces.

THE SISI ERA A cosy wooden veranda stood before the rooms and an arcade led to the riding hall, which was established by Empress Elisabeth owing to her well known passion for riding. The riding hall’s internal ground level was raised and a round manège de-

veloped, as large mirrors were erected around it. The empress’s front garden was planted with her favourite flowers, violas and pansies. The ornamental park was closed while the imperial family was in residence, but it could be visited at other times.

Sisi spent 2,000 nights in Gödöllô. Following her death in 1898, Franz Joseph visited less frequently, and for the last time in 1911. His successor Charles I (Charles IV in Hungary) had his first longer stay abruptly ended with the collapse of the monarchy on 26 October 1918. Thereafter Regent Miklós Horthy used the building as his summer residence from 1920.

THE DIRECTORS WHO SAVED TREASURES The palace was not significantly damaged in World War II, but the invading German and later Russian troops transported the valuable furnishings away or simply destroyed them.

A social institution was installed in the building, the director of which Dr. Aladár Ozory methodologically collected the 19

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SISI AND THE HUNGARIANS Vienna will also commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise when Franz Joseph and Elisabeth were crowned in Buda.

A temporary exhibit will be open until January 2018 in the Hofburg, where there is a museum dedicated to Empress Elisabeth’s life.

is a paw from Cerberus, and true to tradition, Franz Joseph riding onto the coronation mound on the back of a steed from Lipica. Some of this earth has been preserved and will also be on exhibit.

The pictures on display will bring the months leading up to the coronation closer, such as photographs of the imperial family in the park at Gödöllô with their children Gisella, Rudolf and Marie Valerie. The jewel of the series depicts Elisabeth’s coronation dress with Hungarian motifs.

Photo: © Dorotheum

Festmény: Georg Raab , 1867

The exhibit will be situated in the imperial residences, in the rooms furnished for audiences of the past. The curator, Olivia Lichtscheidl, said that emphasis was placed on Hungary and Elisabeth’s person. Following the toppling of the 1848 Revolution, Elisabeth pursued reconciliation

and urged the emperor to accept the recommendations for a compromise put forth by Ferenc Deák and Gyula Andrássy. As the curator said, what this revealed was how politically active the empress was.

The coronation in Buda was the result of the compromise, and it took place in the Matthias Church, which is why a copy of the Hungarian crown is exhibited inside it. Also on display 20

Elisabeth frequently spent time at the Gödöllô palace. Franz Joseph gifted a fine china porcelain tea set to the empress, which the Gödöllô Palace lent to the exhibition in Vienna.

For the first time a valuable letter written by Elisabeth in Hungarian can be seen. The addressee is unknown, but the words are warm. She regretfully declines a lunch invitation, and signs it as “Your admirer, Elisabeth”. This also documents her love for the Hungarians, Lichtscheidl observed.

A true rarity: the royal palace’s baroque theatre

records and photographs of the palace’s history. He tracked down and reacquired (frequently through adventurous means) the former furnishings. For example, it was in a small pub in Gödöllôthat he found the green marble table, on which according to legend Lajos Kossuth wrote the declaration that dethroned the Habsburgs.

An overhaul of the complex commenced in 1985. As part of the first reconstruction phase in August 1996, the main façade wing hosted the palace’s first permanent exhibit, featuring the ceremonial hall and the royal chambers. The museum’s current director, Dr. Tamás Újváry led so called “ruin tours” as a young tour guide in the rooms awaiting renovation. Even as a child he frequently visited the palace, singing as part of a chorus in the former social home. This old bond underscores his drive to see reconstruction works continue. At present 60 per cent has been completed, and there is hope that in five years the public will be able to see the palace in its entirety as Sisi herself saw it. Újváry plans to reconstruct the palace’s chapel with its baldachin standing on granite and marble columns above the altar.

What sets it apart are its two pulpits and gilded chandelier. He also looks forward to the renovation of the men’s baths and the orange house, where women awaited their romantic meetings.

But until then exciting programmes await guests from all over.

The exhibition “The Court is on the move! The journeys of

A detail of Sisi's violetcoloured salon

Queen Elizabeth from Madeira to Mehadia” can be visited until 1 October. In November the empress’s clothes will be shown in early photographs, as well as reproductions and original pieces. The Elisabeth Ball will be held for the third time on the eve of her name day on 18 November, at which the secretive Sisi herself will also make an appearance…

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HE ADER

A festival of new art

Photo: © Pierre Corvaisier

Nearly a lifetime’s worth of history stands behind the unique artistic platform that is the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival, which is known for its diversity and intense dialogue between various artistic genres.

The discourse between the creators, performers and audiences is especially important, and is of increasing consequence in the current international cultural-political situation.

A festival such as this integrates artists from both the region and from afar into its productions so that a new community is formed through the contributions of music, dance, theatre, literature, architectural heritage, visual arts, and people interested in new media and scholarship.

The festival introduces and supports new artistic methods, but presenting the works is only the most eye-catching part of the programme, for forecasting future developments is also exhilarating.

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Jacob Collier, 17 October 2017, 8 pm Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

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„BARTÓK A MI ISTENÜNK” Tan Dun’s musical language More than 100 contemporary and world music concerts, jazz and dance performances, visual arts and literary programmes await audiences at the 26th CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival from 6-22 October. The opening concert for this nearly three-week series of events will introduce the 60-year-old Chinese-American composer Tan Dun together with Concerto Budapest.

Text: Máté Ur

Tan Dun was 10 years old when the Cultural Revolution happened, and was sent to a re-education camp at the age of 16. He later achieved his goal of studying at The Beijing Conservatory, although his early music was considered too innovative and leading in spirit, so it was promptly banned. As a result of the political thaw in the 1970s, Chinese radio could play western classical music, which is how Tan Dun first encountered Eu24

ropean musical culture through Beethoven’s works. The dramatic and monumental character of Beethoven’s symphonies fascinated him. Tan Dun was driven by curiosity, as a result of which he left China in 1986 to throw himself into the artistic life of New York City. He wrote his first opera Marco Polo ten years later in 1996, which was a resounding success with audiences and critics alike, and two years later his next opera The Peony Pavilion was performed in Vienna. His 2006 opera The First Emperor was sung by none other than Plácido Domingo in the title role. Tan Dun is a huge fan of Hungarian art and especially Béla Bartók, who he said “is a paragon for his generation of Chinese composers, since he showed how important folk music traditions are, and how by taking traditional musical elements as the foundation, one can create with ample elegance and creativity to construct their own 20th-21st century musical language that is not typical of anyone else.”

We can experience Tan Dun’s relationship to Bartók at CAFe Budapest’s 6 October opening concert, since in addition to his own composition Nu Shu: The Secret Songs of Women, he will also conduct Concerto Budapest as they perform Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.

6 October 2017, 7:30 pm Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

Photo: © tandun.com

Photo: © 2015 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Tan Dun, who received an Academy Award for Best Original Score for 2001’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, is one of the most significant composers today. His operas Tea and The First Emperor have been performed in prestigious opera houses, but his work may also be familiar from the 2008 Beijing Olympics’ awards ceremonies, since the music he composed for the Games was played more than 300 times during the event. Born in 1957, he has composed since the 1970s.

Tan Dun’s instrumental works have a unique style, being a synthesis of traditional eastern music, American and European avant-garde. He only truly became famous, however, after the turn of the millennium following the composition of his Oscar-winning score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Tan Dun, who believes that film is avant-garde opera, grew up in a small Chinese village, where as a child he was amazed by the world of traditional Chinese Nuo opera, as well as the spiritualism and energy of ancient shaman drums.

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AI_AM: AI AM HERE A voyage into artificial intelligence Text: Ágnes Karcsay

Today people use programs based on increasingly advanced algorithms and commands.

These systems are capable of recognising faces, understand human speech, or can drive cars.

Although useful, they are fundamentally only tools with a limited capacity for execution.

This production, which is part of CAFe Budapest, dissects the question of can other forms of artificial intelligence be imagined that surpass even themselves?

Founded in 2013, AI_am is a unique international collaboration between a choreographer, an AI developer and creative technologists exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) and contemporary dance can inform and advance each other. (AI is intelligence created by a machine, program or an artificially created consciousness. The concept is most commonly associated with computers.)

The main protagonist of the performance is an artificial intelligence that attempts to understand human communication and interacts with humans through the aid of sounds, lights and motion signals.

Its knowledge constantly expands from the actions of those it interacts with.

rectly programmed for them. They learn as they go, but even then they do so only for a specific task”, he said.

The field is developing exceptionally fast. What is exciting in this technology, especially in light of the previous decades, is that many things have appeared that we never imagined would exist, but we now use them totally naturally. “It is likely that within the foreseeable future, in the next decade or two, there will be a system that will produce behaviours that we consider intelligent. The decision, of whether the given system can actually be considered intelligent, is in part perhaps philosophical, and not a technical question.”

With traditional artificial intelligence systems, it is well understood how the machine reasons and why it makes the decision that it does. The currently most successful systems are capable of learning and are very complex internally, and consequently it may happen that it is not easy to understand how it solves a task, and therefore it becomes difficult to predict when it will make a mistake.

In the piece the performers’ bodies and digital algorithms interact with one another. The production paints an alternative future, in which the dialogue between biological and digital beings is formed through a mutual curiosity.

Szabolcs Káli, a Hungarian researcher who focuses on theoretical neurobiology, considers it a good thing that the topic of artificial intelligence appears in artistic works, since people are surprised to discover that these systems are already present in some form in our lives and that they will have a great role in the coming decades.

According to Káli, the artificial intelligence systems that currently exist are not typically flexible in thought, reasoning or decision-making in various situations. “They are usually programmed for very specific tasks, such as facial recognition, textual understanding, driving or chess. They are intelligent in the sense, however, that not all of their decisions have been di26

The question, therefore, is how intelligent do we want these systems to become and how free should we let them be? “Scientists and engineers are capable of developing fantastic systems, the question, however, is do we want to use these, how do we want to use them, and how do we want to control them? I think that these questions are not limited to the profession, but that everyone will have to consider them on some level”, Káli concluded.

10 October 2017, 8 pm Trafó House of Contemporary Arts

www.bsf.hu Information: +36 1 555 3300 +36 1 269 0470

almost 40 venues more than 100 programmes

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A STRUGGLE TO THE DEATH Text: Rita Szentgyörgyi

Pál Frenák’s new choreography

Essentially, do you prepare the same work for each piece?

According to your critics, up to Tricks and Tracks, you prepared strongly autobiographical works, after which you turned to more universal themes. In Lutte, you presented the relationships between people and structures in power.

It’s much more difficult to immerse yourself in one thing than many things. It can be said of Picasso or Francis Bacon’s paintings that they painted the same thing throughout their lives, and they can be consistently recognised. Pina Bausch or Peter Brook also acquired information through their own experiences. In my earlier period, I worked through my childhood experiences of living in a boarding school, but even then I was not speaking of myself, but abstractly of the reality that I had lived.

You are famous for “shaping” your dancers like Pygmalion, considering their personalities at least as import ant as their technical accomplishment.

I am constantly launching the careers of young people, a new generation every two or three years. Everything depends on how willing they are to immerse themselves in the material. If they are not, sooner or later they will drop out. I awake each morning to once again question w h a t I’m going to do. Many leave the troupe because they are unwilling to accept outside criticism. Instead of the deeper path they go in the direction of superficiality. This is a profession or way of life where a person struggles to the death with themselves, and with what they take to the stage. ot

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Jó

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Photo: © Robert Hegedus

ti

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Frenák choreographies cannot be said to fit into any category. They search for the permeability of identity and gender roles through the language of erotica and homoeroticism. Are you motived to create a connection between the spiritual and physical planes?

Art and erotica are the same thing. The foundations of both are the vital energy system. I do not take the raw power of the body to the stage in full, I always only show details.

Ph

Pál Frenák left Hungary 30 years ago because he could not realise his unconventional ideas in contemporary dance. In 1999, he returned with the Compagnie Pal Frenak, one of the most widely touring dance theatre troupes internationally.

The dance artist and choreographer, who splits his time between Paris and Budapest, will appear with a new production at the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival.

You include sign language in the choreography, just as you do hanging from ropes or butoh dance. What can you reveal about your upcoming Japanese-influenced piece?

For ten years, I would spend months at a time in Japan, the first time as the winner of the Villa Kujoyama prize. I travelled the country, going to places where even birds refuse to go. Currently, I collect bamboos and watch Kurosawa’s lesser-known films to re-immerse myself in the Japanese way of life. The piece entitled HIR-O is in part inspired by the f i l m Hiroshima, My Love, and is related to humanit y’s self-destructive way of life and the nuclear threat. I would like to show the feelings and contrasts that I experienced during my travels. A lonely person in a bamboo forest, and another who washes themselves for a long time in the shower. The passing of life and rebirth are symbolised by the group photo, in which five troupe members dance with bamboo alongside eight graduates from the Hungarian Dance Academy. I would like for Katalin Lôrinc to join the production, whose fantastic presence and maturity provides much to the young dancers.

Recently, you staged The Wooden Prince for the work’s centenary in the Hungarian State Opera on a stage transformed into something akin to a slide and with a large number of performers. What preconceptions or traditions did you wish to deconstruct?

Ever since I began to choreograph, I have worked with the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s free association way of thinking. I approached Bartók’s music with my own system of structures. For a long time, I’ve wanted to bring to the stage a work with classical archetypes, but I lacked the courage to do so. A few years ago, I was approached by the Hungarian State Opera, and it appears I’ve arrived to that stage now. The original sees the actors from one perspective, while my interpretation shows their various sides. An additional important thought also appears, the idea that a person has a responsibility for what they create. Projected onto the present era, this corresponds to overconsumption, self-destruction and spiritual environmental waste. The performance raises many questions as to why we believe that we can create something then quickly destroy it with impunity? I don’t have an unequivocal way to end the story.

11 October 2017, 7 pm Müpa Budapest – Festival Theatre

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HOW THE KNIGHT KING BECAME A SAINT The underrepresentation of musical humour is remedied by two new Hungarian works at the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival. One takes place at the turn of the millennium in America, while the other, with music composed by György Selmeczi, occurs in the 12th century in one of historical Hungary’s notable cities, Nagyvárad (today Oradea, Romania). the rules, for someone to become a patron saint, they must first be canonised. The elite from Bátorfa (a nobleman on hard times, an expelled deacon from the University of Krakow, and the innkeeper’s wife and her daughter) push for a resolution.

They cannot fathom why something so simple is so complicated. The bishopric’s archdeacon throws this group out at first. He knows, however, that the Hungarian church is in need of another canonised king after Saint Stephen, and he also wishes to be free of the papal delegation, so he hatches a plan in which this group from Bátorfa can help by presenting the existence of a miracle before the church figures. They put on such a show that the papal envoys see a halo above the innkeeper’s wife’s head, which in fact is actually an intervention by the Virgin Mary!

The topic was also inspiring in addition to the challenges of the genre. “My father is from Oradea, and the cult of Saint Ladislaus was unimportant in our family. The delay in the opera’s premiere turned into an advantage, for now it can take place in the memorial year. If someone were to suggest that a comic opera about an upstanding figure is blasphemous, let me reassure them. The knight king himself does not appear in The Knight of the Blessed Virgin. The story takes place a hundred years after his death when he was canonised in 1192,” the composer reveals.

“This is a beautiful, linear story, which takes place in a single location. I absolutely wanted Eszter Novák to direct, since she so brilliantly teaches comical theatre situations at the Academy of Drama and Film. Máté Szabó Sipos conducts, and I consider him an excellent conductor, revealing how much he understands composers’ intentions in Spiritiszták. I’ve once again given in to my mania, since I composed it not only in Hungarian but also in Latin, taking immense joy in the process.”

Bátorfa, a small village next to Oradea, is building a church that they wish to dedicate to Saint Ladislaus. The villagers send a contingent to the bishop in Oradea, where a papal envoy happens to be in relation to Saint Ladislaus’s canonisation.

The envoys eat and drink, but are in no hurry. According to 30

TOLD THROUGH COMIC OPERA

Gergely Vajda and Mark Childress: Georgia Bottoms The humid atmosphere of the American South appears in the story of the beautiful blonde Georgia Bottoms. Its author, Mark Childress, was born in the South himself in the small town of Monroeville, Alabama.

Childress is primarily known for the film adaptation of his novel Crazy in Alabama, which was directed by Antonio Banderas. The heroine of one of his other novels, Georgie Bottoms, will take the stage at CAFe Budapest as part of an opera. Following the 2015 world premiere in Huntsville, Georgia, the opera will be performed at the Liszt Academy of Music.

17-18 October 2017, 7pm Müpa Budapest – Festival Theatre

Photo: © RebeccaNelson P&P

Photo: © Sitkovics Gaspar Foto

The result of an unintended and fortunate coincidence, the festival will feature an opera related to the knight king himself in the year of Saint Ladislaus (Szent László in Hungarian). As composer-conductor György Selmeczi revealed: “I was working on a different piece titled I was Carmen when my friend the author-poet Attila Béres placed the lyrics to the radio drama Knight of the Blessed Virgin before me without any deliberate intent. The words inspired me so powerfully, that I set the Carmen work aside (which I have since completed) and threw myself into writing music to the piece. It was unequivocal: here is the chance to test myself in the genre of comic opera. I looked forward to this challenge like a child, since looking at the previous 100 years it’s been a rarity that a score itself has contained the humorous moments.

A SMALL TOWN STORY

The libretto was written together with composer-conductor Gergely Vajda. “A novel does not contain every important part in dialogue form. Childress is an experienced screenplay writer, and knew well how to adapt the descriptive parts to the stage. Two new scenes were also written for the piece, since we saw that it would fit the performance, which will be about 85 minutes long. The characters therefore became more interesting, and we also solved Georgia’s dress changes, since she is on stage nearly throughout,” Vajda summed up.

The Hungarian composer (who was the music director for the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra) says of the libretto “I looked

into what operas are written about in America. Historical figures are popular, such as President Nixon (Adams) or Emperor Qin Shi Huang (Tan Dun). But the American South has some real dramas, such as André Previn’s adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire, or Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah. This world, that I myself know quite well, interested me immensely. In terms of the sound, the work naturally features a banjo, which provides the foundation for the mood. Country music and bluegrass are typical for this region.”

Georgia Bottoms supports her family and complicated life through the support of her more affluent acquaintances. The topic is not a happy one, but Vajda immediately imagined it as a comic opera. The world premiere justified his vision, as the audience laughed, but at the same time were proud that their world could be performed through the medium of opera. “My goal is not to create enormous laughter in the audience. There is always something sombre behind the humorous moments.

Childress can see the characteristics of life in a small southern town well, where formality rules over society, the women are very elegant and wear gloves and hats. Georgia is a positive figure, who accepts her fate and looks after her family. As they say in the South, they don’t hide the crazy member of the family in the back room, but place him on the front porch with some sweet tea. They’re more forthcoming than Northerners.”

The performance is in English because certain parts can be better expressed. The grandmother and mixed-race grandson constantly pester each other, and when they are arrested they are placed in the same holding cell. The grandson, annoyed with the grandmother, begins to rap. The tragedy of 11 September 2001 also becomes part of the play as expressed by the everyday person. The opera’s closing scene evokes Hurricane Katrina from 2005, also from an absurd perspective.

The title role will be performed by Rebecca Nelsen. The soprano is a member of the Vienna Volksoper, who displayed her fantastic abilities to Hungarian audiences in Péter Eötvös’s opera Lilith. Her son Nathan is performed by Keith Browning.

Both performed in the world premiere. The other performers were selected by director András Almási-Tóth from among Hungarian singers.

8 and 10 October 2017 Liszt Academy of Music, Solti Chamber Hall

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THE YOUNG ONES

Kata Scheuring

Text: Judit Petrányi

Young artists at CAFe Budapest One of the main purposes for organising a contemporary arts festival spanning many genres is to introduce a new generation of artists. Over the previous four years CAFe Budapest has not only given space to new artists, but has made the young musicians, dancers and visual artists a central part of the programme. They deserve our attention, for the achievements of 21st century culture will be produced by them, in addition to the middle generation currently at the height of their creative powers.

The Dezsô Lakatos Ablakos Scholarship, named after one of Hungarian jazz history’s outstanding figures, assists young musicians at the start of their careers. On this day at the Budapest Jazz Club a series of three concerts will see three great formations take the stage.

The first, beginning at 7 pm, will be the Karosi Júlia Quartet.

“I’ve walked a long road to my career as a singer, having discovered the jazz genre relatively late,” Júlia Karosi observes.

The singer already had a degree in aesthetics-philosophy before commencing her jazz singing studies at the Liszt Academy of Music. Her first record, the English language Stroller of the City Streets consisting of original works was released in 2012 domestically and in Japan. Her second record Hidden Roots consisting of new interpretations of Hungarian folk songs was released in 2014 by the New York-based Dot Time Records.

“My entire artistic career has been about redefining ourselves” – Karosi adds, with these changes enriching her October concert. For this premiere the Karosi Júlia Quartet formed in 2009 will perform reinterpretations of Bartók as well as the singer’s new compositions titled Words and Beyond. The latter speaks about the process where music departs from and surpasses the world of words.

Dániel Serei’s quintet will follow Júlia Karosi. Serei based his jazz percussionist studies upon classical foundations. Born to musician parents, as a child he studied the violin and classical percussion instruments before entering conservatorium as well as the Liszt Academy’s jazz programme, from which he graduated last year. He also writes his own works in addition to performing others’. Serei’s work “Mr. AC”, written in honour of the jazz bassist Avishai Cohen, won the talent competition held by the A38 events centre. (Avishai Cohen’s trio will also perform during the festival.) Dániel Serei performs with several bands at once. Of these, the Oláh Krisztián Trió made it into the top five of a European Broadcasting Union-organised jazz competition in the Netherlands last year. This competit32

The Ludányi Quartet led by Tamás Ludányi will close the evening. The saxophonist also developed his love for music and jazz at home. Ludányi studied in parallel in Budapest and Nuremberg, earning a pedagogical degree from the Jazz Department of the Liszt Academy and an arts degree from the Nuremberg University of Music in 2015. As a result of his growing popularity, he has performed many concerts over the previous two years domestically and abroad. His concerts are characterised by their high energy, creativity and exciting improvisation. The quartet that he founded plays mainstream jazz and is closest to John Coltrane’s musical tapestry. Ludányi also received significant recognition from Jazz/World, calling his Syrius Legacy project, in which he plays the alto and soprano saxophones, “the biggest new thing in the past few years”.

Syrius Legacy covers the works of the legendary Hungarian jazz-rock band Syrius from the 1960s and 70s. For their October concert, the Ludányi Quartet will prepare a new programme, which they also plan to record.

STUDIO 5 / VOICE / AIR / BREATH

Premieres for mixed choir and organ

Five young composers reached the conclusion that the time has arrived for change, and therefore they will do everything within their capacities. That is how Studio5 was born in early 2017. “What we saw,” the composer Máté Bella said, “is that composers in the 1960s and 70s focused on their works and not on audiences. Our generation has had to realise that their works are only played at contemporary music seminars, festivals, workshops or other professional forums. Our aim is to launch new concerts based on European and Hungarian

STUDIO5

Photo: © Zsofia Raffay

INTRODUCING RECIPIENTS OF THE DEZSÔ LAKATOS ABLAKOS SCHOLARSHIP

ion in Rotterdam was Serei’s first international performance, and his greatest individual success was the best soloist award received at the Jazz Combo Competition by the Hungarian Jazz Association. Drummers rarely receive such recognition.

Since 2014, Serei has been a permanent member of the Budapest Jazz Orchestra, and in the meantime formed his own group, which will take the stage for the first time during the CAFe Festival.

Saint Stephen’s Basilica 21 October 2017

Photo: © Mihály Kondella

Budapest Jazz Club 9 October 2017

from a technical perspective, nonetheless I can give more of myself with such pieces,” she says. Scheuring also strives to be multi-faceted, and will open her performance with a work by the Georgian composer Otar Taktakishvili. She will continue with a work each by the German Hindemith, the American Liebermann and the Polish Muczynksi, with Hungarian music represented by Dohnányi’s compositions. These are relatively rarely performed, but are nonetheless approachable works that listeners who are less inclined towards contemporary music can also come to love. “Since I do not descend from a musical family, the responses I receive at home mean a lot. If my mother listens to my contemporary concert as an outsider and says that she enjoyed it, then I can relax that the audience is also receptive to what I selected.”

Petôfi Literary Museum 9 October 2017

KATA SCHEURING’S FLUTE RECITAL Kata Scheuring is one of the most talented representatives of the youngest flautist generation. In April 2016 she played her graduation concert at the Liszt Academy of Music, but prior to this she had already placed highly in national and international competitions, while also performing abroad on numerous occasions. For the CAFe Festival she will naturally perform works from the 20th-21st centuries. “I like to perform such pieces, because although we also consider these to be classical, they are more multi-layered than a competition piece by Mozart, Beethoven or Haydn. They are much more difficult 33

Balázs Demény

Photo: © Balazs Borocz

International competition winners in the Vigadó Concert Hall 22 October 2017, 10 pm

BALÁZS DEMÉNY

Balázs Demény won the 19th Île de France International Piano Competition in May 2017. Although his most significant competition victory to date, it was hardly his first. Previously he had won the Hans von Bülow and Carl Filtsch competitions as well. The 28-yearold artist born in Cluj, Romania has already performed in the world’s great concert halls and festivals. Music is a family tra-

22 October 2017, 8 pm

ZOLTÁN FEJÉRVÁRI Descended from a family of musicians, Zoltán Fejérvári graduated in 2011 with distinction from the Liszt Academy of Music, where he has taught in the Chamber Music Department since 2013. In Hungary he studied under András Kemenes, Zoltán Fejérvári Rita Wagner and Dénes Várjon, while also studying for two years under the legendary professor Dmitri Bashkirov at the Queen Sofía College of Music in Madrid. Fejérvári won the Junior Prima Prize in 2014, finished second at the James Moltram International Piano Competition in 2010, and won first prize

at the Montreal International Musical Competition in May 2017. He has already received prestigious invitations, for the pianist who turns 31 this year is well known in Hungary for his concerts and as a soloist, and has performed internationally at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and New York’s Carnegie Hall. Montreal was the start of a new life and career path, which the artist is admittedly happy about and considers as official recognition of his achievements. Where to next? “I have more opportunities to choose from now. Perhaps I may place greater emphasis on solo performances as opposed to chamber music. It’s really important how I expand my repertoire, how I resonate with those periods and compositions that suit me, through which I can truly express myself,” he emphasised. He does not recognise boundaries in the canon of music. Fejérvári consciously plays nearly everything, from the beginning to the present day. What can be squeezed into a concert then? On this occasion it will be Beethoven’s Bagatelles, Op. 126, Bartók’s Dance Suite, perhaps because he performed Bartók at the Montreal competition, and Schumann’s Sonata in G minor, which he really loves. “I thought that this nearly 20 minute piece’s unbelievable momentum and passion bordering on madness is a great way to close the concert.”

The recipients of the Annie Fischer Scholarship in the Petôfi Literary Museum and Inner City Parish Church 18 October 2017

ADRIÁNA KALAFSZKY (VOICE), KORNÉLIA ORBÁN (HARP)

The Annie Fischer Scholarship aids young vocal and instrumental soloists starting their careers. Since it was launched in 1998, numerous young artists have received support, who have since become defining personalities on Hungary’s opera and concert scene. Two of this year’s recipients will perform a concert together.

Kornélia Orbán began playing the piano at five, and this early start served her well when she had to audition on a piano to study harp at the conservatorium. After two years of studying, she performed a harp concert in the Liszt Academy’s Grand Hall, after having won a national competition and reaching the final of an international one. Orbán completed her studies at the Liszt Academy in 2012 with distinction, and has received multiple invitations to perform at the International Harp Festival in Gödöllô, which resulted in more invitations domestically and internationally. She regularly performs together with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, also performing with the orchestra during the Budapest Wagner Days.

Adriána Kalafszky chose her career based on the years she spent in the Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir, and she received her diploma in classical vocal studies in 2014. Following this, she enrolled at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig, from where she will graduate this year. Her most recent years have been marked by earlier music. In Leipzig, she naturally studied Bach and a more recent interest: medieval music. A few years earlier, Kalafszky met the three viola da gamba musicians who comprise the medieval and renaissan-

Photo: © korneliaorban.com

dition, for his grandmother Piroska Demény worked alongside Zoltán Kodály, the music theory teacher, folk music collector and conductor, while his father was the composer Attila Demény. “Musicality radiates from each note that he strikes”, the Berliner Morgenpost wrote of Demény, the paper of the city where he lived and studied for six years.

Demény studied simultaneously at the Berlin University of the Arts and the Liszt Academy of Music, and is currently a doctoral student at the latter. He remains very enthusiastic about his vocation. “The path that a composer lays before us with his works is always exciting, and it contains puzzles that may be agonisingly difficult to solve, but when you succeed in a way that captivates the audience, it’s a great source of joy,” he confessed. Demény has a broad repertoire, and considers Bartók among his favourite composers, from whom he currently performs Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs and the Out of Doors pieces, which he calls “two stylistic eras, two different worlds”. He also considers Ligeti a favourite, from whom he’ll perform L'escalier du diable. From Kurtág he’ll perform three parts of Games, two of which he will dedicate to his role model, Zoltán Kocsis. And finally, a piece that will stand in contrast to the entire show: Haydn’s Sonata in D major. “Children also perform it, but it achieves a completely different understanding when performed by an adult. It reveals much more of itself.”

Photo: © Balazs Borocz

musical traditions that will form a bridge between tradition and progress at high artistic standards, and be music that can then reach a wider audience. We aim primarily to reach the youth, since they’ll be the music listeners of the future.” The members of Studio5 believe that contemporary music has much to integrate in order to be exciting and attractive. In a world where visual culture is increasingly forceful, it remains a serious issue as to what kind of technical elements can be used to make a concert enticing to an audience. “The basilica is an extraordinary location. It offers exceptionally exciting spaces, and we plan to fill these spaces with sound. For example, the choir, instead of simply standing before an altar or organ, will sing divided into groups scattered around the square as the audience will be in the middle. This will provide an entirely different acoustic experience depending on where the music originates from,” he detailed “In addition to choir pieces, there will be those composed for organ as well. András Gábor Virágh, the basilica’s organist will perform his own composition on this occasion, and a choir and organ will perform at times together, at times separately.

The motto of Voice / Air / Breath also suggests that in the choir pieces not only musical sounds, but various effects and noises can also be heard.” Within this unified concept the thinking processes based on various musical idioms from five diverging composers will be presented. It is precisely this kind of diversity that makes their programme fresh and exciting.

Photo: © 2015 Balazs Demeny

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Adriána Kalafszky & Kornélia Orbán

ce music-playing trio Ariadne Consort. The three musicians and soprano singer received the recognition of Jordi Savall and inspired the notable contemporary composer Barnabás Dukay. Dukay composed two pieces for Adriána, the second of which will be premiered at this concert. Kalafszky will perform an early baroque composer’s dramatic songs accompanied by Kornélia Orbán between the two Dukay works. The harp in this case will replace the lute, just as in the case of the two Dowland songs that will open the concert. Music from the 14th, 20th and 21st centuries will be performed, with four songs from the 1920s by the American Charles Ives presenting an entirely different atmosphere to the works from the 1970s by the Estonian minimalist Arvo Pärt’s Fratres, in which the harp will play the cello part. “I love experimenting”, Kalafszky declares in agreement with Orbán. As can be heard at this concert, she is excited to try new opportunities for the harp.

Contemporary music is not frequently played on a harp, and she would like to be the ambassador for 20th-21st century harp music.

Inner City Parish Church 13 October 2017 at 6:30 pm

ZSOLT MÁTÉ MÉSZÁROS’S ORGAN RECITAL Also an Annie Fischer Scholarship recipient, he was born in Miskolc. Mészáros studied at the Liszt Academy under the direction of László Fassang, János Pálúr, István Ruppert and Balázs Szabó. He also participated in masterclasses taught by Arvid Gast, Christoph Bossert, Hans-Ola Ericsson, Michel Bouvard, Ton Koopman and Zsigmond Szathmáry.

Mészáros is the organist at the Saint László Church in Kôbánya since December 2013, and is the répétiteur of the Saint László Choir. In addition to Hungary, he has performed concerts in Germany, Serbia and Slovakia. In 2017 he won the Annie Fischer performing arts scholarship for the second time.

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WHERE GENERATIONS MEET:

will be performed alongside those of Lajos Huszár, Péter Eötvös, Miklós Sugár, Gyula Fekete and Márton Levente Horváth.

THE MINI FESTIVAL Text: Szilvia Becze

Photo: © Balazs Borocz

Fotó:© Sebestyén Zoltán

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the Hungarian Musical Arts Association on the initiative of Zsolt Durkó and Attila Bozay, which has the aim of combatting the deterioration of public taste and to introduce Hungarian composers to local and international audiences.

Each year the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival provides special attention to the culture of a given country, and this year the focus will be on Israeli music and culture.

Consequently, the music of Yinam Leef, one of the most notable Israeli composers, will feature as part of the Mini Festival.

In Yinam Leef we have not only an excellent composer but also the rector of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. His oeuvre contains everything from intimate solo pieces to large scale orchestral works, which are loved by audiences and critics alike.

Balázs Fülei and Noémi Gyôri

The Mini Festival launched by the association in 1989 continues its founders’ beliefs. According to the composer Gyula Fekete, who is the event series’ artistic director, the aim is self-evident, that ever greater numbers of composers should appear at this four-day festival.

One could argue that according to public opinion, few are interested in contemporary music.

In reality, however, the number of attendees at concerts keeps increasing. This is also true of musicians, for although it is quite an experience to perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, an

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increasing number of musicians enjoy the fresh and unique challenges of playing contemporary works.

The festival pays homage to its founding fathers, as Zsolt Durkó and Attila Bozay’s works will be performed. What best reveals this “great immersion” into contemporary music is how in addition to the finest works by “older colleagues”, the youngest generation of Kodály scholarship recipients can also introduce their works to the public. That is how the works of Ákos Lustyik, Balázs Alpár, Bálint Horváth, and Nina Perovic

An interesting question is whether the Liszt Academy of Music’s Vice-Rector for Research and International Affairs watches a performance as a professional, or if he sits back, relaxes and enjoys the concert as a “simple” audience member. Gyula Fekete replied with a smile that for him the best moment is when he no longer has any responsibilities, only to hear the works performed during the festival. “I try to be an ‘average listener’ so that I can truly experience the festival’s atmosphere and quality.”

9, 10, 12, 15 October 2017, 7:30 pm Castle Garden Bazaar

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Text: Kornél Zipernovszky

This year’s CAFe Budapest Festival will feature a new jazz show by the legendary singer Thomas Quasthoff, the debut of the sensational Jacob Collier, long-awaited returns by the Avishai Cohen Trio and Children of the Light, as well as other prestigious events to make this festival one that is not to be missed.

LOOKING FOR TROUBLE One of the most widely-respected veteran jazz saxophonists, Wayne Shorter achieved new and previously unexperienced success with his regular band of ten years, in which Danilo Pérez tickles the ivories, John Patitucci plays upright bass and Brian Blade the drums. The three “supporting” musicians frequently tour on their own, and their name and the title of their first album is Children of the Light. Not only did this refer to Shorter’s old song by the same name, but it also suggests that there’s some form of youthful recklessness in their music. The trio bring an innocent and open attitude to their music.

Photo: © Bohemia Jazz Fest

With this in mind, Pérez directly stated in an interview that “they are looking for trouble”, when the trio plays, and when they experience this uneasiness, in that moment they look to dig their way out of it. Even without the presence of Shorter’s prophetic and intellectually curious “what-if” playing attitude, it is clear they like to take a free-roaming approach with no

concern about getting lost. Their music draws on a wide range of musical roots from gospel to bebop, but Patitucci nonetheless considers Miles Davis’s quintet formed with Herbie Hancock and Shorter as a frame of reference, especially if we also consider Coltrane with respect to this style. There is no reflective aspect to their music, even though they are clearly aware of the significance of their heritage, and they perform strictly 21st century tunes. Pérez, who hails from Panama, is a professor at the prominent Berklee College of Music. His most popular works as a solo artist are a synthesis of symphonic and Latin jazz trends. Since signing with Chick Corea, Patitucci has been one of the most in-demand bassists in the world and is now Pérez’s colleague at Berklee. He has released many albums under his own name performing his own compositions.

Blade is one of the most unique drummers in music, who perhaps could not play conventionally even if he wanted to. He is also active as a singer-songwriter, and has performed at Müpa Budapest before in this capacity, all the while receiving more invitations as a drummer than he can possibly accept. On one

BEING ONE DIMENSIONAL NARROWS YOUR TASTES

Photo: © Jazzfest Wien/Harald Hoffmann/DG

Jazz at CAFe Budapest

Thomas Quasthoff, who says of himself with self-irony “I think I am immediately recognisable to around 100% of the public”, in reference to his thalidomide disability (he is just 1.34 m tall), is one of the world’s most successful bass-baritones. A multiple Grammy Award-winner, Quasthoff has performed on the world’s greatest opera and concert stages. As he has said in the past: “Personally, it is very important to me to have a constant symbiosis between the music and the text. For me, there is often too much importance put on just 'beautiful singing.’” The 57-year-old Quasthoff’s artistic career is unusually multi-faceted. He has conducted for two years, with the St Matthew Passion being the first in his repertoire as a conductor. Ever since he retired from opera on his doctor’s advice, and for some time from concert podiums as well to preserve his voice, he has performed prose roles and narrations, collaborating in a three-person cabaret, which has a rich tradition in German culture (fortunately, he has since resumed singing).

It is worth noting that before Quasthoff’s career skyrocketed, he was employed full-time by Germany’s NDR public radio.

Quasthoff will arrive to Budapest with his third jazz concert lasting a full evening. Just as with prose and cabaret, jazz did not only become important to him once he was world famous, but much earlier. During his music studies, he also earned a law degree, had a civilian job and performed in nightclubs as a jazz singer and a parodist.

His backing band features the trumpeter Till Brönner, pianist Alan Broadbent, drummer Wolfgang Haffner, and other great talents who contribute to the exciting improvisations. In addition to the drummer, who has frequently collaborated with Tony Lakatos in Hungary, the band currently features Frank Chastenier on piano along with Quasthoff’s regular bassist, Dieter Ilg.

COOKING YOUR OWN STEW The emergence of the British teenager Jacob Collier was a huge sensation when he began publishing his own self-recorded covers to YouTube, in which he performed all of the singing duties and played all the instruments. This in itself would not be enough for such notable jazz stars as Quincy Jones or Jamie Cullum to call him a genius who has “talent oozing out of every pore”. The world’ largest video sharing site has produced many one hit wonders, but Collier established himself at 23 years of age. He prepares his own stew from any type of music. Although we can recognise every flavour in it, it is nonetheless sumptuous and can be enjoyed by all. It wasn’t easy to transport his home audio-video studio to the world’s largest jazz festivals (Montreal, North Sea and Copenhagen this year alone) and to perform this one-man production on stage. His guardian angel was Ben Bloomberg, an employee at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s media laboratory, Photo: © Courtesy of Jacob Collier

A SYNTHESIS OF STYLES

hand, the trio represents Shorter’s concept, stylistically performing exciting and engaging contemporary jazz that has garnered a fair degree of popularity. On the other hand, this is a group consisting of three exceptionally successful solo artists, whose own profiles are more apparent in this trio formation than in a quartet with Shorter.

Perhaps this explains the surprise he gave his fans ten years ago, when he first released an entirely jazz album, What Happens, on which he sang jazz classics fantastically naturally.

Three years later, he cast his net even wider to R&B, soul and pop, as he firmly believes it’s best to keep your tastes open.

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Avishai Cohen

Text: Szilvia Becze

According to jazz legend Chick Corea, Béla Bartók was in fact a jazz musician well ahead of his time, and whether it was his intention or not, his harmonies and rhythms had an inspirational effect on the genre. Bartók innovated and invented new concepts that can be incorporated into jazz seemingly without changes, Corea added.

Photo: © nikolettaszoke.com

The realm of world music is inhabited by Miklós Lukács, who exclusively plays his own works with his band. His latest album features two contemporary American stars, upright bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Eric Harland. Not much

The Opus Jazzklub will be the scene of a special collaboration when the Polish violinist Adam Bałdych performs in a trio with the Norwegians Tore Brunborg on saxophone and the pianist Helge Lien. Bałdych has a unique ability to prove that his instrument is suited to performing jazz and other contemporary styles in an exciting and surprising fashion.

József Balog, Norbert Káel, Jazzical Trió, with special guest Nikoletta Szôke

Photo: © cincerfoto.hu

Avishai Cohen, similarly to many other Israeli jazz musicians, is just at home in New York as he is in Tel Aviv. Since holding his masterclass in Hungary several years ago, he has also a built a large following in Hungary waiting to hear his new set. An Evening with Avishai Cohen debuted in Europe in May. While the percussionist Itamar Doari was already present for the previous tour that brought Cohen to Hungary, the pianist Omri Mor is a new member of the trio. Cohen also composes and is at home in various styles, in Arab and Jewish music, and occasionally performs in a bass and vocalist duo as well.

Under the leadership of Kálmán Oláh, Hungarian world music and jazz stars will collaborate for the CAFe festivals improvisational concert held at the Liszt Academy in honour of Zoltán Kodály. During one half of the evening Oláh will play with the classical clarinettist Csaba Klenyán as part of a duo, performing Oláh’s interpretations of original Kodály themes, as well as Olah’s interpretations of folk songs that Kodály collected together with Ágnes Herczku. The concert’s second half will feature the rarely performing Kálmán Oláh Sextet. This group of excellent musicians will also perform Oláh’s original compositions.

Photo: © jozsefbalog.com

MANY MORE CONTEMPORARY STYLES

THE EVERLASTING INSPIRATION

new can be said of Lukács’s virtuosity, for, in addition to Péter Eötvös, Mihály Dresch and Charles Lloyd he has captured the whole world’s attention with the way he managed to turn the cimbalom into a “universal” instrument. On this occasion, Harish Raghavan will fill in for Grenadier.

Photo: © Andreas Terlaak

who offered Collier his assistance, and together they developed a unified electronic system at the university, in which pre-recorded audio-visual elements can be seamlessly blended with live performances. But before live music fans lose their interest, it is also worth mentioning that Collier has collaborated on stage with the Metropole Orkest, Snarky Puppy and Take 6.

According to jazz legend Chick Corea, Béla Bartók was in fact a jazz musician well ahead of his time, and whether it was his intention or not, his harmonies and rhythms had an inspirational effect on the genre. Bartók innovated and invented new concepts that can be incorporated into jazz seemingly without changes, Corea added.

According to this, Bartók’s works lend themselves to jazz interpretations, but the situation is not as clear cut, the jazz pianist Norbert Káel explains: “I’ve played many of his works so that I could learn which ones permit themselves to be reworked and which ones don’t. There are many works that are magical in and of themselves, but are not suitable for free interpretation. But there are also the Romanian Folk Dances, or Sonata No. 26, which have a melody and harmony quite suited for reinterpretation.

Interestingly, despite studying the scores, this only became apparent when I sat down at the piano and played the piece”.

At the CAFe Budapest concert the relationship between Bartók and jazz will be revealed not “only” by jazz musicians, for they will be joined by József Balog, the excellent and well-known classical pianist who has performed in concert halls around the world. The friendship and professional relationship between the two excellent pianists goes back 20 years. On this evening Balog will perform the original works as written, while Norbert Káel’s trio with special guest Nikoletta Szôke on vocals will introduce the jazz interpretations. This project also performed at the Budapest Music Center in 2015, with the concert

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affirming to the musicians that it was worth continuing and developing further.

The Jazzical Trio originally consisted of Norbert Káel (piano), Péter Oláh (upright bass) and András Pecek Lakatos (drums), but at the time of the October concert Péter Oláh will be guest performing in China, therefore his role will be filled by Krisztián Pecek Lakatos, whose knowledge and professionalism will make it a seamless substitution. Nikoletta Szôke’s deep-toned jazz voice is also magically suited for folk elements, thereby providing an ideal voice for Bartók’s world.

Is an “officially” classical musician curious about his own abilities and boundaries? The question was: would József Balog be willing to test himself in the atmosphere of jazz? Káel was quick to respond: “I told him that he is the classical frame of reference, who will perform the works in their original form, while we will provide it with a freeform variation, although we will also play a few parts from Mikrokosmos, which will be performed with two pianos. This will allow Balog to dabble a little in jazz. It’s great to play with József, because in addition to his perfect interpretations of Bartók, he’s also capable of a jazz sound and improvisation. He gladly accepts the challenge, crosses the boundaries of classical music, and is willing to take a dip into the world of jazz.”

16 October 2017, 7 pm Liszt Academy of Music – Solti Chamber Hall

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SPACE, TIME, MAN Text: Györgyi Orbán

The Day of Hungarian Painting in 2017 will be entitled Transfigured Nature – Living Hungarian Painting and will be held from 15 October in the Budapest Bálna as part of the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival. The exhibition will run for two weeks.

told us, the industrial background for carpet designing has slowly disappeared in Hungary, with the factories in Sopron and Békéscsaba also closing down. The presence of small manufacturers, such as those in Örkény, Dévaványa and Kôszeg, does offer hope, however. For this reason, they will host the There’s Felt Here! programme within the framework of the carpet festival. The manufacturers will introduce modern carpet weaving techniques, and in addition to knotting and looping items made from felt, they will also exhibit items such as puffs, wall coverings, folding screens, sitting pillows and purses. The exhibit will feature works by 25 artists. Accompanying programmes will also be included to allow visitors to discover various weaving techniques or to learn the specialist vocabulary of the industry, including a presentation entitled Tér – szônyeg (Space – Carpet) by the architect András Szalai. There will also be an auction of limited edition carpets, as well as the first awarding of the Golden Fork Award.

Photo: © István Práczky

FLORA AND FAUNA OF THE JEWISH AUTONOMOUS OBLAST

District XI will play a prominent role in the Day of Painting events as this was where the programme originally started.

The district is home to many galleries hosting exhibitions, and one of these will showcase the works of the Munkácsy and Príma Primissima Prize-winning painter Erzsébet Vojnich and the Munkácsy Prize-winning painter György Verebes, along with gallery walks and workshop tours. The Open Workshops Afternoon will also be held on 21-22 October, and will be the 11th occasion that viewers will be invited to see what goes on behind the scenes and speak to artists.

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ANGELS, DOLLS, WINDOWS, STEPS AND GATES can all be seen in the images by Kossuth Prize-winning painter János Aknay from Zoltán Csorba’s collection exhibited in the Art9 Gallery from 10 October. Aknay was born in Nyíregyháza in 1971 but lives in Szentendre. He is a founding member of the Lajos Vajda Stúdió, and his work naturally fits alongside the names of Vajda, Korniss, Bálint, Barcsay and Deim of the Szentendre School. A recurring motif is Szentendre’s architectural flair and the town’s progressive artistic traditions. As the artist revealed, 10-12 smaller paintings, drawings, silk screens and a few drafts will be displayed from various creative periods in his life.

BUDAPEST IN 100 WORDS The Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library will open the Budapest in 100 Words exhibition on 6 October. The Mindspace Team advertised a competition for the fourth time in which appliPhoto: © István Práczky

This will also be the first time that a glass painting exhibition will be held, also in the Bálna, including an exhibition by art teachers, along with a separate Women’s Direction exhibition featuring works by female artists. A different exhibition will consist of 20x20 centimetre images prepared by 100 artists.

The first ever RUG ART FEST – In Tune with Rugs, a Festival of Contemporary Hungarian Carpet Designers will be held on 7 October. The Association of Carpet Designers formed in 2017 with the goal of popularising the works of Hungarians in their trade. Unfortunately, as the carpet-tapestry-weaving designer Gabi V. Lôrinc, who is the association’s vice president,

Photo: © Yevgeniy Fiks

A MAGIC CARPET IN BÁLNA BUDAPEST!

Photo: © LVG Textilart bemutatóterem és Tapestry Labor

For the occasion, the entire country will be depicted in paintings as visitors will be able to see at least 3,000 pictures as a result of collaboration with galleries within Hungary’s borders and beyond. The president of the foundation behind the painting day, György Verebes, is a Munkácsy Prize-winning painter from Senta, Serbia, and told Budapest’s Finest that he wishes to expand the event each year. This year will feature the first thematic collections on water, the environment and fish as a result of a competition launched by the Ministry of National Development, but the topics were not compulsory. The Ministry asked 25 exceptional portrait painters to paint the portraits of 25 marine biologists, which will also be exhibited. The Foundation’s most important event will the three-generational exhibition held in the Bálna Budapest, where the exhibition will show 150 works in total by artists under 40 years of age, others between 40 and 70, and some above 70. On 18 October, on the feast day of Saint Luke, the patron saint of artists and doctors, a celebratory awards event will be held in the Bálna.

This exhibition will open on 7 October in the 2B Galéria in Ráday Street. The exhibition will focus on Birobidzhan, the capital of the region established in the far eastern region of Stalin’s Soviet Union. As gallery director László Böröcz said, audiences can see works by the post-Soviet conceptual artist Yevgeniy Fiks, who was born in Moscow in 1972 and has lived in New York since 1994. Among the works will be his paintings, pictu-

cast bronze technology. Szlávics is best known for his series on birds, but he also crafted van Gogh’s oeuvre across 20 medals and also carves figurines from wood. According to the master himself, he’s moderately work-obsessed. Szlávics was born in Budapest in 1959, graduated from the Secondary School of Visual Arts, learning sculpting techniques in the workshops of his father László Szlávics Sr. and Memos Makris.

res, drawings videos and old documents about the Region’s capital of Birobidzhan. The Jews who were settled in the region drained the swamps and established wheat fields, but the region remains diverse due to its wildlife, forests and the Amur River. This Siberian region was designated for the Soviet Union’s Jewish population during Stalin’s ethnic relocations in the 1930s.

VIEWPOINT Entitled Viewpont, the “limitless” medal artist and sculptor László Szlávics Jr. will exhibit figurine clocks, structures and 6-8 other works in the Kiskép Gallery in Buda Castle from 6 October. The pseudo-machines he constructs examine the relationship between time and man. Best known as an innovative medal artist, he prepares his medals with ancient techniques or

cants could summarise in 100 words what they think of the city. Last year, there were 1,300 submissions, and this year a jury decided on the entries, adding a new 18-and-under category. The 12 best texts received contemporary illustrations to accompany them for the exhibit.

cafebudapestfest.hu

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Unique home textiles in FUGA

MEZZOFORTE SUPER-STRONG Festival concerts on the A38 Text: Vanda Görömbölyi

Text: Szilvia Becze

Since 2009 Szilvia Szigeti has held each vernissage together with Rita Góbi. The dance artist and choreographer considers it exceptionally important that her performances be accompanied by live music. Consequently Texhibition, which can be visited as a part of CAFe Budapest and Design Week is a truly family-friendly undertaking. The opening contemporary dance production will be complemented by the young pianist Rózsa Radnóti, who is Szigeti’s daughter with her interior architect husband Tamás Radnóti.

The organisers await visitors with home textiles that illustrate a variety of techniques and styles. Szigeti and Radnóti also envisioned the exhibition in an unusual format, as the textiles will be introduced through mobile installations. There is a practical explanation for this unusual method, however. Since FUGA hosts many concerts, they did not wish to permanently install the exhibition’s elements.

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The idea and history behind the exhibition goes back many years. The artist couple graduated from university as designers with the aim of becoming planners surrounded by a factory environment. But for this they lacked the necessary infrastructure. A textile artist has two options: to handmake their works, or to collaborate with existing or new manufacturers. With the absence of artistic groups, the latter option is not easy either, nonetheless Szigeti and her husband chose this option and long-term planning. Four manufacturers and 16 planners were invited to Texhibition, which was originally launched as a part of their own “madeinhungary” exhibition that has operated for 12 years and showcases Hungarian designers. Each generation will be represented by various designers, from those starting their careers to an 82-year-old legend. The youngest, Erzsébet Szabados and Daniella Tóth just graduated from the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, while the eldest is Emília Pájer, the Ferenczy Prize-winning textile artist. An international outlook is also important for the organisers, for the exhibition will also feature works by the Swedish Linda Svensson, whose works are carried by IKEA. But Christina Leitner, the artistic director of the Austrian Textile Kulture Haslach, one of the profession’s most important centres, will also be present. Naturally the aim is for the Hungarian designers and Austrian company to possibly collaborate in the future.

On 15 October a professional day will be held by the organisers, and within this framework visitors can also meet the artists. What is also important is that the exhibited works find their way to buyers. Szigeti and her artist colleagues would prefer if their work was not only exhibited, but that it also finds new homes.

14 October 2017, 6 pm Fuga Architectural Centre eventuell.hu

The A38 ship, one of Budapest’s most favoured pop music venues, will await audiences with special concerts from 6-22 October for the 26th CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival. In addition to legends and young international stars, two album premieres will also be featured.

© 2015 Mezzoforte | Ulla C. Binder

The Texhibition exhibition launched by Szilvia Szigeti will open on 14 October at 6 pm at the FUGA Budapest Center of Architecture with a performance of Textil-Tér-Tánc by the Rita Góbi Company. Since the launch of her career it has been important for the textile artist to integrate textile artistry into other artistic genres.

Mezzoforte formed in Iceland in 1977, and are celebrating their 40th anniversary with a large tour that will bring these music legends back before Hungarian audiences once again.

The four founding members of this instrumental jazz-funk group met as adolescents at a scouting festival. Although their career has had its ups and downs, overall it has been a tremendous success. They became widely known in 1983 with their song “Garden Party”, which has since become an essential track for every funk party. On previous visits to Hungary they performed not only in Budapest, but in Szombathely and Pécs as well. Therefore, if you’re looking for guaranteed good vibes and can feel the beat within your feet, check them out on 8 October at the A38!

Those more inclined towards indie-pop and music with vocals should check out Lola Marsh. This pop music group from Tel Aviv will represent their country, since Israeli culture is the international focus of this year’s CAFe Budapest Festival. Gil Landau and Yael Shoshana Cohen met at a birthday party, where after a few hours and far from the crowd Gil accompanied their singing on his father’s old guitar. Not much later they rounded out their band and began performing in Israeli clubs and bars. Their album Sirens was released in 2015 and their songs have had millions of downloads worldwide. Although they will also perform at the Sziget Festival, those hoping for a “dust-free” experience would do better to see them on 19 October, which is expected to sell out soon.

Remaining true to its name as a contemporary arts festival, CAFe Budapest places great emphasis on following international trends and introducing them to local audiences. Pia-

nist-composer Martin Kohlstedt is a German representative of experimental music, who will also perform at this year’s Eurosonic Festival in Groningen, and will introduce his new album at the A38 on 18 October. Considering his two previous albums Tag and Nacht, we can be certain that the musician who blends classical piano with the sound of the Fender Rhodes and wanders into the world of electronic music with his works will provide a truly unique experience this autumn.

Prior to the performance by the Lebanese singer Yasmine Hamdan during the Budapest Spring Festival, the audience at the A38 could see the Hungarian-Swedish Antonia Vai, who awaits audiences once again on 10 October for an album premiere concert as part of the CAFe Festival. The soul-folk diva is currently on the road to sing her new songs about her inspirations and experiences. Vai says that she’s got a nomad’s soul, which helps her find the ancient power in her heart and thus Photo: © The Imaginarium of Klara Fowler

TEXHIBITION

discover her path. One of the tracks on the new album written during her travels was already released this summer. The video for “Warrior Soul” takes place in Morocco, and faithfully depicts Antonia Vai’s world: the real, free-spirited artist, who is truly at home on the road.

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Budapest Guide For a liveable city

Even the most detached tourists find themselves praising Budapest’s beauty, geographic attributes and multifaceted nature. This is a good reason to feel proud, but it also comes with the responsibility of preserving Budapest’s good name.

Photo: © fokert 150

According to the opinion of notable city planners, a city’s liveability and a metropolis’s value is not determined solely by its buildings, but also by the spaces with various functions found between them. The Budapest Gardening Company in turn has worked hard the past 150 years to preserve the beauty of the city’s public spaces and parks.

Memories of the distant and recent past await discovery on either side of the Danube.

In Budapest, the past frequently reappears in repurposed form. Medieval buildings offer modern comforts, a fashion designer’s shop with bold lines operates in an art nouveau palace, a rustic pub functions in an apartment building on the Grand Boulevard, or a restaurant that offers bold new flavours from around the world.

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The Centenárium Memorial was erected on Margaret Island to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the unification of Pest, Buda and Óbuda

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BUDAPE ST GUIDE

A 150 year anniversary is a special moment in a company’s history, since few organisations last for a century and a half. This is a great feat especially in Budapest, which has seen so many changes, transformations and system changes over the previous 15 decades.

The march of time has left its mark on the city’s green spaces and trees, as well as on the Budapest Gardening Company.

BUDAPEST’S GARDENING COMPANY TURNS 150

Photo: © Fortepan.hu

Text: Gábor Rosta • Photos: István Práczky

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The forerunner to the Budapest Gardening Private Limited Non-profit Company (Fôvárosi Kertészeti Zártkörûen Mûködô Nonprofit Részvénytársaság) was founded in 1867, with the aim of aiding the development of the City Park and for managing its gardens. The City Park was Europe’s first public park, and these public functions drove its development.

The next important year was 1873 when Pest, Buda and Óbuda unified into Budapest, the Hungarian capital. By this time the Budapest Gardening Company was not responsible merely for the City Park, but for the increasing number of parks and treelined avenues. The company was led by excellent professionals, who together with the Royal Beautification Committee quickly increased the city’s trees, parks and flower gardens. By 1870 the company oversaw 1.3 million square metres of green space.

In the last decade of the 19th century, they achieved an enormous amount of economic, architectural, cultural and beautification developments, for as the city grew so did the need for more trees and parks.

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A huge undertaking during this time was the landscaping of Margaret Island, which bears the characteristics of an English garden, in contrast to the geometric forms of baroque gardens.

In addition to these grand landscaping projects, smaller parks and tree-lined avenues were also created, with the first playgrounds built after World War I. By 1939 the Budapest Gardening Company oversaw 199 public parks, 4 million square metres of green spaces, 86,000 trees on avenues, and 42 playgrounds.

During World War II and the siege of Budapest, 90 per cent of the city’s parks were destroyed, and 40 per cent of the company’s buildings and equipment. Repairing the war damage spanned decades, as shrapnel and bullets had to be removed from the trees, and hastily buried bodies had to be removed from the parks.

With the widespread construction of housing estates in Budapest in the 1960s, the related landscaping and afforestation demanded large scale developments. During this time 2,5003,000 gardeners worked for the company, as the 100 hectare FÔKERT 100 nursery was established in Tahi north of the city. By the late 1980s the area of green spaces overseen by 50

the company numbered 23 million square metres with more than 1.5 million trees. During the system change, the capital gave maintenance of a significant part of its green spaces to the districts, with only historical parks and trees remaining in the company’s possession. Among those to remain were Margaret Island, the City Park, Gellért Hill, Vermezô Park and many other historical parks, along with tree-lined avenues such as Andrássy Avenue and Szilágyi Erzsébet Row. Today, by using modern technology, machinery and high-quality development of tree care, the Budapest Gardening Company is ranked among the elite of European landscaping companies. Over the previous decades, city residents have become more ecologically knowledgeable and discerning in terms of city green spaces, since people can now experience the negative effects of climate change first hand. This is why the company is expanding its gardening capacity and has purchased replanting infrastructure for old trees, launching the “10,000 new trees for Budapest” programme in 2017, to further increase the city’s number of trees.

ment in the evenings. Another is the complete reconstruction of the playground on Gellért Hill. Furthermore, an open-air exhibition on the company’s history was opened on Városháza Square, which is viewable in English and Hungarian. Additionally, their website fokert150.hu launched a document and photo exhibition on the city’s parks and tree-lined avenues.

Development of the smartphone application BudapestGreen has also begun, which will introduce the city’s main parks, tree-lined avenues, botanical rarities and provide text and picture information on the capital’s green spaces. With the help of this smartphone application, the company’s 150 year history

will be easy to learn, but it will also provide much more useful information in Hungarian and English, such as where to find drinking fountains, public toilets, playgrounds overseen by the company and sporting facilities in the parks. An entertainment function of the app introduces the sights of Margaret Island through a game, through which you can collect virtual points by visiting different locations on the island.

The BudapestGreen app is not only for the jubilee year, however, for in the upcoming years it will be expanded further as a part of creating a modern, friendly and smart Budapest.

The company has many plans for celebrations this jubilee year.

One of these is the renovated light and music show at the fountain on Margaret Island, which provides pleasant entertain51

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DISCOVER THE CITY

A cultural walk will be held on 15 October from 3 pm to cover District VI’s Jewish memories including the Oktogon and Heroes’ Square. The meeting place will be Jókai Square before the writer’s statue. Near this location at Jókai Street 1 is a building that belonged to the Swedish Embassy, in which Raoul Wallenberg had an office during his efforts to save Budapest’s Jews during World War II. On 8 January 1945 the Arrow-Cross broke in and kidnapped 260 Jews, most of whom were shot into the Danube.

WITHIN THE CAFe FRAMEWORK Text: Györgyi Orbán • Photos: István Práczky

The Hungarian Jewish Cultural Association is organising walks to discover the city and learn of its past during the CAFe Budapest Festival running from 6-22 October. Their first walk will be held the afternoon of 8 October at 1:30 pm and will reveal the old Jewish Quarter.

Andrássy Avenue features the villas of the former Hungarian Jewish aristocracy, among which there were 15 yellow-star houses (designated compulsory places of residence for Budapest’s Jews). On the corner of Csengery Street stands a neo-renaissance building in which the House of Terror Museum operates today, which was the Arrow-Cross Party headquarters from 1937.

At Andrássy Avenue 67 is the building of the Old Music Academy, where the composer Ferenc Liszt once taught, who was accused of anti-Semitism owing to one of his books and connections to Richard Wagner. The composer and music teacher Zoltán Kodály, who saved his Jewish wife Emma Sándor during the darkest days of the war, lived at the circus that today bears his name. Those on the walk can also learn where the five statues of Habsburg rulers that once stood at Heroes’ Square disappeared to after World War II. The fate of Maria Theresa’s statue is known, since after renovations in 2011 it was moved from the Museum of Fine Arts to the Grassalkovich Palace’s park in Gödöllô. This statue of the empress was sculpted by György Zala. www.cafebudapestfest.hu

laid to rest here according to strict religious practices from the 1890s onwards. Every grave faces east, and all of the gravestones are in Hebrew. The descendants of Moses’s brother Aaron, the kohanim who perform priestly duties, rest in a separate lot, and their gravestones feature hands giving blessings.

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The old Jewish Quarter developed at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, alongside the road that led to the Danube crossing. The quarter’s centre was Király Street in today’s District VII, since a 1781 decree by Emperor Joseph II allowed Jews to move into the city. At first they moved to Madách Square into the huge apartment building owned by the Orczy barons from Óbuda, but others arrived from Moravia or Galicia (this building was demolished in 1936).

Sebestyén Street Synagogue designed by the famous Austrian architect Otto Wagner, who was one of the leading figures of Viennese art nouveau, as is the Kazinczy Street Synagogue designed by the Löffler Brothers, which is the centre of the Orthodox community. The walk organisers ask men to bring something with which to cover their heads and for women to bring headscarves. The meeting point is in front of the Örkény Theatre at Madách Square 6.

The area bordered by Király Street, Csányi Street, Klauzál Square, Kisdiófa Street, Dohány Street and Károly Boulevard became a thriving commercial centre. It was in this area that the ghetto was established in 1944 during World War II, where 70,000 people were forced to live. The temples and halls for the Neolog and Orthodox communities were also built here, such as the Great Synagogue in Dohány Street, the Heroes’ Temple and Goldmark Hall. Located nearby is the Rumbach

In Buda in District XII an hour-long tour in English and Hungarian will show the Csörsz Street Orthodox Cemetery on 8 October at 4 pm. The meeting location will be in front of the MOM Cultural Center, and head coverings for men and women are again necessary.

It is a rare occasion that this closed cemetery will be opened.

This is one of Buda’s oldest Jewish cemeteries, with people

A two-hour-long tour titled “The Városmajor with Jewish Eyes” will be led on 15 and 22 October at 2 pm in English and Hungarian. Participants will meet at the Jesus’s Heart Church (District XII, Csaba Street 5), and both men and women should bring something with which to cover their heads.

Városmajor Park was from 1944-45 the scene of atrocities committed during the fascist Arrow-Cross Party’s reign of terror. Under the leadership of the former monk “Father” Kun, on 14 January 1945 the Arrow-Cross broke into the Dávid Bíró Orthodox Sanatorium and Hospital at Városmajor Street 6466 and butchered 160 patients, doctors and nurses. They then looted the building before setting it alight with the bodies of the dead inside. This group had already attacked the nearby Buda Jewish Health Institute on 12 January 1945, killing 100 patients and doctors. On 19 January 1945 they killed 90 elderly people and their caretakers at the Orthodox nursing home operating in the villa at Alma Street 2. Most of these dead were laid to rest in the Csörsz Street Cemetery.

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A HOUSE WITH STORIES TO TELL

St. George Residence Hotel Deluxe Text: Rita Szentgyörgyi • Photo: © www.stgeorgehotel.hu

The St. George Residence Hotel Deluxe opened ten years ago, in one of the city’s tourist centres in the Buda Castle District that is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Budapest’s first luxury apartment hotel has previously been declared one of Europe’s top 100 boutique hotels.

Work on the façade was based on scholarly research. The stone structure, carved gilded doors and ceramic furnaces on bronze foundations were all recreated.

Today’s Fortuna Street, formerly Középsô Street, was one of the main roads in the castle. The first written records of the building’s medieval foundations date back to 1310, and the building’s history is tightly bound to important events in the country’s past. According to the latest research and most recent book on the Castle District, this was the site of the first Hungarian headquarters of the Benedictine Order.

The building received its late baroque and zopf appearance in the early 1600s, and in the 18th century the first officers’ guesthouse and restaurant operated inside it. The city purchased the building in 1784 and converted it into a guesthouse and café.

The Fortuna Guesthouse that operated on the site until 1868 was a centre of social life in Buda and provided notable domestic and international travellers and distinguished persons with a place to stay. In November 1788 Holy Roman Emperor and Hungarian King Joseph II also rested within its walls.

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For a time the building also functioned as an important intellectual centre, as the meeting location for the representatives of the Hungarian Jacobin movement. In the 19th century the building’s primary guests consisted of high-ranking merchants. Following repairs to the extensive damage suffered during World War II, from the mid-1960s to 2004 the building housed the Hungarian Museum of Trade and Tourism. (The institution is located in Óbuda today.)

The year 2005 was a milestone in the Fortuna House’s history, for the privatised building’s reconstruction into an apartment hotel began. The building was renovated following 15 months of intensive work based on plans by the architect Ilona Kremnicsán. Preserving its listed status, the building’s outer architecture, decorative painting and interior spaces were restored in the architectural style of the latter half of the 19th century.

The five-star hotel named after St. George Square and the statue of him located nearby opened its doors in 2007, and is at once homely, intimate, romantic and elegant. With its 26 rooms that also contain kitchens the hotel provides an ideal temporary residence for businesspeople, families and discerning tourists. Four ground-level apartments look onto the quiet courtyard, with 14 apartments on the first floor and 8 in the mansard roof, all of which are of varying size from 40-100 square metres. Each residence’s furnishings evoke a different mood and colour palette, with the majority containing empire-style furniture. The recently departed Roger Moore and many other famous guests have spent a night in the St. George.

The restaurant located on the ground floor of the hotel offers a unique environment with its paintings that are hundreds of years old as well as its gothic dining boxes. The hall on the

northern side of the gate is decorated with a landscape featuring exotic plants, cacti and birds based on the fresco remnants that were found there. The Gold Aries and Mirror banquet halls are furnished to be in harmony with the exterior’s zopf style. The hotel’s Medieval Wine Cellar evokes the era of knights and offers an excellent location for celebrations, company banquets or receptions. During archaeological excavations nine steps were discovered that connect the cellar to the underground cave system, which according to legend leads to the Danube. This has long since been walled in by the owners, who said they would rather not discover any skeletons…

For the first two years the St. George Restaurant’s culinary character was defined by Hungarian cuisine under the direction of multiple Oscar Prize-winning chef István Lukács and the Légrádi Brothers, with international dishes added to the menu more recently. One of the restaurant’s specialities is a soup consisting of five types of forest mushrooms, which is based on István Lukács’s recipe. One of the notable parts of the St. George Hotel is the 150-year-old Bakator grapevine that was preserved during restoration works. The house wine is produced from this ancient Hungarian grape variety, with 2,500 bottles produced annually. The Bakator variety provided the inspiration for the Saint George Wine Order, which currently has 22 members, among them writers, scholars and medical professors. Induction into the wine order takes place in the St. George’s cellar in ceremonial dress that evokes the renaissance style of King Matthias’s era. The St. George Wine Order’s motto is “Finis coronat opus” (“the end crowns the work”). As Hungary’s oldest guesthouse, the St. George Residence Hotel Deluxe was recently added to the collection of Hungaricums (things that are quintessentially Hungarian). stgeorgehotel.hu

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EUROPE AND ASIA MEET ON YOUR PLATE Text: Szonja Somogyi • Photo: © PIXELTASTER

Why should tourists leave Budapest’s most popular central destinations in downtown Pest, such as the nightlife quarter or the amazing embankment with its views onto Buda’s historical wonders?

To experience all the amazing places located just across the river, that’s why. In addition to the Castle District and the Castle Garden Bazaar, Buda is also home to Fáma, which opened its doors in May and serves European-Asian fusion cuisine to those with refined culinary tastes.

The restaurant’s chef Krisztián Huszár was not following trends, such as the recent explosion in the popularity of Asian cuisine in Budapest, when he decided to favour Asian fusion.

He prepares his dishes using the experiences he gained during a recent trip of several months to explore Asia, as well as the many years that preceded it working at Michelin-starred restaurants. “I love Asian flavours, spices, the mood, all of it,” Huszár says enthusiastically. Huszár is planning another trip eastward to obtain new impulses, for the chef has a passion for cooking from the heart.

Upon entering the restaurant, this whimsy is not immediately apparent as the location’s interior created by Oszkár Vági is characterised by its clean design. The warmth of the wood is complemented by deep grey and copper tones, while the lush vegetation that evokes the atmosphere of a humid jungle adds 56

to the sense of calm and homeliness. This is all heightened by the fact that we find ourselves in the open kitchen as soon as we enter, where the staff are hard at work in sight of the guests seated nearby. In fact, people walking by outside on the street can even peek inside to see the confectioners at work.

The culinary masterpieces that make it onto the plates are the brainchildren of Huszár and his team. According to the chef, the meals are prepared instinctively, and are just Asian or European enough to ensure one does not dominate the other.

Naturally, some of the ingredients are sourced internationally.

Huszár revealed he has forged strong contacts with fantastic Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese importers. Nonetheless, he tries to source as much as possible locally, and the cheese plate served as dessert exclusively features cheese from Kozmadombja in Zala County.

The reason the ingredients play such a significant role at Fáma is because they form the foundation for what the chef will produce. As a result, the menu may change weekly or even daily depending on which are the finest ingredients available at the given time.

Open from Tuesday to Saturday, the restaurant has separate lunch and dinner menus to accommodate different needs.

Lunch has a three-course meal, with main dishes including pan-fried duck foie gras with mango salad and crispy roast pork with tarragon beans. Three, four, five or six course meals can be chosen for dinner.

According to Huszár, the necessity of European-Asian fusion cuisine arises because “Europe needs a little Asia, and Asia needs a little Europe”, to jazz things up and liberate the dishes from the boring and standard world of regional gastronomy. In Huszár’s dishes, Asian flavours do not “erupt” in our mouths.

Frequently the Asian influence is limited to a spice or two, or simply a method of preparation. Nonetheless, these elements are an organic part of every dish.

One example is the pressed suckling pig, which, after several hours of sous vide preparation, is cooked in a ramen soup. The unique combination of spices brings out the meat’s flavour in fascinating new ways. The meat is served with capers, ramson caviar, French pickled cucumbers and the citrus-based Japanese sauce ponzu.

To whom would we recommend Fáma? For those who’ve grown tired of the downtown bustle and are looking for somewhere nearby to discover culinary delicacies in the form of pleasantly surprising and playful lunches and dinners. The only thing certain to not cause any surprises is the quality of the food and professionalism of the staff.

famabudapest.hu

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BUDAPEST’S BEER REVOLUTION

Hungarian craft beers on tap downtown Text: Szonja Somogyi • Photo: © Rizmajer & Co. Ltd.

If you’re looking for craft beers tapped straight from the cellar and prepared with traditional methods, you don’t have to travel far in Budapest. Earlier this year the Rizmajer Craft Beer House opened on one of the capital’s busiest boulevards, so that we can now sample Hungarian beer culture (and its accompanying culinary delights) in one of the most bustling parts of the city.

CORTEZ, CINGULUS, ÉDES ÉLET Everyone can find something to their liking in this 350-square-metre beer house, which has 18 beers on tap drawn from the cellar immediately below. Those wishing to take a beer for the road can choose from among the bottled varieties and flavours in the massive refrigerators by the entrance.

“If you have 18 beers on tap, you also have to take responsibility for the one consumed the slowest. It was important that we be able to preserve quality, which is why we developed a system that cools the cellar to 9 degrees Celsius,” József Rizmajer, who founded and owns the beer house, told Budapest’s Finest.

He added that beneath the bar they use the same cleaning procedure used at the Rizmajer Brewery in Csepel, which also circulates the beer.

Among the beers on tap the usual types can always be found: lager, hefeweizen, porter, honey-orange ginger beer, cognac 58

sour cherry and plum. But visitors can also find cider, Rizmajer’s own lemonade and 1-2 guest beers as well. According to Rizmajer, these are “colleagues” brewed by other Hungarian brewers and are the best of the current crop.

The Rizmajer Brewery established in 1994 has placed quality above all else. The family-owned and operated brewery is located in Csepel, one of Budapest’s outer districts, where they annually brew 2-3,000 hectolitres of beer from natural ingredients via traditional methods. Those who visit the brewery can see how the individual drinks are prepared. As Rizmajer stated, originally they only wished to supply their own store with quality beer, but with the “beer revolution” commencing in the early 2010s they added a visitor facility to the brewery.

As demand grew for the beers to become available downtown, they decided to open their own beer house this year on József Körút.

Over the previous 20 years the brewery has prepared 25-30 types of beer, among which the favourites make a return from time to time, and depending on guest responses may become permanent fixtures. Among the most popular are the Cortex corn beer, the rum-plum beer or the Cingulus porter. The Maibock is available seasonally, as is the Märzen and the chocolate stout named Édes Élet (“Sweet Life”).

Ordering is only possible at the bar at the Rizmajer Beer House. Those sitting upstairs may feel a bit uncertain about walking down the spiral staircase after a few beers, however, but not to worry, from this autumn they will introduce the opportunity to self-pour on a card-based system, as three taps will be installed upstairs that can keep track of the beers con-

TAPPING FOR YOURSELF – INNOVATIONS IN THE BEER HOUSE The beer house is located on the route of the famous 4-6 tram line, near the Blaha Lujza Square station of metro line 2, which makes it easy for tourists to locate. The three-level pub’s ground floor has large spaces and entices those looking for a refreshing drink. On one side you can find boxes that bring back memories of travelling by train, while in the back a beer festival atmosphere permeates with its long tables and chairs suitable for larger groups. The minimalist wooden style is pierced by the spiral staircase that leads upstairs or down to the cellar.

In addition to beer the Rizmajer Beer House also features an open kitchen that serves not only the usual accompanying bites such as warm sandwiches, pretzels or fries, but they also serve enormous hamburgers and schnitzels, grilled cheese and roasted chicken breast. In fact, you can also order the famous Hungarian fried dough “lángos” which is currently taking the world by storm.

sumed. According to plans the cards will also become available for use at the downstairs bar, and will thus be a great gift for your beer loving friends.

rizmajersor.hu

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FANTASTIC SIMPLICITY Text: Ágnes Karcsay • Photos: NON+

The NON+ fashion label was founded eight years ago as a hobby, but since then has grown into a serious business.

Today every decision, collection, communications material and appearance is the result of conscious planning.

“We’ve completely transformed and therefore everything happens in a much more efficient and professional manner. The NON+ label is wholly privately owned, and my work is supported by two store managers, sales representatives and business and marketing directors. That’s the whole team,” Sarolta Kiss, NON+’s designer sums up the label’s story.

NON+ clothes are comfortable, practical and easy. Kiss works with excellent quality and durable materials, manufactures in Hungary and works with Hungarian seamstresses.

“The style is consistent: this is me, this is what I can credibly convey. A low-key sporty and refined elegance is typical. The items provide endless opportunities for mixing and matching,” the young designer said of her label’s characteristics.

And, in light of this, what kind of woman wears NON+ clothes?

According to Kiss they are fastidious, knowledgeable, confident, vivacious, comfort-loving and open to uniqueness. Feminine but at once sporty, creative, not one to follow trends, but long-term thinking, opinion-leading and ambitious. “The inspiring ‘message’ hidden in the clothes for a given collection is very important. These words and sentences symbolise my state of mind and path, where I currently stand or what I’ve gone through,” Kiss explained. According to the designer, these mottos fill each item of clothing with spiritual content and energy.

The label works according to the slow fashion concept. “If you purchase a NON+ item, you can wear it for many years to come.

The label represents lasting values and a unique style in the fashion world”, she adds. This refined and delicate elegance is evident not only in Kiss’s clothes but also in all of her work. This style is also typical of her in her work as a graphic artist and interior decorator. “I love simplicity, for me less is more. What’s important is finding the simple foundation, and for the wearer to be a person who dresses themselves according to how they want to dress. They can make a given set sportier, but with high heels or jewellery it can become elegant,” Kiss lists the possibilities, adding that the combined effect is good in everything so long as it is not overcomplicated. “That is what I consider valuable.

Simplicity that is also fantastic,” she underscores. Although she keeps up-to-date on trends, they only impact her minimally,

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since she has a specific idea of what she would like to achieve and what is like her. In this she is unwilling to compromise.

NON+ clothes are currently available in MOM Park and in the elegant showroom that opened on Andrássy Boulevard. An organic part of the label’s image is personal attention to detail, which customers can experience during their shopping experience. The barely noticeable plus symbol on the clothes also declares that the wearer purchased it outside of everyday surroundings and received excellent service. Naturally clothes can also be purchased online. In the latter case customers may have to wait up to two weeks for their clothes to arrive, but it may be as little as one or two days.

Kiss is currently working on the final parts of the autumn 2017 collection, all the while already beginning her designs for the spring collection. Since there is much more to a collection than designing it, such as photography, graphical materials, decorations and appearances, they are usually finished with everything by the end of the previous season. The next significant step in the label’s history will be its entry into the international market, on which the team has expended a considerable amount of work, and of which

Kiss says “it will soon come to fruition”.

The designer is inspired by calmness, quiet, waves, rain, wind and balance. She enjoys walking in nature, practicing yoga and relaxing. Calm is essential for Kiss. Following busy weekdays she heads out into nature on the weekends or into the kitchen, because cooking is also a way for her to unwind.

Kiss considers Budapest a “small wonder”. “I love the bridges, Pest and Buda’s multi-faceted nature, and the many small designer shops that have popped up across the city. It is absolutely worthwhile to wander around downtown and after down to the Danube, across to Buda, and then up north to Szentendre or Kisoroszi. From a culinary perspective the choices are endless.

And, if a foreigner makes it to Badacsony or the Balaton hills, that is also great way to relax,” she concludes. nonplusz.hu

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THE FIRST 25 YEARS Photo: © István Práczky

Kempinski’s anniversary in Budapest

The Kempinski Hotel Corvinus will surprise guests and partners this jubilee year with numerous cultural and culinary programmes, one of which will be an exhibition this autumn in Tihany of the hotel’s most beautiful artworks, and another will be its concert series held in the hotel café on Saturday afternoons this September featuring students from the Liszt Academy of Music.

Photo: © Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest

Berthold Kempinski founded his business selling wine and operating a delicatessen in Berlin in the 1870s. From this he developed his fundamental principle, an exclusive hotel chain based on the societalisation of luxury, which established new standards in hospitality.

The Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest opened its doors in 1992 in the heart of the Hungarian capital next door to buildings dating to the time of the monarchy. It is embodied by its four pillars: aesthetics, gastronomy, culture and joie de vivre, which are the foundations of the Kempinski philosophy.

This April Kempinski Hotels celebrated 120 years of providing guests with a unique and elegant experience. In Budapest, however, it is a double anniversary, for the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest opened 25 years ago.

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The hotel has 349 spacious rooms and suites, Central Europe’s first Nobu Restaurant, and has a visual arts collection of Hungarian works that decorate the common spaces and rooms. It is among the first to adopt state of the art technologies from electronic vehicle charging stations to the iFace mirrors in the elevators and common areas.

The rooms are decorated with Áron Gábor’s lithographies and István Orosz’s engravings, which are variations of the same theme: Orosz’s engravings were inspired by pictures from the previous century. The original works of art placed in the rooms reflect the hotel’s dedication to the arts: this is the only luxury hotel in Budapest to possess its own Hungarian contemporary art collection.

The lobby, renovated under the direction of MKV London, which was founded by the star designer Maria Vafiadis, makes an immediate impression on arriving guests with its nine-metre-tall interior space. As a result of the renovations, the two

imposing columns that greet visitors take on a majestic and statuesque shape, the smooth surface of which sparkles in the light. This harmonious space provides a home to the modern café The Living Room, Blue Fox The Bar which serves imaginative cocktails, gourmet burgers and employs its own “music sommelier”, as well as the laid-back and informal ÉS Bisztró.

In its appearance, the bistro conjures a rural mansion’s kitchen or a family restaurant. The menu is divided into three sections: first the snacks, then the meals based on typical Hungarian and Viennese dishes, and finally grilled foods. This culinary experience is completed with fine wines and craft beers. ÉS also serves the hotel’s speciality, the buffet breakfast consisting of 100 different items.

Nobu Budapest is the first Central European member of the global Nobu chain of restaurants, and is accessible from the lobby or the street. Nobu Matsuhisa’s new-style Japan cuisine has become one of the most sought after culinary experiences around the world. The head chef of the Budapest restaurant is Gábor Schreiner, who is responsible for introducing guests to Japanese-Peruvian cuisine, while the menu also features Hungarian items. One such example is goose liver with polenta croquettes.

Over its previous 25 years the hotel has hosted a countless number of celebrities, including Formula 1 drivers such as Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Gerhard Berger, Nelson Piquet, Kimi Räikkönen, Damon Hill, David Coulthard and Felipe Massa.

Notable figures from music and film have also stayed at the hotel, such as: Sir Georg Solti, Yehudi Menuhin, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Kurt Masur, Angelina Jolie, Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brad Pitt, Chuck Berry, Daniel Craig and Eddie Murphy. kempinski.com/en/hotels/welcome/

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

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