Liszt Academy Concert Magazine 2017/1 eng

LISZT ACADEMY CONCERT MAGAZINE JANUARY—JUNE 2017

2017 is a year of important anniversaries for the Liszt Academy.

Ernő Dohnányi, the legendary pianist and composer, and former director of this institution, was born 140 years ago, and 6 March marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Zoltán Kodály. We will be remembering Dohnányi with several concerts, and evoking the figure of Kodály on this significant anniversary not only through concerts, but with scientific seminars and professional workshops.

It is a huge honour for us that the composer’s widow, Mrs. Zoltán Kodály, Sarolta Péczely is our dedicated partner in this undertaking.

But an equally important event this year is the first Bartók World Competition and Festival, which we started preparing for in the 2016 Bartók Year, and which we hope we will organize every other year hereafter. You can read all about this and all the spring 2017 programmes on the following pages. In my eyes, classical music, folk music and jazz concerts featuring the greatest Hungarian musicians (including our teachers), world stars and our most gifted students are all key elements in the teaching conducted at the Liszt Academy: after all, a student of music learns as much from a good concert as from a class.

And this is what makes our school so special: it functions as a bridge.

As a bridge it joins education and concert life, the different music cultures, the great works of music and the public. Just as music is a bridge, one that is capable of spanning language, political, cultural or even emotional divides. This is why we should not, indeed we must not, live without music.

Dr. Andrea Vigh President of the Liszt Academy

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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BARTÓK BEYOND HUNGARY CONCERTS IN JANUARY “ONE CANNOT PLAY THE VIOLIN IN FEAR” INTERVIEW WITH VIKTORIA MULLOVA CONCERTS IN FEBRUARY DOHNÁNYI AND BARTÓK

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GYÖRGY KURTÁG'S EULOGY AT THE MEMORIAL SERVICE OF ZOLTÁN KOCSIS

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THE ART OF ORDER

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BARTÓK AS JAZZ INSPIRATION

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LISTENING IN THE MOMENT INTERVIEW WITH JERROLD LEVINSON

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CONCERTS IN MARCH

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AT HOME IN THE EMPIRE OF MUSIC INTERVIEW WITH MRS. ZOLTÁN KODÁLY, SAROLTA PÉCZELY

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BARTÓK AND THE VIOLINISTS

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CONCERTS IN APRIL

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PARITY – INTERVIEW WITH LÁSZLÓ NORBERT NEMES AND PÁL RICHTER

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CONCERTS IN MAY AND JUNE

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BARTÓK WORLD COMPETITION AND FESTIVAL

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LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY

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LISZT MUSEUM MATINEE AND EVENING CONCERTS

Chain Bridge (1938) © FORTEPAN / HELÉNA OROSZ

Dear Guests, Perhaps one of the key elements of the remarkable atmosphere of the Liszt Academy is accounted for by the fact that while a rehearsal or concert is being conducted in the Grand Hall, upstairs, the musicians of the future are practising and studying. Audiences will often catch sight of them, maybe milling around in the foyer holding instrument cases or listening to a concert in the legendary student’s balcony. They can also be found on the stage, as members of the Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra, as chamber musicians or even soloists. One of our greatest sources of joy is to be able to help set them on a career path.

It may not be well known among the concert-going public that two years ago the Liszt Academy launched an initiative called the Career Office, the purpose of which is to involve the most gifted final year students in the wider music scene. As a result of this, young talents are making ever more frequent appearances in our programmes, and they can increasingly be found in the various different series we run. We look on it as our mission to help them. After all, who else would deal with this if not the alma mater?

Naturally, a huge amount of work lies behind the most spectacular of concerts. It is our experience that there is a demand for the sharing of our own management experience and professional know-how. Artist and manager are reliant upon each other in the 21st century, and this is all the more true for career-starters. It is all too easy to take a wrong turn into a dead end and become over-exploited. We try to warn our young artists against these and similar dangers, but the most important thing we can do is give them as much concert experience as possible. Please welcome and have faith in our young artists, attend their concerts and give them your support. You can be sure that they will reward your interest with superb performances that have been worked on for many hours.

AndrĂĄs Csonka Programme Director of the Liszt Academy 2

Dear Readers, In this issue we shoulder the responsibility of not only reviewing upcoming concerts, but also of lifting our eyes beyond the everyday, towards a specific guiding theme; we wander far afield, or gaze together into the depths. It seems to me that now, with the eighth issue of the Concert Magazine, we have attained that blissful state of simplicity where we are able to glimpse that which is obvious. The solution lay not in the events of the 2016 Bartók Year, nor even in the streamlined image of the Bartók World Competition and Festival (modestly positioning the maestro at the focal point), which was launched as the fruit of our work lasting an entire year and, according to our hopes, moving into the vanguard of global competitions. Rather, when planning the new image film of the Liszt Academy – while we were working on the formulation of a targeted and yet comprehensive message – we arrived at the concept of ‘music ad infinitum’.

Which of the music of the 20th century would prove to be the least ephemeral, the least tied to a particular time, period or style trend, if not the music of Béla Bartók? I feel that everything we would like to say about music and the Liszt Academy can best be expressed through him. Therefore, in the current issue, it is Béla Bartók who is the bridge through which we can come closer to each other.

Imre Szabó Stein Editor in Chief, Director of Communications of the Liszt Academy 3

BARTÓK BEYOND HUNGARY Of the three dominant twentieth century innovators in musical composition, Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Bartók, from today’s perspective, Bartók may turn out to have the most lasting influence on new music and may remain the most popular. The irony is that in his lifetime and until 1990, his reputation among the three was most routinely associated with a single national identity: to his Hungarian character. But his posthumous popu­larity and influence derive from how he transcended the Hungarian. And the music written after he left Hungary, during his last years in the United States, in exile, offers the crowning achievement in fashioning local traditions into a universal music of unmistakable originality and profound meaning.

The mature Bartók was no ordinary nationalist or cultural chauvinist.

After World War I, his music demonstrates a dynamic tension between Bartók the innovative composer and Bartók the ethno-musicological scholar. He welcomed his 1934 appointment to the Hungarian Academy to pursue research into folk music full time. Bartók’s discoveries concer­ning folk music deepened his strong anti-fascist and anti-authoritarian political convictions and his resistance to the aggressive political natio­nalism of the interwar years. Branded as a ‘degenerate’ artist by the Nazis, by 1939 Bartók was not only frightened by the annexations of Austria and Czechoslovakia, but was also deeply skeptical and mistrustful of the Hungarian regime. He became a committed internationalist, whose groundbreaking scholarship revealed deep family resemblances and similarities in the folk music of Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey and North Africa. He chose to escape a Europe caught in the grip of intolerance and tyranny.

Bartók’s enthusiasm for documenting and analyzing folk music uncor­r upted by cities and mechanized industry inspired his distinctive use of rhythm and harmony. The fourth movement of the 1943 Concerto for Orchestra utilizes discoveries Bartók made while working with A.B. Lord at Columbia University in New York City on newly collected Serbo-Croatian materials. The experience of exile in America forced Bartók into political activity against fascism and triggered a lyrical nostalgia that was able to reach audiences all over the world. The distance from Hungary and Europe and the pluralist democratic cultural context of America helped shape his powerful late music—particularly the 3rd Piano Concerto.

Indeed, there has been all too much simplified exaggeration about how poorly Bartók fared in the United States between 1940 and his death in 1945. He was given an honorary degree by Columbia (where he was employed), and invited to lecture at Harvard. He was commissioned to write major works for major orchestras (Boston) and soloists (Yehudi Menuhin, Walter Primrose and Benny Goodman). There were many major performances of his works and although his own concertizing turned out to be less successful than he had hoped, Bartók was hardly forgotten or overlooked, the small attendance at his funeral notwithstanding.

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BÉLA BARTÓK © SÁNDOR KERTÉSZ / INSTITUTE FOR MUSICOLOGY OF THE HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, BARTÓK ARCHIVES

In America, Bartók refined the manner in which he transfigured the rhythmic, melodic and harmonic characteristics of an oral, non-notated tradition of rural folk music into strategies adequate to music in modernity.

His ambition was to use universal folk traditions of musical expression to create large formal aesthetic structures. The Hungarian, like all other folk music, became a building block in an international vocabulary.

But the lasting residue of Bartók’s scholarly work, particularly his writings in his American years, was a commitment in music to a basic characteristic of all folk music—a magical accessibility, transparency and rigorous logic—even in complexity, as his use of Bulgarian rhythms and so called ‘polymodal chromaticism’ (a term he used in his 1943 Harvard lectures) suggests. The synthesis that emerged from Bartók’s universalist sense of art in his last works was based on a lifelong respect for pre-literate musical rhetoric. His modernist imagination was disciplined with integrity in order to captivate the performer and listener without compromise or condescension. These intentions flourished in his American years.

Bartók’s voluntary exile helped secure his enduring place as one of the world’s greatest composers.

Leon Botstein

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OLD BRIDGE OF KONITSA © KOUSIS KONSTANTINOS 7

CONCERT CHRONOLOGY JANUARY Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Hosted concert Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior SUNDAY 1 JANUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

NEW YEAR’S CONCERT WITH VIRTUOSOS

FÉLIX LAJKÓ NEW YEAR’S CONCERT

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

MONDAY 9 JANUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

MONDAY 16 JANUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

MVM CONCERTS – THE PIANO IVETT GYÖNGYÖSI PIANO RECITAL

PURE BAROQUE VIKTORIA MULLOVA & VENICE BAROQUE ORCHESTRA

Tickets: HUF 2 000, 2 500, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000 Organizer: Besszer Concert

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WEDNESDAY 11 JANUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FOUR BY FOUR PLUS ONE PÉTER FRANKL & KELEMEN QUARTET

Tickets: HUF 12 900, 15 900, 24 900 Ft Organizer: Virtuosos Production

SATURDAY 14 JANUARY 2017, 19.30 Grand Hall

IN HUNGARIAN AT THE LISZT ACADEMY Kodály: Kádár Kata Dohnányi: Stabat Mater, Op. 46 Bartók: Concerto, BB 123 Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Children’s Choir (choir master: László Matos) Conductor: Máté Hámori Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000 Organizer: Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles SATURDAY 7 JANUARY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

TRANSPARENT SOUND NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL OPENING CONCERT Page 10

Miklós Perényi (cello) Concerto Budapest Conductor: Arvid Engegård

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 3 900, 4 900, 6 900, 8 900 Organizer: Fonó Music Hall

Featuring stars of the first and second series of Virtuosos Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Tamás Vásáry

THURSDAY 5 JANUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

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SUNDAY 8 JANUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

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CONCERTO BUDAPEST PERÉNYI / ENGEGÅRD Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759 (‘Unfinished’) Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 107 Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K. 543 Miklós Perényi (cello) Concerto Budapest Conductor: Arvid Engegård Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900 Organizer: Concerto Budapest SUNDAY 15 JANUARY 2017, 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST PERÉNYI / ENGEGÅRD Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759 (‘Unfinished’) Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 107 Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K. 543

TUESDAY 17 JANUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Schumann–Zsolt Hamar: Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44 (orchestral version) – Premiere Mendelssohn: The First Walpurgis Night, Op. 60 Atala Schöck (alto); Szabolcs Brickner (tenor); Szabolcs Bognár (baritone); Domonkos Blazsó (bass) National Choir (choir master: Csaba Somos) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Zsolt Hamar Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 500, 6 000 Organizer: Hungarian National Philharmonic WEDNESDAY 18 JANUARY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL SINISTER ROMANTIC Page 14

THURSDAY 19 JANUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

FRANCISCAN CHARITY CONCERT BOGÁNYI GALA FOR THOSE LIVING WITH AUTISM Page 14

FRIDAY 20 JANUARY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL MONTEVERDI & HÄNDEL: OPERA BRIEFS ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY OF MUSIC Page 15 FRIDAY 20 JANUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

WE ARE AT HOME DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA AT THE DANUBE Ligeti: Concert românesc Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2, BB 101 Dohnányi: Symphony No. 2, Op. 40 János Balázs (piano) Danubia Orchestra Óbuda Conductor: Izaki Masahiro Attila József’s poem recited by Tamás Jordán.

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200, 3 800, 4 700 Organizer: Danubia Orchestra Óbuda SATURDAY 21 JANUARY 2017, 15.30 GRAND HALL

ZUGLÓ PHILHARMONIC BUDAPEST Rossini: L’italiana in Algeri – Overture Bottesini: Norma Bottesini: Cerrito Haydn: Mass in D major, Hob. XXII:11 (‘Nelson’) Gergely Járdányi (contrabass); Eszter Forgó (soprano); Zita Patak (alto); András Hajdu (tenor); László Jekl (bass) King Stephen Oratorio Choir Zugló Philharmonic Budapest Conductor: Ádám Medveczky Tickets: HUF 2 100, 2 300, 2 700 Organizer: Zugló Philharmonic Budapest SUNDAY 22 JANUARY 2017, 11.00 GRAND HALL

UNDERSTANDABLE MUSIC DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, Op. 8/1–4.

Dániel Papp (violin) Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Narrator and conductor: Hollerung Gábor

István Horváth (tenor) Kodály Choir Debrecen (choir master: Máté Szabó Sipos); Conductor: Péter Halász

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

Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 000, 4 500 Organizer: MÁV Symphony Orchestra

SUNDAY 22 JANUARY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

SATURDAY 28 JANUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL MINI OPERAS LJUBLJANA ACADEMY OF MUSIC

DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK

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Kodály: Hungarian Rondo János Vajda: Cello Concerto Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition

PURCELL CHOIR & ORFEO ORCHESTRA CONTI & BACH

Ditta Rohman (cello) Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Conductor: Gergely Madaras

Conti: Languet anima mea – Hungarian Premiere Conti: Mass in G minor (Missa mirabilium Dei) – Modern Premiere J. S. Bach: ‘Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen’ – Cantata, BWV 56 J. S. Bach: Mass in G minor, BWV 235

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 3 500, 4 000 Organizer: Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok SUNDAY 29 JANUARY 2017, 11.00 SOLTI HALL

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY WHAT CAN THE STRINGS DO?

Adriána Kalafszky (soprano); Péter Bárány (contralto); Zoltán Megyesi (tenor); Thomas Dolié (bass); Purcell Choir Orfeo Orchestra (on period instruments) Concertmaster: Simon Standage Conductor: György Vashegyi

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Tickets: HUF 1 990, 2 990, 3 990, 4 990 Organizer: Sysart, Orfeo Music Foundation

MONDAY 30 JANUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

WEDNESDAY 25 JANUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

‘5LETT’ (5IDEA) – SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY EDITION BARTÓK KONZI – NEW MUSIC Page 15

THURSDAY 26 JANUARY 2017, 19.00 GRAND HALL

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Kodály: Dances of Galánta Kodály: Psalmus Hungaricus Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36

SUNDAY 29 JANUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

CHANTICLEER

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THE MIGHTY LITTLE HEAP – GRANDIOSE WORKS, GRANDIOSE MUSICIANS Wagner: Parsifal – Good Friday Spell Liszt: Dance of Death Rybnikov: Symphony No. 5 József Balog (piano); Ágnes Molnár (soprano); Valentin Dubowskoy (tenor); Vladimir Miller (bass) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Gergely Kesselyák Tickets: HUF 2 400, 3 900, 4 900, 5 900 Organizer: Philharmonia Hungary 9

SATURDAY 7 JANUARY, 19.00

WEDNESDAY 11 JANUARY, 19.30

MONDAY 16 JANUARY, 19.30

SOLTI HALL

GRAND HALL

GRAND HALL PURE BAROQUE VIKTORIA MULLOVA & VENICE BAROQUE ORCHESTRA

TRANSPARENT SOUND NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL OPENING CONCERT Laurent Durupt: Panakoustikon Balázs Horváth: Broken Con(sor)tinuity Maurilio Cacciatore: Radio Jail Branka Popović: Inside/Waltz Nicolas Tzortzis: Dehors Dimitris Andrikopoulos: Traces ARTéfacts Ensemble Launched in 2014, Transparent Sound has since grown into one of the most important contemporary music fes­ti­ vals. It offers audiences the opportunity to hear totally new music trends rarely performed in Hungary. As the name of the festival suggests, visuality, or socalled ‘instrumental theatre’, can be a key element at concerts, through which the audience has the chance of glimpsing ‘behind’ the music and becoming part of the music-making. For the opening concert of the festival, the ARTéfacts Ensemble based in Athens present the 2014 programme THIVA 102 km. In the initial phase of this project, inmates of the women’s prison at Thebes (Thiva) were recorded and sent to six European composers selected by the ensemble; the six works that are performed were written on the basis of these audio recordings. The ensemble presented these finalized compositions in the actual prison at Thebes and released a disc. Prior to the concert, there is a workshop in which the musicians inter­ actively initiate the audience into the riddles of the pieces to be performed.

Tickets: HUF 1 200 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre, Transparent Sound New Music Festival Sponsor: Municipality of Budapest, Onassis Cultural Centre 10

FOUR BY FOUR PLUS ONE PÉTER FRANKL & KELEMEN QUARTET Ernő Dohnányi: Piano Quintet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 1 Piano Quintet No. 2 in E-flat minor, Op. 26 Sextet in C major, Op. 37 Péter Frankl (piano) Ákos Ács (clarinet), Zoltán Szőke (horn) Kelemen Quartet: Barnabás Kelemen, Katalin Kokas (violin); Gábor Homoki (viola); László Fenyő (cello) On the 140th anniversary of his birth, internationally renowned figures from several generations pay their respects to one of the defining personalities of 20th century Hungarian music: the conductor, composer and pianist Ernő Dohnányi. The programme – which can be seen as both a celebration of chamber music and the art of Dohnányi – opens with the momentous compo­ sition, about which Brahms himself is reported to have said: “I could not have written it better myself”, although the other piano quintet, in E-flat minor (1914), is similarly a masterpiece which fills both performers and those seated in the auditorium with the same sense of joy. The 1935 sextet instrumental line-up is unusual: two wind instru­ ments join the string trio and piano, with the clarinet and horn parts played by Ákos Ács and Zoltán Szőke respec­ tively, outstanding principal instru­ mentalists with the Budapest Festival Orchestra.

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

Geminiani: Concerto grosso in D minor (‘La Follia’) Telemann: Violin Concerto in A major, TWV 40:204 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in D major, RV 208 (‘Il Grosso Mogul’) Händel: Concerto grosso in G major, HWV 319 Mozart: Divertimento in F major, K. 138 Haydn: Violin Concerto in G major, Hob. VIIa:4 Viktoria Mullova (violin) Venice Baroque Orchestra Conductor: Andrea Marcon A superb violinist with a remarkable career, an exemplary Italian formation in the historical performance style, and an 18th century musical paradise: this is the promise of the concert that spans all the way from the great and minor masters of Baroque to two giants of Viennese Classicism. Winner of the Sibelius competition in 1980, then the Moscow Tchaikovsky competition in 1982, Viktoria Mullova defected amidst remarkable circumstances, going on to enjoy a glittering career. She represents the rich tradition of the great Russian school of violin, while having a perso­ nality that is open to music as a whole (from Baroque to jazz). The historical Venice Baroque Orchestra (founded: 1997) are certain to be up to the task and equal partners of Mullova, since the ‘standards’ of their repertoire also feature on the concert programme: for instance, the Violin Concerto in D major by famous Venetian ‘Prete Rosso’ Antonio Vivaldi, immortalizing in its title ‘Il Grosso Mogul’ Akbar I, who once ruled a large part of India.

Tickets: HUF 4 800, 5 400, 6 500, 7 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

viktoria mullova 11

„ONE CANNOT PLAY THE VIOLIN IN FEAR” She is one of the most multifaceted violinists of our day: she plays Baroque on a period instrument, the great Romantic and 20th century repertoire on a modern violin, yet she is also open to folk music and jazz. Viktoria Mullova was born in the Soviet Union but defected at the age of 23, since when she has lived in the West. She arrives at the Liszt Academy with a Baroque programme, although in her interview with Concert Magazine the subject matter extended far beyond this: from her childhood, fears and joint projects with her jazz musician husband, to practical matters concerning playing the violin.

You received a strict, one could say old-fashioned musical upbringing in the Soviet Union. Can you see the advantage to this?

The technique I learned there proved a very good starting point for me.

The technique has to be deeply rooted by the age of 16, because after this it is too late. But nobody taught me to play music, they didn’t tell me how to phrase a piece, how to interpret and so on. They only taught technique.

When did you turn towards period playing? In an interview a long time ago you said you would never learn to play on gut strings because of the difference and difficulty…

That really was a long time ago, around the time I first heard Il Giardino Armonico play. I admired them and I did not believe in myself. With the help and influence of fantastic Baroque musician colleagues I started experimenting and began to pick up this way of playing. Today, I can play in a period way on my instrument, my modernized Stradivarius, because I have learned to play Baroque violin. My other instrument is a gut string Guarneri with short Baroque bow. I play different repertoires on the two instruments and frequently switch over in a single concert. But I also play Beethoven’s violin concerto on gut, even when accompanied by a modern orchestra. The history of steel strings begins in the 20th century.

Your husband, jazz musician and cellist Matthew Barley, is part of a different music world. You do have joint albums, though. What have you learned from him?

He has a far more relaxed, improvisational style, which is great to experience and learn. We played pop and jazz on our first joint record (Through the Looking Glass). The second (The Peasant Girl) contains peasant and Gypsy music-inspired pieces, most in arrangements written by my husband. The latest (Stradivarius in Rio) was made according to my ideas and it contains South American music. I like this style of playing. In fact, the sheer enjoyment of playing violin came relatively late. Right up until about 15 years ago, I didn’t like playing the violin at all… I found no pleasure in it. I hated the sound of the violin, I preferred the cello much more. My parents put the violin into my hands because they wanted me to be a success.

And this is what you became.

True, they were right, I’m not finding fault with them, but this was not my choice. As a child I hated the whole thing.

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But then you won major competitions and your whole career was built on the violin.

Yes, but I was scared all the way throughout my life. I was scared of the stage, the criticism, the critics, the audience, everything. One cannot play the violin in fear; music only works when the person likes to play music.

There is Hungarian material on The Peasant Girl recording. Do you know much about the very rich Hungarian folk music tradition?

Naturally. For us in the West, of course, everything that is East European is ‘Gypsy music’. But I am intimate with and play folk music-based works

by Bartók and Kodály.

Do you play Bartók often?

I wouldn’t say that, but I do occasionally. I have recorded the Solo Sonata – an extremely difficult piece! – and of course the ‘great’ Violin Concerto.

Sometimes I put aside certain composers for a few years, Bartók is one of them. I didn’t play Shostakovich for 15 years and then I returned to him.

How do you handle the physical stresses of playing the violin?

Everybody has their own technique for this.

Yes, playing violin can be very tiring if one does not acquire the appropriate posture and way of playing that suits them. I do different stretching exercises every morning in order to remain flexible and so that playing is not a painful experience. And I don’t practice too much, at most two hours each day or less. Or I even leave a few days out. Perhaps even longer. Last year I didn’t play for eight months, I didn’t even touch my instrument.

The best known story about your life is how, when you were young, you escaped to the West during a tour of Finland. Can you imagine what your life would have been if you had remained in the Soviet Union?

No. I became somebody completely different and I don’t feel myself to be truly Russian.

Judit Rácz

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WEDNESDAY 18 JANUARY, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

THURSDAY 19 JANUARY, 19.30 GRAND HALL

FRANCISCAN CHARITY CONCERT BOGÁNYI GALA FOR THOSE LIVING WITH AUTISM

OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL SINISTER ROMANTIC LISZT ACADEMY Marschner: The Vampire Director: András Almási-Tóth Musical arrangement: Ákos Lustyik Head of department: Andrea Meláth Students of the Opera Department Budapest Strings Conductor: Errico Fresis

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Vivaldi: Concerto in G minor, RV 103 – 1 st Movement Schumann: Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70 Schumann: Three Romances, Op. 94 Schumann: Scenes from Childhood, Op. 15 Haydn: Trio in C major, Hob. IV:1 (‘London’) Schubert: Introduction and Variations on on 'Trockne Blumen', D. 802 Bence Bogányi (bassoon); Clara DentBogányi (oboe); Bernadett Bogányi (flute); Gergely Bogányi (piano)

Marschner’s Der Vampyr romantic opera forms the basis of the winter Opera Exam. In addition to the vampire story that became world famous due to the Polidori novella, less well-known sombre tales of German Romantic opera – by Humperdinck and other 19th century composers – are also brought back to life. This performance in German by the Opera Department draws on stories of dreams, foreboding and dark Romantic literature, while thanks to its dramaturgical tools we still receive a linear, film-like series of events from these most disparate sources. Grotesque, distorted and yet highly dramatic music, demonic voices and folk interferences are all defining elements of this performance brought to stage under the title Sinister Romantic.

Hungarian audiences are well aware of the extraordinary musical talents and extensive musical operation of the Bogányi family, so it will come as no surprise that we regularly find Gergely Bogányi and other members of the family performing at the most varied charity concerts. This time, the Bogányis (flautist Bernadett, bassoon player Bence, pianist Gergely, and Bence’s wife, oboist Clara Dent-Bogányi) are in a chamber recital together raising money for the Roman Catholic mendi­ cant religious order of the Hungarian Franciscans. The programme runs from a Vivaldi concerto and Haydn trio to Schubert variations, with three compositions by Robert Schumann taking centre stage. Thus, after Kinder­ szenen that matches perfectly this charitable purpose, we can enjoy the Three Romances composed for oboe and piano dating from late 1849, a particularly fertile period in Schumann’s creative career.

Tickets: HUF 1 200 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

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

CLARA DENT-BOGÁNYI & BENCE BOGÁNYI

FRIDAY 20 JANUARY, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL MONTEVERDI & HÄNDEL: OPERA BRIEFS ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY OF MUSIC Monteverdi: Tirsi e Clori Händel: Clori, Tirsi e Fileno, HWV 96 Students of the Royal Irish Academy of Music Director: Conor Hanratty Stage and costumes: Maree Kearns Lighting: Kevin Smith Tirsi (Monteverdi): Peter Manning Clori (Monteverdi): Hannah Traynor Ensemble (Monteverdi): Ruth Murphy, Clodagh Kinsella, Eoin Conway, Philip Keegan Tirsi (Händel): Dana Tanase Clori (Händel): Florence Khei Kuan Chong Fileno (Händel): Eoin Conway RIAM Baroque Ensemble Conductor: David Adams

SUNDAY 22 JANUARY, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL MINI OPERAS LJUBLJANA ACADEMY OF MUSIC Featuring students of Ljubljana Academy of Music and Ljubljana Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television Composers: Leon Firšt, Iztok Kocen, Teja Merhar, Alenja Pivko Kneževič, Dominik Steklasa Libretto: Jakob Barbo, Sandi Jesenik, Stojan Kneževič, Simona Pinter, Saška Rakef Conductors: Dominik Steklasa, Simon Dvoršak Director: Saška Rakef Directors (mini operas): Sandi Jesenik, Simona Pinter, Saška Rakef Lighting design: Andrej Reza Petrovčič Set designer: Irena Pivka Video: Ana Čigon (Padli, Beli dež, Nesrečni ljubimec, Le Petit Café), Matevž Jerman, Iza Strehar (Čas) Choreography: Nataša Berce (Padli), Jana Menger (Beli dež, Le Petit Café) Dance: Teja Drobnjak, Matija Udovič (Padli)

WEDNESDAY 25 JANUARY, 19.30 GRAND HALL

‘5LETT’ (5IDEA) – SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY EDITION BARTÓK KONZI – NEW MUSIC Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance, Op. 39/1 Lendvay: Three Carnival Masks Péter Tóth: Icarus Holst: Suite No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 28/1 Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man Ives: Central Park in the Dark Stravinsky: Ebony Concerto Copland: Appalachian Spring – orchestral suite Dávid Kéringer (clarinet) Wind Orchestra of the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Music Conductor: Zoltán Kiss Symphony Orchestra of the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Music Conductor: Gergely Dubóczky

Founded in 1848, Royal Irish Academy of Music has functioned continuously since then, becoming one of the most prestigious and long-running conser­ vatories of music in Europe. Its students arrive for the review of opera exams with works by Monteverdi and Händel: a madrigal and a comic cantata from the pastoral world of the golden age of bygone Greece. Not only was Monteverdi’s composition born in Italy, but the youthful Händel’s too, in the service of Marchese Ruspoli in 1707. Numerous elements of the cantata of the latter, for many years believed to have been lost, were ‘recycled’ by Händel into several of his operas in a manner typical of this highly economical composer.

Production: Red. prof. Matjaž Drevenšek (UL AG), izr. prof. Žanina Mirčevska (UL AGRFT) This joint project of the Ljubljana Academy of Music and Ljubljana Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television features five mini operas for the audience (and, naturally, a jury of professors). Music created today, modern librettos and modern topics in a performance given by young artists just starting out on their professional adult careers. The project provides a snapshot not only of the exciting and innovative present-day of Slovenian culture, but at least as much of the current state of training in the arts.

The tradition of the Bartók Konzi – New Music project day started five years ago, hence the concert title. The wind orchestra formed in 2008, and with several competition wins to their name perform works by two British and two Hungarian composers: the first from the popular orchestral march series by Elgar, while the audience can also enjoy the varied tonality of the superb suite by Holst, which has become a cornerstone of the wind orchestra repertoire. Between the compositions of these two British composers, both of whom died in 1934, is the ingenious triptych of Kamilló Lendvay and a piece by Péter Tóth.

After the intermission, the symphony orchestra, founded in the 1980s, will play music written in the United States by major composers Aaron Copland and Charles Ives, and will be joined by the particularly gifted virtuoso clarinettist Dávid Kéringer for Stravinsky’s ragtimelike, jazz rhythmed Ebony Concerto.

Tickets: HUF 1 200 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Tickets: HUF 1 200 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Free tickets can be obtained Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre 15

SUNDAY 29 JANUARY, 11.00

SOLTI HALL

SUNDAY 29 JANUARY, 19.30 GRAND HALL

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY WHAT CAN THE STRINGS DO? FOR 10–15-YEAR-OLDS Haydn: Quartet in C major, Op. 76/3 – 1 st and 2 nd Movement (‘Emperor’) Bartók: String Quartet No. 2, BB 52 – 2 nd Movement Accord Quartet; Students of the Liszt Academy Folk Music Department Narrator: Mátyás Bolya

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VOICE, SO CLOSE CHANTICLEER MY SECRET HEART Adaptations of love poems from the 16 th century to today Chanticleer: Cortez Mitchell, Gerrod Pagenkopf, Kory Reid, Alan Reinhardt, Logan Shields, Adam Ward (soprano and alto); Chris Albanese, Brian Hinman, Andrew Van Allsburg (tenor); Eric Alatorre, Matthew Knickman, Marques Jerrell Ruff (baritone and bass)

A lacquered wooden box in human form, with a long neck and four strings.

What is it? The answer to this question isn’t obvious, because the question isn’t sufficiently precise, as it could be the violin, viola, cello or double bass. This concert series presenting musical instruments and organized within the framework of the Liszt Kidz Academy for upper primary school pupils (and their parents, grandparents and greatgrandparents) takes on the stringed instruments. We learn about their rela­ tionships to each other (and whether, for instance, the violin is really more important than the viola, the answer being: no), whether the strings are really made of horsehair (yes), and how these marvellous instruments are used in classical music and folk traditions.

Junior Prima prize winning Accord Quartet and the string ensemble of students of the Liszt Academy’s Folk Music Department are on hand to help the audience get much closer to the instruments. They are joined by narrator Mátyás Bolya, practising musician and lecturer at the Liszt Academy, as well as a father several times over. The concert is a repeat of the programme of the same name staged two years ago.

The United States’ number one classical music a capella formation take on this eternal and inexhaustible topic in their own inimitable way. This time the ensemble – founded around four decades ago, three time Grammy winners, and named after the cockerel from the 14th century Canterbury Tales – bring an astonishingly rich programme of works by approximately 20 composers to Budapest. The recital spans ages, genres, styles and nations, with love songs of multiple parts articulated by interes­ ting themes. And there is plenty to choose from. If we are to look only at contemporary music, so far no fewer than 70 composers have written speci­ fically for the ensemble, including one of the foremost American composers, Augusta Read Thomas, whose series spanning the gamut from lyricism and humour to sensuality is one of the central themes of the Chanticleer ‘Colors of Love’ Grammy winning album exhibiting contemporary works.

Tickets: HUF 1 400 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

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

CHANTICLEER

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CONCERT CHRONOLOGY FEBRUARY Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Hosted concert

FRIDAY 3 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

Tickets: HUF 2 200 Organizer: Philharmonia Hungary

CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE ÁDÁM BANDA, MIKLÓS PERÉNYI, ILONA PRUNYI DOHNÁNYI 140

SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017, 15.00 GRAND HALL

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Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior WEDNESDAY 1 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

KONZI CONCERTS 2 IN MEMORIAM KODÁLY

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WEDNESDAY 1 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

HÄNDEL: SOLOMON Händel: Solomon, HWV 67 Xavier Sabata (countertenor); Krisztina Jónás (soprano); Nóra Ducza (soprano); Dávid Szigetvári (tenor); László Jekl (bass) Savaria Baroque Orchestra (on period instruments) Conductor: Pál Németh Tickets: HUF 2800, 4200, 7000, 9800 Organizer: Hungarian Händel Society Sponsor: Ministry of Human Resources, National Cultural Fund of Hungary, For a Concert Hall Foundation, Spanish Embassy, Budapest, Cervantes Institute THURSDAY 2 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC MÁRTA SEBESTYÉN – IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF KODÁLY ‘ROUSE THEE UP, BLESSED FOLK’ Page 21

FRIDAY 3 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.00 GRAND HALL

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MENDELSSOHN EVENING Mendelssohn: Ruy Blas – Overture, Op. 95 Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3. in A minor, Op. 56 (‘Scottish’) Kirill Troussov (violin) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Gábor Takács-Nagy Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 000, 4 500 Organizer: MÁV Symphony Orchestra SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY ORCHESTRA Barber: The School for Scandal – Overture, Op. 5 Berlioz: Romeo and Juliet, Op. 17 (excerpts) Gershwin: Porgy and Bess – Symphonic Picture (arrangement by Russel Bennett) Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite

Musical conversation with actress Enikő Eszenyi, director of the Comedy Theatre and director László Marton, featuring world famous musicians.

Andrea Vigh (harp); Eszter Horgas (flute); Tamás Vásáry (piano); Vilmos Oláh (violin) Tickets: HUF 2 900, 3 500, 4 500, 5 400 Organizer: Dr. István Kunitzer Foundation TUESDAY 7 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

MISKOLC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Wagner: Rienzi – Overture Brahms: Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102 Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 Oszkár Varga (violin); István Varga (cello) Miskolc Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Tamás Gál

Princeton University Orchestra Conductor: Michael Pratt

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 900 Organizer: Miskolc Symphony Orchestra

Free tickets to the concert can be obtained at the ticket office of the Liszt Academy.

Organizer: Arts and Artists Management, Perform America International

WEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017, 10.30 GRAND HALL

THE SECRETS OF MUSIC ‘WOMEN, GIRLS…’ Anna Molnár (mezzo-soprano) Duna Symphony Orchestra Conductor: András Deák

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WE ARE IN CLASSICAL MUSIC CHARITY CONCERT FOR THE ST. JOHN HOSPITAL’S DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL MEDICINE AND GASTROENTEROLOGY

CLASSICUS QUARTET & SOHARÓZA CHOIR

Page 22

THURSDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

HERE AND NOW LONDON SINFONIETTA Page 26

FRIDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

TUESDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

FRIDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

BEYOND MUSIC… HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & CHOIR

FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

MARVELLOUS CLASSIC & ROMANTIC INSTRUMENTS RÓBERT MANDEL’S HISTORY OF INSTRUMENTS SERIES

Works by Brahms Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Conductor, narrator and pianist: Tamás Vásáry

György Orbán: Farewell to Count Razumovsky Schubert: Sonata in A minor, D. 821 (‘Arpeggione’) – arrangement for string orchestra Mendelssohn: Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 – arrangement for string orchestra

Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000 Organizer: Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles

István Várdai (cello) Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra

SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2017, 15.30 GRAND HALL

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 4 200, 5 500, 6 900 Organizer: Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra

ZUGLÓ PHILHARMONIC BUDAPEST Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 Mussorgsky-Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition Zugló Philharmonic Budapest Conductor and violin: Kristóf Baráti Tickets: HUF 2 100, 2 300, 2 700 Organizer: Zugló Philharmonic Budapest SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC – Y GENERATION HARRIET KRIJGH & ISTVÁN LAJKÓ CHAMBER RECITAL

WEDNESDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

Page 36 FRIDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

ANIMA MUSICAE THE SOUL OF MUSIC Biber: Battalia Máté Balogh: Luca Marenzio in Salzburg C. P. E. Bach: Cello Concerto No. 3 in A major, Wq 172 Honegger: Hymn Bartók: Divertimento, BB 118

CYPRIEN KATSARIS PIANO RECITAL

Ditta Rohmann (cello) Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra (artistic director: László G. Horváth)

WEDNESDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Tickets: HUF 1 200, 1 800, 2 400, 3 500 Organizer: Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra

WE ARE AT HOME DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA ODE

SATURDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

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Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 1, BB 48a Mahler: Symphony No. 5

COMPLETE WORKS LIVE COMPLETE MOZART PIANO TRIOS 1 Page 37

SATURDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2017, 11.00 SOLTI HALL

Júlia Pusker (violin) Danubia Orchestra Óbuda Conductor: Máté Hámori Attila József’s poem recited by Tamás Keresztes.

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY WHAT CAN THE CLARINET DO? FOR 10–15-YEAR-OLDS

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

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concert No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 (‘Eroica’)

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Page 32 SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

JAZZ IT! JASON MORAN

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THURSDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

PURE BAROQUE LESZEK MOŻDŻER & HOLLAND BAROQUE

CONCERTO BUDAPEST BEREZOVSKY PLAYS RACHMANINOFF

Boris Berezovsky (piano) Concerto Budapest Conductor: András Keller

Page 36

Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900 Organizer: Concerto Budapest 19

SATURDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2017, 22.00 GR AND HALL

Budapest String Orchestra Conductor: Dénes Szabó

CONCERTO BUDAPEST – PREMIERE FERENC SNÉTBERGER

Tickets: HUF 4 000, 5 000, 6 000 Organizer: Budapest String Orchestra

SATURDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

COMPLETE WORKS LIVE COMPLETE MOZART PIANO TRIOS 2 Page 46

Concerto Budapest

WEDNESDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

SATURDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Tickets: HUF 1 000 (free for ticket holders of the evening concert) Organizer: Concerto Budapest

KODÁLY DIALOGUES – PREMIERE JOINT PRODUCTION OF NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE & CENTRAL EUROPEAN DANCE THEATRE

DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK

SUNDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

BELLA–VIRÁGH–SOLTI– MÁTYÁSSY–KUTRIK STUDIO 5 COMPOSER’S NIGHT

Kodály: Cello Sonata, Op. 8 Kodály: Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7

SUNDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Ditta Rohmann (cello); Bálint Kruppa (violin) Dancers of the Central European Dance Theatre; Choreography: Attila Kun Stage design, costume: Zsuzsa Molnár Lights: Zoltán Fogarasi

CONCERTO BUDAPEST BEREZOVSKY PLAYS RACHMANINOFF

Tickets: HUF 2 400, 2 600 Organizer: National Dance Theatre

Page 37

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concert No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 (‘Eroica’) Boris Berezovsky (piano) Concerto Budapest Conductor: András Keller Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900 Organizer: Concerto Budapest MONDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST STRING ORCHESTRA Mozart: Divertimento in F major, K. 247 Tímea Dragony: Evening Bells – Premiere Mozart: Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, K. 339

WEDNESDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Bernstein: Chichester Psalms Roland Szentpáli: Symphony Concertante Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 (‘From the New World’) Featuring: Roland Szentpáli (tuba) Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Conductor: Boris Brott Tickets: HUF 3 000, 3 500, 4 000 Organizer: Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

MASTERS OF THE ORCHESTRA GERGELY MÉNESI, MÁTYÁS ANTAL & LISZT ACADEMY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

CZF2017 MISCHA MAISKY, JÁNOS BALÁZS & FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA GALA CONCERT AND AWARDS CEREMONY

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THURSDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

TUESDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

CZF2017 FAZIL SAY PIANO RECITAL Page 38

FRIDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

TALENT OBLIGES WEINER ENSEMBLE CHAMBER RECITAL

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ÁDÁM GYÖRGY PIANO RECITAL Three improvisations in Keith Jarrett’s style Chopin: Mazurka in C-sharp minor, Op. 6/2 Chopin: Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17/4 Chopin: Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48/1 Liszt: Legend No. 2 in E major (‘St. Francis of Paola Walking on the Waves’) Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31 Ádám György (piano)

Zita Szemere (soprano); Lúcia Megyesi Schwartz (mezzo-soprano); Zoltán Megyesi (tenor); Krisztián Cser (bass) Cantemus Choir, Pro Musica Girls Choir (choir master: Dénes Szabó) 20

FRIDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

CZF2017 PIANOPERA – ANDREA ROST & JÁNOS BALÁZS

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Tickets: HUF 3 900, 4 900, 5 900, 6 900, 7 900, 9 900, 19 900 Organizer: Broadway Ticket Hungary

WEDNESDAY 1 FEBRUARY, 19.00

THURSDAY 2 FEBRUARY, 19.30

SOLTI HALL

GRAND HALL

KONZI CONCERTS 2 IN MEMORIAM KODÁLY Chamber works, choral works and songs

by Zoltán Kodály Performed by students of solo singing and cello of Béla Bartók Conservatory of Music and the Bartók Konzi Choir Featuring students of Béla Bartók Conservatory of Music

ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC MÁRTA SEBESTYÉN – IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF KODÁLY ‘ROUSE THEE UP, BLESSED FOLK’ Márta Sebestyén, Gergely Agócs, Ferenc Sebő, Judit Andrejszki, Hungarian FolkEmbassy, Hunyadi Véndiák Choir (artistic director: Ilona Farkas Sebestyénné)

Leading ensembles and soloists of the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Music pay tribute to Zoltán Kodály, who died half a century ago this year, with a programme which despite the com­ poser’s celebrated status still counts as a curiosity. The fact is that although works from the diverse oeuvre of this highly influential composer, folk musicologist and music educator are regularly performed at concerts, several genres are only rarely represen­ ted in the same programme. Centre stage is taken by the well-known grand works for mixed chorus, with major cycles closing off the parts: a kaleidos­ copic arrangement of folk songs from the Mátra collection, and the Kálló Double Dance with dance songs to orchestral accompaniment. Furthermore, there is the evergreen Evening Song as well as the masterpiece Song to King St. Stephen. In addition to well-known songs there are a few more unusual pieces, similarly to those penned for cello; Kodály’s Adagio written when he was just 23, and Duo with its wealth of melodic invention and balance along with Lyrical Romance composed at the tender age of 16.

According to Kodály’s famous dictum, the study of music should begin nine months before birth. If there is one musi­ cian for whom this is a given, then it is Márta Sebestyén, who inherited a total commitment to music from her music teacher mother who was a former stu­ dent of Kodály. Therefore, in the spiri­ tual sense one could call Márta Sebestyén a ‘Kodály grandchild’. Here she pays tribute to the one-time master of her mother on the 50th anniversary of the death of the great composer and edu­ca­ tor. After all, without the folk music research efforts of Kodály, Bartók and their followers, we would not have at our disposal that wonderful repertoire that has been the bread and butter of Márta Sebestyén since her child­h ood.

There are very few countries in­deed in which Márta Sebestyén has not represented Hungarian culture, either in solo form or with her fellow musi­ cians. She is a true cultural ambassador for Hungary. She has received every domestic award that an artist can win.

Márta Sebestyén is a UNESCO Artist for Peace and a member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts.

Tickets: HUF 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

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

MÁRTA SEBESTYÉN © MTVA / SAMU GÁLOS M.

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FRIDAY 3 FEBRUARY, 19.00

WEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL

SOLTI HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE ÁDÁM BANDA, MIKLÓS PERÉNYI, ILONA PRUNYI DOHNÁNYI 140

CLASSICUS QUARTET & SOHARÓZA CHOIR

Ernő Dohnányi: Ländler, Op. 41/5 Pastorale, Op. 17/4 Cascades, Op. 41/4 Sonata for Cello and Piano in B-flat major, Op. 8 Sonata for Violin and Piano in C-sharp minor, Op. 21 Ruralia Hungarica, Op. 32/c (excerpts) Ádám Banda (violin); Miklós Perényi (cello); Ilona Prunyi (piano)

ILONA PRUNYI © ANDREA FELVÉGI

There was a time when it appeared that the music of Ernő Dohnányi would be forever banished from the living music memory and the concert hall, to end its days merely as a footnote in dusty tomes.

Happily, this did not come to pass, thanks in part to the efforts of Ilona Prunyi who regularly featured Dohnányi piano and chamber works on the programme at a time when this was somewhat frowned upon. “Some time around 1992,” Ilona Prunyi relates, “Annie Fischer, who by her own reckoning had not played suffi­ cient Dohnányi, said that Dohnányi himself would have been very pleased and would certainly have taken me on as a student because his music so suits me. In 2010, on the 50th anniversary of the death of Dohnányi, there were solo concerts and an album of Dohnányi works. Nowadays his chamber pieces are also regularly performed.” Over the years she has succeeded in involving many outstanding colleagues in this adventure of rediscovery, including Miklós Perényi and Ádám Banda.

“When I first heard Ádám I knew immediately that he was made for Dohnányi.”

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

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Poems by Dezső Kosztolányi, Frigyes Karinthy, Gyula Juhász, Attila József, Philippe Soupault, Blaise Cendrars, Franz Kafka recited, and performed by speaking choir.

Bartók: String Quartet No. 3, BB 93 Szabó: String Trio No. 1, Op. 12 Stravinsky: Three Pieces for String Quartet Stravinsky: Concertino for String Quartet Classicus Quartet: József Rácz, Réka Baksai (violin); Péter Tornyai (viola); Tamás Zétényi (cello); Soharóza Choir (music director: Dóra Halas) Emőke Kiss-Végh (actor) Tamás Ördög (actor) This recital offers the opportunity to be part of a remarkable look back in history.

Ninety years ago, New Earth evenings were staged in the very same place, the small hall of the Liszt Academy, in the course of which avant-garde theatrical productions were staged together with avant-garde works of music. At that time choral speaking, a genre designed to proclaim the ideals of the working class movement and which has since died out, was enjoying a golden age. This prog­ ramme is the opportunity to come into contact with a medium that many today consider odd, together with curiosities such as the Stravinsky Concertino written for string quartet, or the Trio by Ferenc Szabó who had newly graduated from the class of Kodály at the Liszt Academy.

This most engaging and non-conformist programme is steered by two ensembles well-known for their imaginative, inno­ vative and experimental productions, which have captured the fantasy of audiences open to the new.

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 500 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

BANK OF THE ARAD MAROS ELIZABETH BRIDGE (1919) © FORTEPAN/KÁROLY VÉRTES 23

DOHNÁNYI AND BARTÓK

DOHNÁNYI & BARTÓK ©JENŐ ANTAL MOLNÁR / INSTITUTE FOR MUSICOLOGY OF THE HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, BARTÓK ARCHIVES 24

Bartók, Kodály, Dohnányi: there was a time when the leading role of these three in Hungarian music was not in doubt. However, in the troubled years after the war the oldest member of the triumvirate, Ernő Dohnányi (1877−1960), suddenly ceased to be an ideal, and as a consequence of a campaign of political slander that to this day has still not been totally explored (although it is almost certainly unfounded), his name was in effect airbrushed out of music life in Hungary for decades. Even though his works have been played ever more frequently from the 1990s onwards, and musicology discovered him towards the turn of the millennium, still one can say that today, in 2017, on the 140th anniversary of his birth, we still know shamefully little about the work of this brilliant composer-pianist, who – as director of the Liszt Academy, president-conductor of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra and head of the music department of Hungarian Radio – was virtually absolute ruler of Hungarian music life during the interwar period. Leaving aside the obvious biographical information, his relationship with Bartók and Kodály is not clear either, although sources would suggest that of his two colleagues he was more drawn to Bartók. At the same time, it is impossible to disregard famous quotes from Bartók’s correspondence such as “[…] his [Dohnányi’s] much worse and unforgiveable sin is his lack of patriotism. This excludes the possibility that there can ever be a ‘better relationship’ between us” (1903) or “my relations with […] Hubay are utterly bad, with Dohnányi very chilly” (1934). Of course, the true picture is far more nuanced than this.

The first quote is taken from a letter written from Gmunden, where Bartók had travelled in order to take piano lessons from Dohnányi. And although the two frequently disputed political issues, in the course of which Bartók said that they had not managed to convince each other (1903), in the final analysis they did not part company in anger – how could they, when by then they had known each other well for over a decade. They first met at the Catholic Grammar School in Bratislava, where the duties of organist Ernő Dohnányi were taken over by the recently enrolled Béla Bartók. The brilliant Dohnányi became an apparently unattainable role model for Bartók, and what’s more, the four years between them “magnified the divergent arcs in their individual development” – as Dohnányi’s student and biographer Bálint Vázsonyi put it (1971). Be that as it may, Bartók admitted that he selected the Budapest Liszt Academy in 1899 after his former classmate. By that time Dohnányi had already graduated two years prior, had achieved huge success in his visit to Britain, and was already preparing for a tour of America in the new season. However, they kept in touch when in Budapest. For instance, Dohnányi recommended the shy Bartók to the salon of Emma Sándor, later to become Mrs. Zoltán Kodály.

After their many shared experiences in their youth, their ways parted for more than a decade because Dohnányi lived abroad. However, soon after his return to Hungary there was a reunion when, together with Kodály, the three participated in the music directory of the Republic of

Councils. After the war, Dohnányi was frequently absent once again, which is why Bartók could write in an article in English that “Budapest desperately missed him” (1921). In the meantime Dohnányi accepted a major role in the staging of Bartók’s orchestral works. As head of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra he conducted numerous world premieres or premieres in Hungary of Bartók’s works. There was a major divergence in the political and public behaviour of the two from the 1930s onwards. Dohnányi increasingly took on leading positions in music life, while Bartók’s political convictions caused him increasingly to withdraw.

One of the first orders given by Dohnányi in the wake of his appointment as director of the Liszt Academy (1934) was to approve the request by Bartók for a transfer to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, where he oversaw the categorization of folk song material. The two careers, in many respects running in parallel and at other times closely intertwined, came to a similar conclusion: both artists emigrated to the United States (Bartók in 1940, while Dohnányi only quit war-torn Hungary in 1944), and both died in New York (Bartók from a serious illness at the age of 64, in 1945, Dohnányi as a result of complications from pneumonia contracted during a recording session at the age of 82, in 1960).

Despite the many common points in their respective careers and their close personal relationship, the music of Bartók and Dohnányi could not have been more different. This is partly rooted in their very different personalities. The writings of Bartók himself and the memories of his contemporaries lead us to picture him as a highly aloof, austere figure, while Dohnányi on the other hand was spoken of as the personification of serenity and lightness. As far as their creative worlds are concerned, Bartók’s individual, dramatic and modern style was known to be shaped by a scientifically rigorous interest in folk music and more generally ancient music, while Dohnányi seemed as though he was unable to bring himself to break from 19th century German music traditions that created his musical identity, and he himself admitted that he wrote ‘conservative’ music throughout his life. In spite of all this they were not independent of each other in a compositional sense. “I diligently composed […] under the influence of the early works of Dohnányi, namely his opus 1,” wrote Bartók in his autobiography (1923), and by examining the analyses of László Vikárius (1999) we can begin to discern what role the influence of Dohnányi had in starting the career of the younger composer, as well as how Bartók rejected this influence.

Later research suggests that Dohnányi, who as if he couldn’t or didn’t want to keep distant stylistic elements of compositions performed as pianist and conductor from his own creative workshop, ‘interpreted’ Bartók’s music in his own works. For example, the variation movement of Symphonic Minutes, Op. 36, was later integrated into a series, in all likelihood in the wake of the orchestralization of the peasant song arrangement Angoli Borbála by Bartók, as in several late pieces, for example in Burletta, Op. 44/1 similar to the Bartók burlesque Slightly Tipsy, the Bartók memories also appear. It is as though the elderly Dohnányi would have remembered Bartók this way, as well as his homeland and own past as seen from the remoteness of his emigration.

Veronika Kusz 25

THURSDAY 9 FEBRUARY, 19.30

SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY, 19.00

GRAND HALL

SOLTI HALL

HERE AND NOW LONDON SINFONIETTA

CHAMBER MUSIC – Y GENERATION HARRIET KRIJGH & ISTVÁN LAJKÓ CHAMBER RECITAL

Michael Nyman: In C Interlude Tansy Davies: Neon Steve Reich: 2 x 5 Simon Bainbridge: Concertante in Moto Perpetuo Edmund Finnis: in situ Steve Reich: Radio Rewrite

Mendelssohn: Sonata No. 2 for Cello and Piano in D major, Op. 58 Schumann: Three Romances, Op. 94 Rachmaninoff: Elegy, Op. 3/1 Myaskovsky: Sonata No. 2 for Cello and Piano in A minor, Op. 81 Harriet Krijgh (cello); István Lajkó (piano)

London Sinfonietta

LONDON SINFONIETTA © SUKI DHANDA

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“In the nearly 50 years since being formed, they have written music history”.

Stating this about an ensemble specia­ lized in contemporary music may appear gimmicky, but in the case of the London Sinfonietta it is an everyday fact. Their concert in the Liszt Academy paints a nuanced picture of who is writing 21 st century music history in Britain today, and through which works. Among the works of the new generation are pieces

by Tansy Davies and Edmund Finnis, two totally original composers. The latter is almost considered to be the ‘in-house composer’ for the London Sinfonietta (over the past few years the orchestra has featured six new compo­si­ tions by Finnis). Many position the music of Tansy Davies in the hinterland of avant-garde and experimental rock, with one critic suggesting that pieces

by Davies lie halfway between Xenakis and Prince. The London Sinfonietta debuted the first composition by Steve Reich (Radio Rewrite) written to two rock songs (Radiohead: Jigsaw Falling into Place, Everything in Its Right Place).

Critics received the several-movement work with ecstatic enthusiasm.

This evening devoted to chamber music promises a fluent pairing of cello and piano, sensitive interplay and the unifi­ cation of the artistic strengths of two young and highly talented instru­mental soloists. Dutch cellist Harriet Krijgh, who is in her mid-20s, is one of the instrument’s most promising young players and winner of numerous compe­ titions. Accordingly, not only is she a guest at the most varied premier festivals but she is also founder and leader of such a series. Thus in 2017 she takes over the role of artistic director of the Utrecht International Chamber Music Festival from Janine Jansen. As a con­ se­quence of the known virtues (parti­ cularly analytical intellectualism and sensitive performance style) of her part­ner, Junior Prima Prize winner and assistant professor of the keyboard section of the Liszt Academy István Lajkó, they promise to be equals at this concert featuring works by Mendelssohn, Schumann and Rachmaninoff plus a sonata by Nikolai Myaskovsky, a fine but now little played Russian–Soviet composer, a contemporary and close friend of Prokofiev.

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

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 500 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

© ATTILA BALOGH 27

DEAR ZOLI, Our situations are reversed, they go against nature. You should be standing here, bidding farewell to me, the 90-year-old.

Here we are in the Liszt Academy, where we first met… getting on for half a century ago.

At that time you were a student, today a whole country feels bereft – a country that you taught ‘not at secondary school level’, so to speak, since you started.

I have you to thank for the exemplary performance of many of my compositions – but what is truly important both for me and for all of us is what you did to preserve the oeuvre of Bartók.

Generally, a pianist of your eminence first builds his or her career.

You, like a true statesman, marked out and implemented those most important duties in the music life of Hungary.

Your gift to us was that Bartók started to become a public treasure.

You recorded every bar he has written for piano (solo, chamber music, accompaniment).

And what the world takes for granted and uses in an impersonal way: it was you who researched with enormous assiduity and patience, and then published, all extant piano recordings of Bartók. For me, this is similar to us enjoying the blessings of the light bulb each and every day without ever giving a thought to Edison.

In the same way, Zoli, almost taking your person in isolation, the world has you to thank that it can ask directly from Bartók’s play how exactly he meant to perform many of his works.

And with this release you proved that Bartók, too, was one of the greatest pianists of our country.

In the same way, through an album, you saved for posterity the piano playing of our teacher, Pál Kadosa.

We had no idea in this country just how rich we were.

Not so long ago, Péter Esterházy was with us, he spoke to us, he created, as you, Zoli, were also here, and as you promised: you would work until you died.

Your last recording with Barnabás Kelemen, Fritz Kreisler’s pieces for violin and piano, was completed just a few weeks ago.

You teach us through this as well.

Music that earlier we just shrugged our shoulders at became, in your hands, a precious gem… (Maybe it is?)

We thank you for everything.

For what we received – it lives on. … and you continue to live on here, in our love.

György Kurtág's eulogy at the memorial service of Zoltán Kocsis [Liszt Academy, 19 November 2016] ZOLTÁN KOCSIS & GYÖRGY KURTÁG © ANDREA FELVÉGI 28

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THE ART OF ORDER

ZOLTÁN KOCSIS © GÁBOR FEJÉR 30

I vividly remember that late November evening in Szeged. One stores the memory of such glorious hours for a lifetime, as if one could replay every inimitable, characteristic moment. Zoltán Kocsis was conducting the Szeged Symphony Orchestra. In the gilt and white theatre from the age of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the atmosphere (‘biteable’, as Kocsis would have put it) was evocative of a golden age. The orchestra was directed by the artist who had become a legend in his youth, on whose performances a whole generation had grown up, and whose presence was so evident in our culture, as if he had been a family member in every home. Yet, thinking back to this ease of presence and the self-evident naturalness, it is certain that on that evening we were not actually evoking a golden age but rather living through one.

The enchanting, ardent tension of attentiveness was virtually palpable.

When the formal and tonal order of the piece figures in the mind of the conductor with acute clarity and fills his entire being, the order – like an epidemic – infects the orchestra and audience alike. Heads are cleared of the immense psychical trash we all carry around, and a packed theatresize crowd of people becomes a single entity for two whole hours. After the concert, I noticed that people had become better, more attractive even.

This almost surreal, but still tangible memory astonishes me and induces incredulity even to this day; besides Zoltán Kocsis, I am unable to think of any other artist capable of doing the same thing without a pose from outside music or some sort of artificial impact. For me, the essence of the Kocsis phenomenon is the complete self-deliverance, the surrender to music; or more accurately, he had no need of this because he himself was ‘made of music’. He knew this very well; indeed he once formulated it (writing about Ernő Dohnányi, one of the most brilliant Hungarian musicians of all time): “Somebody who is made of music to this extent does not require tools outside music, even the use of them would be disturbing.” Even his poses were of music.

The atmosphere of total concentration excluding all else, which characterized both Kocsis’s piano playing and his conducting, derived from how he comprehended music (and not the other way round). There was almost nobody besides him who had the ability to keep an eye on time more accurately. When he conducted an orchestra, the intention of the music was crystal clear in his every movement and particularly in his look; his entire nature radiated the architectural order of the musical process.

His attentiveness apparent in recordings brightly illuminates the depths of the most complexly woven musical material, but in these performances we sense equally strongly the interconnected musical objectives (the goal points of the musical process) that emerge in an obvious and natural order when Kocsis, looking on from a distance, embraces the entire musical process with his attention. For that matter, there is nothing magical in this at all. Kocsis, with his consciously selected and still intuitive tempi and agogics, projects the structure of the musical work so clearly and firmly – self-evidently, almost imperceptibly – that for the audience the

linearity of the musical process disappears. The architecture of music fills our entire mind: the pure and wide space into which musical time transforms.

That is why every musical movement played on the piano or conducted by him can have greater weight and order (not to mention the effortless elegance) than in virtually anybody else’s performance, and maybe it is precisely this order that relates him best with that musician whom he looked on as a role model both in music and as a person: Bartók. There were extremely few artists more intimate with the works and piano play of Bartók than Kocsis. Kocsis, who already in his thirties owned a collection of recordings of international significance, not only knew all existing recor­dings of Bartók, but virtually before everybody else he was in a scientific and instinctively intimate relationship with the performance style of Bartók since he himself – along with László Somfai and János Sebestyén – published these at the age of 29. Bartók was a breathtaking pianist, a performer of magical qualities with a fundamentally Romantic schooling and attitude, and it is not only eye witnesses who can attest to this but today’s audience can also be persuaded of the fact through his recordings.

Together with this, the requirement for order above all else, a puritan moderation, uncompromising precision and lack of sentimentalism, which many express as some sort of ‘objectivity’, all characterized his performance style and (not solely performance) behaviour.

Kocsis dug deep into Bartókian piano playing and its sources almost in the manner of an empirical scientist. Nearly two decades ago, computer measurements by Hayo Nörenberg proved that among many significant Bartók interpreters, Kocsis got closest to the rubatos of Bartók. However, Kocsis does never copy Bartók; just as in his folk song arrangements Bartók does not copy the performance style of the singer. As Bartók made the rich performance style repertoire of folk singing and instrumental play into his mother tongue and merged it in an unmistakably unique manner into his own personality and the traditions typical of the Liszt school of piano, so Kocsis fully integrated into his own play all that he had learned from Bartók. (And from how many more great performers did he ‘learn’ this way! Kocsis’s Grieg recordings are perhaps the most authentic ones available regarding performance style. Even then he knew Grieg’s piano recordings, made in Paris in 1903, when it was extremely difficult to gain access to historical recordings, and what is more, it was certainly not the fashion to ‘learn’ anything from them at all.) Yet Kocsis was, in a certain sense, an even more rigorous performer of Bartók than Bartók himself.

Although the measurements show that some of his rhythm fluctuations frequently go beyond even the Bartók level, his play primarily reveals the constructional brilliance of works and the order hidden therein (in comparison, Bartók often remains ‘more Romantic’). With this, he is associated with the Modernist performance style, dominant in the second half of the 20th century, of which the pianist Bartók became a forerunner (both preser­ving his Romantic heritage with heart and soul, and exceeding it), while Kocsis was one of its most virtuoso and most sensitive representatives on a global comparison.

László Stachó

31

SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY, 11.00

SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY, 19.30

WEDNESDAY 15 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL

GRAND HALL

SOLTI HALL

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY WHAT CAN THE CLARINET DO? FOR 10–15-YEAR-OLDS Milhaud: Duo concertant Schumann: Three Romances, Op. 94 (excerpt) J. S. Bach: Violin Sonata No. 3 in C major, BWV 1005 – 4. Allegro Debussy: Bruyères Debussy: The Girl with the Flaxen Hair Bartók: Three Hungarian Folksongs from Csík, BB 45b

Jason Moran (piano)

Does anybody know what grenadil is?

Or palisander? A clue: both are associ­ ated with Mozart’s favourite instrument.

So what was Mozart’s favourite instru­ ment? OK, we’ll tell you: it was the clarinet. This second concert in the series presenting musical instruments and organized within the framework of the Liszt Kidz Academy for upper primary school pupils (and their parents, grand­ parents and great-grandparents) takes a close-up look at the clarinet. Since the clarinet has not only pursued a great career in classical music but in jazz as well (where frequently it is represented by its cousin, the saxophone), classical clarinettist Lajos Rozmán is joined by the Liszt Academy’s saxophone teacher Kristóf Bacsó in order to weave a closer friendship between the audience and one of the most engaging members of the woodwind family. Zsuzsanna Lakatos, musicology student of the Liszt Academy, plays the role of narrator.

The concert is a repeat of the programme of the same name staged two years ago.

When introducing jazz musicians it is common to read a long list of those famous artists the musician in question has worked together with (often the majority of whom are only known to the cognoscenti). However, in the case of Jason Moran this kind of ‘contact list’ does not serve much purpose in a brief concert guide, partly because of the extreme length it would run to. Born in Texas in 1975, this artist, who mentions hip-hop and Thelonius Monk as being among his childhood experiences musicwise, graduated from the Manhattan School of Music. He has nine albums to his name and has featured on more than 30 more, although he is active not only as a pianist but teacher and organizer too: he has taught at the New England Conservatory since 2010, in 2011 he was made consultant at the Kennedy Center, Washington, and two years ago he became artistic director of the jazz programme of the Center. His first solo album was released in 2002 and his latest concert recording (The Armory Concert), again where he is playing solo, appeared in June of 2016. In spring 2016 he gave a highly acclaimed concert in the Liszt Academy as partner of legendary saxophonist Charles Lloyd and now he steps into the shoes of Brad Mehldau and Chick Corea to captivate the audience of the Grand Hall in a con­ cert where the spotlight is solely on him.

Cyprien Katsaris is one of that select band of pianists who make every effort to break down barriers between perfor­ mer and audience and to establish a personal relationship between the two parties. He himself frequently intro­du­ ces the works he is about to play and is happy to share anecdotes related to the programme with the audience. He boasts a huge repertoire and gives particular attention to the research and presenta­ tion of forgotten or rarely performed works. Katsaris, who has given several concerts in the Liszt Academy over the years, is reported as saying that his relations with Hungary are especially important to him: the principal reason he became a pianist was listening to György Cziffra playing Liszt and he debuted in Paris with no less a work than Liszt’s Hungarian Fantasy at the age of 15. This time the Cypriot–French pianist is not only giving a concert at the Liszt Academy but also holding a master class; he has said that he intends to give the Budapest audience a ‘surprise concert’.

Tickets: HUF 1 400 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

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

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

Lajos Rozmán (clarinet), Kristóf Bacsó (clarinet, saxophone) László Borbély, Áron Tálas (piano) Narrator: Zsuzsanna Lakatos

32

JAZZ IT! JASON MORAN

CYPRIEN KATSARIS PIANO RECITAL Cyprien Katsaris (piano)

jason moran © CLAY PATRICK MCBRIDE 33

BARTÓK AS JAZZ INSPIRATION Bartók works have inspired plenty of jazz musicians over the past 70 years. Jazz pianist Dániel Szabó, lecturer at the school of music of the University of California, Los Angeles, contributed an article to Concert Magazine on what it is about the magic of his music that is so inspiring for jazz.

34

Whenever I hear the second movement of Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, the extraordinarily tight rhythm, the shifts in emphasis, inserting 3/8 phrases in the 2/4 metre, I am infused with the very same energy as when I listen to Miles Davis’s album Four and More or the Wayne Shorter Quartet. I reckon that some sort of intense spiritual affinity can be observed between Bartók and jazz musicians that is difficult to describe in words, despite the fact that there are numerous clear and concrete musical elements that link the two worlds. However ‘refined’ the music of Bartók, beneath it there is a raw and honest force that derives from folk music (and, naturally, the personality of Bartók), a ‘strong rhythmic feel’ that is as much a part of Afro-American music as that of Hungarian peasant music or any Central-Eastern European folk music. In many jazz recordings, one can sense the presence of Bartók; it is as though he is there, waving from the background.

It is a cliché to say how many jazz musicians were influenced by Bartók: Chick Corea’s Children’s Songs clearly references Mikrokosmos; in their joint album, Herbie Hancock and Corea play Bartók’s Ostinato in a four-hand version; years ago when Danilo Perez was my mentor, he frequently mentioned ‘Béla’ with great enthusiasm and warmth as the person who had given him so much inspiration and so many ideas; the ancestors of Béla Fleck include not one of Hungarian origin, the name Béla being given purely as a mark of respect for Bartók. The list goes on, naturally with Hungarian jazz musicians as well: Kálmán Oláh’s beautiful composition Polymodal Blues couldn’t have come about without Bartók, and it is no surprise that Mihály Borbély also arranged the piece in his own style with his own group, while the oeuvre of Mihály Dresch – another artist totally at home in folk music and jazz alike – is simply inconceivable without a Bartókian influence. I myself grew up on Bartók, I started playing simpler Mikrokosmos pieces at the age of five, and whenever I hear his music I immediately fall under the spell. It was important for me to evoke the spirit of Bartók on my first album released in America: this became my composition Barbaro con brio.

As for the other side of the coin, it is common knowledge that Bartók’s relationship to jazz was contradictory. Although he was interested in the genre, primarily Afro-American folklore music, and he was inspired by the wealth of rhythms of this music culture, his statements with regard to jazz covered a broad spectrum indeed (for instance, he said that harmonic richness was lacking in jazz tending towards dance music). Of far greater importance than this, though, is how a Bartókian idea, a musical phrase, clicks a button in the head of jazz musicians, and how the Bartókian aesthetic, the compositional attitude, harmonize with the thinking of jazz performers. Although it would be possible to come up with a long list (and illustrate with music examples) of specific moments in the Bartók oeuvre which create a clear connection with jazz, let me mention just a few more generally valid phenomena which link these two worlds.

For example, the duality of soaring creative freedom and the constraints of tradition. It is well known that Bartók willingly employed traditional forms and ttechniques, that the originality and newness of his music emerged from tradition (the opening movement of the Second String Quartet is in ‘sonata form’, the opening movement of Music is a grandiose fugue, and so on). His compositions reflect extraordinary consciousness, some analysts have discovered mathematical correlations in them, and in fact the thematic and melodic variations, the repetitions in the complex musical texture, the hidden co-references all form a fasci­nating, coherent unity in his music. But whatever novelty he employs, he never goes against tradition, and this is extremely important because the most significant figures in jazz history, similarly to Bartók, always profoundly understood and respected tradition, which they integrated into their own world. John Coltrane would have played in a totally different way in his milestone album A Love Supreme, which tends towards free jazz and stacks pentatonic motifs one on top of another, if he hadn’t at the same time been a brilliant bebop/hardbop player, or if he hadn’t known the genre of gospel; these latter determined those strict frameworks from which his freedom derived. The fearless freedom emerging within the given frames without denying its predecessors – this is as important in the case of Bartók as it is in jazz.

The acceptance of risk-taking is yet another shared aspect of jazz and Bartók. The first piece of Bartók’s Etudes grows out of special intervals, minor and major ninths and tenths. It takes considerable courage from a composer to start a piece with these gestures instead of the usual themes and scales. Just as Bartók accepted a serious risk when he integrated the tools and the most important innovations of musical modernism into the pieces of his pedagogical series Mikrokosmos intended for children.

Bartók had the courage to go against the grain, he dared sacrifice popularity for deeply held convictions.

Finally, I would like to highlight rhythm, the single specific parameter of music, in the context of the relation between Bartók and jazz. With the exception of Stravinsky, who also represents an important source of inspiration for many jazz musicians, the 20 th century does not have a single composer who would have dealt with rhythm in a more masterful way than Bartók. Polymetric structures, asymmetric patterns, unexpected accents, rapid movements filled with astounding rhythmic energy, and the importance of rhythm as an organizing element – all these raise Bartók above his contemporaries.

Many more parallels could be drawn; Bartók’s music is inexhaustible, and naturally the above review is highly subjective. It couldn’t be otherwise, because we are talking about inspiration, which is intangible: it is not about truths carved in stone but individual feelings. This is what makes it so beautiful.

Dániel Szabó (DMA)

35

THURSDAY 16 FEBRUARY, 19.30

FRIDAY 17 FEBRUARY, 19.00

GRAND HALL

SOLTI HALL

PURE BAROQUE LESZEK MOŻDŻER & HOLLAND BAROQUE

MARVELLOUS CLASSIC & ROMANTIC INSTRUMENTS RÓBERT MANDEL’S HISTORY OF INSTRUMENTS SERIES

Leszek Możdżer (piano) Holland Baroque

HOLLAND BAROQUE

The Polish pianist phenomenon Leszek Możdżer is one of the greatest characters of modern jazz in Europe. Hungary’s jazz connoisseurs have already come across him as a member of various bands as well as playing solo, for ins­ tance on the stage of the Liszt Academy.

Holland Baroque, leading lights on the international early music scene, are similarly not unknown to Budapest audiences having played (with their hallmark ‘unbridled energy’) a selection of the Brandenburg Concertos in autumn 2014. Specializing in 17–18th century music, they have worked together with such distinguished figures of the historically informed practice as Emma Kirkby, Rachel Podger, Alexis Kossenko and Matthew Halls, although they are equally delighted to share a stage with musicians coming from other areas of music. They managed to ruffle the feathers of the more conservative music audiences in the company of Jacques Brel and jazz trumpet player Eric Vloeimans. It is impossible to say how many feathers will be ruffled by the concert series of Leszek Możdżer and Holland Baroque launching in February 2017 and making a stopover in Budapest, but it is virtually certain that the music of Bach – in one form or another – will resound around the walls of the Grand Hall.

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

36

Mozart: Adagio and Rondo for Glass Harmonica and Quartet in C minor, K. 617 Haydn: Baryton Trio in F major Albrechtsberger: Concerto for Jew’s Harp in F major Hummel: Fantasy Mozart: Four Minuets, K. 601 Deutsch: Minuet and Trio for Nail Violin Christa Schönfeldinger (glass harmonica) Albin Paulus (Jew’s harp) Roland Szentpáli (serpent, ophicleide, saxhorn and tuba) Róbert Mandel (nail violin) Savaria Baroque Orchestra (artistic director: Pál Németh) Some instruments are simply timeless and others enjoy just a short burst of fame before disappearing. Some instru­ ments appear to be strange mutations of their modern-day cousins, while it is given to others that they should play a key role amidst unusual circumstances.

One such was the baryton, favourite of Nikolaus ‘The Magnificent’ Esterházy I, an instrument that Haydn wrote nearly 200 works for. Róbert Mandel has dealt with these forgotten instru­ments for very many years although typically he has not approached this from a museologist’s perspective. Instead, he and his partners such as Christa Schönfeldinger and Roland Szentpáli look first and foremost at how it is possible to play these musical instruments with a high degree of authenticity for 21st century audiences.

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 500 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 18 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SUNDAY 19 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL

SOLTI HALL BELLA–VIRÁGH–SOLTI– MÁTYÁSSY–KUTRIK STUDIO 5 COMPOSER’S NIGHT Máté Bella: Laniakea András Gábor Virágh: Tres Orationes Árpád Solti: Kindergartenliedchen Szabolcs Mátyássy: Bipolar Etudes Bence Kutrik: Trembling

COMPLETE WORKS LIVE COMPLETE MOZART PIANO TRIOS 1 Mozart: Divertimento in B-flat major, K. 254 Mozart: Piano Trio in G major, K. 496 Mozart–Stadler: Piano Trio in D minor, K. 442 Mozart: Trio in E-flat major, K. 498 (‘Kegelstatt’) Vilmos Szabadi (violin) Csaba Onczay (cello) Márta Gulyás (piano) Featuring: Máté Szűcs (viola)

VILMOS SZABADI © ÁRPÁD KURUCZ

The hugely popular Complete Works Live series now focuses our attention and aesthetics on Mozart’s trios for piano. Perhaps surprisingly, the doubleconcert trio programme opens with the 1776 Divertimento in B-flat major, although this work is often quite rightly termed Mozart’s first piano trio. The broadness of approach is indicated by the fact that on the first evening of the programme we hear the famous ‘Kegelstatt’ trio performed this time in a violin-violapiano orchestration, and the Trio in D minor left unfinished by Mozart and completed by Anton Stadler is also performed. The performers are the cream of the Liszt Academy: Vilmos Szabadi, Csaba Onczay, Márta Gulyás and Máté Szűcs are closely tied to the university to this day.

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

Eszter Zemlényi (soprano) Beáta Móri (cimbalom) Mihály Duffek (bassoon) Accord Quartet, Krulik Quartet, Pannonia Quartet Ensemble Studio 5 Conductor: Péter Dobszay Generations Y and Z of today’s Hunga­ rian composers are heirs to the music tradition, hallmarked by György Ligeti and György Kurtág, which after Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály and Ernő Dohnányi raised Hungarian contemporary music into an international arena. Five young artists of the composer group Studio 5 have a mission: starting out from this tradition, they bring about new music concerts. The five composi­tions in this Studio 5 concert represent five different galaxies in a single uni­verse. The cosmic metaphor is all the more appropriate given that Máté Bella was inspired by the structure of the galaxies when writing his piece. In his work, András Gábor Virágh configures an early Christian prayer, while Árpád Solti inserts children’s songs and rhymes into a totally new musical medium.

The Szabolcs Mátyássy composition exemp­lifies the bipolarity of music through a pair of movements whereas Bence Kutrik’s cimbalom concerto arrives at its ‘trembling’ conclusion via the Fibonacci sequence.

Tickets: HUF 1 200 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre Sponsor: National Cultural Fund of Hungary 37

WEDNESDAY 22 FEBRUARY, 19.30

THURSDAY 23 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL

GRAND HALL

MASTERS OF THE ORCHESTRA GERGELY MÉNESI, MÁTYÁS ANTAL & LISZT ACADEMY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Antonín Dvořák: Serenade for Strings in E major, Op. 22 Serenade for Wind Instruments in D minor, Op. 44 Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra Conductors: Gergely Ménesi and Mátyás Antal The Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra, who over the last few years have strength­­ened their brand image and taken an increasingly active part in concert life, perform at this recital under the batons of two conductors.

Alongside Gergely Ménesi, who oversees the day-to-day operation of the symphonic orchestra, the other conductor for this recital is Bartók– Pásztory Prize winning artist Mátyás Antal, who is likewise a lecturer at the Liszt Academy, teaching students in the wind department. This is why the appearance of the Serenade for Wind Instruments in D minor (1878) in this programme of Antonin Dvořák works comes as no surprise, which together with the Serenade for Strings in E major (1875) are wonderful and popular examples of Slavic Romantic chamber music. However, the focal point of the concert is certainly the Symphony No. 8 that even the New World Symphony cannot overshadow. It is a masterpiece by the Czech maestro (1889) that follows the Schubert–Brahms tradition of the genre, embellishing it with sentimen­ talism and Slavic folk (or perhaps folk-like) dance motifs.

Tickets: HUF 1 200, 1 700, 2 800, 3 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre 38

CZF2017 FAZIL SAY PIANO RECITAL Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331 Debussy: Preludes (excerpts) Bach–Busoni: Chaconne Wagner–Liszt: Isolde’s Love-Death Gershwin–Say: Summertime Variations Paganini–Say: Paganini Variations Mozart–Say: Turkish March Fazil Say (piano) Audiences the world over are brought to rapture with the diversity of talent of Turkish-born artist Fazil Say. He is at one and the same time a classical pianist, composer and jazz musician of unquestionable quality. Born in 1970 in Ankara to a litterateur family, he was strongly influenced by his parents’ love of classical music. Accordingly, he started playing piano at the Ankara State Conservatory where he also studied composition. In 1994 he won first place at the Young Concert Artists Interna­ tional Auditions and it was this that launched him on an international career.

At the request of the European Union, he has been Ambassador of Inter­cultural Dialogue from 2008. He is regularly invited to perform with the philhar­monic orchestras of New York, Israel, Baltimore and St. Petersburg, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic and Orchestre National de France. He has played on the stages of numerous festivals and at Carnegie Hall.

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

FAZIL SAY © MARCO BORGGREVE

LISTENING IN THE MOMENT Jerrold Levinson is one of the world’s leading philosophers of art. Particu­ larly noted for his work on music aest­hetics and ontology and meaning in film and humor, his most influ­ential writings tackle various philo­soph­ ical topics such as the definition of art, meaning and emotional expres­sion in music and its performance. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland. In October, he gave an exclusive inter­view to the Liszt Academy Concert Magazine following his invited talk on one of his most debated theories on the understanding of music.

Does your own experience of music influence your philosophical theories about music?

The oldest idea I had about music is grounded in my own experience of music, from the age of 12 on, when I became a classical music buff, although I didn’t grow up in a classical music household at all and never had proper music lessons, for that matter. What was puzzling to me already in my teenage years was this: how could it have been that although I had no proper music education, I was able to learn and understand a vast amount of pieces without theoretical knowledge and without a sense of the global form of those pieces – of the sort that analysts are primarily concerned with studying? Well, I concluded that that sort of theoretical knowledge can’t be all that important! In my 1998 book Music in the Moment, which was the basis of the talk I gave at the Liszt Academy in October, I tried to establish that the basic understanding of music happens in very a momentby-moment, locally-focused way, and that grasping music on that level, in terms of being able to hear it as a continuous argument or unfolding, is the sine qua non of understanding it. Although I had this idea quite early on, it was only when I came across the almost 600-page tome of the 19 th century British writer Edmund Gurney, who was a musician, philosopher, psychologist and spiritualist, that I decided to put my thoughts on paper, finding in his Power of Sound (1880) a kindred spirit as regards the listener’s understanding of music. Gurney nailed it on the head: the value, and essence, of a musical work consists in small bits joining together in a kind of aurally graspable synthesis, irrespective of whether there is some rationally describable large-scale organization, and even when that exists, whether someone carries conscious attention to it is of small importance. If you simply focus on the moment-to-moment continuity and connectedness of the piece, you’ve gotten most of what a piece of music can afford.

Do you really think that the perception of large-scale forms, whether in a conscious or unconscious manner, plays no role in musical understanding?

I don’t deny the causal relevance of large-scale forms; it is the appreciative role of the conscious awareness of these that we so much overestimate.

On the whole, the causal relevance and the appreciative relevance of largescale forms are independent of each other. Moreover, recent empirical research in music perception suggests that even the causal relevance of large-scale forms is exaggerated, as it seems that even practiced listeners are largely insensitive to alterations or manipulations of such global forms so long as the individual bits of which a piece is composed are interesting and the joins between them are cogent and convincing.

39

I believe this thought hasn’t got too much sympathy among music theorists…

To the best of my knowledge, a search was conducted a year after the book’s publication, according to which on the website of the Society for Music Theory, my name was the third most commonly cited after Beethoven and Schenker! This was a testament, at least, to how controversial my book was.

You mentioned that you started studying music quite late in your life.

How did you find your own way to music?

I grew up in the southern part of Brooklyn, in the Coney Island neighborhood known for its famous amusement parks. My parents didn’t have much formal education. My father finished sixth-grade while my mother graduated from high-school. It was only outside my home, here and there around New York, that I was able to discover the wider world of culture and the arts.

Only at the age of 20, when I already knew by ear a lot of the repertoire of classical music, did I start thinking about playing an instrument. I tried to learn piano one summer, but gave up after six weeks. A year later however, I discovered the Baroque recorder, and bought a very good one in London, a Moeck model made of palisander and I still play Baroque sonatas on it – Loeillet, Vivaldi, Telemann, and so on – from time to time. Music-making has always been a hobby to me rather than a profession. When I started university, I began by studying physical and inorganic chemistry, and only about halfway through university did I decide on making philosophy rather than chemistry my occupation. (As I have a double degree in chemistry and philosophy, people sometimes say they can see a trace of my chemical mind in the way I write…) But I have to tell you that perhaps the most enjoyable thing I’ve ever produced is the set of five jazz standards I recorded a couple of years ago as a demo, with the idea of maybe getting some gigs around town. But I quickly abandoned that ambition: in Washington, if you want to be a successful jazz singer, it’s better to be young and better to be woman, especially if, as in my case, you aren’t all that great!

And you’ve not only been singing jazz standards but have analyzed them, too.

I have about 120 or so songs in my head that I can sing without too much preparation. And yes, I recently wrote an essay about the moral content of jazz standards, where I propose that two jazz standards can be equally great, musically speaking, yet one of them may have an ethical surplus value. I think this is the case, say, for Night and Day and Day In, Day Out, with the latter having an ethical value surpassing that of the former.

Anyway, I couldn’t have written that essay if I hadn’t gotten so deeply into that repertoire as an amateur performer.

Is it possible to put it into words what makes a piece of music great?

JERROLD LEVINSON 40

What I think makes a piece of music good is, above all, the relationship between what music means and how it is formed. In other words, the value of a piece of music lies partly in what it means, or expresses, and partly in how it is structured as a purely sonic unfolding of musical

How can it be that a piece of music expresses emotions when such a piece, unlike a person, lacks an inner life? And how can music possibly express complex emotions like hope? Levinson’s most commented on papers dealt with these questions and also with the topic of the so-called “tragic paradox”: why do we seek out theatrical tragedies that make us feel bad, and similarly, why do we willingly listen to negatively emotional music? When Levinson offered answers to this latter question, his “friend and nemesis” (as Levinson once put it), Peter Kivy, added a whole chapter to the second edition of his seminal book The Corded Shell as an attempted rebuttal of Levinson’s claims. Here Kivy paid both of them a truly extravagant compliment, suggesting that Levinson was playing the role of the optimistic Leibniz in a kind of musical problem of evil, while Kivy was playing his critic Voltaire. Levinson thinks Bartók offers many examples of the cog­nitive and emotional satisfaction taken in negatively emotional music: despite the bustling energy of so many of his move­ ments, his music is often also full of apprehension and angst. But when we encounter and empathize with works such as the Quartet No. 4, The Miraculous Mandarin, or the “wonderfully sinuous opening movement of the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, with its distinctive mimosa-like image of unfolding and folding”, instead of just straightforwardly enjoying them, we are moved by, commune with, and are, in a sense, transfigured by them.

elements. It’s the relationship between these two that determines the value of a composition. Think of the fact that pieces of music can’t be paraphrased: it’s not just the expression of, say, sadness, it’s not just that sequence of sounds; it’s the expression of sadness by that precise sequence of sounds that both makes a piece of music what it is and grounds the value that it has.

How would you define the notion of value?

What makes a work of music valuable is often said to be its quality of being rewarding, enriching, giving you pleasure or satisfaction of some sort.

But what I would add to this is the extent to which you would regret not having had it in your life. The greater the extent of that, the greater the value it has, or at least, the greater the value you are putting on the music.

Philosophy is often thought to be removed from practical concerns.

Do you think your research has relevance for performers?

People often talk about performers conveying their grasp of large-scale structure, but for me the most essential quality of a piece of music is how it is formed moment-to-moment: how small-scale units are formed and connected to each other. Some performers intuitively know how to put across those individual parts and their connections more effectively and engagingly than others – and they may not be particularly focused on, and may not need to be concerned about, the overall or global form in the act of performance. The most important thing, in my view, is that each part sounds interesting and well-connected to the preceding one. If that’s in order, the rest will largely take care of itself.

Would you suggest that listeners not analyze the music to which they listen?

The most obvious message of my research to listeners is roughly this: don’t be too concerned to analyze, or to attain conscious grasp of, musical form, but just listen closely to a piece two or three times. With music of any complexity – and I am thinking here mainly of classical music and instru­mental jazz – you just need a second, or maybe third, hearing to get the music into your head in order to develop the right degree of memory and a robust sense of the tendencies that are either fulfilled or not by the way the music evolves. Interestingly, with less good music, you’ll get it – that is, you’ll be able to follow and remember and anticipate its evolution and register its gestural, emotional, or other expressive content – after fewer hearings, but you will find that it doesn’t actually have as much staying power, and as soon as you understand it, you don’t go back to it very much. It’s not worth a sixth, eighth, or tenth listening. However, great music can be listened to very many times – maybe you have to have a rest after a couple of hearings to recuperate, but then you will feel the need to listen to it again and again. It is music to live with, that takes up permanent residence in your mind and heart, not just something that occupies your ears for a limited period of time.

László Stachó 41

GAUTIER CAPUÇON (26 MAY 2016) © LISZT ACADEMY / TUBA ZOTÁN

TAMÁS PÁLFALVI (26 OCTOBER 2016) © LISZT ACADEMY / TUBA ZOTÁN

MICHAEL CHANCE (21 OCTOBER 2016) © LISZT ACADEMY / LÁSZLÓ MUDRA 42

ROMENGO (26 MAY 2016) © LISZT ACADEMY / GÁBOR VALUSKA

KAROLINA CICHA (5 OCTOBER 2016) © LISZT ACADEMY / LÁSZLÓ MUDRA

TÉKA 40 (25 OCTOBER 2016) © LISZT ACADEMY / GÁBOR KASZA 43

FRIDAY 24 FEBRUARY, 19.00

FRIDAY 24 FEBRUARY, 19.30

SOLTI HALL

GRAND HALL

TALENT OBLIGES WEINER ENSEMBLE CHAMBER RECITAL Webern: Passacaglia, Op. 1 (arrangement by Imre Dani) Ravel: Mother Goose (arrangement by Péter Tornyai) Weiner: Passacaglia, Op. 44 (arrangement by Máté Bán) Schönberg: Kammersinfonie, Op. 9/1 (arrangement by Anton Webern) Weiner Ensemble: Réka Baksai (violin); Máté Bán (flute); Imre Dani (piano); Janka Jámbor (cello); Csaba Pálfi (clarinet) Anikó Für (actor)

WEINER ENSEMBLE

This fantastic formation made up of young people totally committed to cham­ber music play pieces in arrangements the majority of which were written by members of the chamber ensemble themselves. Webern’s opus 1 is followed

by Ravel’s fairy tale depicted with soaring fantasy, with the closing work reserved for the intriguing tonalities of Schönberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1. Furthermore, there is a piece from 1936 by the eponym of the ensemble – one of the greatest teachers of Hungarian music of the 20th century; it shares the same name as the opening work (Passacaglia). The unorthodox choice of programmes, the daring and innovative undertakings of the Weiner Ensemble formed in 2014 have attracted attention, not to mention the fact that their instrument line-up is also pretty unusual. These gifted players placed third at the Orlando Internati­onal Chamber Music Competition organized in the Dutch town of Kerkrade in August 2016. This achievement also entitled them to appear at the prestigious Orlando Festival.

Tickets: HUF 1 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

44

CZF2017 ZONGOPERA (PIANOPERA) – ANDREA ROST & JÁNOS BALÁZS Bellini: ‘Casta diva’ – Norma’s aria from Norma Bellini–Liszt: Réminiscences de Norma Donizetti: ‘Il dolce suono’ – Lucia’s aria from Lucia di Lammermoor Donizetti–Liszt: Réminiscences de Lucia di Lammermoor Verdi: Willow Song (‘Mia madre avera una povera ancella’) – Desdemona’s aria from Otello Verdi: ‘Ave Maria’ – Desdemona’s aria from Otello Verdi–Liszt: Réminiscences de Rigoletto Verdi: ‘É strano’ – Violetta’s aria from La Traviata Andrea Rost (soprano) Balázs János (piano) If one is to consider the role of Gilda in Rigoletto or Violetta in Traviata it has to be said that the performances of Andrea Rost are amongst the most outstanding in the modern history of opera. After having conquered London, Paris and Madrid, she debuted overseas, singing in New York, Los Angeles and Washington.

Her popularity and engagements con­ tinue unabated, although she is active not only in opera but other musical genres as well. The international career of János Balázs started in 2005 when he placed first at the International Liszt Ferenc Piano Competition at the age of 16. In 2013, he was voted Artist of the Year by the European Concert Halls Organization from among musicians of 19 countries.

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

VIADUCT OVER THE TRANSYLVANIAN GYPSY VALLEY (1908) © FORTEPAN / HUNGARIAN GEOGRAPHICAL MUSEUM

SATURDAY 25 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY, 19.30

SOLTI HALL

GRAND HALL

COMPLETE WORKS LIVE COMPLETE MOZART PIANO TRIOS 2

CZF2017 MISCHA MAISKY, JÁNOS BALÁZS & FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA GALA CONCERT AND AWARDS CEREMONY

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Trio in B-flat major, K. 502 Piano Trio in E major, K. 542 Piano Trio in C major, K. 548 Piano Trio in G major, K. 564 Vilmos Szabadi (violin) Csaba Onczay (cello) Márta Gulyás (piano) Within the framework of major artistic undertakings, all works created in a particular genre of selected classical composers are performed at the Complete Works Live concerts. Beside the fact that it is utterly compelling to have to opportunity to glimpse inside the crea­ tive workshop, to experience the conti­ nuous change, transformation, and development, to see the varied means of exploiting the opportunities on offer, and to witness the realization of one brilliant idea after another, to acquire a rounded picture of an artist’s world view, the enjoyment of the works fea­ turing on the programme also repre­ sents an exceptional intellectual cha­ llenge for the audience. Entertainment and profundity: these are the essences of chamber music and they can only come about with the finest musicians and their deeply considered productions.

All these are apparent in this concert: the most significant representatives of the world-famous Hungarian chamber music tradition, all currently professors of the Liszt Academy, have undertaken to perform four late masterpieces from Mozart’s trios for piano, dating from the time of Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni.

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre 46

Tchaikovsky: Nocturne, Op. 19/4 Bruch: Kol Nidrei, Op. 47 Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33 Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21 Mischa Maisky (cello) János Balázs (piano) Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra Mischa Maisky is the only cellist in the world to have studied under both Mstislav Rostropovich and Gregor Piatigorsky. Rostropovich lauded him saying “His playing combines poetry and exquisite delicacy with great temperament and brilliant technique.”

Born in Latvia, brought up in Russia and now resident in Israel, Mischa Maisky considers himself to be a true citizen of the world. Over the past quarter of a century he has recorded more than 30 albums with ensembles such as the philharmonic orchestras of Vienna, Berlin and Israel, the London Symphonics, the Orchestre de Paris and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Over the more than 50 years of their existence, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra have become a permanent feature among the international elite of classical music. Year after year, the ensemble (headed by Péter Tfirst since 2016) appear in top concert halls throu­g­ hout the world and work with the cream of soloist artists.

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

MISCHA MAISKY © LISZT ACADEMY / ISTVÁN FAZEKAS

ALEXANDRE THARAUD

SEASON TICKETS 2017 MUSIC SO CLOSE

TEN NEW SEASON TICKET PROGRAMMES UNTIL 31 DECEMBER WITH SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY DISCOUNT ZENEAKADEMIA.HU/EN/SEASON-TICKETS 47

CONCERT CHRONOLOGY MARCH Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Hosted concert Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior THURSDAY 2 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Rita: Nóra Ducza The Man: Csaba Sándor Hungarian State Opera Orchestra Conductor: Gergely Vajda Tickets: HUF 2 800, 4 200 Organizer: Hungarian State Opera SATURDAY 4 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE DAVID FRAY & ORCHESTRE DE CHAMBRE DE PARIS Page 54

Page 54 FRIDAY 3 MARCH 2017, 21.00 SOLTI HALL

DAVID FRAY

Page 54

HERE AND NOW FROM BACH TO FRANK MARTIN BORBÁLA DOBOZY ORCHESTRAL RECITAL

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WEDNESDAY 8 MARCH 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC SZILVIA BOGNÁR IN THE GATEWAY OF MY HEART Page 55

HUNGARIAN LATE NIGHT

TCHAIKOVSKY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Details: 3 March 2017

Lendvay: The Respectful Prostitute Libretto, based on Jean-Paul Sartre’s drama: Kamilló Lendvay

SUNDAY 5 MARCH 2017, 10.30 GRAND HALL

Libretto: Ferenc Anger Dramaturg: Kinga Keszthelyi

Dénes Várjon (piano) Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra

WEDNESDAY 8 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Tickets: HUF 2 800, 4 200 Organizer: Hungarian State Opera

Gábor Péter Mezei: Opposite the Catafalque – Premiere

Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492 – Overture Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15 Haydn: Symphony No. 102 in B-flat major, Hob. I:102

MARCH 4 SATURDAY 2017, 21.00 SOLTI HALL

HUNGARIAN LATE NIGHT

Dramaturg: Kinga Keszthelyi Lizzie: Bori Keszei Fred: Péter Balczó Negro: Krisztián Cser Senator Clark: András Káldi Kiss Police officer 1: Gábor Csiki Police officer 2: Antal Bakó Hungarian State Opera Orchestra Conductor: Gergely Vajda

FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 4 200, 5 500, 6 900 Organizer: Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra

ON THE SPOT ALMA MATER CHOIR FRIDAY 3 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

TUESDAY 7 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Op. 35 Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake – Suite, Op. 20a Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Vladimir Fedoseyev

PHILHARMONIA YOUTH CONCERTS THE SECRETS OF MUSIC WIND MUSIC OF TWO CENTURIES

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 3 900, 5 900, 7 900 Organizer: Budapest Festival and Tourism Center

Zsolnay Wind Orchestra Conductor: Károly Neumayer

THURSDAY 9 MARCH 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

Tickets: HUF 2 200 Organizer: Philharmonia Hungary

BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS LÁSZLÓ BORBÉLY Page 56

SUNDAY 5 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

THURSDAY 9 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC HOMMAGE À KODÁLY

ROMANTIC SYMPHONIES

Page 55

Goldenthal: Symphony No. 3 in C-sharp minor Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major

Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Christian Schumann

SUNDAY 12 MARCH 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

Tamás Érdi (piano)

Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000 Organizer: Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles

JAZZ IT! BINDER KÁROLY TRIO & QUARTET N-EVERGREENS & FOR SEVEN DAYS

Tickets: HUF 1 500, 2 000, 2 500, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000 Organizer: Besszer Concert

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Beethoven: The Consecration of the House – Overture, Op. 124 Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major, K. 364 Bartók: Viola Concerto, BB 128 Kodály: Háry János – Suite Júlia Pusker (violin); Imai Nobuko (viola) Conductor: Péter Csaba Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 000, 4 500 Organizer: MÁV Symphony Orchestra FRIDAY 10 MARCH 2017, 21.00 SOLTI HALL

HUNGARIAN LATE NIGHT Details: 3 March 2017 Tickets: HUF 2 800, 4 200 Organizer: Hungarian State Opera

CUARTETO CASALS

SATURDAY 11 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

FOUR BY FOUR PLUS ONE ALEXANDRE THARAUD & CUARTETO CASALS Page 56

SATURDAY 11 MARCH 2017, 21.00 SOLTI HALL

HUNGARIAN LATE NIGHT Details: 3 March 2017 Tickets: HUF 2 800, 4 200 Organizer: Hungarian State Opera

Page 58 SUNDAY 12 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

JOSHUA BELL & FRANKFURT RADIO SYMPHONY Page 58

TUESDAY 14 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

FRIDAY 17 MARCH 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

MARVELLOUS ELECTROPHONE INSTRUMENTS RÓBERT MANDEL’S HISTORY OF INSTRUMENTS SERIES Page 60

HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Liszt: Mazeppa – symphonic poem Bartók: Viola Concerto, BB 128 Bartók: Five Hungarian Folk Songs, BB 108 Kodály: The Peacock – variations on a Hungarian folk song Júlia Hajnóczy (soprano); István Horváth (tenor) Maxim Rysanov (viola) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Zsolt Hamar

ALONDRA DE LA PARRA

FRIDAY 17 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

CONCERTO BUDAPEST ALONDRA DE LA PARRA & BARNABÁS KELEMEN Stravinksy: Pulcinella – Suite Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K. 219 Dvořák: Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 500, 6 000 Organizer: Hungarian National Philharmonic

Barnabás Kelemen (violin) Concerto Budapest Conductor: Alondra de la Parra

THURSDAY 16 MARCH 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

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

TALENT OBLIGES KATA SCHEURING CHAMBER RECITAL

SATURDAY 18 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

THURSDAY 16 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC – TUNED FOR GRAND HALL PEKKA KUUSISTO, AMY NORRINGTON, GÁBOR CSALOG

Page 60

THE PIANO IN 1 TAMÁS ÉRDI Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27/2 ('Moonlight') Schubert: Four Impromptus, D. 899 Schubert: Three Piano Pieces, D. 946

Page 63

AMY NORRINGTON

FRIDAY 10 MARCH 2017, 19.00 GRAND HALL

49

MEDIC ORCHESTRA

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Brahms: Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80 Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 (‘From the New World’)

Khachaturian: Spartacus – Adagio Beethoven: Triple Concerto in C major, Op. 56 Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 67 (‘Pastorale’)

Medic Orchestra Conductor: Gergely Dubóczky Organizer: Kaleidofon

Sania Cheong (violin); Stefan Kropfitsch (cello); Sangeil Shin (piano) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Michael Balke

MONDAY 20 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 000, 4 500 Organizer: MÁV Symphony Orchestra

THE MIGHTY LITTLE HEAP – GRANDIOSE WORKS, GRANDIOSE MUSICIANS

SATURDAY 25 MARCH 2017, 11.00 GRAND HALL

Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina – Prologue Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade Suite, Op. 35 Hisako Kawamura (piano) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Tamás Vásáry Tickets: HUF 2 400, 3 900, 4 900, 5 900 Organizer: Philharmonia Hungary TUESDAY 21 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

ENDRE HEGEDŰS ORCHESTRAL PIANO RECITAL Beethoven: King Stephen, Op. 117 – Overture Mozart: Concerto for Two Pianos No. 10 in E-flat major, K. 365 Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 Endre Hegedűs, Katalin Hegedűs (piano) Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Conductor: Gábor Hollerung Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 500, 4 500 Organizer: Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok, Studio Liszt

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WEDNESDAY 22 MARCH 2017, 19.00 GRAND HALL

UNDERSTANDABLE MUSIC DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK R. Strauss: Don Quixote, Op. 35 Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Narrator and conductor: Gábor Hollerung Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 700, 3 200 Organizer: Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok SATURDAY 25 MARCH 2017, 18.00 GRAND HALL

SUNDAY 26 MARCH 2017, 11.00 SOLTI HALL

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY WHAT CAN THE PIANO DO? FOR 10-15-YEAR-OLDS Page 63 MONDAY 27 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

THE PIANO IN 1 JÁNOS BALÁZS ‘THE POET SPEAKS’ Chopin: Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 Chopin: Ballade No. 2 in F major, Op. 38 Chopin: Ballade No. 3 in A-flat major, Op. 47 Chopin: Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52 Liszt: Sonata in B minor János Balázs (piano) Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000, 8 000 Organizer: Besszer Concert TUESDAY 28 MARCH 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC DŰVŐ ORCHESTRA & JÚLIA KUBINYI THE BEST IS YET TO COME Page 64

KING STEPHEN JUBILEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 Bartók: Hungarian Sketches, BB 103 Kodály: Te Deum Katarina Záborszky (violin); Veronika Geszthy (soprano); Jutta Bokor (alto); András Molnár (tenor); István Berczelly (bass-baritone) King Stephen Oratorio Choir Conductor: István Záborszky Tickets: HUF 2 700, 2 900, 3 100, 3 300 Organizer: Partitúra Foundation

JÚLIA KUBINYI

SUNDAY 19 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

THURSDAY 30 MARCH 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

KONZI CONCERTS 3 VARIATIONS FOR KONZI

Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major Haydn: Symphony No. 104 in D major, Hob.I:104 (‘London’)

THURSDAY 30 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Pascal Rogé (piano) Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne Conductor: Bertrand de Billy

WE ARE AT HOME DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA EUROPE

Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 200, 4 500, 5 900 Organizer: Budapest Spring Festival

Page 64

Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin, BB 82 Dohnányi: Concert Piece in D major, Op. 12 Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major László Fenyő (cello) Danubia Orchestra Óbuda Conductor: Zsolt Hamar Dezső Kosztolányi’s poem recited by Judit Hernádi.

Tickets: HUF 2 500 3 200 3 800 4 700 Organizer: Danubia Orchestra Óbuda FRIDAY 31 MARCH 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

ON THE SPOT SPECIAL SCHOOL FOR EXCEPTIONAL YOUNG TALENTS Page 64

BERTRAND DE BILLY

FRIDAY 31 MARCH 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL BERTRAND DE BILLY & ORCHESTRE DE CHAMBRE DE LAUSANNE

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AT HOME IN THE EMPIRE OF MUSIC Zoltán Kodály died in 1967. In commemoration of the 50 th anniversary of his passing, in 2017 dozens of concerts and professional events examine the enormous legacy of this threetimes Kossuth Prize composer and music pedagogue. Mrs. Zoltán Kodály, Sarolta Péczely, rarely speaks publicly but for this major anniversary she agreed to give an interview to the Liszt Academy’s Concert Magazine.

Zoltán Kodály was a legendary teacher and his students adored him.

Wasn’t this overly oppressive?

He was the same person at home and at work. He did not permit scenes of adulation to surround him. Of course, it was only natural that he was respected. With good reason. In my eyes, his real students were composers, and he gave up teaching composition after 1942. In other words, I never had the opportunity of seeing how the everyday teacher-student relationship worked with him. On the other hand, I did see that he handled them as though they belonged to one big family and there was something there that meant they understood each other perfectly. We know from the reminiscences of his students that he never forced them to do anything, everyone followed the compositional trend they wanted. This was of absolute importance for Kodály: to equip them with the skills and know­ledge that would help them realize their own endeavours. But one shouldn’t think that he wanted to hold their hand. He always set them independent tasks so that his students were the ones who had to learn.

How did his working methods, his daily schedule operate?

He didn’t have a fixed daily schedule, the tasks at hand dictated the prog­ramme and he was always very busy. For his entire life he did the Jørgen Peter Müller gymnastics exercises every morning which, by the way, experts still consider to be excellent. He generally took a simple breakfast of bread and yoghurt, and we often went into the Buda Hills to walk, sometimes on longer excursions in the summer and good weather. He always carried a notebook or a piece of paper around so that if a music idea or anything came to mind that was worth noting, he could jot it down. While out walking or at other times, it was always possible to know when to keep quiet in case he was ‘working’. The way in which works were actually born can to a certain extent be reconstructed from sketches and notes, but he didn’t often talk about the compositional process. However, there is a well-known instance that he told me himself relating to the Symphony premiered in 1961. The initial idea for the work came about in his mind in the 1930s, at the moment that he was travelling home on the tram. He noted down the musical thought on his tram ticket, which he kept for many years. On arriving home, he immediately sat down at his desk and composed the first, long section of the work in one go. Later, he said that was when he experienced for himself how Mozart worked. I think it is important to mention that he always worked in his head, and he always composed at his desk, not with an instrument. Of course, he often sat down at the piano and just like Pablo Casals he, too, regularly played Bach’s preludes and fugues; on these occasions the housekeeper would say “his Lordship is praying”.

MRS. ZOLTÁN KODÁLY NÉE SAROLTA PÉCZELY © MTI / JÁNOS MARJAI 52

Did he work at night or during the day?

Generally during the day, he was not a night owl. If he was interested in a concert he always found time for it, so we often went to the Liszt Academy and the Opera House. All the great musicians coming to Hungary, everyone from Pablo Casals to József Szigeti and Yehudi Menuhin, visited him at home if they could. In his final years he went in to the Folk Music Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences virtually every day; he founded the group in 1953. Right throughout his life he took part in the work there, dealing with everything from professional questions as well as personnel issues to technical and administrative problems. This group was his pride and joy, he didn’t take just anybody on but those who gained admittance found that he followed their work and also looked after them.

This was just as important to him as the functioning of the group in its entirety. This care and attention is reflected in the fact that each year he was invited in person to the finance ministry where the group’s budget for the following year was discussed.

What are your thoughts on the ‘afterlife’ of the Kodály heritage?

The job and the responsibility of posterity is how it manages what it has received and, naturally, Kodály has no influence over this. He always tried to make the lives of people around him better, and in certain respects music was merely a tool. But a tool that only works properly when culti­vated at the very highest level and in the most respectful manner, otherwise it is ineffective. The same goes for school education, where he noticed that those children playing music every day, or who studied music daily, also performed better in other subjects. There are two threads to music education associated with the name of Kodály: on the one hand he inspired his best students to deal with the musical education of children, and on the other hand through his pedagogical works he himself established that treasury of material which, according to his concept, would assist in ensuring that students were capable of comprehending the great works and became familiar with the reading and writing of musical notation. Although his ideal was to have teachers with the greatest possible expertise, he also respected those lesser qualified professionals teaching in smaller village schools, so long as they worked well. He wanted a situation where highly trained musicians could also teach at lower levels because this would give everyone an equal opportunity to learn about music. It is absolutely vital that the smallest musical gesture has meaning, musical correlations should not be lost and singing should never become mere syllabication.

We must do everything we can to ensure that Kodály education does not become some sort of mechanical theoretical system, but rather it must maintain its practical nature and not lose its musicality. The exercises he wrote are like the steps in a huge building: by climbing them slowly but surely, we can eventually arrive at the uppermost floor. Once we arrive at the top, then we are safe and we will be at home in the empire of music.

Gergely Fazekas

53

THURSDAY 2 MARCH, 19.30

FRIDAY 3 MARCH, 19.30

SATURDAY 4 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL

GRAND HALL

GRAND HALL

ON THE SPOT ALMA MATER CHOIR

HERE AND NOW FROM BACH TO FRANK MARTIN BORBÁLA DOBOZY ORCHESTRAL RECITAL

Brahms: Five Songs, Op. 104 Brahms: Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118/2 Brahms: Rhapsody in G minor, Op. 79/2 Brahms: Two Motets, Op. 74 Schumann: Carnaval, Op. 9 Schubert: Miriam’s Song of Victory, D. 942 Yvette Mondok (soprano) Krisztián Kocsis (piano) Alma Mater Choir Conductors: Péter Erdei and Csaba Somos

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Bach: Harpsichord Concerto No. 7 in G minor, BWV 1058 Martinů: Concerto for Harpsichord and Small Orchestra, H. 246 Bach: Harpsichord Concerto No. 3 in D major, BWV 1054 Martin: Petite symphonie concertante Borbála Dobozy (harpsichord) Fülöp Ránki (piano) Anastasia Razvalyaeva (harp) Budapest Strings Conductor: Salamon Kamp

ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE DAVID FRAY & ORCHESTRE DE CHAMBRE DE PARIS Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: The Fair Melusine Overture, Op. 32 Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 Capriccio brillant, Op. 22 Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 11 David Fray (piano) Orchestre de Chambre de Paris Conductor: Douglas Boyd

The first half of this concert includes a secular and a religious choral work from the pen of Johannes Brahms. Five Songs, a gem of the European choral tradition from the late period of the master, is a personal contemplation of the passage of time. One of the works published as the Two Motets was com­ posed on the pattern of Bach motets, but in the inimitable mature Brahms style; the other motet is a virtuoso variation series on a choral song. One of the final opuses by Franz Schubert is Miriam’s Song of Victory, inspired by Händel’s dramatic oratorios – the per­ formance of this major work with the solo Yvette Mondok also promises to be one of the highlights of the season.

The chorus of the Liszt Academy is led by retired honorary professor Péter Erdei and the ensemble’s current senior conductor Csaba Somos, with the mag­ nificent choral music enhanced by the piano playing of the highly gifted young artist Krisztián Kocsis.

Bartók contemporary Czech Bohuslav Martinů is a towering genius of 20 th century music, with his works for harpsichord playing an important role in the modern-day history of the inst­ rument. The surprising instrumenta­ lization concept of the Concerto for Harpsichord written in 1935 – a piano is also included in the ensemble accom­ panying the soloist – surely had an impact on the best-known work by Swiss composer Frank Martin, Petite symphonie concertante for harp, piano and harpsichord. Both works were commissioned by Paul Sacher, who delighted in ordering works concei­ved in the spirit of Baroque concertos. The concert of Borbála Dobozy leads us into the dense thickets of a referential net woven between different periods and works, while the superb Bach specialist Salamon Kamp ensures that we never lose our way.

“In his own field he sees so clearly that I have much to learn from him.” These are the words of Goethe aged over 80 in 1830 about Mendelssohn who was exactly six decades younger, and this rare praise demonstrates the exceptional qualities of the talent and personality of Mendel­ ssohn. This concert is sure proof of these virtues, with Mendelssohn’s multifaceted genius made apparent by artists such as French star pianist David Fray, conductor Douglas Boyd and the musicians of the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. The current director of the chamber orc­ hestra founded in 1978, Douglas Boyd (who is also active as an oboist), studied the skills of conducting from the likes of Claudio Abbado, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Colin Davis. The highly popular David Fray, a regular guest in Hungary, could prove his glittering credentials through his shelf loads of prizes and awards, but upon hearing his parlando and cantabile piano style, it is certain that any doubts will be swept away entirely.

Tickets: HUF 1 600 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Tickets: HUF 1 100, 1 500, 2 200, 2 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Tickets: HUF 4 800, 5 400, 6 500, 7 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SUNDAY 5 MARCH, 19.30

WEDNESDAY 8 MARCH, 19.00

GRAND HALL

SOLTI HALL

HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC HOMMAGE À KODÁLY Koessler: Symphonic Variations Kodály: Hungarian Rondo Kodály: Háry János (excerpts) Kodály: Marosszék Dances Kodály: Te Deum Klára Kolonits (soprano); Atala Schöck (alto); Szabolcs Brickner (tenor); Zsolt Haja (bass) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra National Choir (choral director: Csaba Somos) Conductor: Gergely Madaras 6 March 2017 marks 50 years since Zoltán Kodály, one of the most signi­ ficant Hungarian composers, teachers and musicologists of the 20th century, passed away. Famous ensembles and top soloists pay tribute to his memory at this concert organized on the evening preceding the anniversary. Conductor Gergely Madaras was assistant to Pierre Boulez, currently he is senior conductor in Szombathely and music director in Dijon, France, while also regularly appearing as a guest at the head of orchestras in Europe and other continents. The programme features much-loved Kodály compositions as well as more obscure and rarely performed pieces. A speciality of the concert is the work of Hans Koessler, who wrote his name into the history of music as the composition teacher of Kodály, Bartók and Dohnányi among others.

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 500, 6 000 Organizer: National Philharmonic, Liszt Academy Concert Centre

ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC SZILVIA BOGNÁR IN THE GATEWAY OF MY HEART Máté Hegedűs (violin) Endre Papp (viola) András Bognár (double bass) Péter Bede (saxophone, flute, kaval) Kálmán Balogh (cimbalom) István Kónya (lute) Szilvia Bognár studied ethnography at ELTE university, became recognized as a singer with the band Makám, and has worked with the State Folk Ensemble, Duna Artists Ensemble, Ferenc Sebő, Márta Sebestyén and Andrea Rost. In 2006 she formed her own band and has released four albums. Naturally, her activities over the years have been honoured with numerous awards. This time, her Liszt Academy concert features songs of the different regions of Tran­ sylvania and Bulgarian folk music.

In an interview, the magically voiced singer formulated her ars poetica thusly: “Traditional singing (and not just Hungarian) bears extremely important values. Not just beautiful melodies and lyrics that frequently speak of timeless emotions, but a truly natural, instinctive way of singing in articulation, ornamentation and gestures. I endeavour to retain this under all circumstances.”

SZILVIA BOGNÁR © KRISZTA FALUS

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre 55

THURSDAY 9 MARCH, 19.00

SATURDAY 11 MARCH, 19.30

SOLTI HALL

GRAND HALL FOUR BY FOUR PLUS ONE ALEXANDRE THARAUD & CUARTETO CASALS

BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS LÁSZLÓ BORBÉLY Haydn: Variations in F minor, Hob. XVII:6 Mompou: Variations on a Theme by Chopin Mendelssohn: Variations sérieuses, Op. 54 Webern: Variations, Op. 27 Brahms: Variations and Fugue on a Theme

by Händel, Op. 24

LÁSZLÓ BORBÉLY

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Beethoven: String Quartet No. 2 in D major, Op. 18/2 Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 10 in A-flat major, Op. 118 Franck: Piano Quintet in F minor

László Borbély (piano)

Alexandre Tharaud (piano) Cuarteto Casals: Vera Martínez Mehner, Abel Tomàs Realp (violin), Arnau Tomàs Realp (cello), Jonathan Brown (viola)

László Borbély, who in terms of repertoire can be considered one of the most openminded of all young pianists, has set variations written at different periods in history alongside each other. This genre was always a benchmark of com­ positional creative ability and imagi­ nation, since a variation series by a master attains artistic heights by working upon a simple theme. Haydn’s melan­ cholic masterpiece is frequently perfor­ med, and the series of Mendelssohn that is both spectacularly virtuosic and an ideal of beauty is a true audience favourite. These are in direct counter­ point to Webern’s opus using strict 12-tone technique which only a select band of pianists is prepared to undertake due to its enormous complexity. The situa­tion is the same (albeit for diffe­ rent reasons) with the near 30-minute ‘piano symphony’ of Brahms, the per­ for­mance of which assumes conside­ rable stamina and artistic bravura for the gradual denouement in a carefully timed way of the grandiose structure.

Inserted within the programme is a curiosity: the exotic, flamboyant Chopin variations by Catalan composer Federico Mompou who died 30 years ago.

One of the best string quartets of our day are playing in the Grand Hall, an ensemble that for the past 20 years has been captivating audiences with their unequalled tonality and dynamic productions. Founded in 1997 by students of the conservatory of music in Barcelona, they have taken the baton from members of the greatest ensembles, the Alban Berg Quartet, the LaSalle Quartet and the Hagen Quartet. Today, all four musicians are professors of their alma mater, and they perform tastefully selected classical masterpieces considered to be the pinnacle of chamber music on their prize winning albums (one of which is dedicated to the works of Bartók, Kurtág and Ligeti) as well as at their concerts. This concert is no exception: in the first part they perform the Beethoven string quartet from 1801, followed by the Shostakovich quartet (1964), reckoned to be a touchstone in terms of instrumental skills required.

After the break they are joined by Alexandre Tharaud, a leading French pianist of our day and an artist who has worked together with the Cuarteto Casals on several highly successful European concerts.

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

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 3 100, 4 300, 5 400 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

ALEXANDRE THARAUD © MARCO BORGGREVE 57

SUNDAY 12 MARCH, 19.00

SUNDAY 12 MARCH, 19.30

SOLTI HALL

GRAND HALL

JOSHUA BELL & FRANKFURT RADIO SYMPHONY JAZZ IT! BINDER KÁROLY TRIO & QUARTET N-EVERGREENS & FOR SEVEN DAYS Károly Binder (piano) Mihály Borbély (saxophone) Tibor Fonay (bass) Ákos Benkó (drums)

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Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 Mahler: Symphony No. 5 Joshua Bell (violin) Frankfurt Radio Symphony Conductor: Andrés Orozco-Estrada

Pianist Károly Binder, winner of the eMeRTon and Erkel Prizes, and head of the academy’s Department of Jazz, gives a double album recital. The different facets of his extremely diverse art are revealed on N-Evergreens recor­ ded with his quartet and For Seven Days made with the trio. Many decades of experience are evident in the N-Evergreens reinterpretations of jazz standards from harmonic, metric and form aspects. Jazz hits such as Autumn Leaves, Green Dolphin Street and Body and Soul come up time and time again in jazz classes: this is why it is so exciting to see whether, after so many great interpretations, there is anything to add to the tradition (it’s not really a spoiler to whisper that, naturally, there is). As suggested by the title For Seven Days recorded with the trio, it contains seven numbers, each an intense music event for every day of the week. The pianist genius is joined by Tibor Fonay on bass and Ákos Benkó on drums, with saxophonist Mihály Borbély making up the quartet.

“This Mahler is smart, we should use him more often.” This is what the American producers of the Visconti film Death in Venice are reputed to have said after the first screening, in which Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, the famous Adagietto (and the figure of Mahler) were given such memorable roles. The symphony, which Mahler would have preferred to have first conducted 50 years after his death, has become one of the cornerstones of the concert repertoire. The position of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor is similarly rock-solid. The concerto soloist is the eternally youthful Joshua Bell, a favourite of Budapest audiences who is close to becoming an honorary Hungarian and an artist who plays in partnership with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony.

Since their formation in 1929, the ensemble has operated under the direction of superb conductors such as Eliahu Inbal, Dmitri Kitayenko and Paavo Järvi. Colombian conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada has directed the orchestra since 2014 and will be at the helm for the concert in the Liszt Academy.

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 500 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Tickets: HUF 4 800, 6 500, 9 200, 11 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

JOSHUA BELL © PHIL KNOTT

ENTRY IN THE GUEST BOOK OF LISZT ACADEMY JOSHUA BELL (11 MAY 2016) 59

THURSDAY 16 MARCH, 19.00

FRIDAY 17 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL

SOLTI HALL

TALENT OBLIGES KATA SCHEURING CHAMBER RECITAL

MARVELLOUS ELECTROPHONE INSTRUMENTS RÓBERT MANDEL’S HISTORY OF INSTRUMENTS SERIES

Schubert: Sonata in A minor, D. 821 (‘Arpeggione’) (arrangement for flute and piano) Liebermann: Sonata Hindemith: Eight Pieces for Solo Flute Smit: Trio for Flute, Viola and Harp Krzysztof Meyer: Burlesca all’Ongarese Jolivet: Chant de Linos Kata Scheuring (flute); Marcell Szabó, Gergely Kovács (piano); Oszkár Varga (viola); Barbara Kriesch (harp)

KATA SCHEURING

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Works by Bálint Baráth, Szabolcs Keresteš, Johannes Kretz and Zsolt Kaltenecker Carolina Eyck (theremin); Bálint Baráth (analogue modular synthesizers and electronic instruments); Szabolcs Keresteš (computer controlling); Mihály Kádár (sound engineer); Zsolt Kaltenecker (electronic instruments); Ensemble Mandel (artistic director: Róbert Mandel)

Kata Scheuring surely ranks among the most talented of the young flautist generation. She studied at the Liszt Academy under Zoltán Gyöngyössy, Veronika Oross and Rita Termes, perfecting her knowledge at several master classes. She has won podium places at numerous national and international competitions, she has performed abroad on many occasions, and she spent a semester in Helsinki where she was able to study under Petri Alanko. The programme comprises a bouquet from the rich collection of chamber music for flute, brought to fruition in the company of famous young fellow artists. Schubert’s classic is followed by Hindemith’s 1927 eight character pieces, American Liebermann’s Sonata dating from 60 years later, the Trio (1926) of Dutchman Leo Smit who died in a concentration camp, the Krzysztof Meyer Burlesca all’Ongarese dedicated to András Adorján, and finally one of the most played pieces of 20th century chamber music for flute, Chant de Linos by André Jolivet from France.

Members of Róbert Mandel’s contem­ porary music ensemble have undertaken a most difficult project: playing instru­ ments from past centuries in the envi­ ronment of the very latest electro-acoustic technologies, thereby presenting com­ posers oriented towards long-forgotten instruments and new sounds with brandnew opportunities. An open-minded and constantly morphing international music group was established that is interested in giving voice and possibility to pioneering concepts and music ideas spanning all styles of music from the oldest to the most modern. The first electronic instrument is also being played in the Solti Hall courtesy of the German composer and theremin speci­ alist Carolina Eyck. “In order for Russian physicist Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Theremin) to develop his invention, an instrument that can be played with the help of antennae, numerous scientists had to conduct experiments on every­ thing from the radio to the telephone.

We consider them our role models,” said Róbert Mandel.

Tickets: HUF 1 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 500 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

BARTÓK AND THE VIOLINISTS Zoltán Székely, József Szigeti, Stefi Geyer, Yehudi Menuhin, Jelly Arányi…

All violinists who are closely tied to the world of Bartók both professionally and personally. To the Bartók whose two violin concertos, string quartets, chamber works written for violin and piano, and iconic Solo Sonata are to this day some of the most exciting elements in violin literature. We asked three principal violinists from the Liszt Academy’s spring 2017 concert season – Kristóf Baráti, Barnabás Kelemen and Pekka Kuusisto – about how much room the music of Bartók (who was renowned for including strict instructions to the performer) allows for the free expression of the artist, and what they would ask the composer if they could spend an evening with him.

We know that Bartók composed his parts for violin independently, but he often asked violinist acquaintances to go through them with a performer’s eye. “The parts are so instrumental that I can hardly believe he didn’t play the violin,” says Barnabás Kelemen. “It is not enough that his works can be played superbly, but it is a fantastic feeling from a specifically violin technique aspect to play them. The refinement of technique in playing the music of Bartók is on as high a plane as the actual content of his works.”

For Bartók, the close connection with violinists never meant that he would endeavour to serve the performers alone. “He must have had a very determined concept of music independent of performers,” says Pekka Kuusisto. “Bartók’s compositional style for the violin is extremely solid.

One clearly feels that the same person composed the pieces for solo violin as did the Violin Concerto or the string quartets, irrespective of who performed these works for the first time.” Kristóf Baráti is of the belief that in the case of the violin-piano sonatas, it is difficult to decide whether the violinist or the pianist has the harder job. “I think that the world of Bartók is instrument-independent in the most positive sense,” says Baráti.

Bartók dedicated his violin works to some of the greatest artists of the day including Zoltán Székely, József Szigeti and Yehudi Menuhin. We should not forget, however, the role of female violinists that were close to him.

“The Arányi sisters, Jelly and Adila, and Stefi Geyer exercised just as much of an influence on Bartók as Székely, Szigeti or Menuhin,” is how Barnabás Kelemen puts it. “He dedicated both his sonatas to Jelly Arányi, and Zoltán Kocsis once said that he reckoned it could not be ruled out that he would have dedicated the two rhapsodies to her had Ditta had not been so jealous of all the adoration.”

There is no lack of strict and precise instructions to performers in the scores of Bartók, but this does not mean that his music demands fixed performance in every single detail. “A kind of freedom should always be present in the performance and this freedom does not contradict the composer’s instructions. You have to speak the language that the composer represents with his own stylistic marks, only this can provide space for freedom of the performer,” says Baráti. Speaking about his performance of the music of Bartók, Kelemen highlighted the significance of those spontaneous moments and moods in which the most profound musical associations are to be discovered. “We must always remain open to that channel that cannot be expressed in words through which the composer came into contact with the powers above at the time of writing the piece, and through which we, too, the performers, are able to communicate the music.” These spontaneous moments are evident in a solo performance just as much as they are in a string quartet performance. “Bartók’s quartets are full of moments where although we learn how we react to each other, in the given situation this connectedness between one another always manifests itself in a different way.”

Sándor Végh once said, recalls Pekka Kuusisto, that Bartók aimed his most complex notations first and foremost at those who didn’t understand his music, and numerous extremely detailed composer’s instructions were 61

included because of his bad experiences with performers. Not only did Bartók set the tempo with metronome markings for many of his works, but sometimes he even indicated the exact durations of the different sections of a movement. A little known note written in the piano score of the 1941 Boosey & Hawkes edition of the Violin Concerto indicates, quite naturally, that Bartók was well aware of the ‘here and now’ character of the art of performance, and was not interested in uniformizing the performance of his works. Bartók writes: ‘Timings, noted from an actual performance, are given for sections of movements and, at the end of each movement, for the whole thereof. It is not suggested that the duration should be exactly the same at each performance; but these and the metronomic indications are suggested only as a guide for executants. ’ As to the question of what he would ask Bartók if the chance arose to meet him, Barnabás Kelemen, with an eye on playing together, says he would respond thusly: “Dear Master, let’s play through the first or second sonata together.” On the other hand, Baráti Kristóf would ask Bartók to show him music that he is currently engaged with, whether his own work or a piece by any other composer. “My only interest would be how Bartók dealt with music before he drew his own conclusions and set them down on paper.” Pekka Kuusisto comes up with the most surprising response: besides telling Bartók what a fantastic composer he considers the Hungarian to be, he would like to ask him about a strange incident that occurred in 1942.

The American composer David Zinman tells the story that in his childhood he attended the high school for music in Manhattan and one day he and his friends noticed ‘terrible sounds’ coming from one of the apartments near the school, so they started throwing stones at the window. It later turned out that the apartment they had been throwing stones at was at that time the residence of Bartók.

Is there a Bartók work for violin that the artists consider would fill the number one position on an imaginary ‘best of’ list? “It is my belief that the performer is best off always considering that the works he or she has just played are the favourites,” says Baráti. In quartet terms, Kelemen reckons that the final movement of the Second String Quartet is the one he feels closest to, and of Bartók’s solo pieces he considers the Violin Concerto one of the most significant compositions of the 20 th century. “The work explores the most extreme human emotions, the greatest depths and heights, and while it rests on the ancient foundations of Hungarian folk music, it is incredibly universal.” Kuusisto thinks that Contrasts is a work out of which people feel that there is a future. “With the perfect combination of the different musical languages, he encourages understanding among people and sends the message that many different elements are able to do more in a unit than separately. Contrasts is communication through and through.”

Anna Belinszky

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SATURDAY 18 MARCH, 19.30

SUNDAY 26 MARCH, 11.00

GRAND HALL

SOLTI HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC – TUNED FOR GRAND HALL PEKKA KUUSISTO, AMY NORRINGTON, GÁBOR CSALOG Ravel: Sonata for Violin and Cello Ravel: Trio in A minor Schubert: Trio No. 2 in E-flat major, D. 929 Pekka Kuusisto (violin) Amy Norrington (cello) Gábor Csalog (piano)

PEKKA KUUSISTO © LISZT ACADEMY / BALÁZS MOHAI

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY WHAT CAN THE PIANO DO? FOR 10–15-YEAR-OLDS Balázs Fülei, Péter Sárik (piano) Narrator: Balázs Fülei

His first violin teacher was Hungarian and he has proven his stunning capabi­ lities on the instrument in the Liszt Academy and in Kaposvár, so Finnish violinist (and conductor and composer) Pekka Kuusisto can be regarded as ‘one of us’. His appearances in Budapest are followed with particular interest. This time around, the 40-year-old plays chamber music in the Grand Hall in the company of British cellist (and artistic director of the Belgium chamber music festival) Amy Norrington, and Gábor Csalog, renowned for his intensity and openness. The programme features the Sonata for Violin and Cello written by Maurice Ravel between 1920–1922 (the composer dedicated the work to Debussy who died in 1918), and in the wake of the Trio in A minor (1914) dedicated to the artist’s counterpoint teacher we hear Schubert’s Trio in E-flat major. The trio composed barely a year before the death of the composer is one of the very few late Schubert works that the musician actually heard performed for the first time in public, this one at the engagement reception of a good friend.

What can one do with a black box standing on several legs that has 88 ebony and ivory keys, up to 236 strings and tiny hammers, not to mention a huge cast iron plate, and that we call a piano? It makes a great flower stand, it’s possible to build a fantastic bunker underneath it, but we are more interested in what it can do in music. This concert presenting musical instruments and organized within the framework of the Liszt Kidz Academy for upper primary school pupils shines a light not only into the workings of the piano but also into how the piano has been and still is used today in classical music and jazz.

This most popular of instruments is introduced by head of the Liszt Academy Chamber Music Department and Junior Prima prize laureate Balázs Fülei, as well as Artisjus winner Péter Sárik who was presented with the ‘Musician of the Year’ award by the National Association of Instrumentalists in 2016. The concert is a repeat of the programme of the same name staged two years ago.

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

Tickets: HUF 1 400 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre 63

TUESDAY 28 MARCH, 19.00

THURSDAY 30 MARCH, 19.00

FRIDAY 31 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL

SOLTI HALL

SOLTI HALL

KONZI CONCERTS 3 VARIATIONS FOR KONZI

ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC DŰVŐ ORCHESTRA & JÚLIA KUBINYI THE BEST IS YET TO COME Júlia Kubinyi (vocals) Dűvő Orchestra: Dénes Hrúz, Szabolcs Hrúz (violin); Albert Mohácsy (double bass); Zsolt Nagy (viola) According to the Hungarian Lexicon of Ethnography, the ‘dűvő’ (or ‘dúva’) is a specific way of playing the accompa­ niment instruments of string folk bands, when these accompany the solo instru­ ment with an identical rhythm mainly linking double notes (compare the word ‘dűvő’ with the numeral ‘2’ of Indo– German languages: due, deux, etc.).

This unusual breath-control method of playing is found in the Great Plain, Trans­ danubia and Transylvania. The marvel­ lous folk ensemble, founded in 1979 by the Hrúz brothers, chose an appropriate name because their near four-decades of playing can be seen as a metaphor of that harmonic ‘breathing as one’, which is the essence of the ‘dűvő’ style of playing, and what is more, their repertoire is just as diverse as the ubiquity of ‘dűvő’.

They have released more than a dozen albums, won numerous prizes and awards, and their latest ‘acquisition’ is a young singer, Junior Prima Prize winner Júlia Kubinyi, who was one of the winners of the 2012 national folk music competition ‘Fölszállott a páva’ (The Peacock). This concert is certain to fill the Solti Chamber with energy.

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 500 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre 64

Telemann: Concerto for Two Oboes and Trumpet, TWV 53:D2 Mozart: Per questa bella mano, K. 612 Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, K. 417 Haydn: Piano Concerto No. 11 in D major, Hob. XVIII:11 Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56 Dániel Rikker (trumpet); Janka Albert, Apolka Mitró (oboe); Benedek Devich (double bass); Lőrinc Kósa (bass); Éva Fröschl (horn); Zsófia Richter (piano) Symphony Orchestra of the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Music Conductor: Gergely Dubóczky

ON THE SPOT SPECIAL SCHOOL FOR EXCEPTIONAL YOUNG TALENTS Students of the Special School for Exceptional Young Talents of the Liszt Academy

The Konzi Concerts series was launched in autumn 2016, since which students of the ‘training school’ for the Liszt Academy, have been given regular opportunities to appear on the various stages of the university. On this occasion, the leading part goes to the Konzi Symphony Orch­ estra which, enhanced with the most talented young soloists, arrives with a programme of exciting concertos. The programme opens with Telemann’s concerto for two oboes and trumpet followed by the Mozart aria Per questa bella mano, a work with instrumentation that is no less ‘extreme’ being written for the bass voice with obligato double bass part. Then comes the Horn Concerto in E-flat major of Mozart, composed for his good friend Joseph Ignaz Leutgeb.

The Haydn Piano Concerto in D major sees another solo instrument being put through its paces, with the concert winding up with a true orchestral work in the form of the Haydn Variations

by Brahms.

Legends and tales of wunderkinder have been essential parts of the history of music for centuries. From many aspects nothing has changed even today: there are few CVs of musicians that do not mention somewhere a flowering of astonishing talent during early childhood. At this On the Spot series concert showcasing special talents, we have the opportunity to witness young musicians who have been in training at the Liszt Academy to the very highest artistic standards since their early school days taking to the stage of the Solti Hall. They are the children who, years later, will be able with full justification to say that they performed in the greatest concert halls of the country when still in their teens.

However, it would be wrong to think that talent is some God-given gift that guarantees success in itself; the fact is there is something that the remarkably gifted young people at this concert and the ‘great artists’ share. This is nothing less than the enormous devotion and energy that is invested in learning a particular piece of music. All who attend this concert introducing the most gifted young musicians of the Special School of the Liszt Academy are witness to the results of this extraordinary work.

Tickets: HUF 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Tickets: HUF 1 600 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

DAVE LIEBMAN (NEW LIGHT QUARTET) (29 SEPTEMBER 2016) © LISZT ACADEMY / GÁBOR VALUSKA

ADAM NUSSBAUM (NEW LIGHT QUARTET) (29 SEPTEMBER 2016) © LISZT ACADEMY / GÁBOR VALUSKA

JASON MORAN & CHARLES LLOYD (20 MAY 2016) © LISZT ACADEMY / GÁBOR VALUSKA 65

CONCERT CHRONOLOGY APRIL

THURSDAY 6 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL DVOŘÁK: STABAT MATER PUMEZA MATSHIKIZA

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

SATURDAY 1 APRIL 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

JAZZ IT! BALOGH TAMÁS QUARTET FEATURING LILI NAGY

Page 70

HERE AND NOW ZOLTÁN RÁCZ & GUESTS

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TUESDAY 4 APRIL 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE DITTA ROHMANN & IMRE ROHMANN

SATURDAY 1 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Page 74

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL PUMEZA MATSHIKIZA ARIA RECITAL THE VOICE OF THE YEAR 2014 (DECCA)

WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro – Overture Mozart: ‘Deh vieni non tardar’ – Susanna’s Aria from The Marriage of Figaro Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana – Intermezzo Puccini: ‘Tu, che di gel sei cinta’ – Liù’s Aria from Turandot Puccini: ‘Si, mi chiamano Mimi’ – Mimi’s Aria from La Bohème Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila – Overture Dvořák: Slavonic Dance No. 1 Dvořák: Song to the Moon – Aria from Rusalka Gershwin: Cuban Overture Gershwin: Summertime – Clara’s Aria from Porgy and Bess Thula baba – South African song Khachaturian: Sabre Dance Malaika – Kenyan song Pumeza Matshikiza (soprano) Danubia Orchestra Óbuda Conductor: Máté Hámori Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 500, 4 900, 5 900 Organizer: Budapest Spring Festival 66

SUNDAY 2 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

MVM CONCERTS – THE PIANO EVGENI KOROLIOV PIANO RECITAL BACH SERIES 2 J. S. Bach: French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816 J. S. Bach: Toccata in C minor, BWV 911 J. S. Bach: Italian Concerto, BWV 971 J. S. Bach: Musikalisches Opfer – Ricercar a 6 J. S. Bach: Das Wohltemperierte Klavier 2, BWV 870–893 – excerpts

Dvořák: Stabat Mater, Op. 58 Ingrid Kertesi (soprano); Lúcia Megyesi-Schwartz (mezzo-soprano); Jaroslav Březina (tenor); Pavel Švingr (bass) Prague Philharmonia Choir MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Péter Csaba Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 500, 4 900, 5 900 Organizer: Budapest Spring Festival FRIDAY 7 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

CONCERTO BUDAPEST CONCERT IN C MINOR WITH DEZSŐ RÁNKI Mozart: Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546 Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491 Beethoven: Piano Concert No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 Dezső Ránki (piano) Concerto Budapest Conductor: András Keller Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900 Organizer: Concerto Budapest

Evgeni Koroliov (piano)

SATURDAY 8 APRIL 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

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

MARIAM BATSASHVILI & BENEDEK HORVÁTH PIANO RECITAL

Page 76

THURSDAY 6 APRIL 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

SATURDAY 8 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL JEAN-GUIHEN QUEYRAS, BIJAN CHEMIRANI, KEYVAN CHEMIRANI, SOKRATIS SINOPOULOS

ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE GIOVANNI SOLLIMA & AMSTERDAM SINFONIETTA

Page 74

Page 76

SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 000, 4 500 Organizer: MÁV Symphony Orchestra

TALENT OBLIGES LÁSZLÓ NYÁRI & MARCELL SZABÓ CHAMBER RECITAL

WEDNESDAY 12 APRIL 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

Page 77

SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

VICTOR AVIAT

CHAMBER MUSIC – Y GENERATION DOMONKOS CSABAY & ILDIKÓ SZABÓ CHAMBER RECITAL

Page 77

CONCERTO BUDAPEST KREMER 70 J. S. Bach: Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043 Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 Philip Glass: Concerto for Violin and Cello Gidon Kremer (violin); Giedre Dirvanauskaite (cello); Keller András (violin) Kremerata Baltica Concerto Budapest; Vezényel: Keller András Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900 Organizer: Concerto Budapest

WEDNESDAY 12 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

PURE BAROQUE ST. JOHN PASSION – ÁBRAHÁM CONSORT & NEW LISZT FERENC CHAMBER CHOIR

Page 77

THURSDAY 13 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL IVO POGORELICH PIANO RECITAL Liszt: Dante Sonata Mozart: Fantasia in C minor, K. 475 Schumann: Carnival Scenes from Vienna, Op. 26 Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 36

GIDON KREMER

Ivo Pogorelich (piano)

TUESDAY 11 APRIL 2017, 19.00 GRAND HALL

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Pergolesi: Stabat Mater Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour On the Cross Yvette Mondok (soprano) Ildikó Gaál-Wéber (alto) Zoltán Megyesi (tenor) István Rácz (bass) National Choir (choir master: Csaba Somos) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Péter Csaba

Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 500, 4 900, 5 900 Organizer: Budapest Spring Festival FRIDAY 14 APRIL 2017, 19.45 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA Mozart: Symphony No. 36 in C major, K. 425 (‘Linz’) Honegger: Concerto da Camera Schumann: Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 38 (‘Spring’) Erika Sebők (flute); Clément Noël (English horn) Budapest Festival Orchestra Conductor: Victor Aviat

SATURDAY 15 APRIL 2017, 19.45 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA Mozart: Symphony No. 36 in C major, K. 425 (‘Linz’) Honegger: Concerto da Camera Schumann: Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 38 (‘Spring’) Erika Sebők (flute); Clément Noël (English horn) Budapest Festival Orchestra Conductor: Vladimir Verbitsky Tickets: HUF 2 700, 3 700, 4 600, 6 600, 11 000 Organizer: Budapest Festival Orchestra TUESDAY 18 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

BARNABÁS KELEMEN & PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA GYŐR ROMANTICISM Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 Schubert: Symphony No. 1 in D major, D. 82 Barnabás Kelemen (violin) Philharmonic Orchestra Győr Conductor: Kálmán Berkes Tickets: HUF 3 900, 4 900, 5 900 Organizer: Philharmonic Orchestra Győr

Tickets: HUF 2 700, 3 700, 4 600, 6 600, 11 000 Organizer: Budapest Festival Orchestra 67

SUNDAY 23 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL KRISTÓF BARÁTI, ISTVÁN VÁRDAI, DÉNES VÁRJON

DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK SHANGHAI QUARTET

WEDNESDAY 19 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Haydn: Piano Trio No. 39 in G major, Hob. XV:25 (‘Gypsy’) Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 Mahler: Piano Quartet in A minor Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op.47 Kristóf Baráti (violin); István Várdai (cello); Dénes Várjon (piano) Featuring: Máté Szűcs (viola)

SATURDAY 22 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 200, 4 500, 5 900 Organizer: Budapest Spring Festival

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 6 in B-flat major, Op. 18/6 Yi-Wen Jiang: Chinasong (selection) Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810 (‘Death and the Maiden’)

HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Rossini: The Barber of Seville – Overture Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 András Csáki (guitar) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Carlo Montanaro Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 500, 6 000 Organizer: Hungarian National Philharmonic FRIDAY 21 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL HENRIK NÁNÁSI & ORCHESTRA OF THE KOMISCHE OPER BERLIN Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 200, 4 500, 5 900 Organizer: Budapest Spring Festival

Ödön Rácz (double bass) Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Conductor: Vladimir Verbitsky Tickets: HUF 3 000, 3 500, 4 000 Organizer: Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL SHANGHAI QUARTET

ÖDÖN RÁCZ

THURSDAY 20 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Verdi: The Power of Fate – Overture Koussevitzky: Double Bass Concerto, Op. 3 Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36

Shanghai Quartet: Weigang Li, Yi-Wen Jiang (violin); Honggang Li (viola); Nicholas Tzavaras (cello) Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 500, 3 900, 4 400 Organizer: Budapest Spring Festival

MONDAY 24 APRIL 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

SUNDAY 23 APRIL 2017, 11.00 SOLTI HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE LEONARD ELSCHENBROICH & NEW HUNGARIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY WHAT CAN THE HUMAN VOICE DO? FOR 10–15-YEAR-OLDS Page 78 SUNDAY 23 APRIL 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

TALENT OBLIGES DÓRA KOKAS & BENJÁMIN PERÉNYI CHAMBER RECITAL

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WEDNESDAY 26 APRIL 2017, 19.45 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA Glinka: Valse-Fantasie Mozart: Concertone in C major, K. 190 Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131 Mária Gál-Tamási, Anikó Mózes (violin) Budapest Festival Orchestra Conductor: Vladimir Fanshil Tickets: HUF 2 700, 3 700, 4 600, 6 600, 11 000 Organizer: Budapest Festival Orchestra

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THURSDAY 27 APRIL 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

JAZZ IT! JAKOB BRO TRIO

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THURSDAY 27 APRIL 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA VLADIMIR FANSHIL

Schumann–Talmi: Scenes from Childhood, Op. 15 Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 Mendelssohn: Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 – Scherzo (orchestral arrangement) Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

Alon Goldstein (piano) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Yoav Talmi

Glinka: Valse-Fantasie Mozart: Concertone in C major, K. 190 Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 500, 6 000 Organizer: Hungarian National Philharmonic

Mária Gál-Tamási, Anikó Mózes (violin) Budapest Festival Orchestra Conductor: Vladimir Fanshil

APRIL 2017 28. FRIDAY, 19.45 GRAND HALL

Tickets: HUF 2 700, 3 700, 4 600, 6 600, 11 000 Organizer: Budapest Festival Orchestra

ALON GOLDSTEIN

FRIDAY 28 APRIL 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS BALÁZS FÜLEI ‘BARTÓK ALSO PLAYED IT’ Page 81

69

SATURDAY 1 APRIL, 19.00

SUNDAY 2 APRIL, 19.30

SOLTI HALL

GRAND HALL

JAZZ IT! BALOGH TAMÁS QUARTET FEATURING LILI NAGY

HERE AND NOW ZOLTÁN RÁCZ & GUESTS

Balogh Tamás Quartet: Tamás Balogh (piano, keyboards); Tamás Ludányi (saxophone); Tibor Fonay (bass guitar); Tamás Hidász (drums) Guest: Lili Nagy (vocals)

TAMÁS BALOGH QUARTET FEAT. LILI NAGY © JÁNOS MAJOROS

Tamás Balogh is in his early twenties, yet he has been playing music solidly for close to a decade, and at present he is a student of Károly Binder at the Liszt Academy Jazz Department. His first instrument at the music school of Kistarcsa was the drums, although it quickly dawned on him that the piano and composition were far more to his taste. He was just 18 when in 2011 he and his orchestra won the Tirgu Mures International Jazz Competition, where he also picked up the best soloist prize.

In autumn 2013 he won the prestigious Creative Art award established by György Vukán. Tamás Hidász is the drummer in the Balogh Tamás Quartet who was awarded the best drummer prize at the Tirgu Mures Jazz Festival in 2013.Hódmezővásárhely-born Tibor Fonay on bass was presented with a Junior Prima Prize in 2014. Lili Nagy joined the group as songwriter and lyricist. She is a second-year student at the department of performance art-jazz singing of Kodolányi János College, and in March 2016 she won the trophy for best singer at the International Jazz Festival organized in Romania.

Tickets: HUF 1 200 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

70

George Crumb: Makrokosmos III – Music for a Summer Evening Berio: Linea Bartók: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, BB 115 József Balog, Zoltán Fejérvári (piano) Zoltán Rácz, Aurél Holló (percussion) American George Crumb penned his Makrokosmos piano series organized in four books between 1972–1979. The title is not only a tribute to the memory of Bartók who wrote Mikrokosmos, but he followed Bartók when shaping the third book in the series as well, making it for two pianos and percussion. The Luciano Berio ballet music for marimba, vibra­ phone and two pianos dates from the same period. The premiere of Linea (dedicated to choreographer Felix Blaska) took place at a dance perfor­ mance, but thereafter it more often featured as a concert work. At the time of composing the Sonata Bartók said “Everything given by Nature is extra­ ordinarily complicated, everything machine-like is extremely simple.

Occasionally it is true to say that ‘the simplest of tools’ become beautifully complex if they enter into the service of most natural manifestations.” On hearing Linea one can easily imagine that Berio fashioned the delicate structure of his composition bearing these words of Bartók in mind.

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

GUIDED TOURS

IN HUNGARIAN EVERY FRIDAY AND SUNDAY, IN ENGLISH EVERY DAY AT 1.30, NO REGISTRATION NEEDED Tours last approximately 50 minutes, in the course of which the guide provided by the Liszt Academy shows groups around the ground floor and first floor foyers, the Grand Hall and the Sir George Solti Chamber Hall.

Tours can be booked with Hungarian, English, German, Italian, French, Russian, Finnish, Romanian, Czech, Slovak and Japanese guidance upon consultation. Minimum group size: 12 persons; maximum group size: 35 persons.

Tour bookings, further information and partnerships with travel agencies: tourism@lisztacademy.hu Further information: http://zeneakademia.hu/en/guided-tours Ticket purchase: Liszt Academy Ticket Office (1061 Budapest, 8 Liszt Ferenc square) The Liszt Academy retains the right to modify the tours.

PARITY In connection with Kodály Year, we spoke to László Norbert Nemes, director of the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Academy in Kecs­kemét, and Pál Richter, head of the 10-year-old Folk Music Department of the Liszt Academy, director of the Institute for Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, about the folk music heritage, rene­w ing preservation and the prestige of Hungarian music education.

How are you preparing for the 2017 Kodály Year?

László Norbert Nemes: In addition to concerts being held in the concert halls of the Liszt Academy, we (in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) are organizing programmes, courses, workshops and concerts propagating the oeuvre of Kodály in Hungarian cultural institutes abroad, that is, in Stuttgart, Rome, Berlin, London, Bucharest, Tallinn, Helsinki and St. Petersburg. One of our important objectives is not only promoting Hungarian cultural exports but also giving space in these programmes to local musicians and music teachers, to all those foreign experts who are intimately familiar with the art of Kodály and his scientific and music teaching heritage.

Will the international spotlight also illuminate the Folk Music Department?

Pál Richter: Naturally, in keeping with its profile, the department will also be taking its part in the commemorative programmes. We intend to celebrate our own birthday with a concert in the Grand Hall in the autumn, as well as a publication on folk music research. The cornerstone of our teaching comprises the research and collection efforts of Kodály and learning his integrated musical approach. Field work and archival research, reviews of the historical record, and the study of dance culture are all part of the methodology that has to be mastered even today.

Although our students were brought up on today’s urban dance houses, one shouldn’t forget that this world-famous movement could not have flourished without the foundations set down by Kodály, since he, too, believed in the importance of integrating folk music into urban culture.

To what degree does the Kodály Method play a role as catalyser in music life?

LNN: Kodály’s entire oeuvre encouraged the formation of modern Hungarian music culture, in which modern Hungarian music, fertilized by folk music inspiration and the acceptance of this music by an informed public, is just as important as the cultivation of a solid musical ear starting in childhood and developed through singing. Hungarian folk music is the most important inspiration for the art of Kodály. He believed that through folk music young people could be brought to an educated acceptance of art music, and music activities on a daily basis would make young people receptive to artistic beauty and hungry for music culture. Unfortunately, I have observed that the Kodály Method is often restricted to a toolkit confined to solmization or rhythm terms, even though it is far, far richer than this.

LÁSZLÓ NORBERT NEMES © LISZT ACADEMY / KATA SCHILLER 72

Is this why the Kodály Method is more popular in those countries where, due to delayed social development, folk music remained a living tradition right up until recently?

LNN: This is not totally correct, although it is true that in those countries where folk music research or even the folk music tradition is still practised, the application of the Kodály Method approaches the spirit of the original concept. Ireland is just such a country. In this academic year, of the 50 students of the Institute, nine are Irish.

PR: In the case of the Irish, the Kodály Method may work because a knowledge of Irish folk music and the Gaelic language are core to national self-identity. Here in Hungary, in the early 20 th century the discovery of folk music was a part of the confrontation of Habsburg hegemony and urban German culture. A good example of the strength of the Kodály tradition and Hungarian folk music research and teaching based on this tradition, something that was unique for many years, is the fact that we have foreign students learning in our department, and what is more, they don’t only come from Hungarian-inhabited regions outside Hungary.

We have had, and still do have, students from Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Serbia.

Do they, too, along with their fellow Hungarian students, perpetuate the tradition?

PR: It makes no sense to raise pretend peasants. By this I mean that folk music was a part of a communal culture, it had the answer to every situation in life and it had an appropriate action and ritual repertoire. This is also why urban intellectuals could be amazed by it. It’s true that if we remove folk music from this context, we lose a great deal, but this communal culture is no longer sustainable in the totality and context of peasant tradition, and we will never discover it in its original richness and form anywhere. Thanks to researchers, though, musical ‘munitions’ survive in the form of audio material, therefore we are at an advantage over classical musicians, for instance, who only know Mozart’s works from sheet music and can never know how Mozart actually played them. We only ask that students study the regional characteristics and ‘flavours’, and when they are done with this they can add themselves to it. This is as difficult a process as learning and interpreting a work of classical music.

Tamás Vajna

PÁL RICHTER © LISZT ACADEMY / KATA SCHILLER 73

TUESDAY 4 APRIL, 19.00

THURSDAY 6 APRIL, 19.30

SOLTI HALL

SOLTI HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE DITTA ROHMANN & IMRE ROHMANN De Falla: Siete Canciones Populares Españolas (arrangement by Ditta Rohmann and Imre Rohmann) Bartók: Rhapsody No. 1, BB 94 Bartók: Rhapsody No. 2, BB 96 (arrangement

by Ditta Rohmann and Imre Rohmann) Debussy: Sonata for Violin and Piano (arrangement by Ditta Rohmann and Imre Rohmann) Ravel: Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2 in G major (arrangement by Ditta Rohmann and Imre Rohmann) Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances, BB 68 (arrangement by Ditta Rohmann and Imre Rohmann) Ditta Rohmann (cello) Imre Rohmann (piano)

DITTA ROHMANN © ANDREA FELVÉGI

74

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL JEAN-GUIHEN QUEYRAS, BIJAN CHEMIRANI, KEYVAN CHEMIRANI, SOKRATIS SINOPOULOS Marco Stroppa: ‘ay, there is the rub...’

Ross Daly: 9 beat Sokratis Sinopoulos: Nihavent Semai György Kurtág: Signs, Games and Messages (excerpts) Lutoslawski: Sacher Variation ‘Homayoun’ Krzysztof Penderecki: Capriccio per Siegfried Palm Franck Leriche: 5 beat Lyre-cello improvisation Thrace ‘Sunday Morning’ ‘Hasapiko’

The audience of the Solti Hall can be eyeand ear-witnesses to the joint chamber music-making talents of father and daughter, when brilliant pianist Imre Rohmann and his equally gifted cellist daughter Ditta Rohmann will for certain merit applause not only as performers but as arrangers, too. The programme includes compositions by Hungarian genius Béla Bartók as well as French and Spanish masters from the same period. The tonality art of Spaniard Manuel de Falla is revealed in the 1914 cycle of seven songs, not only ‘popular’ in title. Claude Debussy is represented by his last major work, the Sonata for Violin and Piano (1917), and Maurice Ravel by the Sonata for Violin and Piano in G major conjuring up in parts American jazz and blues, while Bartók’s two rhap­ sodies and Romanian folk dances from the mid-1920s recall the astonishing richness and diversity of European classical music from 100–110 years ago.

Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello); Bijan Chemirani, Keyvan Chemirani (Persian drums), Sokratis Sinopoulos (Cretan lyra)

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

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 500 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Front-ranking cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras pays a visit to Budapest, bringing with him a simply sensational programme. The French artist is accom­ panied by two compatriots, whose Iranian father, world-famous player of the zarb (goblet drum), introduced them to the mysteries of the Persian drum.

Since then Bijan and Keyvan Chemirani have been two of the greatest exponents of the instrument, taking to the stage in various formations and showing off their art in many genres and styles, offering audiences near magical produc­ tions. And as if this were not enough, the fourth member of the quartet is a Greek musician specialized in the small stringed instrument known as the Cretan lyra.

ENTRIES IN THE GUEST BOOK OF LISZT ACADEMY KAMARA.HU FESTIVAL (17–20 NOVEMBER 2016)

SATURDAY 8 APRIL, 19.00

SATURDAY 8 APRIL, 19.30

SOLTI HALL

GRAND HALL

MARIAM BATSASHVILI & BENEDEK HORVÁTH PIANO RECITAL EUROPEAN PIANO SCHOOLS Marcello–J. S. Bach: Concerto in D minor, BWV 974 Händel–Liszt: Sarabande and Chaconne from Almira Liszt: Dante Sonata Beethoven: Rondo a capriccio, Op. 129 Machavariani: The Ball Bartók: Allegro Barbaro, BB 63 Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 13 Liszt: Tarantella Beethoven: Six Bagatelles, Op. 126 Janáček: Piano Sonata (‘1 October 1905’) Bartók: Piano Sonata, BB 88 Schumann: Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6 Mariam Batsashvili, Benedek Horváth (piano)

76

ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE GIOVANNI SOLLIMA & AMSTERDAM SINFONIETTA Boccherini: Symphony No. 6 in D minor, Op. 12/4 (‘La casa del diavolo’) Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major, Hob. VIIb:2 Verdi: String Quartet in E minor Giovanni Sollima: L.B. Files Giovanni Sollima (cello) Amsterdam Sinfonietta (artistic director and concertmaster: Candida Thompson)

Talent, results, youth, personality – these are common denominators of the two pianists Mariam Batsashvili and Benedek Horváth. Benedek Horváth has won considerable acclaim both as a soloist and a chamber musician (inclu­ ding with his group Trio Eclipse), and his artistic development has been boos­ ted by great artists such as András Schiff, Zoltán Kocsis and Ferenc Rados. The Georgian pianist Mariam Batsashvili, who is praised by critics for her sensitive touch and the sincere lyricism of her performance style, most recently won at the 10 th International Liszt Piano Competition in Utrecht. The concert is staged within the framework of the European collaboration L’Europe du piano with the sponsorship of the Creative Europe programme and organized by the Festival Piano aux Jacobins and the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music.

Giovanni Sollima is a virtuoso who takes up the instrument not only for the pure pleasure of playing but also because he would like to speak to the entire world through the cello. He is driven by the same internal motivation not only as a soloist but as a composer, too. His works are enjoyed by connoisseurs of classical music just as much as they are by rock music fans. Sollima, who completed his studies in composition and cello in parallel, took to the stage at a very young age alongside such greats as Claudio Abbado, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Jörg Demus, Martha Argerich, Riccardo Muti, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Ruggero Raimondi, Bruno Canino, Victoria Mullova, Patti Smith, Philip Glass and Yo-Yo Ma. His path has followed both ‘classical’ and alternative signposts, whether one is talking about exotic locations, the frin­ ges of genres or even unusual instru­ ments. In 2014, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra premiered his duet written for himself and Yo-Yo Ma.

Tickets: HUF 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Tickets: HUF 4 800, 5 400, 6 500, 7 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

GIOVANNI SOLLIMA © GIAN MARIA MUSARRA

SUNDAY 9 APRIL, 19.00

WEDNESDAY 12 APRIL, 19.00

SOLTI HALL

SOLTI HALL

TALENT OBLIGES LÁSZLÓ NYÁRI & MARCELL SZABÓ CHAMBER RECITAL

CHAMBER MUSIC – Y GENERATION DOMONKOS CSABAY & ILDIKÓ SZABÓ CHAMBER RECITAL

Brahms: Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano in G major, Op. 78 Saint-Saëns: Rondo Capriccioso Paganini: Cantabile Paganini: Moto Perpetuo Wieniawski: Polonaise in D major Grieg: Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano in C minor, Op. 45

Beethoven: Sonata No. 4 for Cello and Piano in C major, Op. 102/1 Brahms: Sonata No. 2 for Cello and Piano in F major, Op. 99 Britten: Sonata for Cello and Piano in C major, Op. 65 Schubert: Sonata in A minor, D. 821 (‘Arpeggione’)

László Nyári (violin) Marcell Szabó (piano)

Domonkos Csabay (piano); Ildikó Szabó (cello)

Profundity and virtuosity, natural musicality and technical perfection.

These characterize the performance style of the two Junior Prima Prize winners, and this fine duality is also reflected in their colourful programme.

It is bookended by two classical works from the highest echelons of chamber music: the extremely melodic Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano by Brahms, and a masterpiece written by the number one Norwegian Romantic composer ten years later, exactly 130 years ago. Furthe­r­more, there are three more virtuoso works, the performance of which demands the greatest expertise. Another point that the two artists have in common in their careers is that they started their Liszt Academy studies in the preparatory class and later both went on to take podium places at numerous competitions.

László Nyári studied in the class of Miklós Szenthelyi, founded a string quartet in 2010 and plays on Ede Zathureczky’s instrument. Marcell Szabó was a student of Gábor Eckhardt, György Nádor and András Kemenes; his repertoire is based on the great Romantic works.

The chamber music genre is highly inti­ mate while at the same time it probably presents a greater challenge for the per­ former than even a soloist role. Musicians have to delicately combine the coordi­ nated tuning of orchestral play with the striving for emotional and technical perfectionism of solo play. The perfor­ mers in this concert are talented young musicians who, although at the begin­ ning of their careers, already possess the knowledge and experience necessary for an entire evening of chamber music.

In 2013, Ildikó Szabó was awarded the Junior Prima Prize, she released her first solo album at the age of 14, and currently she holds 16 international prizes, including the 2014, massively prestigious Pablo Casals Competition, where she picked up second place, an audience prize and a further seven other awards. Domonkos Csabay graduated from the Liszt Academy but he has also studied as a guest student at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He has appeared on stage in several European countries.

Their joint programme spans the ages from the early 1800s to the second half of the 20th century.

Tickets: HUF 1 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 500 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

ILDIKÓ SZABÓ © ZSOLT OSZTROVSZKY

77

WEDNESDAY 12 APRIL, 19.30

SUNDAY 23 APRIL, 11.00

GRAND HALL

SOLTI HALL

PURE BAROQUE ST. JOHN PASSION – ÁBRAHÁM CONSORT & NEW LISZT FERENC CHAMBER CHOIR J. S. Bach: St. John Passion, BWV 245 Christoph Prégardien (tenor) Wolf Matthias Friedrich (bass) Benjamin Russell (baritone) Eszter Zemlényi (soprano) Tibor Szappanos (tenor) Lucia Medgyesi Schwarz (mezzo-soprano) Ábrahám Consort (artistic director and concertmaster: Márta Ábrahám) New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir (choral director: László Norbert Nemes) Conductor: Zsolt Hamar

CHRISTOPH PREGARDIEN © MARCO BORGGREVE

The artistic creed professed by the Ábrahám Consort, founded by Márta Ábrahám and György Schweigert, outlines an early music concept that fundamentally questions today’s per­ formance practice known as ‘histo­ rically informed’. They consider their task to be exclusively nurturing tradi­ tions acquired with subjective experi­ ence, in many cases their approach results in unusual interpretations and unique tonalities. The Ábrahám Consort play in a similar number and arrange­ ment to 18th century small court orchest­­ ras – naturally adjusted to the orchestra­ tion of the work to be performed and with the involvement of guest musicians.

Their Easter concert, featuring a magni­ ficent roll call of international singers and conducted by Liszt Prize winner Zsolt Hamar, is devoted to Bach’s deeply moving and immortal masterpiece, the St. John Passion.

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 3 100, 4 300, 5 400 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

78

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY WHAT CAN THE HUMAN VOICE DO? FOR 10–15-YEAR-OLDS Songs by Mozart, Schubert, Bartók, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and folk songs.

Students of the Vocal, Folk Music and Jazz Departments of the Liszt Academy Narrator: Gergely Fazekas Is the human oral cavity, or the throat, or maybe the vocal chords, a musical instrument? Or perhaps all of these together? And if so, how do they work?

Does the potential of being a musician lie in us all (even without any instru­ mental knowledge)? And what are we capable of doing if we submit this trea­ sure of ours to extended training? The final concert in the spring series of the Liszt Kidz Academy seeks answers to these questions by showing the human voice in operation in the classical reper­ toire, folk music and jazz. The different vocal traditions are presented by the best students of the Liszt Academy and Gergely Fazekas, teacher of music history at the university, is our guide on this virtual tour during which we discover the extreme diversity and scale of the human voice.

Tickets: HUF 1 400 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

BATTERSEA BRIDGE (1955) © BILL BRANDT

SUNDAY 23 APRIL, 19.00

MONDAY 24 APRIL, 19.00

SOLTI HALL

SOLTI HALL

TALENT OBLIGES DÓRA KOKAS & BENJÁMIN PERÉNYI CHAMBER RECITAL Beethoven: Sonata No. 4 for Cello and Piano in C major, Op. 102/1 Locatelli: Sonata for Cello and Piano in D major, Op. 6 Brahms: Sonata No. 2 for Cello and Piano in F major, Op. 99/2 Dóra Kokas (cello); Benjámin Perényi (piano)

DÓRA KOKAS © LISZT ACADEMY / LÁSZLÓ MUDRA

Top students and recent graduates of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music receive the opportunity to perform within the Talent Obliges programme. Dóra Kokas joined the Special School for Exceptional Young Talents of the Liszt Academy at the age of 14 and completed her higher education studies also at the Liszt Academy. She can boast of podium places at several international and domes­ tic competitions. Benjámin Perényi studied at the Special School for Excep­ tional Young Talents from the age of 11, then he continued at the Liszt Academy.

The development of his skills as an instrumentalist were assisted by several professors and Zoltán Kocsis. Despite their youth, both performers at this concert have incredible experience in the world of chamber music. Dóra has attained high ranking positions in many international string quartet competitions as a member of the Kelemen Quartet, and she has appeared on stage in the top concert halls around the world in the company of artists such as Joshua Bell and José Gallardo. Benjámin Perényi first took to the stage in Genoa (2007) with his father, Miklós Perényi. Together, they now regularly perform on stages in Hungary and abroad.

Tickets: HUF 1 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

80

CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE LEONARD ELSCHENBROICH & NEW HUNGARIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA Wolf: Italian Serenade Rossini: Sonata for Strings No. 6 in D major Paganini: Moses Fantasia Vivaldi: Cello Concerto in G minor, RV 416 Verdi: String Quartet in E minor (arrangement for string orchestra) Stravinsky: Italian Suite (arrangement by Benjamin Wallfisch) Leonard Elschenbroich (cello) New Hungarian Chamber Orchestra (artistic director: Béla Bánfalvi) “My earliest intense musical memory was hearing the first C-major scale of Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3 and feeling a sort of pain under my stomach and I was tearing. Not crying, but ‘tearing’.

I asked my mother if something was wrong with me and she decided I should have cello lessons. I was six years old I think.” So the German cellist recounted his first (and clearly highly moving) experience of music. Leonard Elschen­ broich, who is in his early thirties, is one of the most impulsive and dynamic personalities in the profession today.

He is a regular guest of the most presti­­ gious concert halls and festivals, and plays alongside star conductors and star orchestras. Among his numerous accolades he holds the Leonard Bern­ stein Prize, Eugene Istomin Prize and Borletti Buitoni Prize. He has played an active role, and still does to this day, in the setting up and running of Bolivia’s first national orchestra as artistic consultant.

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

THURSDAY 27 APRIL, 19.00

FRIDAY 28 APRIL, 19.00

SOLTI HALL

SOLTI HALL

BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS BALÁZS FÜLEI ‘BARTÓK ALSO PLAYED IT’ Purcell: Suite in D major, Z. 667 Zipoli: Suite No. 1 in B minor Beethoven: Six Variations in F major, Op. 34 Liszt: Variations on J. S. Bach’s ‘Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen’ Theme Ravel: Miroirs (excerpts) Bartók: Romanian Christmas Carols, BB 67 Bartók: Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs, BB 83

JAZZ IT! JAKOB BRO TRIO Jakob Bro (guitar) Joey Baron (drums) Thomas Morgan (bass)

JAKOB BRO TRIO © EMANUELE MANISCALCO

Scandinavian refinement, ethereal guitar tones, emotions constantly held in an imminent state of explosion, a sense of the infinite. These are just a few phrases to describe the guitar playing of this brilliant Danish musician. Born in 1978, Jakob Bro currently has 12 albums to his name (the latest – Streams – was released in 2016 by leading jazz label ECM) and has worked on dozens of other recordings, including with Paul Motian and Thomas Stanko. He has toured on all continents and there is simply not room to list all his prizes and awards. In 2013 he founded his trio, bringing on board Thomas Morgan, one of the most sought-after bassists on the New York jazz scene, plus the avantgarde drummer Joey Baron who freq­ uently plays alongside Bill Frisell and John Zorn.

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

Balázs Fülei (piano) ‘Bartók Also Played It’. This is the sub­ title of the concert offering a perceptive insight into the piano repertoire of Béla Bartók. The concert includes works by Liszt and Ravel, and naturally enough Bartók himself, as well as a couple by Baroque masters: suites by Purcell and the Jesuit missionary Domenico Zipoli.

Head of the Liszt Academy Chamber Music Department Balázs Fülei certainly has a different performer’s temperament and podium personality to Béla Bartók, and perhaps this also plays a part in the fact that we can thank him for such original Bartók interpretations. As a critic recently put it: “Fülei is a Bartók player of great stature: his approach to characters is striking, he displays aut­ hentic tempos and dares to go against the ‘carved-in-stone’ interpretations of the Hungarian Bartók performance practice, all of which reveal great cou­ rage and absolute independence.” In a critical appraisal of his art, the follo­ wing has been said: “When he appears, skill, artistic conscience and inspi­ration take to the stage in his person.”

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre 81

CONCERT CHRONOLOGY MAY–JUNE Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Hosted concert Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior WEDNESDAY 3 MAY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE KATALIN CSILLAGH, NOÉMI GYŐRI & PRIYA MITCHELL CHAMBER RECITAL Page 86

THURSDAY 4 MAY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

FRIDAY 5 MAY 2017, 19.00

MONDAY 8 MAY 2017, 19.30

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

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

Mozart: Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major, K. 16 Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17 Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Gábor Takács-Nagy

Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21 Mussorgsky–Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition

CHAMBER MUSIC –TUNED FOR GRAND HALL KRISTÓF BARÁTI & NIKOLAI LUGANSKY

Ivett Gyöngyösi (piano) Kremerata Baltica Concerto Budapest Conductor: András Keller Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900 Organizer: Concerto Budapest

Page 86

SATURDAY 13 MAY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL KRISTÓF BARÁTI

Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 67 (‘Pastorale’) Beethoven: Symphony No. 7. in A major, Op. 92

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

FRIDAY 12 MAY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

CONCERTO BUDAPEST IVETT GYÖNGYÖSI / KREMERATA BALTICA VOL. 1

Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 000, 4 500 Organizer: MÁV Symphony Orchestra SATURDAY 6 MAY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

WE ARE AT HOME DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA ON THE ISLE OF PROSPERO

Danubia Orchestra Óbuda Conductor: Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi Árpád Tóth’s poem recited by Tamás Fodor

Page 87

SUNDAY 7 MAY 2017, 19.00

SOLTI HALL BACH OFFERINGS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MUSIKALISCHES OPFER Page 87 SUNDAY 7 MAY 2017, 19.30

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF THE ORCHESTRA KEN-ICHIRO KOBAYASHI & LISZT ACADEMY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Page 87

CHAMBER MUSIC – Y GENERATION JÁNOS PALOJTAY, LEV SIVKOV & ZSUZSA SCHÄFFER Page 88

SATURDAY 13 MAY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC DANCE HOUSE DAY 2017 Page 88

SUNDAY 14 MAY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

CONCERTO BUDAPEST IVETT GYÖNGYÖSI / KREMERATA BALTICA VOL. 2 Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11 Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 Ivett Gyöngyösi (piano) Kremerata Baltica Concerto Budapest; Conductor: András Keller Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900 Organizer: Concerto Budapest

82

ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE PIOTR ANDERSZEWSKI & CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF EUROPE Page 88

THURSDAY 18 MAY 2017, 16.00 GRAND HALL

PENTECOST FEST YEAR CLOSING CONCERT OF THE HUNGARIAN RADIO CHILDREN'S CHOIR Selection of European and Hungarian composers’ choral works for children.

Pentecost Folk Wedding Games.

Solo works performed by award-winning, especially talented members of the Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir.

Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir Featuring: Zsuzsanna Arany (piano) Conductor: László Matos Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000 Organizer: Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles THURSDAY 18 MAY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & CHOIR Haydn: The Seasons, Hob. XXI:3 Ágnes Kovács (soprano); Tomas Selc (baritone); László Kálmán (tenor) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Choir (choir master: Zoltán Pad) Conductor: Zoltán Pad Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000 Organizer: Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles

SATURDAY 20 MAY 2017, 19.00 GRAND HALL

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Mozart: Requiem, K. 626

MONDAY 29 MAY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC – TUNED FOR GRAND HALL EMMANUEL PAHUD & ERIC LE SAGE Page 90

Kinga Kriszta (soprano); Eszter Balogh (alto); Donát Varga (tenor); Dávid Dani (bass) Budapest Academic Choral Society MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi EMMANUEL PAHUD

WEDNESDAY 17 MAY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

Tickets: HUF 4 000, 5 000, 6 000 Organizer: MÁV Symphony Orchestra SUNDAY 21 MAY 2017, 11.00 GRAND HALL

UNDERSTANDABLE MUSIC DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK Levente Gyöngyösi: The Stork Caliph Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Narrator and conductor: Gábor Hollerung Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 700, 3 200 Organizer: Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok SUNDAY 21 MAY 2017, 19.00 TUESDAY 23 MAY 2017, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

OPERA EXAM SPRING AWAKENING LA VIOLETTA Page 90

FRIDAY 26 MAY 2017, 19.00 GRAND HALL

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BRAHMS EVENING

TUESDAY 30 MAY 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

STARRING THE HUNGARIAN NATIONAL CHOIR A CAPPELLA AND ONE-MOVEMENT ORATORICAL WORKS Beethoven: Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt, Op. 112 Mendelssohn: Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt, Op. 27 Schumann: Vier Doppelchörige Geänge, Op. 141 Brahms: Schicksalslied, Op. 54 Dvořák: Hymn (‘Heirs of the White Mountain’), Op. 30 National Choir (choir master: Csaba Somos) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Csaba Somos Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 500, 6 000 Organizer: Hungarian National Philharmonic

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 Péter Frankl (piano) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Péter Csaba Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 000, 4 500 Organizer: MÁV Symphony Orchestra 83

FRIDAY 2 JUNE 2017, 19.45 GRAND HALL

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA J. S. Bach: Orchestral Suite in A minor, BWV 1067a (reconstruction by Werner Breig) J. S. Bach: Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043 Telemann: Orchestral Suite in G major, TWV 55:G2 (‘La Bizarre’) Telemann: Concerto for Two Violas in G major, TWV 52:G3 Händel: ‘Agrippina condotta a morire’ – Cantata, HWV 110 Carolyn Sampson (soprano) Budapest Festival Orchestra Artistic leader and concertmaster: Midori Seiler Baroque gestures: Sigrid T’hooft

Hungarian State Opera Orchestra Conductor: Gergely Vajda Gábor Péter Mezei: Opposite the Catafalque – Premiere Libretto: Ferenc Anger Dramaturg: Kinga Keszthelyi Rita: Nóra Ducza The Man: Csaba Sándor Hungarian State Opera Orchestra Conductor: Gergely Vajda Tickets: HUF 2 800, 4 200 Organizer: Hungarian State Opera FRIDAY 9 JUNE 2017, 19.30 GRAND HALL

FOUR BY FOUR PLUS ONE DÉNES VÁRJON & BORODIN QUARTET Page 90

Tickets: HUF 2 700, 3 700, 4 600, 6 600, 11 000 Organizer: Budapest Festival Orchestra

BORODIN QUARTET

CAROLYN SAMPSON

SUNDAY 4 JUNE 2017, 21.00 SOLTI HALL

HUNGARIAN LATE NIGHT Lendvay: The Respectful Prostitute Libretto, based on Jean-Paul Sartre’s drama: Kamilló Lendvay Dramaturg: Kinga Keszthelyi Lizzie: Bori Keszei Fred: Péter Balczó Negro: Krisztián Cser Senator Clark: András Káldi Kiss Police officer 1: Gábor Csiki Police officer 2: Antal Bakó 84

LISZTEN!

LISZT ACADEMY CONCERTS WITH STUDENT TICKET Whip out your student card and for just HUF 500 (less than â‚Ź2) you can buy a student ticket for vacant seats in the auditorium or for standing places in the 2nd floor student upper circle of the Grand Hall one hour before the concert.

Only one student ticket available for each student card per performance.

WEDNESDAY 3 MAY, 19.00

SATURDAY 6 MAY, 19.30

SOLTI HALL

GRAND HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE KATALIN CSILLAGH, NOÉMI GYŐRI & PRIYA MITCHELL CHAMBER RECITAL C. P. E. Bach: Trio Sonata in D minor Weinberg: 12 Miniatures for Flute and Piano, Op. 29 Berio: Duetti (excerpts) Schnittke: Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano Shostakovich: King Lear – duet and waltz

Debussy: Sonata for Violin and Piano Brahms: Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano in A major, Op. 100 Franck: Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major Kristóf Baráti (violin) Nikolai Lugansky (piano)

Liszt Academy lecturer Katalin Csillagh and research assistant at the London Royal Academy of Music Noémi Győri regularly appear on stage together.

Their fine programmes have long been highpoints on the domestic music calen­ dar and they released a joint album in autumn 2016. This time they team up with Priya Mitchell, artistic director of the Oxford Chamber Music Festival and violist of international repute. These three artists present us with a selection of the cream of chamber music with the focus on the 20th century. Such delicacies as the brilliant Miniatures by Weinberg, according to some the third most sig­ nificant (although now largely ignored) Soviet composer after Shostakovich and Prokofiev, the violin sonata (1963)

by Schnittke, who is of a later generation and an artist who also worked in first the Soviet Union and then in Germany, as well as the exciting Duetti of Berio, one of the leading figures of Italian avant-garde in the 20th century.

Nikolai Lugansky was just 16 when he won the greatest piano competition in the former Soviet Union in 1988, he took silver on the international stage at both the Bach competition and Rachmaninoff competition, then he walked away with first prize from the 1994 International Tchaikovsky Competition. He enjoys concert playing as much as recording, and has a long list of top accolades.

Lugansky is a regular guest artist on the Budapest concert scene as soloist at his own concerts or at piano recitals.

Even though he has a stunningly rich chamber repertoire, we only rarely have the chance to meet him as a chamber musician. He regularly appears along­ side world-class instrumentalists, with violinist Vadim Repin ranked as a regu­­ lar partner of his. This concert at the Liszt Academy sees him at the side of another great artist, Kristóf Baráti. Baráti had this to say about chamber music: “… it is the essence of performance art for all musicians.” In the light of this statement, it is only natural that the programme of his joint concert with Lugansky should be a selection of essential violin sonatas.

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 500 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

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

Katalin Csillagh (piano); Noémi Győri (flute); Priya Mitchell (violin)

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CHAMBER MUSIC – TUNED FOR GRAND HALL KRISTÓF BARÁTI & NIKOLAI LUGANSKY

NIKOLAI LUGANSKY © MARCO BORGGREVE

SUNDAY 7 MAY. 19.00

SOLTI HALL

SUNDAY 7 MAY, 19.30 MONDAY 8 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL

BACH OFFERINGS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MUSIKALISCHES OPFER Works by J. S. Bach, Máté Balogh, Marcell Dargay, Balázs Horváth, László Sándor and Péter Tornyai Students of the Doctoral School of the Liszt Academy One of the final, enigmatic works by Johann Sebastian Bach is Musikalisches Opfer (The Musical Offering) dedicated to Frederick II of Prussia. Although we know precisely the circumstances under which they came about, it is not clear why Bach not only dedicated to the king (well known for his love of light, court-style music and his general hatred of scholarly polyphony) a compulsory chamber sonata, but two major fugues and ten extremely elaborate enigmatical canons as well. In academic year 2016–2017, students of the Doctoral School of the Liszt Academy spent two semesters on the course run by music historian Gergely Fazekas, dealing with the work as well as the performance practice of Bach works in general, and this concert concludes their studies. The movements of Musica­lisches Opfer are performed in a rear­ran­ ged, contemporary music orchestration.

The five composers doing the orchest­ ration (Máté Balogh, Marcell Dargay, Balázs Horváth, László Sándor and Péter Tornyai) are, without exception, current or former students of the Doctoral School. Own compositions are performed between the Bach move­ ments, reflecting on Bach’s work and compositional thinking. As the concert title suggests, these short interludes are respectful offerings placed before Bach.

Tickets: Free tickets to the concert can be obtained at the ticket office of the Liszt Academy Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

MASTERS OF THE ORCHESTRA KEN-ICHIRO KOBAYASHI & LISZT ACADEMY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Beethoven: Egmont Overture, Op. 84 Kodály: Dances of Galánta Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi Beethoven has always been a key com­ poser in the conducting career of KenIchiro Kobayashi. But what is the situ­ ation with the music of Zoltán Kodály?

György Kroó once heard that the con­ duc­tor “by bringing certain wind parts to the forefront gave the piece a certain oriental timbre, so that the audience began to meditate on whether on the map this Galánta wasn’t perhaps a few thousand kilometres further to the east than previously thought. Whatever, it takes considerable talent to start from one’s own reading and not trying to copy a known recorded production.

Naturally, aside from this oriental timbre there was enough Hungarian and Kodály character left in the pro­ duction to bring audience members to their feet.” Kobayashi’s relationship with the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and its students intensified in 2012, since when he has worked with the Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra on several occasions.

KOBAYASHI KEN-ICHIRO © LISZT ACADEMY /ZOLTÁN TUBA

Tickets: HUF 1 200, 1 700, 2 800, 3 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre 87

SATURDAY 13 MAY, 19.00

SATURDAY 13 MAY, 19.30

WEDNESDAY 17 MAY, 19.30

SOLTI HALL

GRAND HALL

GRAND HALL

ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE PIOTR ANDERSZEWSKI & CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF EUROPE

CHAMBER MUSIC – Y GENERATION JÁNOS PALOJTAY, LEV SIVKOV & ZSUZSA SCHÄFFER Mozart: Sonata No. 32 for Violin and Piano in B-flat major, K. 454 R. Strauss: Sonata for Cello and Piano in F major, Op. 6 Clara Schumann: Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17 Robert Schumann: Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 110

Piotr Anderszewski (piano) Chamber Orchestra of Europe

All three of these young musicians are artists standing at the threshold of their soloist careers, with numerous inter­ national appearances and competition wins behind them. They met at an inter­ national music seminar in 2016 and this evening is the first time they have had a chance to play together in front of an audience. During the recital the young musicians form three different chamber music groupings. Following Mozart’s violin sonata and R. Strauss’s cello sonata composed nearly a century later, all the performers come on stage in two trios, which is a true artistic curiosity. One of the best-known artistic couples in the history of music, Robert and Clara Schumann, composed their piano trios barely four years apart, and in the same key. The piece by Clara Schumann can be heard only extremely rarely, so as a pairing to her husband’s work it offers a particularly exciting spiritual adventure.

The Béla Halmos trophy and medal in memory of the legendary folk musician and researcher were first presented in 2015. Each year, a professional jury awards a noteworthy first violinist use of the one-time violin of Béla Halmos, while the Béla Halmos medal (made by artist György Kiss B.) is presented by the Friends of the Hungarian Heritage House to an individual who has shown outstanding initiative in the organi­za­ tion of dance houses. Presentation of the prizes and the related gala concert have been arranged in the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy for the past three years. The evening is designed not only to commemorate and cherish the me­ mory of Béla Halmos, but it also serves to keep alive the flame of the dance house movement launched in 1976. The movement was inscribed on the lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO in 2011. And what better and more aut­ hentic venue for an evening celebrating the protection of folk music than the alma mater of Bartók and Kodály, the Liszt Academy, where the Folk Music Department has operated (the first such in Hungary) since 2007.

Bruno Monsaingeon – known for his particular sensitivity and obsession for filming musicians – has shot no fewer than three films about Piotr Anderszewski.

The Polish pianist first stood in front of the lens in 2001 to talk about Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and his relationship with the composer. In 2008, he reviewed his ars poetica as performance artist and his Polish–Hungarian roots in an almost feature film format. The Unquiet Traveller (2008) is one of the most unusual portrait films ever. The third, in which Piotr Anderszewski performs Schumann works, was broadcast on Polish tele­v i­ sion two years later. In the coming months the pianist has scheduled a longer break, but before that he plays as soloist for the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Orchestra and Czech Philharmonic. He arrives in Budapest fully rested. The concert showcases string and wind instrumentalists of the Chamber Orch­ estra of Europe, while Anderszewski approaches Beethoven himself through Beethoven’s favourite Mozart piano concerto.

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 500 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Tickets: HUF 1 600 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Tickets: HUF 4 800, 5 400, 6 500, 7 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

János Palojtay (piano) Zsuzsa Schäffer (violin) Lev Sivkov (cello)

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ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC DANCE HOUSE DAY 2017

Bartók: Divertimento, BB 118 Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491 Janáček: Mládí Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15

PIOTR ANDERSZEWSKI © GABRIELLE DE SAINT VENANT 89

TUESDAY 3 MAY, 19.00

MONDAY 29 MAY, 19.30

FRIDAY 9 JUNE, 19.30

SOLTI HALL

GRAND HALL

GRAND HALL

CHAMBER MUSIC – TUNED FOR GRAND HALL EMMANUEL PAHUD & ERIC LE SAGE

FOUR BY FOUR PLUS ONE DÉNES VÁRJON & BORODIN QUARTET

Mozart: Sonata No. 17 for Violin and Piano in C major, K. 296 (arrangement by Emmanuel Pahud) Schubert: Prelude and Variations on the Song Withered Flowers, D. 802 Schumann: Fantasia Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 73 (arrangement by Emmanuel Pahud) Mendelssohn: Sonata for Violin and Piano in F major, Op. 4 (arrangement by Emmanuel Pahud)

Haydn: String Quartet in D major, Hob. III:42 Schnittke: Piano Quintet Shostakovich: Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57

Emmanuel Pahud (flute) Eric Le Sage (piano) In 1992, at the age of just 22, Emmanuel Pahud was the youngest member of the Berlin Philharmonic, and he can still be spotted in the ranks of this great ensemble during concert broadcasts. However, he has also been a globe-trotting world star for two decades, a full-fledged mem­ ber of the elite of instrumental soloists.

“The instrument enables me to trans­ pose into music what I’m thinking and what I’m feeling. But, although the instrument is important, the player is the most important. All the work must be done before the mouth even makes contact with the instrument,” the Geneva-born musician said in an interview. For this concert he plays one piece each by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn from his famously broad repertoire, most in his own arrangement. This time he is accompanied by French pianist Eric Le Sage, recognized as an authority on Romantic music, particularly that of Schumann.

It is completely unnecessary to intro­ duce our pianist Dénes Várjon, one of the most active and profound artists on the Hungarian concert scene, but it may be worth mentioning about the Russian Borodin quartet that they have been operating since 1945. Established at the Moscow conservatory of music, their very first cellist was none other than Mstislav Rostropovich, and their violist Rudolf Barshai. The formation took the name Borodin ten years later.

Naturally, since then they have refres­ hed their membership on several occa­ sions while retaining their exceptional standards. The quartet are particularly proud of the close and productive wor­ king relationship they established with Dmitry Shostakovich right after the foundation of the ensemble. This connec­ tion made the musicians of the Borodin Quartet lead players in a considerable number of Shostakovich world premi­­ eres. Thus it comes as no real surprise that in the wake of the Haydn and Schnittke works, the programme rounds off with Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet.

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

Tickets: HUF 3 700, 5 100, 6 500, 7 900 Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre

OPERA EXAM SPRING AWAKENING LA VIOLETTA Máté Bella: Spring Awakening Árpád Solti: La Violetta Director: András Almási-Tóth Students of the Opera Department of the Liszt Academy Head of department: Andrea Meláth UMZE Chamber Ensemble Conductor: Gergely Vajda Franz Wedekind’s ‘tragedy of childhood’ (1891) and The Violet (1921), a one-act play by Ferenc Molnár. The former, a work that provoked a scandal with the straightforward depiction of adolescent desires, and the latter, a theatrical series of humorous scenes, are placed alongside each other at the exam production of the Opera Department. Recent pieces by Máté Bella and Árpád Solti have already won applause, assisting students towards reaping success at similar exam perfor­ mances at the academy. This is no sur­ prise considering that both operas were encouraged and commissioned by András Almási-Tóth, director-professor of the department. The first, Máté Bella’s work in 2012, then a year later the second by Árpád Solti. “Writing an opera is a turning point in the life of a composer,” said Árpád Solti in an interview on the birth of La Violetta. This is no exagge­ ration. And what is obvious for an outside observer is that both ‘first operas’ are viable, effective and rewarding pieces, holding the promise of a great future.

Organizer: Liszt Academy Concert Centre 90

Dénes Várjon (piano) Borodin Quartet: Ruben Aharonian, Sergei Lomovsky (violin); Igor Naidin (viola); Vladimir Balshin (cello)

DIPLOMA CONCERTS IN THE GRAND HALL 10.04.2017

09.05.2017

31.05.2017

29.04.2017

11.05.2017

06.06.2017

30.04.2017

16.05.2017

Attila Sztán (trombone) Éva Osztrosits (violin) Miranda Liu (violin) 02.05.2017

Berta Bánki (flute) 03.05.2017

Boglárka György (violin)

Aria Exam Choral Conducting

Composition Anna Molnár (mezzo-soprano)

Krisztina Baksa & Bernadett Puskás (cello) 22.05.2017

Yamanaka Ayumu & Aoki Yuma (piano)

For detailed programmes and further diploma concerts, as well as free university events, please visit: zeneakademia.hu/en/programs/university

BARTÓK WORLD COMPETITION AND FESTIVAL The concept of the Bartók World Competition and Festival arranged by the Liszt Academy arose on the occasion of the 135th anniversary of the birth of Béla Bartók. The inaugural competition and festival takes place in September 2017. The event, positioned in the elite league of top international music competitions, is intended not only as an instrumental review announced every other year in a different category; according to plans, it is also a festival attracting world attention augmented with a composers’ competition plus musicology symposium built around the oeuvre of Bartók, as well as offering programmes of interest to the general public.

92

Performing Bartók and entering a competition with any of his works is a true measure of competence for any artist. Most competitions do not set Bartók pieces as part of the compulsory works; however, this is exactly what the Bartók World Competition and Festival – announced in the violin category for the first time – has undertaken. The organizer and venue of the competition is the Liszt Academy. This was Bartók’s alma mater, he studied here, had the premier of many of his works here, performed on countless occasions here, and he gave his farewell concert in the Grand Hall before emigrating to the United States. The Liszt Academy is one of the most recognized institutions of music higher education in the world as well as being a concert venue with enormous traditions; all artists consider it a great honour to make an appearance here. Since the renewal of the building and institution as a whole (2013), the Liszt Academy has become a key player as a concert organizer, with its international presence being extraordinarily strong and direct. The concept of the Bartók World Competition and Festival was worked out by the Liszt Academy leadership under the artistic direction of President Dr. Andrea Vigh, while the foremost violin professors of the institution compiled the material for the first competition announced for violinists. Imre Szabó Stein, communications chief of the Liszt Academy, is responsible for the development of the format, the origination of the competition’s creative concept, image, publication and marketing portfolio, the drafting and implementation of the complete communications strategy, while the arrangement of the competition project is overseen by programme director András Csonka in collaboration with the secretariat, which has already proved its abilities in the Éva Marton Singing Competition.

Besides featuring a repertoire demanding the very highest musical expertise, the Bartók World Competition and Festival is aiming to achieve – also in its structure – something totally new compared to traditional music competitions. According to long-term plans, the competition is built around the most characteristic strands of the Bartók oeuvre, that is, piano, violin, chamber music and composition, in a five-year cycle. The individual instrumental competitions are organized every other year, with composer competitions in between, which always tie into the forthcoming instrumental category (later on the competition will be extended with a review of folk music). This distinctive structure is effective both at drawing the attention of the best instrumentalists of the upcoming musician generation to the works of Bartók and at the same time inspiring young composers to create new works written in the spirit of Bartók.

The status of a music competition is determined by several factors: the personality of the competition eponym, the members of the jury, the degree of difficulty of the repertoire, the number of rounds, the sum of prize money on offer, and how the careers of winners are followed and

BARTÓK WORLD COMPETITION AND FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION 10-17 September 2017 Candidates: violinists under the age of 30 Rounds: online video selection, preliminary, semi-final, final, finale Jury: Salvatore Accardo (I), Kristóf Baráti (H), Barnabás Kelemen (H), Quian Zhou (SG), Takashi Shimizu (J), Joel Smirnoff (USA), Vilmos Szabadi (H), Krzysztof Wegrzyn (D), Ivan Zenaty (USA) Featuring: Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra János Kovács (conductor) Total prize money: €44,000 Application deadline: 26 March 2017 Repertoire, online applications: bartokworldcompetition.hu On the basis of the decision of the government of Hungary, the Bartók World Competition and Festival is organized by the Liszt Academy with the support of the Ministry of Human Capacities.

assisted. Last but not least, it is also absolutely decisive in today’s world of information societies how the competition finds its way into the global media space. Any international competition that does not make news around the world remains, despite its international motivation, within the country of origin as far as impact is concerned. All these criteria were given extreme priority in the course of the conceptualization and creation of the newly launched Bartók World Competition and Festival. The image of the Bartók World Competition and Festival is deliberately puritan and organized in an extremely powerful way around the concept of the bridge structure that has become a metaphor for the Bartók oeuvre. The image developed under the direction of the Communications Directorate –which has won numerous global awards for the music academy – positions the competition in the vanguard of world music events. As such, the promotional campaign features in several of the top music publications (The Strad, Gramophone, Classical Music etc.) as well as in opinion-shaping media giants (The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel).

The Bartók World Competition and Festival is much more than just a music competition: it is at the same time a musicological event and festival targeting a broad audience. Every other year, beside the competitions in instrumental categories there will be a musicological conference held in the Institute of Musicology. Symposiums will always approach the Bartók oeuvre so that the given theme (in 2017, Bartók and the violin) is illuminated by the very latest research from Hungary and abroad. This creates the opportunity whereby Bartók constantly features not only in the life of performers but in musicology as well. The creators of the Bartók World Competition and Festival are fully aware that for many, even today the music of Bartók is extremely modern and they are averse to listening to certain of his works. The purpose of festival programmes built around the competitions is nothing less than bridging this gap with the help of family concerts, lectures, games, films and communication mobilizing wide sections of society, and to reveal the elusive figure of Bartók from close up.

Only in Hungary could the Bartók World Competition and Festival come about in its new, completely unique structure and in a form encompassing Bartók’s entire oeuvre from every angle. And there are many reasons for this. The responsibility, and at the same time the mission, of posterity in the protection of universal Hungarian culture, the clearly evident roots, the Hungarian mother tongue, the Bartók Archive operating within the Institute of Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the fact that the world’s foremost researchers of Bartók actually reside here. The name Bartók is intimately entwined with Hungarian culture, and wherever in the world his music is played it bears within it its unmistakeable Hungarian roots while at the same time speaking to all. The Bartók World Competition and Festival is a grandiose international bridge of culture.

Through Bartók’s bridge a small country becomes the whole wide world.

93

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY Every child is born with music in them.

There is not a single infant who would not be stirred by the music of Mozart or Bach. Or maybe WellHello, depending on what they hear at home.

Understandably, the youth programmes of the Liszt Academy are not intended to acquaint young and old with the values of pop culture, but instead with the three worlds of music that define the academy’s teaching and concert life: classical music, folk music and jazz.

We are now into the fourth ‘school year’ of the Liszt Kidz Academy and this is the moment to say a quick thank you to everybody who came here and then spread the word about us, and give ourselves a pat on our (increasingly sturdy) back! Since reopening, we at the Liszt Academy have hosted more than 60 group activities and nearly 30 informative concerts in the Solti Hall and the Grand Hall, we have organized a Grand Liszt Kidz Day and even constructed the Liszt Academy out of 20,000 LEGO bricks (the end result can be viewed in the buffet of the building on Liszt Ferenc Square). We have gradually broadened our repertoire inasmuch as we now have Jazz Playgrounds for primary school pupils, who are also given a guided tour of the building, and we have launched a music drama teaching programme for high school students (details: http://zeneakademia.hu/junior).

Group activities are designed for 6-10-year-olds, while in the spring season the informative concerts for 10-15-year-olds outline the relationship between the different genres: we look at what the piano can do in classical music and jazz (26 March), how the string instruments are used in the folk and classical tradition (29 January), the relationship between the saxophone and clarinet (12 February), and how many ways the human voice can be used depending on whether it is employed to sing folk music, jazz or classical pieces (23 April). Details can be found in the previous pages of the Concert Magazine.

What hasn’t changed is our creed. We continue to believe that music is not purely for entertainment but that it has something to teach us about the essence of our being, which is why it can never be too young to start finding out about it. As Shakespeare put it: “The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved by concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; the motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.” – The Merchant of Venice Between 11 February – 13 May 2017, we are holding group Liszt Kidz occupations in the Liszt Academy building on Liszt Ferenc Square from 10 am every Saturday. These programmes are for children aged between 6–10 years. Parents cannot take part in the programmes; however, they are welcome to attend the dress rehearsal for that evening’s concert (subject to the approval of the artists).

Further details: http://zeneakademia.hu/junior Tickets: HUF 900

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MUSIC DRAMA

THEATRE PEDAGOGY PROGRAMME FOR HIGH SCHOOL CLASSES Interactive activities, dress rehearsal, concert.

Creating drama out of a musical composition, actors out of students.

Details and applications: zeneakademia.hu/zeneszinjatek

MUSIC LABYRINTH

GUIDED TOURS AT THE LISZT ACADEMY FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL CLASSES 30-minute tour around the world’s most magical building.

Nooks and crannies, mini concert, LEGO Liszt Academy.

Details and applications: zeneakademia.hu/zenelabirintus

LISZT MUSEUM MATINEE AND EVENING CONCERTS 28 JANUARY

11.00

4 FEBRUARY 11.00 11 FEBRUARY 11.00 18 FEBRUARY 11.00 24 FEBRUARY 25 FEBRUARY 25 FEBRUARY 4 MARCH 11 MARCH 18 MARCH 25 MARCH 1 APRIL 8 APRIL 15 APRIL 22 APRIL 29 APRIL 06 MAY 13 MAY 13 MAY 20 MAY 27 MAY 3 JUNE 10 JUNE 17 JUNE 24 JUNE

18.00 11.00 18.00 11.00 11.00 11.00 11.00 11.00 11.00 11.00 11.00 11.00 11.00 11.00 18.00 11.00 11.00 11.00 11.00 11.00 11.00

Kruppa Quartet: Bálint Kruppa, Éva Osztrosits (violin); András Kurgyis (viola); János Fejérvári (cello) Featuring: Sebestyén Ludmány (cello) Mariann Marczi (piano), featuring: Ildikó Rozsonits (piano) Students of the Guitar Department Lorenzo Coppola (chalumeaux, clarinetto d’amore) Featuring: Judit Rajk (alto); László Kéringer (tenor); Mátyás Virág (cello); Dóra Pétery (harpsichord) Klara Min (piano) Ivo Haag & Adrienne Soós (piano), featuring: Delia Haag (soprano) Angelica Girls’ Choir, choral conductor: Zsuzsanna Gráf Francophone Festival — Evangelia Mitsopolou (piano) Francophone Festival — Maxime Zecchini (piano) Renáta Darázs (soprano) & András Wilheim (piano) Ildikó Gaál (mezzo-soprano) Maurizio Moretti (piano) Domonkos Csabay (piano) Hungarian Chamber Orchestra (leader: Béla Bánfalvi) Balázs Szokolay & Diána Szőke (piano) Dénes Várjon (piano) Attitude Quartet Gregorio Nardi (piano) Ilona Tokody (soprano) & András Muskát (tenor) Members of the Budapest Philharmonic Society Orchestra — chamber concert Concert of the winner of the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition Zsuzsanna Császár & Mariann Kerényi (piano) Judit Rajk (alto) & László Borbély (piano) Zsuzsanna Bódás & Zsuzsanna Vanyiska (piano) Night of Museums —Balázs Fülei & students of the Liszt Academy Special School for Exceptional Young Talents

Location: Old Academy of Music, tickets: HUF 1 500 (students and concessions tickets: HUF 750)

ENCOUNTERS WITH FERENC LISZT JOINT CONCERT SERIES OF THE FERENC LISZT SOCIETY AND LISZT ACADEMY 22 FEBRUARY 18.00 22 MARCH

18.00

LISZT PIANO WORKS IN VARIANTS Featuring: Fülöp Ránki (piano), introduction: Adrienne Kaczmarczyk, chief editor of the New Liszt Complete Edition LISZT, THE OPERA CONDUCTOR IN WEIMAR Andrea Meláth (mezzo-soprano); Katalin Alter, Zsolt Balog, Ferenc János Szabó (piano), and students of the Vocal and Opera Department of Liszt Academy Introduction: Ferenc János Szabó

Location: Old Academy of Music, tickets: HUF 1 800 (students and concessions tickets: HUF 900)

190x230_zak_koncertmagazin_regizak_en_ok.indd 1

2017.01.09. 17:00

SALVATORE ACCARDO

LISZT ACADEMY GRAND HALL

QUARTETTO ACCARDO

Salvatore Accardo, Laura Gorna (violin) Francesco Fiore (viola) Cecilia Radic (cello) Featuring: Eszter Sümegi (soprano)

08.10.2017.

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12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

1

1

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

1

1

1

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

1

1

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

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

1

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

ONSTAGE SEATS: 80 SEATS

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

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

STAGE

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

1

19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10

V VI III II I

BALCONY LEFT

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

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

1 – 12

30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20

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

13 – 24

Information on seating arrangements in the auditorium and ticket prices for the given performance can be obtained from the box office and online ticketing.

RIGHT 19 – 10

TICKET MAP SOLTI HALL

CONTACT, VISITOR INFORMATION LISZT FERENC ACADEMY OF MUSIC 1061 Budapest, Liszt Ferenc tér 8.

Central phone number: (+36 1) 462 4600

A Customers can address their inquiries to kozonsegkapcsolat@zeneakademia.hu ZENEAKADÉMIA and we are also available at (+36 1) 462-4680.

KONCERTKÖZPONT SAJÁT SZERVEZÉSÉBEN. TICKETING The ticket office of the Liszt Academy Concert Centre operates adjacent to the main entrance of the restored Liszt Academy at Liszt Ferenc tér 8.

Ticket office general opening times: 10 am–6 pm Monday-Sunday.

Besides these general opening times the ticket office will also be open during concerts, from the hour preceding the start of the performance until the end of the first interval. In the case of afternoon or matinee concerts the ticket office also opens half an hour before the performance.

STAGE A

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

A

B

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

B

I

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

I

II

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

II

III

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

III

IV

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

IV

V

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

V

VI

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

VI

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

VII

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

VIII

IX

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

IX

X

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

X

XI

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

XI

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

XII

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

XIV

Ticket office contact details: Tel.: (+36 1) 321 0690 / E-mail: jegy@zeneakademia.hu The staff of the ticket office will be pleased to help if you have any questions concerning Liszt Academy Concert Centre tickets. Further information on ticket purchases is available on the website of the Liszt Academy.

Tickets are sold for HUF 500 one hour before concerts organized in the Grand Hall and Solti Hall with a valid student card.

LISZT ACADEMY OPENING HOURS, GUIDED TOURS The main building of the Liszt Academy can be visited via guided tours lasting approx. 50 minutes. Guides speaking Hungarian, English, German, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Chinese or Japanese are provided by the Liszt Academy. Participants can enter the ground floor and first floor foyers, the Grand Hall and the Solti Hall. Tour dates and further information at zeneakademia.hu/en/guided-tours; registration for groups at turizmus@zeneakademia.hu.

Tickets: Guided tour in Hungarian: HUF 1 500 students/concessions: HUF 750 Guided tour in a foreign language: HUF 2 900 students/concessions: HUF 1450

XIII XIV

M3 M2 M1

M1 M2 M3 LEFT 1–7

RIGHT 7–1

STALLS

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

0

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

1

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

1

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

1

8 7 6 5 4 3

2 1

1

2 1

1

8 7 6 5 4 3 LEFT 1–7

RIGHT 8–1

BALCONY

In order to ensure undisturbed teaching conditions, the building is closed to the general public during the day and opens 1 hour prior to the start of concerts.

ACCESS When visiting the building, guests should use the main entrance on Liszt Ferenc Square. The entrance for disabled guests and their companions can be accessed from Király Street. From here it is possible to gain mobility access by lift to the concert halls.

99

IMPRESSUM

PUBLISHER: dr. Andrea Vigh, President of the Liszt Academy

EDITOR IN CHIEF: Imre Szabó Stein

MANAGING EDITOR: Gergely Fazekas

ENGLISH PROOFREADER: Stewart Hay

PUBLISHING MANAGER: Ágnes Varga

LAYOUT: Allison Advertising Ltd. Gergő Cuba

AUTHORS OF THE CONCERT MAGAZINE: Anna Belinszky — musicologist, doctoral student at Liszt Academy Leon Botstein — musicologist, conductor, president of Bard College, editor-in-chief of The Musical Quarterly Gergely Fazekas — musicologist, associate professor of the Liszt Academy György Kurtág — two-time Kossuth Prize winner composer, pianist Veronika Kusz — musicologist, Dohnányi scholar, researcher at the Institute for Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Judit Rácz — cultural journalist László Stachó — musicologist, psychologist, lecturer and scholar at the Liszt Academy and The University of Szeged Dániel Szabó (DMA) — pianist, composer, lecturer at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Music Tamás Vajna — cultural journalist Concert reviews by Anna Belinszky, Gergely Fazekas, Zsuzsanna Lakatos, Ferenc László, Szabolcs Molnár and Tamás Várkonyi.

TRANSLATOR: James Stewart

PRINT PRODUCTION:: High Voltage Ltd.

PRINTING: Keskeny és Társai 2001 Ltd. Published by the Communications Directorate f the Liszt Academy in 1 000 copies.

The organizer retains the right to modify programmes.

FINALIZED: 2 December 2016 100

PHOTOS AND ARTWORKS: Attila Balogh, Bill Brandt, FORTEPAN, Kousis Konstantinos, Károly Vértes With particular thanks to the leader of MOME Photography Department, Ábel Szalontai (DLA) photographer and Károly Kincses, photo-museologist.

ARCHIVE AND CONCERT PHOTOGRAPHY, ARTISTS PORTRAITS: Lukas Beck, Marco Borggreve, Meagan Cignoli, Suk Dhanda, Kriszta Falus, István Fazekas, Gábor Fejér, Andrea Felvégi, Simon Fowler, Samu Gálos M., Harald Hoffmann, Wouter Jansen, Kasskara, Gábor Kasza, Sándor Kertész, Phil Knott, Árpad Kurucz, Emanuele Maniscalco, Leonardo Manzo, János Majoros, János Marjai, Balázs Mohai, Josep Molina, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, László Mudra, Gian Maria Musarra, Zsolt Osztrovszky, László Perger, Giancarlo Pradelli, Gabrielle de Saint Venant, Keith Saunders, Kata Schiller, Zoltán Tuba, Gábor Valuska

SUPPORTER OF LISZT ACADEMY

Ministry of Human Capacities

PARTNERS OF THE UNIVERSITY