Liszt Academy Concert Magazine 2020/1 by Zeneakadémia

WITH THE QR CODE YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE WINNER OF THE BARTÓK WORLD COMPETITION 2017 COSIMA SOULEZ LARIVIÈRE PLAYING BEETHOVEN’S VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MAJOR.

It was 250 years ago that one of the greatest innovators in the history of music was born. The eccentric genius who burst open the boundaries of Viennese classicism and paved the way for Romanticism was equally adored and hated in an age when audiences who swooned to the music of Haydn and Mozart were exposed to his embarrassingly wild and passionate compositions. Among those who continued Beethoven’s legacy was Franz Liszt, who was introduced to the Maestro at age 12 and heard words of appreciation from him. Liszt also followed in Beethoven’s footsteps as a recitalist, a star of the salons of the age, where he popularized Beethoven’s compositions and arranged several of his instrumental pieces for the piano. Beethoven’s music is European through and through. He is an icon of German culture, although the Flemish like to call him their own on account of his paternal ancestors, as do the Austrians because he mostly lived in Vienna. We Hungarians feel related to him because of his bonds to the Brunsvik family in Martonvásár – perhaps he would have married into that family had he been allowed to; and what if Josephine was his “immortal beloved”? In fact, light may well be shed on this secret in our magazine, which features concerts tied to the Beethoven Memorial Year, which we are proud to present to you. This year, we will be bringing you even more Beethoven pieces than usual. They are scheduled to be performed by world-class musicians, and we will organize a Beethoven series for you to cherry-pick from at discounted prices similar to those of season tickets. I like to think that we have compiled this series programme in such a way that you will find it rather difficult to pick and choose: I am excited to attend the January concert held by Philippe Jordan and the Vienna Philharmonic, who will play two well-known and well-liked symphonies at the Liszt Academy. Varvara’s solo evening in May is expected to be another highlight: the young Russian pianist will pair Beethoven’s pieces with Shostakovich’s piano compositions, hopefully giving you a unique experience in the intimate Solti Hall. As the Maestro was rather tight-fisted with harpists, I myself will be sitting in the concert hall enjoying the music of one of the most popular composers of all time. A man who lived only 56 years, had perfect hearing for a brief 25 years of his life and yet became one of the mightiest pillars of universal musical culture. Dr Andrea Vigh President of the Liszt Academy

There are some composers of whom we cannot have enough: their greatest pieces are the cornerstones of our culture, archetypal embodiments of classical music, natural components of our musical life that we like to hear any number of times. A case in point would be the compositions of Beethoven, who will have been born 250 years ago in 2020: the opening chords of his Fifth Symphony or the Ode to Joy in his Ninth Symphony are probably the world’s best-known classical music motifs, and he composed a number of pieces that everybody recognises after the first few bars. Beethoven’s music will never become boring or overplayed, and it gives us joy time and again to hear these well-known tunes. Hence the unshakable position of his compositions in orchestra and concert hall programmes the world over, including the Liszt Academy, where his art will be considered from a rather special angle in the coming 250th anniversary year: we will place him side by side with composers who have copiously drawn on his musical output, perform some of his seldom-played opuses and seek to find concordances with pieces composed in later periods. You may often hear Beethoven’s music outside the series dedicated to him, and the symphony orchestras to appear at the Liszt Academy in the anniversary year will have him at the top of their programmes. A year ago, we polled our audiences on their concert-going habits and their satisfaction with the services they receive from the Liszt Academy. We found that the majority of our visitors attend more than one concert at the Academy every month, so we have a large and faithful customer base. We have devised the Music Academy Extra service for them, whereby we can draw their attention to concerts that suit their preferences, offer them a variety of discounts, provide news about performing artists and send practical messages related to concerts for which they have purchased tickets. We believe it is important to maintain the closest possible ties with our audience, have a clear idea of their needs and listen to their opinions. We have just set out on that road, but we hope that more and more people will join us and take advantage of the services offered by Music Academy Extra in the Beethoven Memorial Year and beyond.

András Csonka Programme Director of the Liszt Academy

The lighthouse of music is the term that the head of the Doctoral School of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music has given to Beethoven, the morose protagonist of anecdotes and dishevelled subject of contemporary paintings, who, according to musicologists of later periods, was a far more complex character with a romantic personality and life story. The legendary rebel was the first to see himself not just as a more talented craftsman than his contemporaries, but as a rare genius. Centuries on, we regard him as a hero and a victim of the social conditions of his time, whose low birth prevented him from marrying the lady of his dreams and whose tragedy still stirs the imaginations of ladies, lovers and culture lovers alike. Our concert magazine, which has focused on a particular concept each time in the past few years, will deal with the life’s work and character of Beethoven in its first 2020 issue. Of course, it will present the programme for the Academy’s new concert season, but it will also contain interviews on Beethoven with outstanding artists, including conductor Tamás Vásáry, who holds the title Artist of the Nation, and violinist Barnabás Kelemen, who has been awarded both the Kossuth and Liszt Ferenc Prizes. Inspired by their thoughts, we will evoke the image of an artist who revolted against “the miseries of fate and life” and “consciously turned towards the sun”, and who revolutionized music in the 20 to 25 years following Mozart’s death, disregarding “clichés” and ignoring the gradual loss of his hearing. Our concert magazine will carry some hard-to-believe stories about Beethoven the man, who, alongside an “angelic” Mozart and a “divine” Bach, has become a flesh-and-blood mortal in the universal culture of music. Our magazine will attempt to find answers to questions related to the previous statement, with researchers giving us a glimpse of the tangled relationship between Beethoven and the Brunsvik family and the experiences of the composer in Hungary. Indeed, he gave concerts at Martonvásár, Buda, Krompachy (Korompa/Krompach), Eisenstadt (Kismarton) and Bratislava (Pozsony/Pressburg). It is to be noted that quite a few female pianists are considered to be exceptionally authentic interpreters of Beethoven, for example, Sidonia Just, sister-in-law of Therese and Josephine Brunsvik, Annie Fischer, one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, and let us not forget Varvara, one of the best known woman pianists of our time, who will give a solo concert in our spring Beethoven series. The enthusiasm of my closest colleagues was a genuine response to Beethoven’s eternal popularity, the freshness of his music, which spans centuries, and his heritage, sometimes disturbing but always worthy of our admiration. The topics of the interviews on the following pages were compiled within a matter of days. Allow me to recommend to you the short pieces among the concert events on the occasion of the approaching Beethoven Memorial Year and the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven, often described as superhuman, out-of-this-world, overreaching, astonishing or volcanic. Júlia Torda Director of Communications of the Liszt Academy

TARTALOMJEGYZÉK

THANKS TO SCULPTOR OTTMAR HORL, 700 COLOURED BEETHOVEN STATUES HAVE BEEN ERECTED AT MÜNSTERPLATZ IN BONN IN PREPARATION FOR THE 2020 JUBILEE YEAR. © GIACOMO ZUCCA/BUNDESSTADT BONN 4

TABLE OF CONTENTS

7 THE LIGHTHOUSE OF MUSIC 11 CONCERT CHRONOLOGY JANUARY 22 THE MUSIC IN YOUR HEAD 24 CONCERT CHRONOLOGY FEBRUARY 36 PARIT Y – TAMÁS VÁSÁRY AND BARNABÁS KELEMEN 40 CONCERT CHRONOLOGY MARCH 54

„BEETHOVEN HAS TO BE LEARNT”– OR LUDWIG

AND JOSEPHINE, IN THREE ACTS 60 CONCERT CHRONOLOGY APRIL 72 DIALOGUE WITH BARTÓK 74 CONCERT CHRONOLOGY MAY-JUNE 85 LISZT IN AUSTRIA 86 CONCERTS AT THE OLD ACADEMY OF MUSIC 88 LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY 90 DIPLOMA CONCERTS IN THE GR AND HALL 91 CONCERTCALENDAR 98 TICKETMAP

THE LIGHTHOUSE OF MUSIC BEETHOVEN WAS BORN 250 YEARS AGO. TO MARK THE APPROACHING ANNIVERSARY, WE ASKED MUSICOLOGIST SÁNDOR KOVÁCS, HEAD OF THE DOCTORAL SCHOOL OF THE LISZT FERENC ACADEMY OF MUSIC, TO GIVE US A TRUTHFUL AND DETAILED PORTRAIT OF BEETHOVEN, MOST OFTEN DESCRIBED IN ANECDOTES AS MOROSE AND DEAF.

“Bach is God, Mozart is the angel, Beethoven is the man,” according to Ferruccio Busoni. A lot has been written in music history books about Beethoven, the composer and genius. But what kind of person was he? What does Busoni mean when he refers to him as “the man”?

‘THERE IS SOMETHING IN THE SECOND, FINAL MOVEMENT OF BEETHOVEN’S PIANO SONATA, OPUS 111, THAT HAS NO ANTECEDENT WHATSOEVER.’

Composers have generally been clear about their own qualities, but Beethoven was one of the first to demand the respect befitting a genius. What led him to part with a way of life, pursued by his contemporaries and even more by his predecessors, that primarily depended on holding court positions?

ONE OF THE FIRST HUNGARIAN EDITIONS OF BEETHOVEN’S PIANO SONATAS EDITED BY RÓZSAVÖLGYI PUBLISHING HOUSE

That’s a good question because there was a big difference between the personality of the young Beethoven and that of the old one. When Beethoven moved to Vienna as a young man in 1792, he tried to behave elegantly – after all, he was in aristocratic company. For instance, he took up horse riding, something quite incompatible with the image of an aging, unkempt, deaf man. He was also not morose in his youth. Of course, he displayed certain qualities as a young man that were anything but affable. In a contemporary story, he bore a slight grudge against a fellow musician, and when that man had finished his recital in a salon, the raging Beethoven thundered his way to the piano, picked up the cello part of a composition, put it on the piano upside down, read it just like that and then improvised variations on it, just to put his colleague to shame. The other man, turning back from the door, remarked, “That’s the devil himself”. The old Beethoven was completely different. Let me tell you a story typical of him: he went for a walk, which was his custom. He walked and walked and kept thinking all the time, deaf and lonely. It had grown dark when he noticed that he had lost his way. He ended up in a village near Vienna and tried to find out where he was. He bent down to peep into the windows of the small houses, but the people inside were frightened of him and called the gendarmerie. The officer took him to the station, where Beethoven pleaded, saying, “But I am Beethoven!” “Anyone can say that,” said the gendarme, but, just to be sure, he called over the village mayor. The mayor dressed, dashed over to the station, looked at Beethoven, and said it really was him…So he was characterized by a strange duality: on the one hand, everybody knew that that man was a genius: on the other, his appearance was that of a strange, dishevelled and perhaps slightly insane person.

Of the truly great composers, Mozart was the first. He broke with the prince archbishop in 1781, and from then on he lived the life of the capitalist. Then came Beethoven, who lived like that all his life. But there is something I have to add: Beethoven was conscious of his own genius, while Mozart was not. In his day, the notion of genius was not common knowledge. Although he knew he was more talented and simply better than any other contemporary composer, Mozart regarded himself as an incredibly good craftsman. By contrast, Beethoven treated himself right away as a genius, one of the chosen few. He thought he was a lighthouse.

A lighthouse of a genius always has a cult built up around them, which tends to in�uence our opinion of their art. No doubt, we are affected by such a cult. It is bad form to speak poorly of a composer generally regarded as a genius. At the same time, I have often come across statements made by great musicians – Glenn Gould, for instance – where they level sharp criticism against certain pieces by Beethoven. I don’t always agree (Gould did not like even the Appassionata sonata), but what matters is that you can free yourself of such influence.

Let’s take the other extreme: which Beethoven pieces do you think reach that superhuman level that is simply beyond human comprehension? The Ninth is certainly one of them. Even though it is not one of my favourites, it is definitely in another dimension. Also, some movements in his string quartets can be described as outstanding and visionary. Then there is something in the second, final, movement of his piano sonata, Opus 111, that has no antecedent whatsoever. Beethoven’s slow movements contain some fantastic things, but this phenomenal music cannot be matched even by those.

BEETHOVEN WAS CHARACTERIZED BY A STRANGE DUALITY: ON THE ONE HAND, EVERYBODY KNEW THAT THAT MAN WAS A GENIUS: ON THE OTHER, HIS APPEARANCE WAS THAT OF A STRANGE, DISHEVELLED AND PERHAPS SLIGHTLY INSANE PERSON. 8

To what extent does a composer’s personality aﬀect their image as an artist? We know Wagner held certain principles that we have reservations about, yet we like and listen to his music. Wagner is an excellent example because it shows that it hardly does. It would be an exaggeration to say that it doesn’t at all, but certainly it does very little. We have to treat the two things separately. We know that Wagner was an anti-Semite and had rather low morals (he borrowed money that he never repaid), but he was also a genius who overwhelms us.

What sources can we return to if we are curious about a composer’s personality? In the case of Beethoven, there are descriptions and memoirs by contemporaries – sadly, not many letters have survived. But the picture is somewhat misleading: for example, there are these small copybooks that he kept after he went deaf and people wrote questions in them to which Beethoven gave answers. The answers were not recorded, but we can make deductions on the basis of the questions. What is misleading is that these were later falsified to embellish the overall picture. I like to say that humankind only tells the truth if they absolutely must.

If you could ever meet Beethoven, the human being, what would you like to do together? We’d go on an excursion.

Dániel Mona

Start your night out with us! If you are a student at any school, you can get into our concerts for just HUF 500. Show us a valid student ID card and purchase a student ticket for HUF 500 one hour before the concert for vacant seats and standing places in the 2nd floor student gallery of the Grand Hall. OnlyÂ one student ticket can be purchased per student ID card for each performance.

CONCERT CHRONOLOGY JANUARY

Host: Ádám Bősze Conductor: Tamás Vásáry, Martin Rajna

Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Hosted Concert Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre with cooperation

In order for people anywhere in the world to celebrate the eternal new beginning with music – be it the new start of a natural or agreed-upon cycle – there is surely no need for any institutionalized tradition. Nevertheless, such traditions do exist: a number of concert series of this type have been launched in recent decades in Hungary, and the Liszt Academy has decided to follow the same path last year. On 1 January 2020, students of the Hungarian Radio Orchestra and the Liszt Academy will contribute to New Year’s celebrations by giving a concert featuring popular melodies.

Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior University WEDNESDAY, 1 JANUARY, 18.00

GRAND HALL NEW YEAR OVERTURE JOINT NEW YEAR’S CONCERT HELD BY THE HUNGARIAN RADIO ORCHESTRA & THE LISZT ACADEMY

as an unfinished experiment, one that is never perfected, never complete and finalized. As he puts it: “Playing in an orchestra represents a constraint, the fulfilling part is when the orchestra can play together. When there is a theme that we begin to play and it suddenly explodes. And there is a part which works not in the orchestra but rather as a solo: when it is total improvization and I have nobody around me. Both are good. I suppose that if I didn’t have one or the other, then I would feel that something was missing.”

Tickets: HUF 3 900, 4 900, 7 500, 9 900, 12 500 Presented by Fonó Budai Zeneház

Ticket prices: HUF 5 000, 8 000, 10 000, 12 000 Organised by the Concert Centre of the Academy of Music Hungarian Radio Art Ensembles

SATURDAY 4 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL

GERGELY DEVICH

FÉLIX LAJKÓ TUESDAY 7 JANUARY, 19.30

Félix Lajkó (violin) Beethoven: King Stephen, Op. 117 – Overture Dohnányi: Sextet in C major, Op. 37 – Finale Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15 Berlioz: Le carnaval romain – overture, Op. 9 Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No. 1 Arban: Fantaisie and Variations on The Carnival of Venice Rossini: La gazza ladra – Overture Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 6 in D major (version for orchestra) J. Strauss Jr.: Éljen a magyar! – polka schnell, Op. 332

Gergely Kovács (piano), Gergely Devich (cello), Zsanett Nyujtó (clarinet), Vilmos Oláh (violin), János Fejérvári (viola), Sándor Berki (horn), Tamás Pálfalvi (trumpet) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

If ‘boundless’ music exists at all, we can be certain to hear it at the concert by Félix Lajkó. The violinist grants us insight into a personal, internal world that is unequivocally his and his alone. We’ll come across unequalled virtuosity, standard musical themes, unexpected whistling, serenades and well-known, evocative melodies from somewhere long in the past. Félix Lajkó experiences violin play

FÉLIX LAJKÓ

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA TAMÁS VÁSÁRY – SCHUMANN CYCLE 2. Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61 Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129 Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 97 (‘Rhenish’)

Gergely Devich (cello) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Tamás Vásáry “We can discover a true mirror of Schumann’s emotional life in his music,” writes Tamás Vásáry in regard to the piano works of the composer. But what is the situation with the symphonies? To what extent did the tradition of the

genre, the example of his great predecessors (Mozart and Beethoven) and his contemporaries (Mendelssohn, Berlioz) impact Schumann’s fundamentally lyrical creative soul? Has he found his own particular subjective tone in the framework of greater formats and grander apparatuses? Between the two symphonies, we are witness to the meeting of a remarkable talent and a concerto with a remarkable concept: Gergely Devich takes the stage as soloist for the Cello Concerto in A minor. Prior to the concert, Tamás Vásáry talks about the works being performed and Robert Schumann from 6.30 to 7 pm.

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 500, 6 000, 7 000 Presented by Hungarian Radio Art Groups

THURSDAY 9 JANUARY, 19.00

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA HUNGARIAN CONTEMPORARY RECITAL

a work each by four Hungarian composers. Sándor Balassa, an Erkel, Bartók–Pásztory and Kossuth Prize laureate composer, was born in 1935. He has written four operas, cantatas and orchestral works; Hungarian Dances dates from the early part of his career. A János Viski was a student of Zoltán Kodály, and in fact it was Kodály himself who recommended Viski as his successor to the composition department of the Liszt Academy. Ede Zathureczky debuted his Violin Concerto in 1947. The soloist of our concert is Márta Ábrahám, professor at the Liszt Academy, whose doctoral dissertation was on Hungarian violin concertos written after 1945, including this János Viski piece. A Ernő Dohnányi’s composition Symphonic Minutes was designated as ballet music. It premièred in 1933 at a concert marking the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the Budapest Philharmonic Society. A György Ránki’s fairy tale opera King Pomade’s New Clothes of, with libretto by Amy Károlyi, was presented in the Opera House in 1951, to thunderous applause. The two orchestral suites created from extracts from the opera remain popular concert works to this day.

Tickets: HUF 4 500, 5 000, 5 500 Presented by MÁV Symphony Orchestra MÁRTA ÁBRAHÁM Sándor Balassa: Hungarian Dances Viski: Violin Concerto Dohnányi: Symphonic Minutes, Op. 36 Ránki: King Pomádé’s New Clothes – Suite No. 1

Márta Ábrahám (violin) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Ádám Medveczky

Our Kossuth Prize-winning conductor Ádám Medveczky, whose career launched in 1974 when he won second prize at the Hungarian Television conductors’ competition behind Kobayashi, presents

THURSDAY 9 JANUARY, 20.00

SOLTI HALL OPENING CONCERT OF THE TRANSPARENT SOUND NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL Judit Varga: Anamorphoses 02 (2019) – world première Ashley Fure: Therefore I was (2012) – Hungarian première Wojtek Blecharz: Torpor (2008) – Hungarian première Marco Stroppa: Osja. Seven Strophes for a Literary Drone (2005–2008) – Hungarian première Brian Ferneyhough: Time and Motion Study I (1971–1977) – Hungarian première

ENSEMBLE INTERFACE

Ensemble Interface: Andrea Nagy (clarinet, bass clarinet), Georgia Privitera (violin), Christophe Matthias (cello), Anna D’Errico (piano), João Carlos Pacheco (percussion) The Greek expression anamorphosis refers to pictures distorted beyond recognition, which become intelligible only from a certain point of view, for example, through some sort of mirror. Among the works performed at the Transparent Sound opening concert, the most significant new music festival during the winter season, is a piece by Judit Varga (teacher at the academies of music in Vienna and Budapest) bearing exactly this name. At the same time, an understanding of the phenomenon of anamorphosis may also be of assistance in comprehending the other works in this concert. One of today’s most original composers, Ashley Fure, who took her doctorate at Harvard, outlines a musical image of Parkinson’s disease in her piece Therefore I Was, depicting how the failure of nervous system communication between the operating conscious and the operating body causes a distortion of personality. Works by young Polish composer Wojtek Blecharz and Italian Marco Stroppa, former head of the research section of IRCAM in Paris, play with the spatiality of music, thereby distorting the identity of instruments. Brian Feerneyhough is the leading exponent of the late 20th century’s so-called ‘new complexity’. In an almost unplayably difficult solo bass clarinet work entitled Time and Motion Study I, he tinkers with the modification of the sense of time of the receiver. Ensemble

Interface, which perform the musical works, were established in Frankfurt in 2009, carrying on the heritage of the renowned Ensemble Modern. Prior to the concert, from 6.30 pm the festival’s curators and performance artists initiate the audience into the musical world of the pieces being played at a free workshop.

Hungarian première of the piece, is one of the artists involved in tonight’s recital, which is rarely heard in this country. Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 7 100, 11 800 Presented by Budapest Festival Orchestra

MONDAY 13 JANUARY, 19.00 Tickets: HUF 1900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre, Transparent Sound New Music Festival

SOLTI HALL OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL RASHOMON PERFORMANCE BY THE LISZT FERENC ACADEMY OF MUSIC

of seven young composers, all students of the Composition Department of the Liszt Academy. The collective work was finalized to the libretto of András Almási-Tóth, and he also directs the performance featuring students of the Department for Vocal and Opera Studies of the Liszt Academy: the music stage adaptation of an allegorical story of a murder as related from several angles.

Ticket: HUF 1 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

MONDAY 13 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERT BY ISTVÁN VÁRDAI & FRIENDS TO BENEFIT PEOPLE WITH AUTISM FRANCISCAN CHARITY RECITAL

FRIDAY 10 JANUARY, 19.45 SATURDAY 11 JANUARY, 19.45

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA Vivaldi: La Sena Festeggiante – serenata, RV 693

Emőke Baráth (soprano), Sonia Prina (alto), Brindley Sherratt (bass) Budapest Festival Orchestra (artistic director: Jonathan Cohen) British expert of Baroque music Jonathan Cohen, who has regularly conducted the Budapest Festival Orchestra, reveals the functioning of international diplomacy in the 18th century through this pertinent, fabulous work of Vivaldi. Soprano Emőke Baráth, who also performed at the

JONATHAN COHEN

SCENE OF RASHOMON OF THE NATIONAL THEATRE IN PÉCS Opera patchwork by Magor Bucz, Richárd Dankó, Dániel Dobri, Milán Hodován, Dániel Lázár, Áron Somody and Abigél Varga

Tajômaru: Barna Bartos Husband: Róbert Erdős, Attila Varga-Tóth Wife: Laura Topolánszky Old lady: Anna Kissjudit Lackey: Lőrinc Kósa Director, libretto: András Almási-Tóth Featuring: chamber orchestra formed for this performance Conductor: Szabolcs Sándor Costumes: Richárd Márton Choreographer: Eszter Lázár Each participant of and witness to a tragic incident perceives and recalls it differently. This fundamental human truth is superbly depicted by Akira Kurosawa in his film classic Rashomon. The tale demonstrating the irreconcilability between visual angles and narratives has now been transformed into an opera, more precisely an opera patchwork, which comprises the combined efforts

Kodály: Capriccio Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances, BB 68 Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 Gulda: Concerto for Cello and Wind Orchestra

István Várdai (cello), Júlia Pusker (violin), Zoltán Fejérvári (piano) Budapest Jazz orchestra Each year sees acclaimed artists joining the charitable initiative launched by the Franciscan Order. To date, concerts have featured performers like Veronika Harcsa, Péter Sárik, János Balázs and the Bogányi family. This time, the leading artist of the evening organized to benefit people living with autism is none other

BUDAPEST JAZZ ORCHESTRA 13

than cellist István Várdai, winner of the Liszt Prize and professor at the Music Academy in Vienna. The first half of the concert showcases a work each by Kodály and Bartók (both coincidentally written in 1915), and a popular Mendelssohn chamber work. Júlia Pusker is Várdai’s partner in Romanian Folk Dances; she made it into the final of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2019, while for the trio they are joined by Zoltán Fejérvári, Junior Prima Prizewinning pianist, winner of the 2017 Montreal International Piano Competition. After the intermission, Hungary’s bestknown big band will participate in the performance of Friedrich Gulda’s concerto with unusual scoring, composed in 1980.

Tickets: HUF 3 900, 4 900, 5 900, 6 900 Presented by Hungarian Franciscan Province

THURSDAY 16 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CHAMBER MUSIC – TUNED FOR GRAND HALL GAUTIER CAPUÇON & YUJA WANG

Yuja Wang and Gautier Capuçon are world-renowned soloists in their thirties who have played chamber music together for a long time. They have very different characters yet they are equally charismatic artistic personalities and the programme they have chosen for this recital suits them perfectly in pieces that cover a broad, occasionally tempestuous emotional scale, the piano has extremely vivid and virtuoso parts, while the cello will reveal a diversity of flowing melodies. A The works by Chopin and Franck are genuine creations of the 19th century: the polonaise dates from 1831, the early part of Chopin’s, whereas the sonata’s debut in 1847 marked the last time the composer would ever play piano in public. Franck’s popular work was penned for his famous violinist friend Eugène Ysaÿe in 1886; the fine arrangement for cello was published with the approval of the composer. A Yuja Wang and Gautier Capuçon will set out on a European concert tour with this profoundly Romantic programme in early 2020, which fortunately includes the Liszt Academy as well.

Tickets: HUF 7 100, 8 800, 10 500, 12 200, 13 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

FRIDAY 17 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK WEBER / HARLAP / RACHMANINOV YUJA WANG / GAUTIER CAPUÇON Franck: Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major (arrangement by Jules Delsart for cello and piano) Chopin: Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor, Op. 65 Chopin: Introduction and Polonaise, Op. 3 (‘Polonaise brillante’)

Gautier Capuçon (cello), Yuja Wang (piano) 14

BENCE SZEPESI The story transports us to the world of knights and court ladies, with the focus on the love of Adolar and Euryanthe. The young couple have to undergo many trials and tribulations before they are finally united in love in the finale. This recital features the opera overture performed by Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok. A Canadian-born Aharon Harlap is one of the best-known Israeli composers of our day. Hungarian audiences heard the award-winning Clarinet Concerto (conducted by the composer) performed by Dohnányi Orchestra in Hungary in 2001. Now the work is played by the ensemble and Bence Szepesi, solo clarinettist of the orchestra. The concert closes with Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2 that premièred in 1908.

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

Weber: Euryanthe – Overture Aharon Harlap: Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27

SATURDAY 18 JANUARY, 19.30

Bence Szepesi (clarinet) Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Conductor: Roberto Paternostro

Dukas: La péri Bernstein: Serenade Mussorgsky–Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition

The libretto of Carl Maria von Weber’s three-act opera Euryanthe was written on the basis of a 13th century French legend.

Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux (violin) Concerto Budapest Conductor: Zoltán Rácz

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST

Persian mythology, the philosophical dialogues of the ancient Greeks and Russian paintings all served as catalysts for inspiration when composers set down on score sheets the compositions featuring in this concert programme. Paul Dukas chose the airy spirit of Persian and Armenian mythology when it came to penning his ballet poem in 1911, whereas Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade completed in 1954 undertook nothing less than setting Plato’s famous Symposium to music. The dialogue on the nature and origin of love by Socrates, Aristophanes and their fellows is largely mediated by the solo violin, to the extent that the Serenade is sometimes characterized as a violin concerto in disguise. Soloist of Serenade is Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux, who although still young has a long list of competition victories and important debuts behind her. A The concert conducted by Zoltán Rácz winds up with a true hit, Pictures at an Exhibition. Mussorgsky’s imagination was inspired by the paintings of his friend Viktor Hartmann, who died at an early age. However, the work also serves as a composer’s self-portrait since, as Mussorgsky put it: “My physiognomy can be seen in the interludes.”

BALÁZS SZABÓ

SUNDAY 19 JANUARY, 15.00

GRAND HALL BALÁZS SZABÓ MUSICAL ORGAN HISTORY SERIES/2 (IN HUNGARIAN) VIRTUOSI OF ROMANTICISM – MENDELSSOHN / LISZT / REGER Host and organ player: Balázs Szabó In the wake of the Age of Enlightenment the organ fell out of favour, but from the middle of the 19th century the greatest composers once again turned to the queen of instruments and, inspired by the new piano playing technique, further enriched the organ repertoire. Besides representing an unparalleled cavalcade of emotions and tones, these works are a severe test of the technical skills of players. The Liszt Academy’s Voit organ is an excellent interpreter of German Romantic organ music, which can be played on this instrument in its true ‘native tongue’.

SOLTI HALL OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL MILHAUD, PUCCINI PERFORMANCE BY THE HOCHSCHULE FÜR MUSIK DRESDEN

The Dresden College of Music founded in 1856 and bearing the name of Carl Maria von Weber comes to the now traditional Opera Exam Festival of the Liszt Academy with a one-act hit opera and a three-act, although extremely concise and truly delicate speciality. Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi requires no introduction or recommendation, unlike Darius Milhaud’s opera Le pauvre matelot (1927), that is, The Poor Sailor. A complaint in three acts – this is the genre description of the work, the libretto of which Jean Cocteau draed on the basis of a crime report in the newspaper. The opera with just four cast members, similarly to other works by Darius Milhaud for stage, is virtually unknown in Hungary, thus the Dresden production promises to be a genuine discovery of the French composer’s oeuvre, which is represented in the domestic concert repertoire by only a few pieces.

Milhaud: Le pauvre matelot Puccini: Gianni Schicchi

Ticket: HUF 1 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

MONDAY 20 JANUARY, 19.00

ZOLTÁN RÁCZ

Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900, 7 500 Presented by Concerto Budapest

Students of the Hochschule für Musik Dresden: Konrad Furian, Seunghun Han, Mariko Lepage, Peter Fabig, Kwanghun Mun, Paulina Bielarczyk, Elia Jang, Pauline Weiche, Hyuna Lim, Simon Holmer, Seungjin Park, Paula Götz, Ilya Silchuk, Iason Liossatos, Gerry Zimmermann, Benedikt Schlegel, Karol Kosmonaut Director: Prof. Barbara Beyer Scenery: Philipp Eckle Director’s assistant: Karol Kosmonaut Repetiteur and coaching: Tim Fluch Musical assistants: Tim Fluch, Jaeun Kim Mentors: Prof. Franz Brochhagen, Prof. Elisabeth Holmer

MONDAY 20 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA LISZT, BRITTEN, SAINT-SAËNS

JÁNOS KOVÁCS Liszt: Les Préludes – symphonic poem Britten: Serenade Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 (‘Organ’)

Tibor Szappanos (tenor), Endre Tekula (horn), Ágoston Tóka (organ) Danubia Orchestra Óbuda Conductor: János Kovács

Les Préludes is a bit like the neighbour from our childhood: on returning home as an adult, we force a smile and shake the hand of ‘Uncle Fred’, laugh at his hundred-year-old jokes, and then heave a sigh of relief when the visit is over, vowing never to repeat the experience. Because we watched him throughout our childhood, we know by heart what he did, what he ate andhow he bent down to pick up the mail. But what if Uncle Fred turns out to be the greatest poet of our age? Or perhaps he was a noted charmer who fled the rage of a thousand beautiful women to the next door flat forty years ago? Or maybe he’s the inventor of a time machine? Nor can we turn our back on works that have been played to death, for there is a very good reason they are played to death; the fact is that in general, masterpieces also manage to survive this. Britten’s Serenade is the other extreme: it is virtually never performed, even though it, too, is a masterpiece, the most moving confession for horn and tenor ever written. The brilliant ‘Organ’ symphony performed as the final

act in the programme is ideally suited to allow us to celebrate the stunning new instrument of the Liszt Academy.

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200, 3 800, 4700 Presented by Danubia Orchestra Óbuda

a Beethoven experience of the very highest order. So, our Liszt Academy audience can look forward to this as well: the far from everyday performance of the fifth and six symphonies, with the bonus of meeting a great conductor.

THURSDAY 23 JANUARY, 19.30

Tickets: HUF 5 300, 6 500, 7 700, 8 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

GRAND HALL BEETHOVEN + PHILIPPE JORDAN & THE WIENER SYMPHONIKER Ludwig Van Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 (‘Pastorale’) Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (‘Fate’)

FRIDAY 24 JANUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA MOZART

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Philippe Jordan Beethoven symphonies performed by a Viennese orchestra. This always promises to be an authentic experience, a oneof-a-kind event, and in this concert in Budapest the Wiener Symphoniker is directed by one of the most sought-after and exciting conductors of our time. Swiss Philippe Jordan, who is slated to take over the post of chief music director of the Vienna Staatsoper from next season, has wielded the baton at Wiener Symphoniker since 2014, and it was under his watch that the ensemble began the first Beethoven recording cycle in their history, of which we are only waiting for the ninth symphony to be published. With regard to these recordings, the critics have had much to praise in Jordan’s dynamic, profoundly considered yet still spontaneous play, which offers listeners

PHILIPPE JORDAN

SHARON KAM Mozart: Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183 Weber: Clarinet Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 74 Mozart: Requiem, K. 626

Sharon Kam (clarinet), Szabina Schnöller (soprano), Andrea Szántó (mezzo-soprano), Ninh Ðúc Hoàng Long (tenor), Krisztián Cser (bass) Hungarian National Choir (choirmaster: Csaba Somos) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Zsolt Hamar We all know that Mozart bequeathed us an unfinished Requiem. Since the work was commissioned (for a generous fee) by an aristocrat wishing to remain anonymous, the widow applied for assistance. Several refused the request, leaving it to Franz Xaver Süssmayr, a modestly talented friend of Mozart, to save the day. He ignored the fugue theme because he couldn’t write fugues and this is

how the work became famous. Several attempts to make ‘improved’ versions were made in the 20th century, but none enjoyed any popularity. However, the Süssmayr version has gone down in history. Miracle? No, says Alon Schmuckler, a music historian blessed with a great imagination, the explanation is far simpler: Mozart actually did complete the work. His death in 1791 was feigned in order to escape the embarassing debts. After the mock funeral he moved to Buda where he rented a room from widow Mrs. Tamássy, with many adventures to follow. It is a lovely story and up to the audience to decide whether to believe in a miracle or the colourful tale. Or perhaps neither, opening the way for a new ending… No such mysteries surround the two works performed in the first half of the concert: the so-called ‘little’ G minor Symphony and Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No. 2. After all, that would be too much intrigue for a single evening.

DAVID OISTRAKH QUARTET

Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 000, 4 500, 5 500 Presented by Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

programme with a string quartet by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, in fact his last, composed in 1847. This is followed by compatriot Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 1. On hearing the folk-inspired, melancholic second movement at the première in 1871, famous author and philosopher Leo Tolstoy burst into tears. The 1887 Piano Quintet No. 2 by Antonín Dvořák is also known for its moody second part. The movement is titled Dumka: the expression, of Ukrainian origin, refers to an epic ballad of melancholic character. Pianist István Lajkó, professor at the Liszt Academy, performs in the work. When writing the quartet dedicated to the memory of his sister, the composer could not have suspected that this work would also be his swansong.

SATURDAY 25 JANUARY, 19.30

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 300, 4 100, 4 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

GRAND HALL FOUR BY FOUR PLUS ONE ISTVÁN LAJKÓ & THE DAVID OISTRAKH QUARTET Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80 Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 11 Dvořák: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81

István Lajkó (piano) David Oistrakh Quartet: Andrey Baranov, Rodion Petrov (violin), Fedor Belugin (viola), Alexey Zhilin (cello) The string quartet named after David Fyodorovich Oistrakh, comprises four excellent Russian artists. They open their

SUNDAY 26 JANUARY, 11.00

GRAND HALL UNDERSTANDABLE MUSIC DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK CHOIR MUSIC’S OLYMPOS Tallis: Spem in alium Tormis: Curse Upon Iron Schoenberg: Friede auf Erden, Op. 13 Werle: Canzone 126 di Francesco Petrarca Levente Gyöngyösi: Beati pauperes spiritu

Cantemus Mixed Choir (choirmaster: Soma Szabó) Narrator and conductor: Gábor Hollerung In essence, European choral music was born from counterpoints written around

the extended sounds of Gregorian melodies. Its most important form of manifestation is sacred music, which with the beauty of its music and ever more complex structural mode is akin to a sacrifice on the holy altar. Tallis’s 40-part motet Spem in alium is a culmination of this phenomenon. This work remains to this day a standard and example for composers, and has proved an inspiration for Levente Gyöngyösi as well. In addition to the Tallis work, the concert also features the première of the 40-part motet by the Hungarian composer, a work that promises to be a sensation. A In the wake of the Baroque and Classical eras, Romanticism rediscovered for itself independent vocal genres. The pinnacle of this period is associated with the name of Arnold Schönberg, known as the father of dodecaphony, although we look on the choral work Friede auf Erden (Peace on Earth) composed in his youth – alongside the motets of Richard Strauss – as the Tristan of Romantic choral music.

CANTEMUS MIXED CHOIR NYÍREGYHÁZA

Tickets: HUF 2 300, 2 700 Presented by Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok

SUNDAY 26 JANUARY, 11.00

SOLTI HALL LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY – MUSIC IN NATURE BIRDS IN MUSIC FOR 10-15-YEAR-OLDS Daquin: Le Coucou Rameau: La Poule Liszt: St François d’Assise: la prédication aux oiseaux

Cimarosa: Il matrimonio segreto (The Clandestine Marriage)

Students of the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg

Ravel: Miroirs – Oiseaux tristes Messiaen: Catalogue d’oiseaux

József Balog (piano) Moderator: Dániel Mona We have no idea how music actually came about but many believe that at some time in the distant past, man discovered the beauty of the voices of nature and tried to mimic them with his own tools. However it happened, in the artistic music also called ‘classical’, nature has always played an important role, as did the question of how the world around us can be evoked with the help of music. In the spring semester, the youth concert series organized by the Liszt Academy, Liszt Kidz Academy, examines the relationship between music and nature. At the seasonopening concert, multiple prize-winning pianist József Balog and music historian Dániel Mona grant us a glimpse into the musical world of birds. Or more precisely, the avian world of classical music. The fact is, they do not undertake an analysis of bird song, but rather the presentation of how composers featured the finest vocalists of nature in their works in different historical periods from the Baroque to the 20th century.

Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

The longest encore in the history of opera: this record has indisputably been held by the opera buffa of Domenico Cimarosa since 1792, because at the Vienna world première it had to be immediately repeated in its entire length at the command of Emperor Leopold II. Since then the two-act opera has won over many more people, for example, Giuseppe Verdi was convinced that “it is a true musical comedy which perfectly fulfils all the requirements of the opera buffa”. This opera offering marvellous roles and spectacular parts for performers is now on stage in a production by the students of the Freiburg Conservatory of Music. In addition to the performance, the students let us get a glimpse of the art pedagogical work taking place in this distinguished workshop of educational and music life in the German province of Baden-Württemberg.

Tickets: HUF 1 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS OF OPERA NATIONAL DE PARIS. CIMAROSA FACADE SCULPTURE

JOSÉ CURA

Matias Tosi (vocals) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choirmaster: Zoltán Pad) Conductor: José Cura In terms of his musical qualifications, he is a choirmaster, conductor and composer. And yet over the past few decades we have come to know him as a singer: José Cura rose to world fame without any diploma in the vocal arts. “In the last few years I have accepted fewer requests to sing, so finally I have been able to return to my initial decision, the vocation I studied, for which I actually became a professional musician. This is nothing other than composition and conducting,” the artist revealed at his most recent performance in Budapest. Cura himself draed the libretto to the opera buffa Montezuma and the Red Priest, the starting point of which was the fantastical novel by Alejo Carpentier Baroque Music, which is apparently about the birth of the Vivaldi opera Montezuma, providing huge space for both the literary and, naturally, musical imagination.

Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000 Presented by Hungarian Radio Art Groups

THURSDAY 30 JANUARY, 19.00 WEDNESDAY 29 JANUARY, 19.30 SUNDAY 26 JANUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL IL MATRIMONIO SEGRETO (THE CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE) PERFORMANCE BY THE HOCHSCHULE FÜR MUSIK FREIBURG 18

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA José Cura: Montezuma y el Fraile pelirrojo (Montezuma and the ginger friar) – comic opera (world première)

GRAND HALL KIRILL TROUSSOV & MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Mendelssohn: Das Märchen von der schönen Melusine – overture, Op. 32 Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K. 219 Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73

he performs one of his own pieces at every appearance. During this performance, part of the Black and White Colours season ticket series, the pianist performs his own work Capriccio: Clown on a Bicycle, first presented in 2016, as well as pieces by numerous canonized artists, and a couple of music history curiosities such as the Baroque suite by Domenico Zipoli, who became renowned as the most famous Jesuit composer.

Kirill Troussov (violin) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Gábor Takács-Nagy The star of this concert is violinist Kirill Troussov, who despite his tender years stands at the forefront of his profession. Each year he performs in the biggest concert halls and with the most famous conductors, while teaching masterclasses. In this concert, he performs the last of Mozart’s five famous violin concertos, the distinctive feature of which is the Hungarian-Gypsy music character of one of its interludes in the rondo-form final movement. A Prior to this, at the beginning of the concert there is an early overture by Mendelssohn, which he composed to the fairy tale drama by Grillparzer about a water nymph and the fate that renders love impossible between a water nymph and earthly man, a theme that has been sung about on more than one occasion. The most important characteristic of the overture is how brilliantly the composer depicts the world of water in his music. A The love of nature is the key motif that inspired the second symphony by Brahms. After the first symphony that struggled to come into this world, this piece is the product of a liberated, joyous creative spirit.

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

THURSDAY 30 JANUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS ROMAN RABINOVICH PIANO RECITAL Zipoli: Suite in G minor Debussy: Estampes Satie: Gnossienne No. 1 Roman Rabinovich: Capriccio: Clown on a Bicycle Gershwin: Three Preludes Granados: Goyescas (excerpts) Stravinsky: Petrushka

Roman Rabinovich (piano)

KIRILL TROUSSOV

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

Roman Rabinovich is an artist with a personality of many dimensions. The pianist who graduated from The Juilliard School, New York, has won prizes at numerous major international competitions and has performed in front of audiences at premier venues such as the Gewandhaus stage in Leipzig and the Kennedy Center in Washington. He debuted as a performance artist at the age of just 10 years, under the baton of Zubin Mehta. Since childhood he has been an enthusiast of the visual arts, and at the moment he mainly concentrates on creating digital artworks. Rabinovich is gaining an ever bigger name as a composer, too; usually

NOTE IN THE GUEST BOOK OF THE LISZT ACADEMY JORDI SAVALL (5 APRIL 2019) 20

er sk Pu lia Jú

SEASON TICKETS 2020 FANTASY, MELODY, HARMONY Kirill Gerstein • István Várdai • Miklós Perényi The Wiener Symphoniker • Wiener Sängerknaben • Vox Luminis ZENEAKADEMIA.HU/SEASON-TICKETS

THE MUSIC IN YOUR HEAD “THERE ARE MUSICIANS WHO CAN IMAGINE AN ENTIRE SYMPHONY WITH ALL ITS LAYERS AND PARTS USING THEIR INTERNAL HEARING – ALTHOUGH I WOULD NOT LIKE TO GO THROUGH THE ORDEAL THAT OLD BEETHOVEN HAD TO SUFFER WHEN HE HAD LOST HIS HEARING,” SAYS ANDRÁS GÁBOR VIRÁGH, COMPOSER AND ORGANIST AT ST STEPHEN’S BASILICA IN BUDAPEST AND LECTURER IN ANALYSIS, SOLFEGGIO AND MUSIC THEORY, AND PART READING AT THE LISZT ACADEMY. HE TALKS ABOUT THE MUSIC PLAYING ONLY IN YOUR HEAD.

“When I talk about internal hearing, I’m thinking of a number of things: I can recall a well-known piece of music in my head using internal hearing or when I look at the sheet music of a piece that I don’t know, I can make that music play inside me, again using my internal hearing. Reading music is quite like reading a written text: I don’t have to pronounce the words to understand what they mean, and understanding a text represents far more than reading a string of letters. I would like to help my students to be able to imagine, that is, hear the music in their heads when they look at the score, and to do so as accurately as their talent, knowledge and experience allow. It is a skill that can be improved just like most other human skills. There is a slow but very effective method to develop one’s internal hearing: take a score that you have never seen, try to memorize it and then play it in real life. There is another, perhaps more often used method, where you listen to the music while reading the score. It helps that you can access a lot of different recordings of the same piece on video and audio sharing platforms. Differences in interpretation and recording techniques may highlight the various facets of a composition, emphasizing parts that we haven’t noticed before. Then there is another level of internal hearing, that of composers who are able to hear non-existent music in their heads. People often ask me how a composition comes about. To give you a scientific explanation of the process of composing, I would say that a musical pattern that has not existed before presents itself in my head and then begins to live a life of its own. I am the type of composer who never writes drafts or piano reduction scores: my musical ideas are linked to specific instruments from the very beginning. I think it is absolutely necessary for a composer to keep hearing new music. It is obviously horrible for a musician to lose their hearing: that’s like a painter losing colour vision. Perhaps he can continue painting, but a large part of his world is definitely gone. Beethoven had accumulated decades of experience by the time he lost his hearing, and so he was able to write down the music playing in his head. With such a formidable oeuvre under his belt, he can’t have had a problem creating an entire symphony even though he couldn’t hear the outside world at all. At the same time, I’m absolutely sure that there is no substitute for the pleasure of live sound.”

ANDRÁS GÁBOR VIRÁGH

Ágnes Mester

DAY OF TALENT 2020 9 FEBRUARY 2020, (SUNDAY), 11.00 – 18.30 GRAND HALL, SOLTI HALL, AUDITORIUM, ROOM X & XXIII, CUPOLA HALL CONCERTS, OPEN CLASSES, LECTURES Featuring: Teachers, students of the Liszt Academy and Bartók Béla Secondary School of Music Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (artistic director: Péter Tfirst) Emberi Erőforrások Minisztériuma

CONCERT CHRONOLOGY FEBRUARY Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Hosted Concert Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre with cooperation Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior University SATURDAY 1 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL ALICE SARA OTT PIANO RECITAL MVM CONCERTS – THE PIANO

The 2018/19 season marked an important phase in the career of worldfamous artist Alice Sara Ott, who is of German and Japanese ancestry: she released her new album Nightfall, featuring works by Satie, Debussy and Ravel. With the release of this CD, Ott celebrated exactly ten years of collaboration with Deutsche Grammophon, who rank her as their exclusive artist. The new album was followed by a tour of Japan and Europe For this solo recital in Budapest we have the chance to hear pieces from the album (Satie and Debussy), supplemented with several Chopin works.

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

QUATUOR DANEL later on the barrel was opened and the demons scattered throughout the world. The subtitle of the Auerbach piece – In umbra lucis (In the Shadow of Light) – is a clear reference that it is the counterpart of her previous composition, 72 angels – In splendore lucis (In the Brilliance of Light), also performed in the Solti Hall in 2018: the two works complement and presuppose each otherlike light and shade.

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 3 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre SUNDAY 2 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL HERE AND NOW NETHERLANDS CHAMBER CHOIR & QUATUOR DANEL Lera Auerbach: Goetia 72 – In umbra lucis

Netherlands Chamber Choir Quatuor Danel: Marc Danel, Gilles Millet (violin), Vlad Bogdanas (viola), Yovan Markovitch (cello) Conductor: Peter Dijkstra

ALICE SARA OTT Debussy: Suite Bergamasque Debussy: Rêverie Satie: Gnossienne No. 1 Satie: Gymnopedie No. 1 Satie: Gnossienne No. 3 Chopin: Nocturne in B-flat minor, Op. 9/1 Chopin: Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9/2 Chopin: Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23

Alice Sara Ott (piano) 24

Soviet-Russian-born, American pianistcomposer Lera Auerbach is a defining composer of our day, with her works being performed by the world’s leading symphonic orchestras (New York and Tokyo Philharmonics), soloists (Gidon Kremer, Leonidas Kavakos, Hilary Hahn, Kim Kashkashian) and choirs (Arnold Schönberg Choir, Choristers of St. Paul’s Cathedral). Her composition for choir and string quartet Goetia 72 was inspired by the demonic world. According to occult tradition, when King Solomon the Wise triumphed over the demons, he sealed all 72 of them in a copper barrel and dropped it into a lake. However,

TUESDAY 4 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE DÉNES VÁRJON & CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF EUROPE J. S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050 Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 Mozart: Serenade in D major, K. 239 (‘Serenata Notturna’) Mozart: Concerto for Two Pianos in E-flat major, K. 365

Dénes Várjon, Izabella Simon (piano), Chamber Orchestra of Europe

DÉNES VÁRJON

Dénes Várjon is considered one of the world’s most brilliant pianists both as soloist and chamber performer. Now the audience can revel in his refined keyboard technique, rich repertoire and incredible stamina all in a single concert. He plays piano concertos by Bach, Beethoven and Mozart with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe founded in 1981; the ensemble has won multiple prizes with their recordings, and its members have been recruited from 15 countries. ‘Concertos for several instruments’ it says at the beginning of the famous series by Bach. Although the violin and flute also receive more modest roles, the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 is in fact the first keyboard concerto in music history. From certain aspects, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 is also a first: the first in the genre where at the beginning of the piece the piano precedes the orchestra. The serenade paying tribute to the Baroque, scored for two small orchestras and considered the predecessor of night music is followed by the double piano concerto by Mozart, in which Izabella Simon joins the musicians.

Tickets: HUF 4 900, 5 900, 6 900, 7 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre The Chamber Orchestra of Europe is supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation

WEDNESDAY 5 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL JAZZ IT! PETRA VÁRALLYAY Petra Várallyay: Violin Caprice No. 5 Violin Caprice No. 7 Violin Caprice No. 6 Stringception Duo for Violin and Bass Guitar Stringcircles Violin Concerto No. 1

Petra Várallyay (violin) Sára Bolyki (vocals), Elvira Vucurevic, Bernadett Biczó, Máté Soós, Benedek

THURSDAY 6 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC RÓBERT ‘SZIGONY’ KERÉNYI & FRIENDS MOLDAVIAN, GYIMES, RAJASTHANI CONTEMPORARY-AUTHENTIC FOLK MUSIC

PETRA VÁRALLYAY

Rábai (violin), András Kurgyis, Tamás Szabó (viola), Dorottya Standi, Tamás Zétényi (cello), Marcell Dénes-Worowski (double bass), Ildikó Szabadi (flute, alto flute), Blanka Tóth-Csamangó (bass clarinet), Zalán Berta (bass guitar), Kornél Hencz, Balázs Szikora (percussion) Petra Várallyay – who comes from a musician family of of seven children, and has won both the Orszáczky and Junior Artisjus Prizes – achieved her first major successes as a classical violinist, while later her interests took her more towards improvized fusion music and composition. Besides playing the violin, she is an excellent pianist, she sings, orchestrates and is a librettist, too. She had already founded her own jazz trio while studying at the Liszt Academy, she is the permanent composer for the Jazzation a cappella formation, she has worked with Bobby McFerrin and Yo-Yo Ma, and made appearances at dozens of festivals in Hungary and abroad in a wide range of genres. Her February concert programme is particularly exciting because in addition to the chamber music pieces and caprices for violin written by herself the recital will mark the world première of her Violin Concerto No. 1. The audience can enjoy the work in a composer’s recital along with a mixed chamber orchestra comprising strings, woodwinds, bass guitar and percussion instruments.

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Playing the Tilinkó – Havajgatás Cobza Solo, Hóra with fuhun Grievous Dance from Gyimes, Slow Hungarian Dance, Czardas Playing the Kaval: Doina, Moldavian Grievous Song, Édes Gergelem, Öves Double Dance from Gyimes, Grievous Dance, Czardas, Héjsza Melodies from Moldavia and Rajastan Kezes and Szerba

Róbert ‘Szigony’ Kerényi (recorder, kaval, overtone flute), Mihály Dresch (recorder, fuhun), Mária Petrás, Judit Ábrahám (vocals), Gabriella Tintér (vocals, gardon), Csaba Sófalvi Kiss (recorder, kaval), László Nyíri (violin), László Szlama (cobza), Ágoston Félix Benke (drums, jaw harp, overtone flute, leave whistle) Róbert Kerényi is an emblematic figure of the second wave of the dance house movement. During this time, in the mid1980s, public attention shied away from Transylvanian string music and towards the music traditions of Hungarians from the Gyimes and Moldavia. Szigony’s ascetic lifestyle, his folk music collecting

RÓBERT ‘SZIGONY’ KERÉNYI 25

trips, on-stage performances, the incredibly meticulous processing of musical material, and the bacon and onions always held in reserve in his backpack are (rightly so) the stuff of legend. For this recital, he takes the stage with artist friends and musicians famed in the genre. The concert is not edited in the traditional sense but is composed of rather lengthy and improvized musical processes performed with a high degree of freedom. As well as Moldavian and Gyimes dances, we can hear interesting melodic parallels from Rajasthan.

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

Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 8 FEBRUARY, 11.00

FRIDAY 7 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST STRINGS & MÁTÉ SZŰCS

famous sonata for string guitar (arpeggione or guitare d’amour), a rarity at the time, which today is most commonly played on the viola or cello, with piano accompaniment. In the past few decades, the arrangement of the work for string orchestra has gained in popularity; and the Beethoven septet penned in his first creative period has enjoyed unbroken popularity since its world première.

GRAND HALL BALÁZS SZABÓ MUSICAL ORGAN HISTORY SERIES/3 (IN HUNGARIAN) “THE ORGAN IS AN ORCHESTRA” – FRANCK, WIDOR, VIERNE Host and organ player: Balázs Szabó

JÁNOS PILZ Elgar: Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47 Schubert: Sonata for Cello and Piano in A minor, D. 821 (‘Arpeggione’) Beethoven: Septet in E-flat major, Op. 20

Máté Szűcs (viola) Budapest Strings (concertmaster: János Pilz, artistic director: Károly Botvay)

Composers were mainly engaged in exploiting the opportunities inherent in the combination of string quartet and grand orchestra in the 20th century. Edward Elgar’s work, conceptualized as the ‘marriage’ of the Baroque concerto grosso and the Romantic symphonic poem, is the most special and interesting of them all. Schubert wrote his

The great technical innovations of the 19th century reached France as well, where the symphonic organ type was created. The new instruments were already able to manifest the tonal sounds of the orchestra, composers created a totally new world in their compositions, which at the same time became closely interlinked with the inspiration of the world of cathedrals. French works are performed on the Voit organ with a charming accent, authentically conveying the tonal richness of the French style.

SATURDAY 8 FEBRUARY, 18.00

GRAND HALL ZUGLÓ PHILHARMONICS BUDAPEST

GÁBOR HORVÁTH Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72b Boccherini–Grützmacher: Cello Concerto in B-flat major Dvořák: Silent Woods, Op. 68/5 Wagner: Tristan und Isolde – Prelude and Isolde’s Love Death Stravinsky: The Firebird – suite

Zsolt Puskás (cello) Zugló Philharmonics Budapest Conductor: Gábor Horváth Tickets: HUF 2 500, 2 700, 3 100 Presented by Zugló Philharmonics Budapest

SATURDAY 8 FEBRUARY, 19.00 MONDAY 10 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL WINTERREISE Schubert: Winterreise, D. 911

Emőke Baráth (soprano), Anastasia Razvalyaeva (harp) Director: Eszter Novák Scenery: Balázs Balogh, Zsolt Czakó, Edit Zeke

Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Schubert composed his song cycle Winter Journey in 1827, one year before his death. The original work with tragic

overtone from start to finish was initially designed for tenor and piano accompaniment, although it is frequently performed by baritones and bass vocalists as well. Over the past few years, here in Budapest we have heard many arrangements of the piece; it has been performed in the original tenor variation as well as rearranged for symphony orchestra. Eighteen months ago, Emőke Baráth – one of the foremost Hungarian singers of our day – undertook to perform the late masterpiece by Schubert, accompanied by harpist Anastasia Razvalyaeva. Director Eszter Novák’s work ensures that the song cycle known in the overwhelming majority of cases as a male drama comes before the audience with a totally authentic female perspective. The production that debuted to great acclaim in 2018 now returns to the stage of Solti Hall on two occasions.

EMŐKE BARÁTH / ANASZTÁZIA RAZVALJAJEVA

Ticket: HUF 3 500 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SUNDAY 9 FEBRUARY, 11.00–18.30

GRAND HALL, SOLTI HALL, AUDITORIUM, ROOM X & XXIII, CUPOLA HALL DAY OF TALENT 2020

Bartók: Divertimento, BB 118 Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat major, K. 271 (‘Jeunehomme/Jenamy’) Schubert: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, D. 485

David Fray (piano) Liszt Academy Chamber Orchestra Concertmaster: János Rolla

DAY OF TALENT 2019 Heinrich Heine is alleged to have once said of Alfred de Musset: he is “a young man with a great future behind him,” and the French poet, the typical self-destructive figure of Romanticism, understandably never forgave the cutting comment of his German colleague. Even so, the bon mot – beyond the fact that it is apposite, and because of this inevitably induces one to ponder – sheds light on an important element as well: namely, that talent, the very nature of which philosophers, aesthetes, pedagogues and more recently neurologists have long looked into, lends not only mystery and privilege to the person who holds it, but at the same time it demands discipline and apportioning. Year on year, the traditional open day of the Liszt Academy lets those interested in on the secret of how extraordinary endowments can be cultivated in the most accomplished, precise and valuable ways possible.

The chamber orchestra made up of university students prepare for their concerts in the framework of curricular projects. In a three-part season ticket series in 2020, the ensemble perform gems of the music canon under the direction of Kossuth Prize violinist János Rolla. In the concerts audiences are witness to a meeting of generations and the passing on of Hungarian chamber orchestra traditions. After all, János Rolla is the most authentic interpreter of the tradition: he was a founding member of the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, and from 1979 he headed the formation as artistic director for nearly four decades. A Bartók’s string orchestral Divertimento and Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 also involving wind instruments are performed as opening and closing works in the first of the season ticket concerts. The Austrian composer was the same age as the student performers when he completed the symphony in autumn 1816. Slotted between these two works is the Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat major by Mozart, interpreted by French global star of the piano David Fray, new visiting professor at the Liszt Academy.

Ticket: HUF 1 500 (Daily ticket) Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Concerts, public lessons, lectures

Featuring: Teachers, students of the Liszt Academy and Bartók Béla Secondary School of Music Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (artistic director: Péter Tfirst)

SUNDAY 9 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF THE ORCHESTRA JÁNOS ROLLA & LISZT ACADEMY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA/1

DAVID FRAY

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 300, 4 100, 4 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre 27

MONDAY 10 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA TAMÁS VÁSÁRY – SCHUMANN CYCLE 3.

Prior to the concert, from 6:30 pm. Tamás Vásáry talks about Robert Schumann.

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 500, 6 000, 7 000 Presented by Hungarian Radio Art Groups

TUESDAY 11 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL HERE AND NOW AMADINDA PERCUSSION PROJECT

TAMÁS VÁSÁRY Robert Schumann: Overture to Goethe’s Hermann und Dorothea, Op. 136 Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120

Balázs Fülei (piano) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Tamás Vásáry

Goethe’s monumental epic poem Hermann and Dorothea was one of the poet’s most popular works in the 19th century. In the background is the French Revolution, which Goethe portrays with an ironic detachment; its hero, Hermann, goes against the wishes of his parents in remaining faithful to the love of his life, Dorothea, who is fleeing the worst of the uprising. The girl’s soul is not only troubled by being forced into fleeing her home but also by the martyrdom of her fiancé in Paris: can she really begin a new life in a foreign country alongside a stranger? Schumann composed an overture to the Goethe poem, at astonishing speed at roughly the same time as he was working on Symphony No. 4. The musical connection between the two works is unmistakable and as so often, the not so hidden strands all lead back to his wife, Clara.

Bob Becker: Mudra Bob Becker: Unseen Child Steve Reich: Six Marimbas Vivier: Cinq chansons pour percussion (variation on trio, Hungarian première) Xenakis: Peaux

Vivier’s work, originally written for soloist evokes the island of Bali, whereas the Xenakis composition conjures up Greek myths. Bob Becker’s Mudra - inspired by Indian dance culture - was characterized thus by one critic: the piece is a perfect representation of what Becker considers important in his music: euphoria, joy and harmony.

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

TUESDAY 11 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL ORGAN IN THE CENTRE ZSUZSA ELEKES

Amadinda Percussion Group: Károly Bojtos, Aurél Holló, Zoltán Rácz, Zoltán Váczi TanBorEn Trio: Csombor Kerek, Zoltán Madaras, Levente Tóth (percussion) Percussionist students of the Liszt Academy One might discover few parallels in the music conceptualization of Claude Vivier and Steve Reich or Iannis Xenakis and Bob Becker, yet the tonal opportunities offered by percussion instruments and a particular fascination with archaic expressive forms are common to all four composers. Thus, this concert featuring the Amadinda Percussion Group and percussionist students of the Liszt Academy undertakes to present the many different ways in which traditional music and avant-garde, as well as western music and musicality reflecting an oriental attitude cling to each other.

ZSUZSA ELEKES J. S. Bach: Musikalisches Opfer, BWV 1079 – Ricercar a 6 Huzella: Epilogue (B-A-C-H) Volker Bräutigam: Epitaph für Maximilian Kolbe (in Gedanken an das Ricercare à 6 aus dem Musikalischen Opfer von J. S. Bach) Karg-Elert: Jesu, meine Freude – symphonic chorale, Op. 87/2 Bunk: Legende, Op. 29 Antalffy-Zsiross: Esti dal (Evening Song) Jongen: Sonata eroïca, Op. 94

Zsuzsa Elekes (organ)

PERCUSSIONIST STUDENTS OF THE LISZT ACADEMY

The international career of Zsuzsa Elekes was launched with her victory at the International Bach Competition in Leipzig in 1980; since then she has given several hundred recitals in churches, concert halls and major festivals in virtually every country in Europe. In the meantime, as

a teacher at the Béla Bartók Music High School in Budapest, she has initiated hundreds of students into the mysteries of the queen of instruments over some three decades and recorded 15 solo albums of the finest organ works by Bach, Liszt, the German Romantics and 20th century Hungarian composers. This programme features principally those works that are rarely or never performed in concert. In the first half, there is a grandiose Bach piece plus a real curiosity: a composition by Elek Huzella written in memory of a friend who died in the 1956 Revolution. After the break, the public can hear creations dating from around the time of the construction of the magical Voit organ in the Liszt Academy, but the Belgian Jongen’s French-style heroic sonata evoking the Romantic style similarly finds the perfect milieu within the walls decked in gilded laurel wreaths of the Grand Hall.

later led by Zoltán Székely, which broke up in 1972. They are also making a reference to the roots of the world-famous Budapest quartet playing, because the legendary chamber music grouping active between 1909 and 1946, hallmarked by the names of Imre Waldbauer and Jenő Kerpely, conquered audiences also under the name Hungarian String Quartet. At this concert by the new Hungarian ‘superquartet’, after the String Quartet No. 3 by Béla Bartók, Johannes Brahms’s late clarinet quintet is performed together with Csaba Klenyán. A The second half of the evening is devoted to a quartet by Franz Schubert, another resident of Vienna, in the harrowing slow movement of the piece Schubert uses his own song Death and the Maiden.

Tickets: HUF 1 800, 2 300, 2 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL FOUR BY FOUR PLUS ONE CSABA KLENYÁN & THE HUNGARIAN QUARTET Bartók: String Quartet No. 3, BB 93 Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115 Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810 (‘Death and the Maiden’)

Hungarian Quartet: András Keller, János Pilz (violin), Gábor Homoki (viola), László Fenyő (cello) Featuring: Csaba Klenyán (clarinet) The Hungarian Quartet set as their goal the renewal of the tradition – devoid of superficialities yet extremely human – of Hungarian string quartet playing. In choosing their name, the formation declared their intention to continue the work of the Hungarian String Quartet founded in 1935 by Sándor Végh and

HUNGARIAN QUARTET

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 300, 4 100, 4 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 13 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL BACH IN SOLO ZOLTÁN FEJÉRVÁRI Johann Sebastian Bach: French Suite No. 1 in D minor, BWV 812 French Suite No. 2 in C minor, BWV 813 French Suite No. 3 in B minor, BWV 814 French Suite No. 4 in E-flat major, BWV 815 French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816 French Suite No. 6 in E major, BWV 817

ZOLTÁN FEJÉRVÁRI

Zoltán Fejérvári (piano) The suite was the ‘entertaining’ genre of Baroque music. It comprised short, simply structured dance movements, which composers arranged in such a way that slow- and fast-paced, respectively oddand even-beat dance types followed one another in a changing order to make up a coherent cycle. This instrumental genre first appeared in the history of European music in the early 16th century, with its culmination coming around the time when Johann Sebastian Bach was working, in whose oeuvre the suite is linked almost exclusively to a single creative period, and the only secular office of his career, the six years (1717–1723) he spent as court conductor in Köthen. It is likely that Bach composed the series that became known as the French Suites for his second wife, Anna Magdalena. The titling of the cycle did not come from the author and it is highly misleading: the French Suites do not only contain dances of Gallic origin, and Bach did not exclusively follow French patterns in this unique series comprising six pieces, which we hear in the Grand Hall in a performance by the young pianist Zoltán Fejérvári.

Tickets: HUF 3 900, 4 900, 5 900, 6 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre 29

FRIDAY 14 FEBRUARY, 19.00

FRIDAY 14 FEBRUARY, 19.30

SATURDAY 15 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE TRIO BARRAGÁN-SOLTANI-FLORISTÁN

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

SOLTI HALL QUATUOR MÉTAMORPHOSES & KOROSSY STRING QUARTET ECMA (EUROPEAN CHAMBER MUSIC ACADEMY) MASTERCLASS CONCERT

Boccherini: Ritirata notturna di Madrid Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622 Mozart: Mass in C minor, K. 427

KIAN SOLTANI Jörg Widmann: Nachtstück Beethoven: Clarinet Trio in B-flat major, Op. 11 (‘Gassenhauer’) Brahms: Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114

Pablo Barragán (clarinet), Kian Soltani (cello), Juan Pérez Floristán (piano) Three composers – three musical works – three young, talented performers. This time, the audience of the Solti Hall can hear an instrumental arrangement that differs slightly from the traditional violincello-piano setup yet it is still classic; in addition to two of the most well-known clarinet trios of the 19th century, the program also features the “night music” composed by renowned composerconductor-clarinetist Jörg Widmann in 1998. A The two Spanish musicians have gained the attention of the music world by winning several competitions: Juan Pérez Floristán won the Paloma O’Shea International Piano Competition and the Steinway Competition, Pablo Barragan finished on the podium at the 2012 ARD International Music Competition. Kian Soltani has already participated – despite his young age – in numerous recordings, working with artists such as Daniel and Michael Barenboin, Lahav Shani and Renaud Capuçon. The cellist was a resident artist at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 2019.

Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre 30

Gábor Varga (basset horn) Mária Celeng, Gabriella Balga, Zoltán Megyesi, István Kovács (vocals) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choirmaster: Zoltán Pad) Conductor: Carlo Montanaro City sightseeing tour from ages past with Boccherini; a history of instruments adventure with Mozart and the ensemble’s principal clarinettist, Gábor Varga; and a remarkable mass that for some reason remained unfinished. The Mass in C minor is one of Mozart’s most significant works for the church, while the Et incarnatus est passage of the unfinished Credo movement was written for his wife Constanza. And in the same period, a good two thousand kilometres away in Spain, how did the beggars of Madrid dance the minuet and what did street singers sing about? This audience is guided through the streets of Madrid, Salzburg and Vienna by the always welcome guest conductor Carlo Montanaro.

CARLO MONTANARO

Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000 Presented by Hungarian Radio Art Groups

Beethoven: String Quartet in C major, Op. 59/3 (‘Razumovsky’) Bartók: String Quartet No. 2, BB 75

Quatuor Métamorphoses: Mathilde Potier, Rachel Sintzel (violin), Jean-Baptiste Souchon (viola), Alice Picaud (cello) Korossy String Quartet: Csongor Korossy-Khayll, Kristóf Tóth (violin), Julianna Albert (viola), Gergely Devich (cello)

QUATUOR MÉTAMORPHOSES Famous festivals and institutions are numbered among the members of the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA), which has been operating for more than 15 years. The Liszt Academy, also joins the masterclass of the organization aimed at nurturing chamber music traditions and introducing new formations. We can listen to a pair of classics of the chamber repertoire, in a youthfully fresh interpretation formed following intense workshop efforts by a French and a Hungarian quartet. Quatuor Métamorphoses were set up in 2016 from students of the Paris Conservatoire; in their composition they embody the essence of string quartet playing since, through the harmonization of the individual characters of the members, each with a different musical background, they achieve an artistically unified, and precisely because of this all the more exciting, common denominator.

A The Korossy String Quartet, made up of students of the Liszt Academy, are an even younger formation, which drew attention to themselves in 2019 when they displayed astonishing skills by becoming category winners at the Weiner Leó National Chamber Music Competition. Free tickets for the concert can be obtained from the Liszt Academy ticket office one month before the concert. Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 15 FEBRUARY, 19.30 SUNDAY 16 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL HEINZ HOLLIGER, DÉNES VÁRJON & CONCERTO BUDAPEST Veress: Divertimento Mendelssohn: Piano concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 Weber: Konzertstück in F minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 79 Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61

Dénes Várjon (piano) Concerto Budapest Conductor: Heinz Holliger “He was an extremely introverted, secretive person [...] Of course, he spoke to me about his own works more than to others because we were in a very close relationship.” This is how Heinz Holliger remembered Hungarian-born Sándor Veress, who spent the second half of his life in Switzerland. Holliger opens the concert with a Veress work: the six-movement chamber orchestral Divertimento was composed when the Hungarian was around 30. A Holliger has a similarly intimate collegial relationship with the concert’s soloist, Dénes Várjon, who on this occasion evokes two masters of the first generation of German Romanticism, Mendelssohn and Weber. A “For days my head has been in a whirl of drums and trumpets (trombe in C). I don’t know what will come of it.” This is from a letter written by Schumann in

HEINZ HOLLIGER 1845, and we can discern this motif in the fanfares of the first movement of Symphony No. 2, written around this time. The letter was addressed to Mendelssohn, and just a year later he conducted the world première of this symphony, designed with self-healing in mind, in Leipzig.

recalled the character of the Hungarian composer. In this concert, Holliger conducts the 1948 Respublika Overture. The piece was composed for the centenary of the 1848 Revolution shortly before the artist emigrated to and settled in Switzerland. Therefore, the composer was unable to receive the Kossuth Prize, which was conferred on him partly because of this very work. A Debussy’s three songs with piano accompaniment, written to the verses of Mallarmé in 1913, will be performed in the second part of the concert. The Debussy work is a 2016 arrangement for orchestra and baritone by Holliger, who is also active as a composer, and precedes the Veress overture in the programme.

Tickets: HUF 2 400, 3 500, 4 300, 5 200, 6 400, 7 900 Presented by Concerto Budapest

SATURDAY 15 FEBRUARY, 22.00

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST – PREMIÈRE II VERESS SÁNDOR – HEINZ HOLLIGER Veress: Respublika Overture Debussy: Trois Poèmes de Mallarmé (Heinz Holliger’s transcription)

Concerto Budapest Conductor: Heinz Holliger “I consider it my great fortune that when I was 14 he started to work with me. [...] We had a very close relationship. Indeed, I received a work from him: the Passacaglia concertante, which I learned with him. He attended many performances. I frequently conducted his works; he came to the rehearsals and the concert, and expressed his views of the performance very clearly.” In one of his interviews, Heinz Holliger, the best known and greatest devotee of the art of Sándor Veress,

CONCERTO BUDAPEST

Ticket: HUF 1 000 Presented by Concerto Budapest

SUNDAY 16 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL SELINI QUARTET & THE KRUPPA STRING QUARTET ECMA (EUROPEAN CHAMBER MUSIC ACADEMY) MASTERCLASS CONCERT Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80 Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810 (‘Death and the Maiden’)

Selini Quartet: Nadia Kalmykova, Ljuba Kalmykova (violin), Loredana Apetrei (viola), Loukia Loulaki (cello) Kruppa String Quartet: Bálint Kruppa, Éva Osztrosits (violin), András Kurgyis (viola), Barnabás Baranyai (cello) 31

The Liszt Academy, an eminent workshop of 20th century chamber music traditions, also joined the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA). The organization’s goal is to introduce young formations. This concert also forms part of this initiative, in which a Vienna-based and a domestic string quartet each play a superb example of the Romantic quartet genre. A The Selini Quartet, formed in Vienna in 2016 and made up of musicians of several nationalities, have achieved huge successes at festivals, competitions and prestigious concert venues. Between 2020-2022 they also enjoy a scholarship from the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A The Kruppa String Quartet were founded in 2012 by students of the Liszt Academy under the leadership of Bálint Kruppa; the formation has been assisted in its development by great artists such as András Keller, János Devich, Sándor Devich and Gábor Takács-Nagy, while the four young artists also participated in the masterclass of the world-famous Emerson Quartet.

SELINI QUARTET

Free tickets can be claimed at Liszt Academy ticket office one month before the concert. Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

GYÖRGY KURTÁG / GYÖRGY LIGETI

Anu Komsi (soprano), András Keller (violin), Szabolcs Zempléni (horn), Dénes Várjon (piano) Finnish coloratura-soprano Anu Komsi boasts an extremely broad repertoire. There is no music history era the iconic works of which do not feature regularly on her programme, but interestingly enough, the greater part of the list of her roles sung on stage are made up of works by composers active in the 20th and 21st century. The repertoire of this extraordinarily multifaceted artist includes pieces by the three most famous contemporary Hungarian composers, György Ligeti, György Kurtág and Péter Eötvös. At her first opera appearance she performed Ligeti’s grotesque Aventures, Nouvelles Aventures; following the première of György Kurtág’s highly influential Kafka Fragments she was the next singer to perform the work in concert, and she then made a recording from the composition; she recently sang the lead role in the Eötvös opera Lady Sarashina. András Keller is her partner in the Kafka Fragments; he also takes the stage in the company of Szabolcs Zempléni and Dénes Várjon in the Horn Trio, one of the key works in the Ligeti oeuvre.

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 3 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Supporter: National Cultural Fund of Hungary

Paganini: Caprice in G minor, Op. 1/6 (‘The Trill’) Liszt: Paganini-Etude No. 1 in G minor Kálmán Oláh: Paganini-Etude in G minor Paganini: Caprice in E-flat major, Op. 1/17 Liszt: Paganini-Etude No. 2 in E-flat major Kálmán Oláh: Paganini-Etude in E-flat major Paganini: Caprice in E major, Op. 1/1 Liszt: Paganini-Etude No. 4 in E major Kálmán Oláh: Paganini-Etude in E major Paganini: Caprice in E major, Op. 1/9 (‘Hunt’) Liszt: Paganini-Etude No. 5 in E major (‘La chasse’) Kálmán Oláh: Paganini-Etude in E major Paganini: Caprice in A minor, Op. 1/24 Liszt: Paganini-Etude No. 6 in A minor (‘Thème et variations’) Lutosławski: Variations on a Theme by Paganini Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Op. 7 – 3. Rondo à la clochette (‘La campanella’)

József Lendvay (violin), Kálmán Oláh, János Balázs (piano) Host: Ádám Bősze The ‘Devil’s violinist’, as he was known even in his own lifetime, entered the hall of immortal fame in music history not only in his own right but also via Liszt. Paganini so bewitched the piano virtuoso that he composed an entire series of etudes to his famous Caprices. When in 1832 Liszt first heard Paganini during the latter’s second Paris tour, he wrote to a student: “What a man, what a violin, what an artist! God, what suffering, what misery, what tortures in those four strings!” What Liszt could do 200 years ago, what is there to stop a pianist doing today? The question is not totally rhetorical, since at the concert we can

TUESDAY 18 FEBRUARY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL HERE AND NOW KURTÁG – LIGETI

György Kurtág: Kafka-Fragmente, Op. 24 Ligeti: Horn Trio

TUESDAY 18 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CZIFFRA FESTIVAL 2020 JÓZSEF LENDVAY, KÁLMÁN OLÁH, JÁNOS BALÁZS PAGANINI+

JÓZSEF LENDVAY

instantly view Paganini’s original works in two mirrors: pianist János Balázs plays the Liszt etudes and Kálmán Oláh, one of the finest improvizational jazz pianists in the country, his own arrangements. Before the performance of these two artists, violinist József Lendvay tackles the original Caprices in a way that would make Paganini himself jealous.

Tickets: HUF 1 500, 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000, 8 000, 10 000 Presented by Besszer Concert

SUNDAY 23 FEBRUARY, 11.00

SOLTI HALL LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY – MUSIC IN NATURE INSECTS IN MUSIC FOR 10-15-YEAR-OLDS Rimsky-Korsakov: Flight of the Bumblebee Bartók: Mikrokosmos, BB 105 – From the Diary of a Fly Josquin: El Grillo Chopin: Etude in F minor, Op. 25/2 (‘The Bees’) Grieg: Lyric Pieces – Butter�y Dora Cojocaru: Insects, Bugs and Other Especies

Panni Hotzi (piano), Mátyás Hotzi (cello), Zsolt Bartek, Luca Marton, Péter Szűcs (clarinet) Moderator: Dániel Mona We have no idea how music actually came about but many believe that at some time in the distant past, man discovered the beauty of the voices of nature and tried to mimic them with his own tools. However it happened, in the

artistic music also called ‘classical’, nature always played an important role, as did the question of how the world around us can be evoked with the help of music. A In the spring semester, the youth concert series organized by the Liszt Academy, Liszt Kidz Academy, examines the relationship between music and nature. In this, the second concert, we are still examining the sky and winged creatures, but instead of birds, tiny insects are under the microscope. Countless composers have been inspired by the buzzing, the deft agility, or indeed the beauty of one or the other insect (let us consider the butterfly) for many centuries, but modern instruments and sounds still inspire exciting ‘insect music’ today. Plenty of examples are on hand in this respect from music historian Dániel Mona and the great team made up of former and current students of the Liszt Academy.

Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SUNDAY 23 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CZIFFRA FESZTIVÁL 2020 VADIM REPIN, JÁNOS BALÁZS & DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK GALA CONCERT AND AWARDS CEREMONY Grieg: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in C minor, Op. 45 Tchaikovsky: Valse-Scherzo, Op. 34 Tchaikovsky: Lensky’s aria from the Eugene Onegin Ravel: Tzigane Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16

VADIM REPIN holds the title of youngest ever winner of the massively prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. When Vadim Repin first played in Hungary, he wielded a Stradivari, since then he has been through two Guarneris and now he brings a third – 1743 Bonjour – to the Liszt Academy. Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Ravel – pure pleasure not only for him but his chamber partner, and at the same time the other soloist of the evening, pianist János Balázs.

Tickets: HUF 1 500, 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000, 8 000, 10 000, 12 000 Presented by Besszer Concert

WEDNESDAY 26 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL ERIC TERWILLIGER & THE FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA Bruch: String Octet in B-Flat Major Haydn: Horn Concerto No. 1 in D major, Hob. VIId:3 Beethoven: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 9 in A major, Op. 47 (‘Kreutzer’) – transcription for string orchestra

Vadim Repin (violin), János Balázs (piano) Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Conductor: Gábor Hollerung The star guest of this recital is a violinist who has been celebrated in the biggest concert halls of the world ever since he was just 14 years old, and to this day still

ERIC TERWILLIGER 33

Eric Terwilliger (horn) Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (concertmaster: Péter Tfirst) During the past ten years, Eric Terwilliger has simultaneously been principal horn for both the Munich and the Berlin Philharmonic. This unparalleled commission, a huge honour in the music world, concluded in 2019 with his retirement. His Budapest concert in partnership with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra is one of the stops on the artist’s farewell tour.

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 4 800, 6 000, 8 500, 12 000 Presented by Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra Foundation

THURSDAY 27 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC CHILDHOOD DREAMS

in Oslo and asked them to seal it away until 2114. Anyone consumed by curiosity about what a work being locked away from prying eyes for close to a century could be about, might now have a glimmer of hope. The title of the novella – From me flows what you call Time – is identical to that of a Japanese piece of music. In 1990, Toru Takemitsu composed his unusual concerto for five percussion soloists and orchestra for the 100th anniversary of Carnegie Hall in New York. The Amadinda Percussion Group guarantee that time flows nicely in this concert. A Two English symphonies created at almost the same time (between 1933 and 1935) come before and after the Japanese concerto. One is by a youthful Britten, who put together this string orchestral work in four movements from themes he wrote in his childhood, and the other is by Walton, who was 11 years older than Britten, and marks his first foray into the genre. A British musicologist reckoned that although it was unlikely posterity would rank William Walton among the greats of the 20th century, his first symphony would certainly be considered among the significant works of the century.

Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 000, 4 500, 5 500 Presented by Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

KAREN KAMENSEK Britten: Simple Symphony, Op. 4 Takemitsu: From me flows what you call Time Walton: Symphony No. 1 in B-flat minor

Amadinda Percussion Group: Károly Bojtos, Aurél Holló, Zoltán Rácz, Zoltán Váczi Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Karen Kamensek

In 2016, English author David Mitchell handed a novella to the staff of a library that was about to be inaugurated

FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY, 19.00

OLD ACADEMY OF MUSIC, CHAMBER HALL ZSOMBOR TÓTH-VAJNA HENRY PURCELL AND HIS MASTER Henry Purcell: Suite in G major; A New Ground; Suite in A minor; C minor ground; Suite in D major; D minor ground Blow: Morlake Ground; Suite in G major Dr. Blow’s Chacone in Faut

Zsombor Tóth-Vajna (harpsichord)

ZSOMBOR TÓTH-VAJNA In the wake of the overthrow of Cromwellian Puritanism, under Charles II the propagation of ‘high art’ made a return to London. Based on his experiences overseas, the king established a court string ensemble, he urged his musicians to study abroad, and he re-established the highly influential music life of the Chapel Royal. Two important composers of the age, John Blow and Henry Purcell, came into their own amidst the conditions offered by the Chapel Royal. Through the work of these two, Zsombor TóthVajna sheds light on a genre little known here in Hungary: the harpsichord repertoire of the Restoration. This concert features a selection of the favoured genres of English keyboard music absorbing French and Italian stylistic influences: suites containing varied dance movements, imaginative grounds founded on bass variations, all crowned by Blow’s remarkable Chacone in Faut.

Ticket: HUF 1 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA SCHUBERT/SHOSTAKOVICH Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759 (‘Un�nished’) Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Op. 43

Danubia Orchestra Óbuda Conductor: Máté Hámori

Nobody really knows for sure why this symphony remained unfinished, but in fact it doesn’t really matter. Even in this form it became one of the cornerstones of music, indeed, just like Michelangelo’s Prisoners or Slaves, precisely because of it. Incompletion, going astray as an artistic statement is a romantic and fine concept – even if, in this case, it is not totally correct. The other work is perhaps the best symphony from the master of diversions and restarts, yet it will be a discovery for many since it has long not received the attention it deserves, being in the shadow of the fifth or tenth. The ‘genius of the age’, comrade Stalin is partly to be blamed for this, given that he initiated a personally orchestrated culture policy attack against Shostakovich at the same time as the debut of the composition, to which the symphony also fell victim, and the composer ‘withdrew’ the work. This all happened in 1936. One can only imagine Shostakovich’s emotions each night. Despite all this, the work overflows with power, ideas, raw and manly beauty – confuting the spirit of the age and the pervasive madness of all-out terror. Stalin died, Shostakovich lives: 0–1.

MÁTÉ HÁMORI

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

GÁBOR TAKÁCS-NAGY Mendelssohn: The Hebrides Overture, Op. 26 Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 Dvořák: Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88

Giovanni Guzzo (violin) Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Gábor Takács-Nagy “Gábor, you could be a very good conductor – your body language is very clear and expressive.” These words of György Solti were decisive for Gábor Takács-Nagy, who as a world-famous violinist of nearly two decades became increasingly interested in conducting. At the helm of the world’s leading ensembles and as conductor of the Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra, Takács-Nagy regularly proves that he is capable of getting the most out of musicians. He believes that a conductor has to do three things: inspire with his presence and advice, help with his movements, and give musicians self-confidence. The programme of Gábor Takács-Nagy and the Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra features Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, Violin Concerto in E minor and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. Giovanni Guzzo takes the stage as soloist in the violin concerto; he consistently impresses audiences with his unique and passionate technique.

SATURDAY 29 FEBRUARY, 19.30

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF THE ORCHESTRA GÁBOR TAKÁCS-NAGY & THE LISZT ACADEMY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 300, 4 100, 4 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

PARITY TAMÁS VÁSÁRY AND BARNABÁS KELEMEN IN OUR REGULAR COLUMN, WE INTERVIEWED TWO OUTSTANDING FIGURES IN MUSIC, TAMÁS VÁSÁRY, THE VASTLY EXPERIENCED PIANIST AND CONDUCTOR, AND BARNABÁS KELEMEN, THE YOUNG VIOLINIST WHO HAS EXCEPTIONAL SUCCESSES TO HIS CREDIT ON A REBELLIOUS BEETHOVEN AND HIS REVOLUTIONARY MUSIC.

Do you think Beethoven was a rebel? Tamás Vásáry – As a child he suffered under his violent father, and as a young man he suffered from a requited but unconsummated love. What was even more horrible was that he started to lose his hearing at quite a young age and grew completely deaf somewhat later. A letter he wrote to his brothers, the famous will of Heiligenstadt, even suggests the idea of suicide. Nevertheless, he picks up the gauntlet thrown down by fate because he had in him that tremendous force, the survival instinct. Despite his tragic life, all his compositions end on an optimistic note. Even the funeral march in his Symphony No. 3 continues with a Dionysian feast. He fought back and rebelled against nothing less than fate and the miseries of life. His Christ on the Mount of Olives is about the sufferings of Christ, yet it’s a victorious piece. He not only rebels but wins! If anyone deserves to be called a rebel, Beethoven is certainly the one. Barnabás Kelemen – If we think about it, in the 20 to 25 years following Mozart’s death, Beethoven initiated revolutions in so many areas of music and created so many new things compared to his master, Haydn, all this is just unprecedented. This is best seen in his piano pieces and string quartets.

Was he consciously rebellious against musical forms as well? T. V. – After writing his most tragic will, he composed his jolliest pieces. He consciously turned towards the sun. He also rebelled in the area of musical forms: the two piano sonatas, Opus 27, the one in C-sharp minor, the other in E-flat minor, are anything but sonatas in form. Or take his last symphony, the Ninth: it has people singing. Had anyone seen such a thing before? It was a complete departure. There are clear traces in his pieces of Haydn’s influence, which he ended up transcending, but the Sonata Pathétique, Opus 13, is already fully-fledged Beethoven. Even though Haydn was his master, they were certainly not on good terms. He probably met Mozart once but could not have learned anything from him, given his titanic nature and plebeian attitudes. He intoned the voice of the people and the peasantry in particular. Le Sueur, Berlioz’s master, hated Beethoven for what he called his coarseness. Just think of the first bars of Symphony No. 5: they’re like a bull in a china shop. There is nothing from Haydn or Mozart there. The typical Beethoven is right there in his first piano sonata; he did not grow gradually out of Mozart and Haydn – his fantastic power was right there from the very beginning.

TAMÁS VÁSÁRY 36

B. K. – He didn’t care about clichés and customs at all. And I think he did it absolutely consciously. He was constantly searching for new things, colliding head on with standard forms.

FIRST PAGE OF THE SCORE OF SYMPHONY NO. 5 IN C MINOR, OP. 67

Do you think he was a rebel as a person? B. K. – Very much so – an eternal oppositionist. I think there may be a parallel with one of my masters, Zoltán Kocsis, who by the way was a great fan of Beethoven’s.

HE NOT ONLY REBELS BUT WINS! IF ANYONE DESERVES TO BE CALLED A REBEL, BEETHOVEN IS CERTAINLY THE ONE.

Could this rebellion have come from his age? After all, he lived in more turbulent times than Haydn and Mozart, with whom he is often associated. T. V. – I don’t think so…. Of course, look at people in any age, one is so different from the other. The environment affects everybody. It will become part of your nervous system. Today’s pianists – I have heard at least 800 of them as a jury member of competitions – well, they have nerves of steel, no wrong notes, everything is perfect like a machine because they did not go through all the horrible things that our generation did. So Beethoven must’ve been affected by his age, the horrors of war and everything else he saw. B. K. – Let’s not forget that Haydn lived to see the French Revolution. Of course, that entire revolutionary upheaval hit us a bit later here, a bit further to the east. Still, it was certainly intertwined with the era.

(TAMÁS VÁSÁRY) 37

A LATE BEETHOVEN-DEPICTION ON THE EXQUISITE COVER OF A VOLUME OF HIS PIANO SONATAS

‘I THINK HIS PIANO SONATA IN F MINOR, THAT IS, THE APPASSIONATA, IS HIS MOST PASSIONATE COMPOSITION, ESPECIALLY THE LAST MOVEMENT. EVEN THE TITLE CONTAINS THE WORD »PASSIO«, WHICH DENOTES BOTH PASSION AND SUFFERING.’ (TAMÁS VÁSÁRY) Which do you think are his most rebellious compositions?

‘BEETHOVEN WAS NOBODY’S SPRINGBOARD. IT WAS A KIND OF A DEADEND STREET IN WHICH HE HIMSELF COMPLETED A FANTASTIC JOURNEY. NO ONE FOLLOWED IN THE WAKE OF BEETHOVEN’S LATE PERIOD.’ (BARNABÁS KELEMEN) 38

B. K. – We can even find rebellion in his early symphonies in terms of the size of the orchestra, the orchestration, and the length and complexity of the compositions. If we consider his violin and piano sonatas, although he drew heavily on Haydn and Mozart, even the earliest of them are larger in scale than most Mozart sonatas. His late pieces run counter to his earlier ones: comparing his late string quartets with his early ones, there seems to be a century between them. Let’s just consider his quartet in C-sharp minor, Opus 131, which is 40 minutes of continuous music made up of seven attacca movements. It didn’t bother him that it was impossible to tune the gut strings used at the time in between. It’s as if he had known that 200 years later we would have strings that could do the job. What is also new about his string quartets is that he was the first to place the four instruments on an equal footing by treating each of them like a melodic instrument.

‚IF WE CONSIDER HIS VIOLIN AND PIANO SONATAS, ALTHOUGH HE DREW HEAVILY ON HAYDN AND MOZART, EVEN THE EARLIEST OF THEM ARE LARGER INSCALE THAN MOST MOZART SONATAS.’ (BARNABÁS KELEMEN)

You are no strangers to passion. Where do you find the greatest passion in his oeuvre? T. V. – I think his Piano sonata in F minor, that is, the Appassionata, is his most passionate composition, especially the last movement. Even the title contains the word “passio”, which denotes both passion and suffering. I also play passionately on the piano. When I am playing, I try to be as clean as a pin, but then I get sick of it. Then again, after the first wrong note, I am relieved and begin to play normally. Annie Fischer once said, “I too can play without hitting a wrong note, but what for?” B. K. – I can think of two violin and piano sonatas, the Kreutzer and the one in C minor. Though passion is very much a personal thing, and you may find the source of it in the life of the person. An artist’s muse stirs most quickly when the creative person is under some kind of stress. Beethoven was under stress on account of his health as well as his private life. But it is not a one-way street. Grief may well elicit pleasant memories of a person lost.

It is commonly held that Beethoven was a great innovator or rather a man going his own way, which some consider to be a dead-end street, something that was impossible to follow or imitate. B. K. – Indeed, Beethoven was nobody’s springboard. It was really a kind of a dead-end street in which he himself completed a fantastic journey. No one followed in the wake of Beethoven’s late period. T. V. – Right. No one composed in the style of Beethoven. There are no epigones of Beethoven. He is inimitable, he was a volcano.

Each performing artist has a diﬀerent personality, which goes into the way they play. Who would you name as the greatest Beethoven performers and why? T. V. – I would pick Annie Fischer first. The others were lacking in that very passion. As regards conductors, Karajan was a fantastic Beethoven interpreter. So was Bruno Walter. B. K. – I find John Eliot Gardiner’s recordings of Beethoven’s symphonies with period instruments to be of revolutionary importance. The more instruments there are, the more it matters what kind of instruments they are. This is incredibly important. There was a great shift in instruments and consequently in playing techniques towards the end of the 19th century, so all this music sounded quite different in its day.

BARNABÁS KELEMEN

Judit Rácz

CONCERT CHRONOLOGY MARCH Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Hosted Concert Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre with cooperation Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior University

SUNDAY 1 MARCH, 11.00-22.00

GRAND HALL, SOLTI HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST/ MOZART DAY ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: ANDRÁS KELLER

ANDRÁS KELLER

Featuring: Emőke Baráth, Gábor TakácsNagy, Dezső Ránki, Miklós Spányi, Concerto Armonico Budapest & musicians of the Concerto Budapest

“A light, bright, fine day, this will remain with me for my whole life. As though from a great distance, the magic notes of Mozart’s music gently haunt me still. [...] Oh Mozart, immortal Mozart, how many, oh how endlessly many such comforting perceptions of a brighter, better life hast thou brought to our souls?” This is what Franz Schubert wrote about 200 years ago, when he spent a day getting to know the music of his great and much admired predecessor, and this is precisely what all

those present at the Mozart Day in the Liszt Academy, organized for the third year, can reckon on experiencing. Organized by Concerto Budapest, Mozart music radiating eloquent humanism and mischievous good spirits, timeless beauty and playful cunning, will fill the Grand Hall and Solti Hall for an entire day, in the interpretetation of many brilliant musicians.

Tickets: HUF 1 500 – 3 000 Presented by Concerto Budapest

MONDAY 2 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL ANDREA ROST, ANDREA VIGH & BARNABÁS KELEMEN MVM CONCERTS Spohr: Sonata for Violin and Harp in C minor, WoO 23 Saint-Saëns: Fantaisie for Harp, Op. 95 Saint-Saëns: Fantaisie for Violin and Harp, Op. 124 Händel: “Lascia ch’io pianga” – Almirena’s Aria from the Act 2 of Rinaldo Händel: “Ombra mai fu” – Xerxes’s Aria from the Act 1 of Xerxes Fauré: En prière Fauré: Poème d’un jour, Op. 21 – 3. Adieu Fauré: Impromptu for Harp in D-flat major, Op. 86 Ravel: Cinq mélodies populaires grecques (Five Greek Folk Songs)

Andrea Rost (soprano), Andrea Vigh (harp), Barnabás Kelemen (violin) Harpist Andrea Vigh, winner of the Liszt Prize and Prima Prize, has taught at the Liszt Academy since 1996 and has been its president since 2013. From 1993 to 1996 she participated in concerts arranged by the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and from 1993 she has held solo recitals at the Liszt Academy annually. For this evening she performs the finest arias by Händel, Fauré and Ravel, and rarely played chamber works by Spohr and Saint-Saëns, in the company of her

ANDREA VIGH / ANDREA ROST / BARNABÁS KELEMEN two guests, Andrea Rost and Barnabás Kelemen. A After being awarded her degree, Kossuth and Liszt Prize laureate singer Andrea Rost became solo singer with the Wiener Staatsoper (1991), where the Viennese audience saw her in all the important roles, then she won plaudits in the top opera houses of the world, plus she appeared (and still does to this day) on the biggest and most prestigious concert podiums as a concert and lieder singer. A Violonist Barnabás Kelemen was awarded the Kossuth and the Liszt Prizes. He is considered one of the most outstanding and multifaceted violinists, chamber musicians, string quartet first violinists and conductors of his generation. Furthermore, he teaches at two world-class institutions, the Liszt Academy and the University of Cologne, plus he is the founder and artistic director of the Festival Academy.

Tickets: HUF 1 500, 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000, 8 000 Presented by Besszer Concert

TUESDAY 3 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF VOCAL MUSIC VOX LUMINIS & L’ACHÉRON Schütz: Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz, SWV 478 Kerll: Requiem Buxtehude: Fried- und Freudenreiche Hinfahrt, BuxWV 76 – 1. Mit Fried und Freud, 2. Klage Lied Steffani: Stabat Mater

Vox Luminis (artistic director: Lionel Meunier)

L’Achéron (artistic director: François Joubert-Caillet) A Belgian historical vocal ensemble and a French early music instrumental group perform church works by German and Italian Baroque masters. The programme sounds hugely promising even without mentioning names. But all the more so in the knowledge of the two founders and leaders: Lionel Meunier, who earlier sang with Collegium Vocale Gent, set up Vox Luminis in 2004, while François JoubertCaillet, the most excellent viola da gamba player, recruited the members of L’Achéron in 2009. Composers of the works on the programme, minor and great masters of the 17-18th century – Lutheran Heinrich Schütz who worked in Venice, Dresden and Denmark, Catholic priest-diplomat Angelo Steffani, and Johann Caspar Kerll, who composed the mass played during the coronation of Emperor Leopold I – are representative of the incredible multifaceted aspects of their age.

L’ACHÉRON

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 4 300, 5 100, 5 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL EÖTVÖS ART ENSEMBLE Verdi: Requiem

Eszter Sümegi (soprano), Atala Schöck (alto), Attila Fekete (tenor), Krisztián Cser (bass) Eötvös Loránd University Bartók Choir (vocal training: Bence Juhász)

University Concert Orchestra (concertmaster: Éva Dúlfalvy) Conductor: László Kovács

established in 1957 (currently functioning as a string chamber ensemble) have won prizes and awards at dozens of international competitions in Hungary and abroad over the past decades .

Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 200, 4 500, 7 000 Presented by Eötvös Art Ensemble

THURSDAY 5 MARCH, 19.00 EOTVOS ART ENSEMBLE The artistic director of the Bartók Choir and University Concert Orchestra of the Eötvös Loránd University is László Kovács, conductor and Liszt Prize laureate, director of the ELTE ‘Eötvös’ Art Ensemble. The university choir and orchestra are an amateur ensemble comprising current and former students and teachers. Their repertoire spans Baroque, classical, Romantic and contemporary works, a cappella choral works, oratorios, concertos and symphonies, although they are happy to stray into the border zones of pop and classical music as well. They consider their mission the interpretation of works by major composers of the 20th century including Bartók and Kodály, but their concert repertoire also numbers many pieces by contemporary, primarily Hungarian artists. György Orbán, Péter Tóth, Sándor Szokolay, Emil Petrovics, Kamilló Lendvay, Zoltán Jeney, Miklós Kocsár, László Dubrovay, János Vajda, Levente Gyöngyösi, Kálmán Oláh and Zoltán Kovács have all written orchestral and choral works, some commissioned by the university and dedicated to the ensemble and their conductors. They participate in the Budapest Spring Festival, chamber music festivals, the Tiszazug Music Festival, jointly with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, at the annual concert series Master and Student, the Tihany Benedictine Abbey series, as well as other events designed to promote classical music. The choir established by Gábor Baross in 1948 and the orchestra

GRAND HALL DÉNES VÁRJON & MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BEETHOVEN RECITAL

MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Ludwig van Beethoven: King Stephen, Op. 117 – Overture Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19 Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 (‘Pastorale’)

Dénes Várjon (piano) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Gábor Takács-Nagy The opening number of this Beethoven recital is a reference to the connection the composer had with Hungarians. This relationship was, on the one hand, of a personal nature: he was fond of one of the daughters of the Brunswick family in Martonvásár; on the other hand, it was ‘professional’: the Weimar dramatist Kotzebue commissioned him to write the musical accompaniment to his play about King St. Stephen of Hungary. The Pest German Theatre put on this work at its inauguration in 1812, in the presence of Beethoven himself. He uses elements of the then fashionable recruiting music in the overture, and in his notes he warmly writes about the “stalwart,

moustachioed Magyars”. A The Piano Concerto in B-flat major dates from before the Piano Concerto in C major, but a mistake made by the publishers meant they were numbered incorrectly. The work written between 1794-95 when he was extremely young shows influences of Haydn, yet it already shows promise of the Beethoven to come. A The ‘Pastoraleʼ Symphony is a moving confession of Beethoven’s love for nature. This is his only work in which he noted in the score with words exactly what the music is about. We can almost see the babbling brook and the song of each bird is clearly distinguishable in the short ‘bird concerto’. However, the essence is that this work is not a plain depiction of nature but it is about the person who lives through this, who is cheerful on arrival in the village, shows fear of the storm and is grateful when it passes.

JORDI SAVALL astonishing tools we have come to expect of him. Working with English, French, Italian and German examples and through the medium of operatic, dance or purely instrumental music, we can learn how many different solutions were reached for these topics in the Baroque.

but every composer featuring in this concert studied and later taught at the Liszt Academy, so the instrument was a strong inspiration in their art. The performed works demonstrate the 20th century segment of the Hungarian organ repertoire, which spans the period from late Romanticism through Impressionism all the way to the Avant-garde, and most of them sound most authentic when played on the Voit organ.

Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 7 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL JAZZ IT! BINDER TRIO

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 5 100, 6 600, 9 400, 15 300 Presented by Budapest Festival Orchestra

Tickets: HUF 4 500, 5 000, 5 500 Presented by MÁV Symphony Orchestra SATURDAY 7 MARCH, 11.00 FRIDAY 6 MARCH, 19.45 SATURDAY 7 MARCH, 19.45 SUNDAY 8 MARCH, 15.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA HOMAGE ON THE EARTH: TEMPÊTES, ORAGES & FÊTES MARINES

GRAND HALL BALÁZS SZABÓ MUSICAL ORGAN HISTORY SERIES/4 (IN HUNGARIAN) THE GREAT PREDECESSORS – ANTALFFY, ZALÁNFFY, SCHMIDTHAUER, GÁRDONYI, LIGETI Host and organ player: Balázs Szabó

Locke: The Storm – background music Rebel: Les elements – suite Marais: Alcyone – Suite No. 4: Airs pour les Matelots et les Tritons Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – Winter, RV 297 Telemann: Water Music – Suite in C major, TWV 55: C3 (‘Ebbe und Fluth’)

Generations grew up under the influence of the Liszt Academy’s Voit organ made in 1907. Composer Dezső Antalffy-Zsiross, who enjoyed an international career, created his most popular pieces specifically for this instrument,

Budapest Festival Orchestra Conductor: Jordi Savall

Jordi Savall is a living legend, the uncrowned king of early music. His concert staged jointly with the Baroque ensemble of the Budapest Festival Orchestra is in praise of tempests, thunder and water and comes with all the energy and

BALÁZS SZABÓ

BINDER TRIO Bartók: For Children, BB 53 (transcription)

Károly Binder (piano), Tibor Fonay (double bass, bass guitar), Ákos Benkó (drums) Károly Binder has been a towering figure of Hungarian music since the late 1970s: he has achieved outstanding results as pianist, composer and teacher alike. His particular musical world is based on Bartókian folk dance collections, 20th century modern compositional techniques and a synthesis of jazz rhythm and harmony solutions. As head of department at the university, generations of musicians have passed through his hands, although he has never renounced composition, giving concerts and discovering new trends. His latest project involves selected works from Bartók’s For Children, arranged with

his trio (Ákos Benkó – drums, Tibor Fonay – double bass). The short, closed pieces have been opened out and expanded with improvizational elements, although never in a self-serving way: improvized content organically integrates into the Bartókian concept, one of the greatest expert of which is none other than Károly Binder himself.

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SUNDAY 8 MARCH, 19.00

OLD ACADEMY OF MUSIC, CHAMBER HALL ÉVA BODROGI & MARIANN MARCZI BILITIS – GREEK HEROINES Koechlin: Five Bilitis Songs, Op. 39 Máté Balogh: 6x1 chanson (world première) Duparc: Phidylé Kozma: Trois Chansons de Bilitis – excerpts Haydn: Arianna a Naxos, Hob. XVIb:2 Debussy: Trois Chansons de Bilitis Péter Tornyai: New Piece (world première) Satie: Chez le docteur Satie: L’omnibus automobile Satie: Allons-y Chochotte

Éva Bodrogi (soprano), Mariann Marczi (piano) What joins the court musician parading in a rice powder wig and the Modernist artist blowing smoke rings in a Parisian café? Answer: a devotion to Antiquity. Albeit for different reasons, the world of ancient mythology – particularly the tragic fate of heroines – captures the imagination of every age. The concert by Éva Bodrogi and Mariann Marczi perfectly illustrates this. The story of Ariadne, devastated by disappointment in love, is apparent in, among others, the cantata by Joseph Haydn. Henri Duparc reveals a sensual snapshot from the life of the shepherdess Phidylé, while eroticism stands at the core of the Bilitis poems. Debussy is best known for setting

ÉVA BODROGI / MARIANN MARCZI poems to music, but the lyricism of Pierre Louÿs looking back to Antiquity inspired others as well: the recital also features performances of arrangements by a Debussy contemporary and the Hungarianborn musical jack-of-all-trades Joseph Kosma. The discourses of Antiquity have a message to convey to this day: composers Máté Balogh and Péter Tornyai reflect on the eternal questions of humanity through their own compositions.

Ticket: HUF 1 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SUNDAY 8 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE JUBILEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF ST STEPHEN GRAMMAR SCHOOL

1 October 1995. On the occasion of their quarter centenary, they appear in public with a programme made up of masterpieces from Hungarian music. A Ferenc Erkel’s Festival Overture was composed for the 50th anniversary of the National Theatre inaugurated in 1837. A Ferenc Liszt’s Piano Concerto in E-flat major composed as one piece but containing four parts each with a different character is played by Sebestyén Pellet, a gifted young student of the Liszt Academy. A Bartók wrote Rhapsody No. 1 in a structure inherited from the Lisztian Hungarian rhapsodies. It features a solo by Gábor Bocsák, orchestra concertmaster. A The orchestra revive old relationships in their performance of Kodály’s Psalmus Hungaricus, on the one hand in the person of tenor András Molnár, and on the other hand as regards the participating choirs. Bence Juhász, conductor-choirmaster, who is nearly the ‘same age’ as the orchestra, conducts this recital. He is currently attending the Doctoral School of the Liszt Academy. JUBILEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF ST STEPHEN GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Erkel: Festival Overture Liszt: Piano Concerto in E-flat major Bartók: Rhapsody No. 1, BB 94b Bartók: Hungarian Sketches, BB 103 Kodály: Psalmus Hungaricus, Op. 13

Sebestyén Pellet (piano), Gábor Bocsák (violin), András Molnár (vocals) Children’s Choir of the Liszt Ferenc Primary School, Vass Lajos Choir of the Vasas Art Foundation, Budapest Lantos Choir, St Stephen Grammar School Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Bence Juhász Host: Tamás Zelinka The Jubilee Symphony Orchestra of St Stephen Grammar School was founded by former enthusiastic members of the ‘Stephen’ orchestra on World Music Day,

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 2 900, 3 200, 3 500 Presented by Partitúra Foundation

MONDAY 9 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL ENDRE HEGEDŰS ORCHESTRAL PIANO RECITAL Mozart: Don Giovanni – Overture Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58

Endre Hegedűs (piano) Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Dániel Erdélyi

more or less on honeymoon. He cried out, delighted: ‘I’m enjoying work so much now, I’d like to do something quite special – I’d really like to go East, to the rose gardens of Persia, to the palm groves of India, oh, it’s as if someone was going to bring me the theme that takes me there.’ I stood in front of him astounded, I could barely comprehend how he could have described so unambiguously exactly what was in my pocket and which I had wanted to give him.”

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

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 500, 6 000, 7 000 Presented by Hungarian Radio Art Groups

ENDRE HEGEDŰS

the country’s only professional women’s chamber choir. The formation are popular guests at domestic and international concert forums, and over the years they have travelled virtually everywhere in the world, from St. Petersburg to Sicily, from Israel to Japan. Choirmaster Boldizsár Kiss has assisted in the professional activities of the ensemble since the 2018-19 season. Éva Molnár has been their artistic director and choirmaster since 1989.

Ticket: HUF 1 500 Presented by Béla Bartók Chamber Choir Szolnok

TUESDAY 10 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA TAMÁS VÁSÁRY – SCHUMANN CYCLE 4.

TAMÁS VÁSÁRY Schumann: Paradise and the Peri, Op. 50

Eszter Zemlényi, Lilla Horti, Anna Kissjudit, Mónika Kertész, Dániel Pataky, Krisztián Cser (vocals) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choirmaster: Zoltán Pad) Conductor: Tamás Vásáry

One of the most fascinating compositions by Schumann, his oratorio inspired by fairy tales, actually started out in a way appropriate to a fairy tale. The librettist noted his crucial meeting with the composer thus: “When I walked into his room with my Peri in my pocket, I found him in the happiest of moods; he had only just got married, and was still

WEDNESDAY 11 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL BÉLA BARTÓK CHAMBER CHOIR SZOLNOK Péter Tóth: Sonnet 22 Eva Ugalde: Miserere Liszt: Psalm 137 Liszt: Ave Maria d’Arcadelt David Ho-yi Chan: Lacrimosa György Orbán: Requiem – Agnus Dei Zsó�a Tallér: Three Piano Pieces Erzsébet Szőnyi: Canticum sponsae Péter Andorka: Cantio vernalis Péter Tóth: Entrancing Tamás Beischer-Matyó: Flowers Rivalry Levente Gyöngyösi: Laudate pueri Dominum Tímea Dragony: New Piece

Ágnes Peták (harp), Krisztina Fejes, Tímea Dragony (piano), Gábor Fánczi (bass guitar) Béla Bartók Chamber Choir Szolnok (artistic director: Éva Molnár) Conductor: Éva Molnár, Boldizsár Kiss The Bartók Béla Chamber Choir of Szolnok have operated as a professional ensemble since their foundation in 1969. In the course of the decades since, the choir have always retained their outstanding professional standard and character, becoming a top ranking ensemble as

BELA BARTOK CHAMBER CHOIR SZOLNOK

WEDNESDAY 11 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST STRINGS & LÁSZLÓ FENYŐ Beethoven: String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18/4 Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33 Tchaikovsky: Pezzo capriccioso, Op. 62 Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings, Op. 48

László Fenyő (cello) Budapest Strings (concertmaster: János Pilz, artistic director: Károly Botvay) László Fenyő plays two gems of the cello repertoire, Tchaikovsky’s Pezzo capriccioso and Rococo Variations. Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, a contemporary of the composer and commissioner of the work, presented the latter with numerous modifications, and it eventually became popular in his version. The world’s leading cellists only recently turned to the original

BUDAPEST STRINGS form of the Tchaikovsky composition. We are keeping it a secret which version László Fenyő chooses! A The Tchaikovsky serenade performed in the second half of the concert is one of the composer’s most original, most multi-hued compositions, so it is not by chance that it holds a primary position amongst 19th century string orchestral works.

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

concert halls as soloist. Qian Zhou is a regular guest in Budapest, in 2016 she held a masterclass at the Liszt Academy, in 2017 she was a member of the jury for the violin category at the Bartók World Competition and Festival, and in 2020 she returns to run classes for students of the violin at the university. At the concert following the masterclass, her chamber partner is the young pianist Brigitta Taraszova, who has been accompanying string students at the university since 2013, and has played in chamber formation with such greats as Vilmos Szabadi, Ágnes Langer, Kitagawa Chisa and Airi Suzuki. The first part of their programme showcases ‘classical’ Bach and Brahms works, while after the break it is the turn of rarely heard arrangements of 20th century stage works.

Admission is free, subjected to the capacity of the room. Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 12 MARCH, 19.00

OLD ACADEMY OF MUSIC, CHAMBER HALL QIAN ZHOU & BRIGITTA TARASZOVA J. S. Bach: Violin Sonata No. 4 in C minor, BWV 1017 Brahms: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108 Stravinsky: Divertimento (transcription for violin and piano) Milhaud: Le bœuf sur le toit, Op. 58 (transcription for violin and piano)

Qian Zhou (violin), Brigitta Taraszova (piano) Chinese violinist Qian Zhou was just 18 when at a stroke she became a world star, winning not only first prize but the five special prizes at the 1987 Long – Thibaud competition in Paris. Since then she has regularly performed in concert with the world’s most important orchestras, and she plays in the most prestigious

QIAN ZHOU

THURSDAY 12 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL BACH IN SOLO BARNABÁS KELEMEN Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006 Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001 Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004

BARNABÁS KELEMEN Sonatas and Partitas for Violin (BWV 1001– 1006). Similarly to many other works by the composer, this cycle is both an ending and a starting point: it is the culmination of German polyphonic violin genre hallmarked by the names of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, Johann Paul Westhoff and Johann Jakob Walther in the late 17th century, a model that has inspired composers through Eugène Ysaÿe and Béla Bartók to this day. However, the ‘Old Testament’ of violinists played a major role not only in the development of composition but in instrumental technique. It is not known whether Bach wrote these pieces for actual performance or he intended them merely as a musical study, in which he presented what was possible to realize on a single violin in the early 1700s. Whichever version is true, the cycle aroused the interest of his contemporaries, and the popularity of the pieces has continued unabated since the pioneering activities of Joseph Joachim in the 19th century.

Tickets: HUF 3 900, 4 900, 5 900, 6 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

FRIDAY 13 MARCH, 19.30

Barnabás Kelemen (violin)

GRAND HALL DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA KURTÁG / HAYDN / DVOŘÁK

“Sei Solo a Violino senza Basso accompagnato” – this modest and tothe-point description appears on the title page of the series by Johann Sebastian Bach popularly known as Six Solo

György Kurtág: … quasi una fantasia …, Op. 27/1 Haydn: Symphony No. 49 in F minor, Hob. I:49 (‘La passione’) Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104

Miklós Perényi (cello) Danubia Orchestra Óbuda Conductor: Máté Hámori Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200, 3 800, 4 700 Presented by Danubia Orchestra Óbuda

MIKLÓS PERÉNYI

TUESDAY 17 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL ORGAN IN THE CENTRE WOLFGANG SEIFEN THE ART OF IMPROVIZATION Wolfgang Seifen: Preludium, Adagio and Fugue (in German Baroque style) Three Character Pieces (in German Romantic style) – 1. Arabesque, 2. Cantilene, 3. Rhapsody Symphonic Fantasia and Double Fugue (in Late Romantic style) Organ symphony – Allegro Vivace, Andante cantabile, Scherzo, quasi Danse macabre, Adagio espressivo, Finale Improvization on themes given by the audience

Wolfgang Seifen (organ) Moderator: Balázs Szabó

Inexhaustible creativity. This is what one captivated critic wrote about a concert by Wolfgang Seifen, and looking at the programme of the German organist perhaps we can be slightly concerned as well: is it really possible to undertake so much improvization in a single evening, and in so many styles? However, we don’t have to worry about the 64-yearold musician since this is a field in which he is totally at home; improvization is

his lifeblood. He is able to build – on the spot – from any theme a perfectly proportioned and fascinating work of music thanks to his remarkable musicality, extraordinary creative freedom and amazing technique. He is a true authority in this genre, we can state without exaggeration that he is one of the best in Europe, an artist who has also been teaching improvization at conservatories in Germany for the past three decades. His great range is indicated by the fact that he arranged several works for organ, and he is engaged in composition including a celebratory mass that was performed at the 80th birthday of Pope Benedict XVI. The solo recital is made even more special in that we are allowed a glimpse into his workshop, initiating us into the behind-the-scenes secrets and mysteries of improvization.

Tickets: HUF 1 800, 2 300, 2 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

STUDENTS OF BARTÓK CONSERVATOIRE Hungary and throughout Europe. Over the academic year, diplomas awarded in Budapest, Debrecen, Szeged or even Germany or Italy are pinned up on the school noticeboard, proving the remarkable performances given by the students of the ‘Konzi’. This is why there is always a spring evening in the traditional Liszt Academy concert series of the institution where an audience in Solti Hall can enjoy performances by winners of competitions: pianists, string players, wind instrumentalists or vocalists.

Ticket: HUF 1 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

WEDNESDAY 18 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL DÉNES VÁRJON PIANO RECITAL MVM CONCERTS – THE PIANO

WOLFGANG SEIFEN

WEDNESDAY 18 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL CONCERTS OF THE BARTÓK CONSERVATOIRE CONCERT BY COMPETITION WINNERS Students of Bartók Conservatoire Year after year, students of the ‘recruitment school’ of the Liszt Academy, that is, the Bartók Conservatoire, achieve outstanding results at music competitions organized for teenagers both in

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, Op. 27/1 Schumann: Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 Janáček: In the Mists Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35

Dénes Várjon (piano) Pianist Dénes Várjon, former professor at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, holder of the Liszt Prize and Veress Sándor Prize, is a regular guest at the biggest international festivals, for example, the Salzburg Festival, Lucerne Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Venice Biennale, American Marlboro Festival and Edinburgh Festival. He has appeared

as soloist alongside numerous major orchestras: at concerts by Camerata Salzburg, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Camerata Bern, Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich, European Chamber Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Kremerata Baltica he has played as a partner of top conductors such as András Keller, Sándor Végh, Georg Solti and Heinz Holliger. In addition to his solo career, Dénes Várjon attaches equal importance to playing chamber music, and as such he regularly appears in the company of Miklós Perényi, András Schiff, Steven Isserlis, Leonidas Kavakos, Radovan Vlatkovic, Tabea Zimmermann, and Jörg Widmann. For his solo recital at the Liszt Academy he has chosen works by Beethoven, Schumann, Janáček and Chopin.

Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000, 8 000 Presented by Besszer Concert

DÉNES VÁRJON

THURSDAY 19 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL BEETHOVEN + LEONARD ELSCHENBROICH & ALEXEI GRYNYUK Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1 in F major, Op. 5/1 Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2 in G minor, Op. 5/2 Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 3 in A major, Op. 69 Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 4 in C major, Op. 102/1 Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 5 in D major, Op. 102/2

Andrea Rost (soprano) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Zsolt Hamar

ALEXEI GRYNYUK / LEONARD ELSCHENBROICH

Leonard Elschenbroich (cello), Alexei Grynyuk (piano) A recording of Beethoven’s entire cello sonata collection by Leonard Elschenbroich and Alexei Grynyuk was released in April 2019, and the CD immediately attracted massive attention: in May, BBC Music Magazine voted it Album of the Month, while Gramophone gave it the prestigious Editor’s Choice. In the latter’s reasoning the critic, Andrew FarachColton, highlighted the sharpened musical characterizations, the tonal and textual variety, and the rhythmic buoyancy. He goes on: “In Leonard Elschenbroich and Alexei Grynyuk’s hands, these sonatas’ staggering invention is impossible to ignore.” As soloists, Elschenbroich and Grynyuk are musicians who perform throughout the globe, while they have been playing chamber music together for more than ten years now. Now it is our chance to enjoy the fruits of this creative collaboration.

1948. In the enormous Soviet Union, Zhdanov reads out at a plenary session the names of the deplorables: Shostakovich, Prokofiev… they surrendered to bourgeois tastes. In the West, impatient young composers consider everybody obsolete, they only have a good word for Webern, who died three years earlier. Overseas, John Cage composes for prepared piano. An old Bavarian gentleman acts as though nothing is happening. He continues to believe that music should be beautiful. Richard Strauss has survived Webern, Bartók, Berg. He’s ancient. He is engaged in songs. He writes three to the poems of his contemporary Hermann Hesse, while the 19th century Eichendorff inspires the fourth. They speak of the passage of time, in a hopelessly old conservative musical language. Post-romantic, the young ones shrug. Or has the old man seen even further? A musicologist recently came up with the perfect expression for the style that Strauss largely followed after Der Rosenkavalier. ‘Premature postmodern.’Let’s just be happy that we can hear Andrea Rost sing the Four Last Songs (as the pieces were called after the death of the composer in 1949). Before them, Wagner, after, Schumann. Meistersinger Overture and Rhenish Symphony, respectively.

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

THURSDAY 19 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC THE RHINE VALLEY Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – Overture R. Strauss: Four Last Songs Schumann: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 97 (‘Rhenish’)

ANDREA ROST

Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 000, 4 500, 5 500 Presented by Hungarian National Philharmonic 47

FRIDAY 20 MARCH, 19.30

SATURDAY 21 MARCH, 19.00

GRAND HALL FOUR BY FOUR PLUS ONE LÁSZLÓ FENYŐ & THE BORODIN QUARTET

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA RUSSIAN EVENING

BORODIN QUARTET Borodin: String Quartet No. 2 in D major Schubert: Movement from String Quartet in C minor, D. 703 (‘Quartettsatz’) Schubert: String Quintet in C major, D. 956

László Fenyő (cello) Borodin Quartet: Ruben Aharonian, Sergei Lomovsky (violin), Igor Naidin (viola), Vladimir Balshin (cello) Popular cellist László Fenyő, professor at the Karlsruhe University of Music appears as guest of the Borodin Quartet in Franz Schubert’s evergreen String Quintet in C major. Considered a benchmark of excellence in global string quartet culture, the quartet (established in 1945) are one of the most accomplished representatives of the Russian string tradition. In addition to the above mentioned quintet, there is also a recital of the Viennese composer’s String Quartet Movement in C minor, the opening movement of an unfinished quartet cycle, while the first piece on the programme is the String Quartet No. 2 by Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin after whom the chamber ensemble are named. The highly respected member of The Russian Five, who trained as a chemist, wrote this work to his wife as a gift on the 20th anniversary of their first meeting.

Tickets: HUF 3 300, 4 500, 5 700, 6 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre 48

Lyadov: Polonaise in C major, Op. 49 Glazunov: Concert Waltz No. 2, Op. 51 Stravinsky: The Firebird – suite (transcription from 1919) Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30

Yury Favorin (piano) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Alim Shakh Alim Shakh is a regular guest conductor with the MÁV Symphony Orchestra. He was a student of the legendary Ilya Musin, founder of the St. Petersburg school of conducting. Today, he teaches there and holds masterclasses around the world. His programme provides an overview of the works of the postTchaikovsky Russian generation of composers. A Anatoly Lyadov studied under Mussorgsky, he nurtured close relations with The Five, a famous group of Russian composers, and later he was appointed director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was a student of RimskyKorsakov. He moved to Paris in 1928. Igor Stravinsky ranks as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. His fame rests on the ballet music Firebird that debuted in Paris, which he later rearranged as an orchestral suite. Sergei Rachmaninov was a highly acclaimed pianist of his age; he spent the second

half of his life in America. Of his three piano concertos, the third is rarely performed due to its unspeakably challenging nature although it is rich in expression and melodic invention, and it makes for an extremely impressive concert work thanks to the complex interplay of the solo instrument and orchestra.

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

SATURDAY 21 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE JÚLIA PUSKER, CHRISTOPH HEESCH & MARCELL SZABÓ GRIEG RECITAL

JÚLIA PUSKER Edvard Grieg: Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 7 Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in C minor, Op. 45 Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 36 Andante con moto

Júlia Pusker (violin), Christoph Heesch (cello), Marcell Szabó (piano)

JURIJ FAVORIN

We tend to think of Edvard Grieg in terms of his orchestral works, songs and piano miniatures, whereas his chamber music oeuvre was narrow: a complete

string quartet, three violin-piano sonatas and a cello sonata. Aside from these, he bequeathed to posterity merely a few salon works and two fragments, an unfinished string quartet and a solitary trio movement. Notwithstanding this, these few works are fine examples of his endeavour to weave Norwegian folk music characteristics into conventional compositional forms and styles. Three enormously gifted and ambitious young artists are tasked with performing these works that rarely feature on concert hall programmes. Júlia Pusker and Marcell Szabó attended the preparatory class of the Liszt Academy, then Pusker continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music. 24-year-old, Berlin-born Christoph Heesch took classes from László Fenyő among others; he has played in top concert venues around the world and realizes his own musical meditations within the TONALi project.

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

SUNDAY 22 MARCH, 11.00

GRAND HALL UNDERSTANDABLE MUSIC/ THE SMILE OF BEETHOVEN Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53 (‘Waldstein’)

JÓZSEF BALOG

József Balog (piano) Narrator: Gábor Hollerung Beethoven dedicated this work to his old friend and patron Count Ferdinand von Waldstein. Their friendship started in Bonn: the composer received his first piano from Waldstein, the count also encouraged Beethoven to improvize, through him the artist discovered the works of Haydn and Mozart, and when he moved to Vienna, Waldstein introduced him to his fellow aristocratic patrons of the arts. The work is interpreted by pianist József Balog, who started studying music aged just four, in 2001 he took a teaching diploma from the Teacher Training Institute of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, then in 2004 he graduated from the university’s Piano Department. He has won or been a medallist at several international competitions, he has made numerous radio and TV recordings, and performed in concert abroad. In recognition of his distinguished performance activities, he was awarded the Liszt Prize in 2018.

Tickets: HUF 2 300, 2 700 Presented by Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok

SUNDAY 22 MARCH, 11.00

SOLTI HALL LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY – MUSIC IN NATURE WILD ANIMALS IN MUSIC FOR 10-15-YEAR-OLDS Tchaikovsky: The Seasons, Op. 37a – September Paganini: Caprice No. 9 in E major (‘Hunt’) Johann Strauss Jr.: The Gypsy Baron – Zsupán’s Aria Schumann: Waldszenen, Op. 82 – Jäger auf der Lauer (Hunters on the lookout) Rachmaninov: Étude-tableau in A minor, Op. 39/6 Vinter: Hunter’s Moon Bartók: 9 Little Pieces for Piano, BB 90 – Marcia delle bestie Mancini: The Pink Panther

József Pécsi: Bedtime Story Copland: The Cat and the Mouse

Gábor Eckhardt, Katalin Alter (piano), Attila Szűcs (baritone), Mónika Kasza (horn), Szonja Fehér (bassoon) Moderator: Dániel Mona We have no idea how music actually came about but many believe that at some time in the distant past, man discovered the beauty of the voices of nature and tried to mimic them with his own tools. However it happened, in the artistic music also called ‘classical’, nature always played an important role, as did the question of how the world around us can be evoked with the help of music. A In the spring semester, the youth concert seriesorganized by the Liszt Academy, Liszt Kidz Academy, examines the relationship between music and nature. After birds and insects we are brought down to earth and into the forest, but in this, the third concert, it is not the whispering of trees and the call of the stag that is being investigated, but the varied and plentiful music of game and hunters. Naturally, the horn, instrument of the hunt, stands at the forefront of the programme; for a long time it was not even used in composed music but it functioned outdoors as a tool to rally the hunt during the chase. The chief players in the recital include Gábor Eckhardt, teacher of piano at the Liszt Academy well-known for his youth concerts and his fellow musicians.

Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre 49

SUNDAY 22 MARCH, 19.30

WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK ZOMBOLA, SCHUMANN, SCHUBERT

GRAND HALL GERGELY BOGÁNYI

GÁBOR HOLLERUNG

Bartók: Suite, BB 70 Bartók: Allegro barbaro, BB 63 Bartók: Sonata, BB 88 Debussy: Images, Book 1 – Re�ets dans lʼeau Debussy: L’isle joyeuse Chopin: Waltz in E-flat major, Op. 18 Chopin: Waltz in A-flat major, Op. 34/1 Chopin: Waltz in A minor, Op. 34/2 Chopin: Three Mazurkas, Op. 56 Chopin: Twelve Etudes, Op. 10 – excerpts Chopin: Fantasy in F minor, Op. 49

Gergely Bogányi (piano) Péter Zombola: Symphony No. 1 (‘As a Souvenir’) Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 Schubert: Mass in E-flat major, D. 950

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 4 000, 6 000, 8 000 Presented by SLG-33 Ltd.

Dezső Ránki (piano) Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Purcell Choir (choirmaster: György Vashegyi) Conductor: Gábor Hollerung First up in this concert is Péter Zombola’s Symphony No. 1. Winner of the Erkel Ferenc Prize, this young contemporary composer has debuted many works at music festivals in Hungary and abroad. A The middle work is the only piano concerto completed by Robert Schumann. The great Romantic composer made a start on writing it in 1841, although years earlier he had formulated the concept for a work in which virtuoso piano play would not compete with the orchestra but rather collaborate with it. A Franz Schubert wrote a total of six masses, the last one being the Mass in E-flat major. He completed it just months before his death so he never actually heard it performed in public. It is a dynamic, grandiose composition in which soloists have a lesser role, with the large choral masses being decisive.

Tickets: HUF 3 000, 3 500, 4 000 Presented by Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok 50

FÜLÖP RÁNKI Liszt Academy and the Bartók National Concert Hall, just like in Porto, Rome, Vienna and Istanbul, as well as at piano festivals in France and Japan. During his solo piano career he has worked with conductors András Keller and Zoltán Kocsis among others, and participated at several debut performances in Hungary: he was invited to play at the world premières of several works for solo and three pianos by Barnabás Dukay, and he also participated in the Hungarian première of two significant orchestral works by Olivier Messiaen.

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

THURSDAY 26 MARCH, 19.00 GERGELY BOGÁNYI

THURSDAY 26 MARCH, 19.00

SOLTI HALL BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS FÜLÖP RÁNKI Works by Barnabás Dukay Messiaen: La fauvette des jardins

GRAND HALL ROBERTO GONZÁLEZ-MONJAS & MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Mozart: Serenade in D major, K. 239 (‘Serenata Notturna’) Mozart: Violin Concerto in D major, K. 271a Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36

Fülöp Ránki (piano)

MÁV Symphony Orchestra Performing on violin and conductor: Roberto González-Monjas

Fülöp Ránki is one of the leading artists of the youngest generation of Hungarian pianists. Despite the fact that he just received his master’s degree at the Liszt Academy in 2018, he already has considerable experience in his vocation: he has appeared at Hungary’s biggest concert venues including the Grand Hall of the

MÁV Symphony Orchestra’s guest is the young Spanish violinist and conductor Roberto González-Monjas, who is concertmaster of the Swiss Winterthur city orchestra, teaches at the London Guildhall School of Music, and has played with world-famous orchestras as guest concertmaster. The programme

features Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 from 1803. The work radiates pure joy, which is worth mentioning because the previous year the composer had dictated his despairing Heiligenstadt Testament, in which he acknowledged his incurable disease of the ear and bade farewell to the world and life. A The Beethoven symphony is partnered by a pair of Mozart works. ‘Serenata Notturna’ is a truly remarkable serenade by Mozart, where a small string soloist ensemble conduct a dialogue with the other strings, to which timpani join in. Mozart is thought to have composed the Violin Concerto No. 7 in D major in Salzburg in 1777. It is in true Mozart style – a delight to hear after the frequently played, popular violin concertos.

ROBERTO GONZÁLEZ-MONJAS

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

FRIDAY 27 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF VOCAL MUSIC WIENER SÄNGERKNABEN MARE NOSTRUM Works by Gerald Wirth, Arnold von Bruck, Lodovico Grossi da Viadana, Tomas Luis de Victoria, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Johannes Brahms, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Francisco de Salinas, Adriano Banchieri, Johann Straus II, Josef Strauss and traditional songs of Mediterranean nations

Wiener Sängerknaben Conductor: Manolo Cagnin

Gyöngyi Újházi, Péter Háry (cello), Áron Lescsinszky, Gábor Monostori, Péter Kiss (piano), Dániel Szendrey (horn), Péter Szűcs (clarinet, bass clarinet), Viktor Molnár (live electronics), Gyula Lajhó (percussion) Choreographer: Noémi Kulcsár Dancers: students of the Hungarian University of Dance

WIENER SÄNGERKNABEN The singing boys of Vienna first appeared in Budapest more than 90 years ago, in 1928; since then the globetrotting children’s choir, after many changes of generation, have become ‘old favourites’ of Hungarians thanks to their records, TV appearances and concert performances. Mare nostrum, that is, our sea, is how the Romans called the Mediterranean, and the 2020 tour of Wiener Sängerknaben (Vienna Boys’ Choir) offering a rich, varied and carefully thought-out programme, also bears this name. They touch on a host of peoples, cultures and religions, launching with a Gregorian hymn to Mary before circumnavigating the Mediterranean with a Spanish song, Italian hit, Israeli and Lebanese melodies, all performed in the choir’s hallmark cristal clearvoice.

Each year, the themed concerts of Máté Bella, Bence Kutrik, Árpád Solti, Judit Varga and András Gábor Virágh, that is, STUDIO 5, organised in the Solti Hall serve a single purpose: to bring about the most natural relationship possible between the general public and contemporary music. This time they have selected contemporary dance as the tool to attain this objective. Its rhythm, nonverbal techniques, specific structure organized by time, are similar in many ways to the structure and expressive power of music. At this, their sixth themed recital, they intend to demonstrate that the relation of ballet, dance and music is as relevant and alive in the 21st century as the 18th century intertwining of French court ballet and opera, or the early 20th century collaboration between Stravinsky and the Diaghilev company. In this spirit, Noémi Kulcsár, Harangozó Gyula Prize-winning dancer, has prepared choreographies for the premières in Hungary of the programme with the assistance of students of the Hungarian Dance Academy.

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 4 300, 5 100, 5 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 28 MARCH, 19.00 SOLTI HALL

HERE AND NOW STUDIO 5 Máté Bella: Dream of a butterfly András Gábor Virágh: Triptichon Árpád Solti: Seven SitCom Episodes Judit Varga: 13 Lieder (Hungarian première) Bence Kutrik: The Mandelbrot Riddle

STUDIO 5

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Supporter: National Cultural Fund of Hungary 51

Guilmant: Organ Symphony No. 2 in A major, Op. 91 Albinoni: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 Kodály: Budavári Te Deum

SATURDAY 28 MARCH, 18.00

GRAND HALL ZUGLÓ PHILHARMONICS BUDAPEST Haydn: L’isola disabitata (The desert island) – Overture, Hob. Ia:13 Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major, K. 482 Mozart: Concerto for Two Pianos in E-flat major, K. 365 Haydn: Symphony No. 70 in D major, Hob. I:70

ZSÓFIA PERSÁNYI

Péter Nagy, Zsófia Persányi (piano) Zugló Philharmonics Budapest Conductor: György Vashegyi Tickets: HUF 2 500, 2 700, 3 100 Presented by Zugló Philharmonics Budapest

SUNDAY 29 MARCH, 19.30

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF THE ORCHESTRA JÁNOS ROLLA & LISZT ACADEMY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross, Hob. XX:2

Narrator: Károly Mécs Liszt Academy Chamber Orchestra Alma Mater Choir (choirmaster: Csaba Somos) Concertmaster: János Rolla Conductor: Gergely Ménesi, Csaba Somos

Martin Baker (organ) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Daniel Boico

JÁNOS ROLLA AND THE LISZT ACADEMY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA received a commission from the city of Cádiz in southwest Spain: he was asked to compose an orchestral work for the service on Good Friday. There are seven musical meditations between the introductory movement and the ‘earthquake’ ending – these correspond to the Seven Words of Jesus on the Cross. Nearly ten years later, in the mid-1790s, Haydn made an oratorio arrangement from the series. The libretto in German was compiled by Dutch-Austrian diplomat and official Gottfried van Swieten, one of the famous patrons of the composers of the First School of Vienna. A The concert features students of the Liszt Academy: during 2020, the Liszt Academy Chamber Orchestra take to the stage in three concerts under the leadership of János Rolla, Kossuth Prize violinist, in the framework of the Masters of the Orchestra series. On this second occasion, the ensemble are complemented by the mixed choir of the university. Students give a recital of the grandiose work by the Viennese master under the baton of choirmaster teacher Csaba Somos, and leader of the university’s symphony orchestra, Gergely Ménesi.

Tickets: HUF 1 500, 2 300, 3 100, 3 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

MONDAY 30 MARCH, 19.30

The origins of Haydn’s oratorio are somewhat complicated. In 1786, the composer

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Daniel Boico, conductor born in Israel, has guided MÁV Symphony Orchestra as guest conductor on several occasions. He grew up in Paris and America, his teacher of conducting in St. Petersburg was Ilya Musin, the legendary professor, who also raised Valery Gergiev, among others. He is winner of international conducting competitions, a familiar face in concert halls in Berlin, New York, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, and Taiwan, and he has worked with stars such as Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim and Gil Shaham. A As well as MÁV Symphony Orchestra, who in 2020 celebrate the 75th anniversary of their formation, Martin Baker once again sits at the keyboard of the Liszt Academy organ. The artist acknowledged the world over as a superb concert organist is music director, organist and choral conductor of Westminster Cathedral. His brilliant improvizational technique won him first prize at the improvization competition of the 1997 St. Albans International Organ Festival. A French composer Alexandre Guilmant is also lied among the ‘greats’ by his breath-taking improvizations and significant compositional oeuvre that expanded the organ repertoire. He composed virtually exclusively for his instrument. Thus, for example, he wrote numerous solo sonatas for organ, of which the Symphony No. 2 in A major was created out of the eighth after an arrangement for orchestra and organ.

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 4 400, 5 900 Presented by Filharmónia Hungary

GUIDED TOURS • For individual visitors we provide an opportunity of guided tour in English (50 min.) every day at 1.30 pm. • 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. • With student identity card, concession card, and for over-65s: 50% off price of adult ticket. 53

“BEETHOVEN HAS TO BE LEARNT” – OR LUDWIG AND JOSEPHINE, IN THREE ACTS IN MAY 1799, BARONESS ANNA SEEBERG AND HER DAUGHTERS LEFT BUDAPEST FOR VIENNA TO TAKE PIANO LESSONS FROM LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN, THE 29-YEAROLD UP-AND-COMING ARTIST OF THE DAY. THE INNOCENT TRIP RESULTED IN LIFELONG FRIENDSHIPS AND A FATAL LOVE AFFAIR. DR. JUDIT BAJZÁTH, HEAD OF THE VISITORS CENTRE AT THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTRE, TALKS ABOUT THE DETAILS.¹ 54

‘... OH, BELOVED J., I AM DRAWN TO YOU NOT BY SHEER SEXUAL ATTRACTION, BUT BY YOUR WHOLE BEING WITH ALL YOUR QUALITIES – IT COMMANDS ALL MY RESPECT – ALL MY EMOTIONS – I HAVE BECOME CHAINED TO YOU WITH ALL THE FORCE OF MY FEELINGS.’ (EXCERPT FROM A LETTER WRITTEN BY BEETHOVEN TO JOSEPHINE BRUNSVIK)

How did Beethoven first meet the Brunsvik family? The memoirs of Therese Brunsvik offer a few details about this great romance. Anna Seeberg, wife of Anton Brunsvik Jnr and Therese’s mother, had heard Beethoven’s trios for piano and, understandably, wished to see the promising artist become her daughters’ music instructor. On a friend’s advice, she took a personal trip to Vienna in the company of the 24-year-old Therese and 20-year-old Josephine. The visit from the three ladies made such a great impression on Beethoven that he kept giving the young women free piano lessons for three weeks. Therese later gave a detailed account of his teaching methods.

The Brunsvik family were at the peak of their fortunes in the second half of the 18th century. How much do we know about them?

¹The Martonvásár Beethoven Memorial Museum is maintained by the Agricultural Research Centre.

Anton Brunsvik Snr, the head of the family, acquired the Martonvásár property through an estate swap in 1770, on about the date Beethoven was born. A government bureaucrat, he received the title of Count in 1775, which helped him move closer to the circles surrounding Maria Theresa. His daughter-in-law, Anna Seeberg, served as lady-in-waiting to the Empress, who would become godmother to her child, Therese. The marriage of the

MY HEART HAS BEEN YOURS FOR LONG, DEAR BEETHOVEN; IF THIS PLEDGE MAY GIVE YOU PLEASURE, PLEASE ACCEPT IT – FROM THE PUREST OF HEARTS. (DRAFT REPLY FROM JOSEPHINE BRUNSVIK TO BEETHOVEN)

PORTRAIT OF FERENC BRUNSZVIK

sensitive Anton Jnr and the practical-minded Anna produced four children, all of whom received an education in aesthetics and the arts. Therese and Josephine played the piano, Franz studied the cello, and Karoline played the guitar and the harpsichord. Providing a wide-ranging artistic education was quite common among the elite of the 18th century, and the fortepiano, predecessor to the modern-day piano, served as the central element in the salons. Apart from inheriting their father’s artistic spirit, the Brunsvik children emulated his love of freedom and open mind, something that was rare indeed in those days, especially for women.

Let’s come back to Beethoven and the Brunsvik girls. What happened after the piano lessons? At the end of the Vienna trip, Beethoven dedicated a composition to the Brunsvik sisters, perhaps the first sign of his attraction to Josephine. However, the composer was not the only man in Vienna to be captivated by her. When the three women visited Müller’s Wax Museum, Count Deym, its ageing owner, who had opened the museum under the pseudonym Müller, fell in love with the fragile and mesmerizingly beautiful Josephine at first sight. Anna Seeberg accepted a marriage proposal from the purportedly rich aristocrat on behalf of her daughter, and, despite Josephine’s frantic pleadings, she forced her into the marriage. Sadly, it was only later that Count Deym’s past was fully revealed: following a near-fatal duel, he had fled the country, had lost his fortune, and now looked to the Brunsvik family as an opportunity to become a wealthy man again. Josephine and Joseph Deym were married in Martonvásár and then moved to Vienna, where the jealous count kept his young wife almost under house arrest until their first child was born.

How did Beethoven relate to the other Brunsvik children? He respected Therese very much, calling her “esteemed, highly esteemed” in the only remaining letter written to her, and dedicated to her his Sonata in F sharp major, Opus 78, which music historians describe as a perfectly structured composition. He loved Franz, the young heir of the family, as a brother, evidenced in five of his letters. They became lifelong friends in the Deym château, where the composer often came to visit. Thanks to Franz’s intervention, Beethoven was invited to give a concert with Giovanni Punto, a noted horn player of the age, in the castle theatre of Buda in honour of Alexandra Pavlovna, wife of Palatine Joseph. Franz was to be present at the debut performance of Beethoven’s Ninth in 1824.

‘A THOUSAND VOICES ARE WHISPERING INSIDE ME THAT YOU ARE MY ONLY FRIEND, MY ONLY DARLING. … OH DEAR J., LET US BE FREE OF CARE AND TREAD AGAIN THE ROAD ON WHICH WE HAVE BEEN HAPPY SO MANY TIMES BEFORE.’ (BEETHOVEN’S LETTER TO JOSEPHINE BRUNSVIK) 56

THE BRUNSVIK FAMILY SORTED BEETHOVEN’S SCORES BY PART AND BOUND THEM BY HAND.

To commemorate the 1800 concert, an international festival is regularly held there under the aegis of the Buda Castle municipality. How did the audience receive Beethoven’s concert in Buda? The paper Magyar Kurír (Hungarian Courier) covered the event: Beethoven was introduced as “a famous musician called Beethoven” and was described as a passionate pianist. It was thanks to this successful concert that he was invited – also through Franz’s mediation – to compose a piece for the opening ceremony for the Pest Municipal German Theatre in 1812, which we now know as the overture to a play about Hungary’s King Stephen the First. After Haydn, audiences were surely surprised by the temperamental Beethoven, “they had to learn” his style and musical devotion. Interestingly, female pianists were considered to be the most authentic Beethoven interpreters in those years, such as Franz’s wife, Sidonia Just, who was to give several Beethoven evenings after the composer’s death.

After their child was born, Count Deym permitted his wife to hold musical evenings in their château and invite the best-known musicians of the time, including Beethoven himself – which was no coincidence. How did all this shape their lingering attraction? Josephine bore another three children to her husband, who was 30 years her senior and whom she lost in 1804. A few months later, Beethoven was giving daily piano lessons to the widow, and the surviving 14 love letters testify to the fact that their relationship matured into reciprocal love. The composer would have liked to marry Josephine, but the social gap between them meant his plan was out of the question. Their romance was in full bloom from 1804 to 1807. In 1808, the widowed Josephine and her sister Therese set out on a journey to find a boarding school for her sons. The trip, which became a lengthy tour of Europe extending to 1809, was an occasion for Josephine to meet Baron Christoph von Stackelberg, who would later be her second husband. Just like the one before, this marriage too broke down within a year because of the man’s financial situation and quarrelsome nature.

Was Beethoven musically inspired by his passion for Josephine? Some music historians maintain that several of his compositions were inspired by the woman of his desire, such as the Adagio movement of the Waldstein Sonata, which we now know as Andante Favori. The rhythm of the basic motif of the piece perfectly corresponds to that of the name Josephine. Another example is Fidelio, in which Beethoven portrays the ideal woman, virtuous and faithful to her husband, perhaps Josephine herself. Their correspondence reveals that he intended his To Hope for Josephine. It is another telling sign that Beethoven composed his last piano sonata in 1821, the year the woman died.

How many times did Beethoven visit Martonvásár and Hungary? The first time he came was in May 1800, followed by a visit to the estate and its proprietor Franz, probably in 1806. Legend has it, and his secretary Anton Schindler noted too, that his sonata Appassionata, Opus 57, which he dedicated to his bosom friend, was completed at Martonvásár. It is widely held that he probably visited in 1803 and 1809, but there is no written evidence to that effect. He gave concerts in Buda, Krompachy (Korompa/ Krompach), Eisenstadt (Kismarton) and Bratislava (Pozsony/Pressburg) – towns which were all part of Hungary at the time.

What happened in the last act of the drama between Ludwig and Josephine?

That is where the real mystery begins. According to the official version, their intimate relationship ended in 1810, but a new enigma arose after Beethoven’s death. The composer’s travel case was opened in 1824, and a secret drawer yielded two portraits and three draft love letters. One of the portraits was of Therese Brunsvik, the other of Giulietta Guicciardi, the woman who inspired the Moonlight Sonata. She was a cousin to the Brunsvik sisters, and Beethoven had instantly fallen in love with her at one of the Deym soirées in Vienna, as we know from the Brunsvik sisters’ letters. This is not necessarily a surprise, as Beethoven was instantly enamoured of any

‘MY SOUL ADORED YOU BEFORE I MET YOU – AND IT RECEIVED FURTHER FUEL FROM YOUR AFFECTION. A FEELING CHERISHED DEEP IN MY SOUL THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO EXPRESS LED ME TO LOVE YOU.’ (EXCERPTS FROM JOSEPHINE BRUNSVIK’S DRAFT REPLIES)

girl he met that was around the age of twenty. Musicologists still argue about the identity of the “Immortal Beloved”, i.e. the addressee of the three drafts: Giulietta, Teresa Malfatti (the muse for Für Elise), Antonie Brentano (wife of a Frankfurt merchant), Countess Erdődy or Josephine. The drafts bear no address or date, but they are written to one single, immortal and fatal woman, and in them the author describes a blissful, consummate love affair. All the letters reveal is that the first was begun on the morning of Monday, 6 July, continued in the evening and finished the following morning. This leads one to the conclusion that it was written in Teplice (Teplitz) in 1812, and the meeting took place in Prague. Beethoven researchers have discovered that Antonie Brentano was staying in Prague at that time, so there is every indication that she might have been the Beloved. However, she was married and expecting a baby, so that assumption runs counter to Beethoven’s respect for marriage. Furthermore, Josephine’s diary contains a note that she wanted to go to Prague in July 1812 to see her “Beloved”, and nine months later almost to the day she gave birth to her daughter Minona. The little girl was said to be different from her siblings, as she had a Mediterranean complexion (as a young boy, Beethoven had been given the nickname “Spaniard”) and was known for her exceptional gift for music. The whole truth, however, is shrouded in mystery and can only be guessed at. Without a doubt, Beethoven was a true romantic hero as much in his character and career as in his art: his societal and private tragedy – that he could not marry the lady of his dreams – was primarily caused by his low birth. Anna Unger

The Beethoven Memorial Museum was opened in 1958 in an old wing of the Brunsvik Château, which had probably been a manor house. The exhibition and the building were refurbished in 1989, the year they came to be managed by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In April 2020, the Beethoven Memorial Year, the Liszt Academy plans to provide professional support to help upgrade the Memorial Museum, where visitors will be able to enjoy a musical event relating the complex relationship between Beethoven and the Brunsvik family.

CONCERT CHRONOLOGY APRIL Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Hosted Concert Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre with cooperation Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior University THURSDAY 2 APRIL, 19.00

SOLTI HALL WORKSHOPS OF THE LISZT ACADEMY BRASS INSTRUMENTS

besides organizing flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon departments, he also launched teaching of the horn, trumpet and trombone. As a consequence, it can be stated that without the appointment of Mihalovich and his activity continuing until 1919, this concert introducing the brass workshop of the Liszt Academy certainly could never have been realized. Free tickets can be claimed at Liszt Academy ticket office one month before the concert.

Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Tickets: HUF 4 900, 6 900, 9 900, 11 900 Presented by Müpa, Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SATURDAY 4 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL COLLEGIUM VOCALE GENT

SOLTI HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL ENSEMBLE MANDEL VISIONS OF ST. HILDEGARD OF BINGEN

J. S. Bach: St Matthew Passion, BWV 244

Evangelist: Julian Prégardien Jesus: Thomas E. Bauer Dorothee Mields, Grace Davidson (soprano), Alex Potter, William Shelton (countertenor), Reinoud Van Mechelen, Hugo Hymas (tenor), Peter Kooij, Tobias Berndt (bass) Collegium Vocale Gent Conductor: Philippe Herreweghe Featuring: teachers and students of the Brass Sub-Department of the Liszt Academy

Without Ödön Mihalovich, the Liszt Academy could never have become the institution as we know it today. When in 1887 he took over the leadership of the academy from Ferenc Erkel, classes were taught only in the following subjects: piano, organ, singing, violin, cello and composition. Mihalovich expanded the horizons of the school considerably. He established teacher training, increased the number of students that could be enrolled, contracted teachers such as Ernő Dohnányi and Béla Bartók, arranged so that teachers of the institution were recognized as state employees, and introduced numerous new courses –

performances of Bach’s two passions exemplary, and since 1985, the ensemble has recorded the St Matthew Passion on multiple occasions. However, rather than abiding by the tried and tested method when preparing for a new performance, Herreweghe and his group keep looking for new inspirations, exploring the possibilities inherent in the given work and waiting to be unfolded.

Collegium Vocale Gent, the world-famous Belgian ensemble that was formed half a century ago, and its founding conductor, Philippe Herreweghe, are best known for the performance of baroque music. It is probably no exaggeration that the sound they represent has had an essential influence on how today’s listeners relate to early music. Many consider their

PHILIPPE HERREWEGHE

RÓBERT MANDEL

Ensemble Mandel: Róbert Mandel (organistrum), Judit Andrejszki (vocals, clavisimbalum), Zsolt Szabó (fiddle), Zsolt Kaltenecker (electronic instruments), Andrea Molnár (recorders) Artistic director: Róbert Mandel St Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th-century nun, was one of the most intriguing polymaths of her age. She was a natural scientist, composer, theologist, mystic and physician, whose written teachings made a serious impression on the world view of the Middle Ages. At their concert, Ensemble Mandel evoke the figure and work of the saint with a string of authentic medieval songs and improvisations. At this concert they seek to provide today’s listeners with an authentic interpretation

of a completely new musical world, the fusion of the original music of St Hildegard of Bingen and modern electronic sound.

Ticket: HUF 2 500 Presented by Budapest Festival and Tourism Centre

CUPOLA HALL 12.30–13.30

TAMBUCO PERCUSSION SOLTI HALL

GERGELY VAJDA

14.00–14.45 SUNDAY 5 APRIL, 11.00–22.00

EMIL KUYUMCUYAN

GRAND HALL, SOLTI HALL, CUPOLA HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL PERCUSSION DAY

18.00–18.45

AMADINDA PERCUSSION GROUP

GRAND HALL 11.00–12.15

MARIANNA BEDNARSKA & AMADINDA PERCUSSION GROUP 15.00–16.15

THIRD COAST PERCUSSION Peter Martin: Bend Augusta Read Thomas: Resounding Earth – 2. Prayer – Star Dust Orbits (transcription by the Third Coast Percussion) Devonté Hynes: Perfectly Voiceless (transcription by the Third Coast Percussion) Mark Applebaum: Aphasia Philip Glass: Perpetulum (transcription by the Third Coast Percussion) David Skidmore: Torched and Wrecked

KAI STROBEL Tickets: HUF 1 500 In 2012, the all-day series of concerts placing percussion instruments at its heart was one of the biggest hits of the Spring Festival that year. Percussion Day saw Zoltán Kocsis, József Balog, Gábor Farkas, Fülöp Ránki, National Choir, foreign guests and Amadinda take to the stage. This time, the festival welcomes equally great artists, for example the young Polish phenomenon Marianna Bednarska, who took first prize at no fewer than 19 Polish and international competitions including Paris (2009), Fermo in Italy (2008) and Plovdiv in Bulgaria (2007). Chicago-based Grammy prize-winning quartet Third Coast Percussion arrive with a really fizzing contemporary programme, with Michael Burritt, percussion artist also active as a composer, as their guest. Tambuco Percussion comprising four excellent Mexican musicians give a concert in the Solti Hall. The world of jazz at Percussion Day is represented by Richárd Szaniszló, whose principal instruments are the marimba and vibraphone. Emil Kuyumcuyan arrives from Istanbul, and Kai Strobel, who has clocked up a good few competition victories over the past few years, flies in from Germany.

Third Coast Percussion Michael Burritt (percussion)

Presented by Müpa

19.30–22.00

MONDAY 6 APRIL, 19.30

FINAL CONCERT

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Tickets: HUF 2 000, 2 500

Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a Liszt: Deux légendes György Orbán: Cantico di Frate Sole Debussy: La Mer

Eszter Sümegi (vocal) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Gergely Vajda When considering nature’s inexhaustible energy and gigantic power, then perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is the sea. It is also perfectly understandable that the sight of never-ending movement, the incomprehensibly massive mass of water is always closely tied to the concept of creation. We find the three faces of the sea in the music of Liszt, Debussy and Britten, but all three faces make infinity slightly clearer. György Orbán called the text of his Hymn to the Sun a “cosmic thanksgiving prayer”, which understands, and makes comprehensible, the world created by God through wonderful metaphors.

Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000 Presented by Hungarian Radio Art Groups

TUESDAY 7 APRIL, 19.00

SOLTI HALL BEETHOVEN + ILONA PRUNYI, VILMOS OLÁH & MIKLÓS PERÉNYI Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 11 (‘Gassenhauer’) Glinka: Trio in D minor (‘Pathetique’) Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 7 in B-flat major, Op. 97 (‘Archduke’)

TUESDAY 7 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL SERGEI NAKARIAKOV & DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK

MIKLÓS PERÉNYI / ILONA PRUNYI / VILMOS OLÁH

Ilona Prunyi (piano), Vilmos Oláh (violin), Miklós Perényi (cello), Balázs Rumy (clarinet), Sára Rebeka Tóth (bassoon) “How irresistibly does this wonderful composition transport the listener through ever growing climaxes into the spiritual realm of the infinite!” enthused E. T. A. Hoffmann over the art of Beethoven in a study published in 1810. Although the quoted text basically praises the modernity of Symphony No. 5, one can clearly read in it why Hoffmann considered the Viennese composer to be the uncompromising flagbearer of the Romantic aesthete. He was of the opinion that the works of Beethoven encapsulated music of the highest order, they speak directly to the human soul, and as such would never lose their relevance for posterity. Nothing could prove more dramatically the accuracy of his conviction than the fact that the entire music world commemorates the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven in 2020. Naturally, the Liszt Academy is also taking part in the celebrations with a concert series featuring, among others, greats of the Hungarian concert scene prepared to pay tribute to the genius of Beethoven such as Ilona Prunyi, Miklós Perényi and Vilmos Oláh. Beethoven’s piano trios are joined by the unconventionally instrumentalized, youthful Glinka work written during his years in Italy, in which two young musicians, Balázs Rumy and Sára Rebeka Tóth, participate.

Tickets: HUF 2 900, 3 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre 62

Verdi: I vespri siciliani (The Sicilian Vespers) – Overture Ponchielli: Trumpet Concerto in F major, Op. 123 Arban: The Carnival of Venice Respighi: Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome)

Joseph Jean-Baptiste Laurent Arban, one of the greatest trumpet virtuosos of his time, based on a Neapolitan folk song.

Tickets: HUF 3 900, 5 900, 7 900, 9 900 Presented by Müpa

WEDNESDAY 8 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL PURCELL CHOIR & CONCERTO BUDAPEST

Sergei Nakariakov (trumpet) Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Conductor: Gábor Hollerung World-famous trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov burst into the international music scene in the early 1990s. He has played with the greatest conductors, including Sir Neville Marriner, Kent Nagano, Mikhail Pletnev, Sakari Oramo, Jaap van Zweden, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Spivakov, Christoph Eschenbach, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Jiří Bělohlávek. He has recorded more than fifteen CDs with some of the leading labels. He performs in the most important concert halls, both as the soloist of concertos and as a chamber musician. The Belgian Maria Meerovitch, and his sister, Vera Okhotnikova, are his regular pianist partners. Now, with the participation of Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok, he will perform Amilcare Ponchielli’s concerto, a splendid piece of Italian Romanticism, and The Carnival of Venice, which

SERGEI NAKARIAKOV

PURCELL CHOIR Arvo Pärt: Stabat Mater Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross, Hob. XX:2

Purcell Choir Concerto Budapest Conductor: György Vashegyi Nearly 200 years separates the two features on the programme conducted by György Vashegyi, although the choice of subject and the elevated manner in which the Pärt and Haydn works have been handled binds them closely. The Seven Last Words of Christ was commissioned for a service in Cádiz, Spain, and in its original form it was pure instrumental music, followed by numerous variations. In 1796 it was arranged in oratorio form, making it both one of the most personal and the most moving expressions of the faith of Haydn.

A Mary’s suffering at the foot of the Cross

has been the inspiration for countless artists in music, one of them being Arvo Pärt in 1985. The work featuring three vocal soloists, just like the majority of Pärt compositions dating from the mid-70s onwards, was created in the spirit of the so-called tintinnabuli technique and style closely associated with the composer. “I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played,” he once said of the core creative idea behind the Latin word tintinnabulum, that is, little bell.

Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900, 7 500 Presented by Concerto Budapest

oratorio processes one of the most dramatic parts of the passion story from the Bible, when Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives spends the night with his disciples and is arrested by the soldiers of Pilate.

PÉTER CSABA

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

THURSDAY 9 APRIL, 19.00

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BEETHOVEN RECITAL Ludwig van Beethoven: The Consecration of the House – overture, Op. 124 Ah! per�do – concert aria, Op. 65 Christ on the Mount of Olives, Op. 85

Klára Kolonits (soprano), Szabolcs Brickner (tenor), István Gáspár (bass) Hungarian National Choir (choirmaster: Csaba Somos) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Péter Csaba Beethoven’s The Consecration of the House overture was written for the ceremonial opening of the Josephstädter Theater in Vienna in 1822. His only concert aria is a popular choice ahead of any of his great vocal works, Symphony No. 9, Mass in C major, or in the present case, the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives. The Ah! perfido! aria is the cry of a scandalized woman whose beloved is about to leave her. A Beethoven wrote his first oratorio in 1803, which debuted at the same concert as the Piano Concerto in C minor and Symphony No. 2. The

MONDAY 13 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL JI’S PIANO RECITAL Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27/2 (‘Moonlight’) Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31/2 (‘The Tempest’) Fifteen Variations and a Fugue on an Original Theme, Op. 35 (‘Eroica Variations’)

Ji Yong Kim (piano) The astonishingly talented pianist dazzled the audience of the 2019 Budapest Spring Festival with a performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. A reviewer called the Korean pianist’s take on Bach “fresh, eccentric and intensive, with constant surprises for the listener.” Ji now returns to the Liszt Academy with Beethoven’s cultic piano works, pieces that are eccentric, intensive and ceaselessly surprising in their own right. They are a golden opportunity for a performer like Ji, who was the youngest pianist to win the New York Philharmonic Orchestra’s Young Artists Competition, and finished first in 2012 at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions.

Tickets: HUF 4 200, 5 900, 8 200, 10 900 Presented by Budapest Festival and Tourism Centre

TUESDAY 14 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL JONATHAN BISS PIANO RECITAL MVM CONCERTS – THE PIANO Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 25 in G major, Op. 79 Piano Sonata No. 11 in B-flat major, Op. 22 Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27/2 (‘Moonlight’) Piano Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp major, Op. 78 Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109

Jonathan Biss (piano)

JI YONG KIM

Jonathan Biss was born into an American family of musicians in 1980. He started playing piano aged just six. Despite his youth he has already received many awards and worked together with bigname orchestras such as the New York, London and Berlin Philharmonics. He was recently appointed artistic director of the Marlboro Music Festival alongside Mitsuko Uchida. Currently he devotes most of his time to the art of Beethoven; the principal works of the master feature

on the programme of his coming seasons. This is his first solo recital in Hungary.

of a string orchestra and a jazz quartet. The six-movement suite is informed by baroque, neoromantic and early 20th-century music, as well as by the harmonics and rhythms of jazz.

Ticket: HUF 3 000 Presented by Budapest Festival and Tourism Centre JONATHAN BISS

Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000, 8 000 Presented by Besszer Concert

TUESDAY 14 APRIL, 19.30

WEDNESDAY 15 APRIL, 19.30

Krisztián Oláh: Original Compositions for Jazz Quartet Parallel Reflections – suite – world premiere

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL GÁBOR FARKAS’S PIANO RECITAL SOIRÉES DE VIENNE

Oláh Krisztián Quartet: Krisztián Oláh (piano), Kálmán Oláh Jr. (saxophone), György Orbán (double bass), Dániel Serei (drums) Budapest Strings (artistic director: Károly Botvay)

KRISZTIÁN OLÁH

SOLTI HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL KRISZTIÁN OLÁH: PARALLEL REFLECTIONS

Young as he is, pianist Krisztián Oláh is a key figure of the Hungarian jazz scene. He was only twenty when he finished third at the 2015 Montreux Jazz Festival. During the two-week academic programme that followed, he appeared in concert with such greats as Al Jarreau, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Nils Petter Molvær and Joe Sanders. In 2016 the Hungarian Jazz Federation elected him young jazz musician of the year, and in 2018 he was the first Hungarian to be invited to the international competition that the American Thelonious Monk Institute organized for the world’s best fourteen jazz pianists. His Parallel Reflections offers a contemporary reinterpretation or recontextualization of the interplay

Schubert: Four Impromptus, D. 935 Schumann: Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26 Schubert–Liszt: Soirées de Vienne – Valse Caprice No. 6 Schubert–Liszt: Soirées de Vienne – Valse Caprice No. 7 Grünfeld: Soirée de Vienne – concert paraphrase, Op. 56

several international competitions, and is regularly invited to prestigious festivals and concert halls the world over. His exceptional talent and work to date have been acknowledged with the Liszt and the Junior Prima Prize. Gábor Farkas and his family currently live in Tokyo, where he teaches at the Tokyo College of Music. He has released numerous solo records, playing the works of the greatest masters of the Romantic piano literature, such as Schumann, Liszt and Chopin. He received the Aoyama Music Award, and has been a Steinway Artist since 2017, when he was unanimously voted to be one by the New York, Hamburg and Budapest offices of Steinway & Sons Records. The title of his programme at the Liszt Academy speaks for itself, as it will bring to life the thousand nuances of Vienna’s milieu.

Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 200, 4 500, 5 900 Presented by Budapest Festival and Tourism Centre

THURSDAY 16 APRIL, 19.00

SOLTI HALL CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE MÁTÉ SZŰCS & KODÁLY STRING QUARTET

Gábor Farkas (piano) One of the most outstanding pianists of his generation, Gábor Farkas is a widely acknowledged interpreter of the Romantic repertoire, who has won

GÁBOR FARKAS

KODÁLY STRING QUARTET Mozart: String Quartet No. 18 in A major, K. 464 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 5 in A major, Op. 18/5 Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 111

Kodály String Quartet: Attila Falvay, Ferenc Bangó (violin), János Fejérvári (viola), György Éder (cello) Máté Szűcs (viola)

In the 20th century, the high quality chamber music culture of Hungary has given Europe and the world such world-renowned chamber ensembles as Budapest String Quartet, WaldbauerKerpely String Quartet, Hungarian String Quartet, Végh Quartet, Tátrai String Quartet, Bartók String Quartet and Takács Quartet, to name just a few of the many possible examples. The Kodály String Quartet founded in 1966 from students of the Liszt Academy fit neatly into this musical heritage. They took on the name of the famous Hungarian composer in 1972, and have represented the culture of Hungarian string quartet playing around the world for over 50 years. The ensemble have recorded all the quartets of Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert, and these have regularly sparked rave reviews in the international media. During this recital we hear two string quartets by Mozart and Beethoven, plus one of the string quintets by Johannes Brahms, with Máté Szűcs, the excellent violist, joining Kodály String Quartet for the latter.

warmth, the energetic conducting of Gábor Takács-Nagy or the sound of Ilya Gringolts’ Stradivari? Impossible. Haydn’s ‘Fire’ Symphony virtually ignites in order to give way to the violin played frequently as prima donna in the Mozart violin concerto. After the intermission, Budapest Festival Orchestra are beefed up with timpani and a hey wind section, this being necessary to perform Haydn’s Symphony No. 99.

ILJA GRINGOLC

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

some time in the distant past, man discovered the beauty of the voices of nature and tried to mimic them with his own tools. However it happened, in the artistic music also called ‘classical’, nature always played an important role, as did the question of how the world around us can be evoked with the help of music. A In the spring semester, the youth concert seriesorganized by the Liszt Academy, Liszt Kidz Academy, examines the relationship between music and nature. The season closing concert journeys to unusual depths: underwater, with the fishes. Because although the song of fishes has never actually inspired anyone to music, plenty of composers have written ‘watery’ or ‘fishy’ music. What these are and why they are what they are is up to pianist Balázs Fülei, head of the Liszt Academy Department of Chamber Music, and music historian Dániel Mona to relate, in the process of which they will receive assistance not only from their musician colleagues but Liszt, Debussy and Schubert, too.

SUNDAY 19 APRIL, 11.00 Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 200 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Supporter: Attila Falvay performs on the 1731 ‘Hamma’ Antonio Stradivari violin owned by the State of Hungary.

FRIDAY 17 APRIL, 19.45 SATURDAY 18 APRIL, 19.45

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA Haydn: Symphony No. 59 in A major, Hob. I:59 (‘Feuerʼ) Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K. 219 Haydn: Symphony No. 99 in E-flat major, Hob. I:99

SOLTI HALL LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY – MUSIC IN NATURE FISH IN MUSIC FOR 10-15-YEAR-OLDS Liszt: Années de pèlerinage, Première année: Suisse – Au bord d’une source (Beside a Spring) Debussy: Images, Book 2 – Poissons d’or (Golden �shes) Britten: Fish in the unruﬄed lakes Schubert: The Trout, D. 550 Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667 (‘The Trout’) – excerpt

Ilya Gringolts (violin) Budapest Festival Orchestra Conductor: Gábor Takács-Nagy

Zoltán Megyesi (tenor), Balázs Fülei (piano), Oszkár Varga (violin), Dénes Ludmány (viola), István Varga (cello), Viktor Varga (double bass) Moderator: Dániel Mona

Can one ever be bored of the music of Haydn and Mozart flooded by

We have no idea how music actually came about but many believe that at

Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

SUNDAY 19 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE DENIS MATSUEV & CHAMBER ORCHESTRA VIENNA-BERLIN Mozart: Divertimento in D major, K. 136 Schnittke: Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra Dvořák: Serenade for Strings in E major, Op. 22

Denis Matsuev (piano) Chamber Orchestra Vienna-Berlin Alfred Schnittke (1934–1998) came from a German-Jewish family, but he spent his life in the Soviet Union. A musician desirous of new ways, who although not harmed by the authorities, was not loved by them either. Instead, he was merely tolerated, which made him an authority for the younger generations. From his very varied oeuvre, the audience has the chance to get acquainted with a piano concerto with string orchestra accompaniment written in 1979 in a performance by the native of Irkutsk pianist phenomenon. The world knows him as a multifaceted musician, however he is primarily a

DENIS MATSUEV devotee of Romantic composers, which is why we can expect his Schnittke interpretation to be very special. The pensive, sad, sometimes wildly impulsive music is finely counterbalanced by one of Mozart’s most beautiful and energetic divertimentos, and Dvořák’s five-movement string serenade.

Tickets: HUF 7 900, 8 900, 9 900, 10 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Grieg: String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 27 (transcription for string orchestra)

HENNING KRAGGERUD

Henning Kraggerud (violin) Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (concertmaster: Péter Tfirst) Henning Kraggerud is one of the finest Norwegian musicians. His name is also known to a Budapest audience after his several performances in Hungary. The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra have also played with the artist; the fascinating experience of their combined play prompted the formation to once again extend an invitation to him to join them in this most promising recital.

TUESDAY 21 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA SCHÖNBERG, BRAHMS

GRAND HALL HENNING KRAGGERUD & FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Stanislav Kochanovsky is a regular guest of Danubia Orchestra Óbuda: he loyally returns to Budapest even when on the threshold of genuine world fame. A Schönberg’s Transfigured Night is the most romantic music ever set down on paper, even though it was penned by the person who buried Romanticism (or at least that is how he is remembered). A Until now, the orchestra rarely played Brahms – it is a great challenge because the passion born from the romance of elegance and precision is a serious challenge. Fortune favours the bold, and in this season two of his symphonies have been added to their repertoire: after the radiant second, the fourth, including perhaps the most beautiful overture of the symphony genre.

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 200, 3 800, 4700 Presented by Danubia Orchestra Óbuda

WEDNESDAY 22 APRIL, 19.00 Tickets: HUF 2 900, 4 800, 6 000, 8 500, 12 000 Presented by Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra Foundation

MONDAY 20 APRIL, 19.30

Wolf: Italian Serenade Henning Kraggerud: Suite from Suite from Equinox – excerpts Grieg: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in C minor, Op. 45 (transcription by Henning Kraggerud and Bernt Simen Lund for violin and string orchestra)

Danubia Orchestra Óbuda Conductor: Stanislav Kochanovsky

STANISLAV KOCHANOVSKY Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 (version for string orchestra) Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98

GRAND HALL ISTVÁN VÁRDAI & MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Rossini: Semiramide – Overture Gulda: Cello Concerto Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60

István Várdai (cello) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Gergely Kesselyák Gergely Kesselyák is fastidious when it comes to compiling his concert programmes. This evening, the lead is taken by good cheer and liveliness. The opera overtures of Gioachino Rossini, also frequently performed at concerts, are cheerful, vibrant symphonic works with catchy melodies and sparkling colours – this is equally true of the opera overture Semiramide that debuted in Venice in 1823 (based on a work by Voltaire).

Claudio Monteverdi: Ardo e scoprir, ahi lasso, io non ardisco, SV 158 Sestina: Lagrime d’amante al sepolcro dell’amata, SV 111 Hor che ’l ciel e la terra e ’l vento tace

Tickets: HUF 8 800, 10 500, 12 200, 13 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

FRIDAY 24 APRIL, 19.00 ISTVÁN VÁRDAI

A Friedrich Gulda was a prominent pianist of his age, slightly eccentric and an ‘enfant terrible’. One of his bestknown works as composer is the jazz-like concerto for cello and wind orchestra played at this concert. He managed to reconcile the contradiction between the noble and elegant cello and frequently trivial military music. Soloist is István Várdai who can boast a sensational third prize at the Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow and first prize at the Geneva International Cello Competition. He is a professor at the music academy in Vienna. A Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4, which had its première in 1806, is pure optimism, good cheer and it even contains a dash of musical humour. Tickets: HUF 4 500, 5 000, 5 500 Presented by MÁV Symphony Orchestra

THURSDAY 23 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF VOCAL MUSIC SIR JOHN ELIOT GARDINER, MONTEVERDI CHOIR & ENGLISH BAROQUE SOLOISTS SACRED AND SECULAR MUSIC OF MONTEVERDI Claudio Monteverdi: Beatus vir I, SV 268 Con�tebor tibi domine III (‘stile alla franzese’), SV 267 Adoramus te Christe, SV 289 Domine ne in furore tuo, SV 298 O ciechi, il tanto aﬀaticar che giova?, SV 252 Chi vol che m’innamori, SV 256 Dixit Dominus II (‘concertato’), SV 264 Altri canti di Marte e di sua schiera, SV 155 Lamento della Ninfa, SV 163

Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists Vocal Soloists: Anna Dennis, Julia Doyle, Francesca Boncompagni, Silvia Frigato, Francesca Biliotti, Michal Czerniawski, Krystian Adam, Zachary Wilder, Peter Davoren, Gareth Treseder, John Taylor Ward, Gianluca Buratto Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner

SOLTI HALL LUKA OKROS PIANO RECITAL Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27/2 (‘Mondschein’) Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 Schumann: Fantasie in C major, Op. 17

Luka Okros (piano)

SIR JOHN ELIOT GARDINER More than 50 years ago, Sir John Eliot Gardiner founded a choir to perform a Monteverdi composition, and it is this very ensemble that now supplies a bright bouquet of church and secular vocal works by this epochal Baroque composer. One of the most significant conductors of today compiled the programme with the inventive spirit of a composer: there are movements from Monteverdi’s collection published in the final years of his life and also considered as his musical testament, as well as parts from the Madrigal Book No. 8, seen as a classic of early music avant-garde. And when these acoustic wonders delighting both ear and imagination are performed by such fine ensembles as Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, then there is every likelihood that the audience of the Grand Hall is in for an unforgettable experience. To add to the sense of occasion, Gardiner takes to the stage as an honorary professor of the Liszt Academy, his new title hopefully binding him even closer to Hungarian culture.

Luka Okros, the Georgian artist currently resident in London, is considered by many to be one of the most promising pianists of his generation. Critics have remarked that “his play is intensive, powerful and natural, alloyed with astonishing creativity”. He has built an international reputation for his passionate and gripping performances. He has won a total of eight first prizes at the most prestigious international piano competitions and during the course of his career he has given concerts in over 40 countries. Following hugely successful concerts in 2018 and 2019, his European tour in 2020 sees him return to the Solti Hall, where he performs much loved pieces by Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann. As well as pursuing a career as concert pianist, he also engages in composition and plans to release an album of his own pieces shortly.

LUKA OKROS

Tickets: HUF 2 800, 3 500 Presented by Molto Group Management 67

FRIDAY 24 APRIL, 19.30

SATURDAY 25 APRIL, 15.00

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF THE ORCHESTRA DENNIS RUSSELL DAVIES & LISZT ACADEMY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST / VÁRJON, PERÉNYI, KELLER, HUNGARIAN QUARTET BEETHOVEN DAYS IN HONOUR OF ANNIE FISCHER

DENNIS RUSSELL DAVIES Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 Bernstein: Symphony No. 2 (‘The Age of Anxiety’)

József Balog, Marcell Vajda (piano) Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Dennis Russell Davies It is now a tradition for members of the Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra to come on stage under the baton of the most famous Hungarian and foreign conductors. Grammy award-winner Dennis Russell Davies, an enormously innovative and original conductor of our day, returns to the Liszt Academy with a programme of works by Brahms and Bernstein. A The Piano Concerto in D minor by Brahms places considerable intellectual and physical demands on the soloist, and Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2 for piano and orchestra requires no less of the performers either. It takes its name The Age of Anxiety from a poem by Pulitzer Prize-winning artist W. H. Auden. A At the April concert in the Masters of the Orchestra series, in addition to Dennis Russell Davies and instrumental students of the Liszt Academy, the audience can enjoy two fine soloists: József Balog, one of the most versatile pianists of Hungarian music, and Marcell Vajda, looked on as an enormously promising young talent.

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 300, 4 100, 4 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre 68

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 5 in D major, Op. 70/1 (‘Ghostʼ) String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135 Piano Trio No. 6 in E-flat major, Op. 70/2

András Keller (violin), Miklós Perényi (cello), Dénes Várjon (piano) Hungarian Quartet: András Keller, János Pilz (violin), Gábor Homoki (viola), László Fenyő (cello) Intimate, suggestive, familiar – these words effectively join together the individual works of this matinee concert, and indeed they really are the most personal confessions of Beethoven. The two piano trios that begin and end the concert were written during the months the composer spent as a guest of Anna Mária Erdődy, The Piano Trio in D major was dubbed ‘Ghost’ after an observation by the composer’s student, Carl Czerny, who said the slow movement reminded him of the opening scene of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The String Quartet in F major is Beethoven’s last completed major work. Music historians were long puzzled by the inscription to the fourth movement – The difficult decision – and on the first score written for vocal part and not intended for performance – Must it be? It must be! They believed that Beethoven had a premonition of his death, yet the explanation was far more banal than

HUNGARIAN QUARTET

this: he was quoting an amateur cellist who did not want to pay for a concert ticket, and an earlier witty canon written to these words. The piano part of the trios is taken by Dénes Várjon, one of the world’s most sought-after pianists applauded for his down-to-earth and yet emotionally rich technique. He is joined by two peers: András Keller and Miklós Perényi, while the string quartet is performed by Hungarian Quartet.

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 500, 4 500 Presented by Concerto Budapest

SATURDAY 25 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST / VÁRJON, MARWOOD, KELLER BEETHOVEN DAYS IN HONOUR OF ANNIE FISCHER

ANTHONY MARWOOD Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60

Anthony Marwood (violin), Dénes Várjon (piano) Concerto Budapest Conductor: András Keller “The radiant intensity of Marwood’s playing had extraordinary emotional power”; “played with blistering intensity and astonishing accuracy”; “awesome dexterity and passion”. These are some critics’ thoughts on the violin playing of Anthony Marwood, who we hear in the opening number of the concert,

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major. The launch of this work was not troublefree: the 1806 première proved a flop, thus it was not made part of the repertoire until Joachim József took it up half a century later. A The Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor was the outcome of a lengthy compositional process dating from the beginning of the middle creative period of Beethoven. Anecdotally, Beethoven is said to have been out strolling once when he heard the strains of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C minor (K. 491) at an outdoor performance, and turning to the pianist-composer he was with cried: “Cramer, Cramer! We shall never be able to do anything like that!” It is no surprise, therefore, that the opening part of the piano concerto echoes the melody of its musical forerunner. The concert concludes with Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Overture to Egmont, Op. 84 Triple Concerto in C major, Op. 56 Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92

Dénes Várjon (piano), Miklós Perényi (cello), Anthony Marwood (violin) Concerto Budapest Conductor: András Keller

ANNIE FISCHER

Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 3 in A major, Op. 69 Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 9 in A major, Op. 47 (‘Kreutzer’) String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132

tone, it is a perfect example of the balance of Viennese Classicism. A The Kreutzer Sonata for violin and piano presents extreme technical challenges to its performers, while its length and emotional overwroughtness do the same for the audience – naturally, in the best sense. The dedication is to violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer, who, however, never performed it, saying it was “outrageously unintelligible”. The piano parts in both sonatas are performed by Dénes Várjon (who is also known as leader of his own chamber music festival), joined by living Hungarian legend Miklós Perényi and artistic director of Concerto Budapest, András Keller. A The piece that closes this recital, String Quartet in A minor, was composed by Beethoven after recovering from a lengthy illness. The inscription to the third movement commemorates this: ‘Holy song of thanksgiving of a convalescent to the Deity, in the Lydian mode’.

András Keller (violin), Miklós Perényi (cello), Dénes Várjon (piano)

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 3 500, 4 500 Presented by Concerto Budapest

Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900, 7 500 Presented by Concerto Budapest

SUNDAY 26 APRIL, 15.00

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST / PERÉNYI, VÁRJON, KELLER BEETHOVEN DAYS IN HONOUR OF ANNIE FISCHER

Steven Isserlis, one of the greatest cellists of the modern day, believes that of all the Beethoven sonatas for cello and piano the one in A major is foremost in its genre, giving as it does equal roles to both instruments. In the work, one cannot find a trace of the struggle so characteristic of Beethoven: with its happy

At this Beethoven Days concert dedicated to the memory of Annie Fischer, András Keller brings three exemplary Beethoven works and three great instrumental soloists to our attention. The heroic Egmont Overture, forever in Hungarian minds arousing memories of 1956, was finalized in 1810: it was written for the historical drama by Goethe and the music quickly became more popular than the play. A The solo parts for the three-movement Triple Concerto in C major (the debut of which was in 1808) are played by two of the finest musicians in Hungarian music today, Miklós Perényi and Dénes Várjon, joined by the superb British violinist Anthony Marwood. A Symphony No. 7 in A major written between 1811 and 1812 was first performed in public at the grand hall of the Vienna University on 8 December 1813, under the baton of the composer who by that time, as deafness encroached, largely relied on sight alone. The second movement, the Allegretto, a piece of music oen employed in films, immediately had to be encored at this first concert.

SUNDAY 26 APRIL, 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST / VÁRJON, PERÉNYI, MARWOOD, KELLER BEETHOVEN DAYS IN HONOUR OF ANNIE FISCHER

MIKLÓS PERÉNYI

Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900, 7 500 Presented by Concerto Budapest 69

MONDAY 27 APRIL, 19.00

WEDNESDAY 29 APRIL, 19.00

THURSDAY 30 APRIL, 19.30

SOLTI HALL NEW LISZT FERENC CHAMBER CHOIR, JEAN-SÉBASTIEN VALLÉE

SOLTI HALL BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS GÁBOR CSALOG

GRAND HALL DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK BRANDENBURG, MOZART, BRAHMS

Ligeti: Etudes – 2. Cordes a vide J. S. Bach: 2 Preludiums and Fugues from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier Ligeti: Etudes – 11. En suspens J. S. Bach: 2 Preludiums and Fugues from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier György Ligeti: Etudes – 6. Automne a Varsovie, Etudes – 10. Der Zauberlehring J. S. Bach: 3 Preludiums and Fugues from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier Ligeti: Etudes – 7. Galamb borong, 5. Arc-en-ciel J. S. Bach: Preludium and Fugue in B minor from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier,BWV 869

Ádám Brandenburg: Prières nocturnes Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488 Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90

NEW LISZT FERENC CHAMBER CHOIR Janequin: Escoutez tous gentilz (‘La guerre’) Poulenc: Un Soir de neige J. S. Bach: Komm, Jesu, komm! – motet, BWV 229 Zachary Wadsworth: Beati Quorum Remissae Bill Carlisle: Gone Home (John Wykoﬀ transcription) Dominick DiOrio: I Am Eric Whitacre: Little Man in a Hurry Jake Runestad: Let My Love Be Heard Roderick Williams: Guiding Night Saunder Choi: The New Colossus

New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir (choirmaster: László Norbert Nemes) Conductor: Jean-Sébastien Vallée Once again, a conductor of international repute arrives for the concert by the 10-year-old New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir at which we receive a sample of classics and new material from choral literature. Canadian-American JeanSébastien Vallée is professor at the McGill University of Montreal, music director of the Ottawa Choral Society, and his guest appearance is a guarantee from several aspects of an invigorating and enlightening experience. After a Renaissance and a 20th century French composer’s composition (Vallée is a specialist of French choral music), Bach’s beautiful motet for double choir sounds, while the second half is reserved for brilliant works by principally contemporary American authors.

Ticket: HUF 1 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre 70

Gábor Csalog (piano) Pianist Gábor Csalog, holder of the Liszt Ferenc Prize, has worked with many Hungarian composers including György Ligeti. Ligeti’s etudes garnered praise even during the lifetime of the composer, leading to numerus recordings, one of which is the CD by Gábor Csalog released in 2006. The concert programme has 20th century piano works and selections from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier by Bach. Whereas Ligeti’s efforts place the stress on rhythms, Bach focuses on the melody and divergent characters of keys – these two worlds constantly switch places during a recital.

GÁBOR CSALOG

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

Mihály Berecz (piano) Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Conductor: György Vashegyi

MIHÁLY BERECZ Ádám Brandenburg’s Prières nocturnes (Evening prayers) is heard first in today’s concert. The young composer has worked with many musical genres including concert music, theatre and pop music, not to mention film scores. In addition, he teaches and carries out research. The uniquely toned Prières nocturnes has won several awards, among them the ‘Junior classical music creative artist of the year’ prize organized by Artisjus. A Following this we have Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A major. The composer wrote the work in 1786 and it contains several innovations. For example, the orchestra line-up includes the clarinet, which was a rarely used instrument in grand orchestral works in the time of Mozart, in addition to which wind instruments are given equality with the strings, something similarly unusual for the period. A The last work of the recital is Symphony No. 3 by Johannes Brahms, which was composed in 1883 and debuted in Vienna.

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

NOTE IN THE GUEST BOOK OF THE LISZT ACADEMY ÁDÁM FISCHER (12 MAY 2019) 71

DIALOGUE WITH BARTÓK EXCELLENT YOUNG PIANISTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, AN OPEN-AIR FESTIVAL, GUIDED TOURS OF BARTÓK’S BUDAPEST, CHILDREN’S EVENTS AND A MUSICOLOGY CONFERENCE. ENTRANTS IN THE PIANO CATEGORY OF THE BARTÓK WORLD COMPETITION WERE CHALLENGED BY ONE OF THE WORLD’S TOUGHEST REPERTOIRES TO DEMONSTRATE IN THREE FULL-HOUSE CONCERTS THAT YOUNG MUSICIANS LOVE AND UNDERSTAND BARTÓK.

JUST MINUTES BEFORE THE SOLO FINALS

COMPETITORS IN THE BARTÓK MEMORIAL HOUSE 72

SECOND PLACE: ÁDÁM BALOGH

THIRD PLACE: PETER KLIMO, WITH HIS HUNGARIAN GRANDMOTHER

THE WINNER: ÁDÁM SZOKOLAY

THE JURY AT WORK 73

CONCERT CHRONOLOGY MAY – JUNE Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Hosted Concert Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre with cooperation Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior University SUNDAY 3 MAY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL BEETHOVEN + VARVARA

Varvara Nepomnyaschaya, winner of the 2012 Anda Géza Piano Competition in Zurich, plays music to this day in a way that fully justifies and endorses the enthusiastic assessment of Markus Hinterhäuser, one of the members of the jury of the competition that marked the start of her career: “Stunned and speechless as this girl plays music. She makes one forget the instrument, the best compliment I can make a pianist.” The repertoire of Varvara – who was born in Moscow, studied under Evgeni Koroliov among others, and is still in her mid-30s – runs from Bach to Arvo Pärt. The Budapest audience has already come across her Beethoven play inspired by Emil Gilels, but not her Shostakovich interpretation, which makes this recital in the Solti Hall all the more worthwhile.

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

SUNDAY 3 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST STRINGS & KRISTÓF BARÁTI Schubert: String Quartet Movement in C minor, D. 703 (‘Quartettsatzʼ) Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810 (‘Der Tod und das Mädchen’)

VARVARA Beethoven: Fantasy in G minor, Op. 77 Dmitrij Shostakovich: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 61 Prelude and Fugue in D minor, Op. 87/24 Prelude and Fugue in A major, Op. 87/7 Prelude and Fugue in A minor, Op. 87/2 Prelude and Fugue in E minor, Op. 87/4 Prelude and Fugue in D-flat major, Op. 87/15 Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27/2 (‘Moonlight’)

Varvara (piano) 74

KÁROLY BOTVAY concert in Hamburg in 1894. While the work belongs to the core repertoire of string quartets, most string orchestras also keep it on their programme today, assuming they have the virtuosity and complex expressive power of a quartet. A “Beethoven’s violin concerto could barely be played better and in a more attractive way,” a critic wrote about the performance of Kristóf Baráti. Recently, the violinist undertakes not ‘only’ the role of soloist but that of conductor, too, thus he can exercise a hypnotic influence with his bow not only over the orchestra but us as well.

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

TUESDAY 5 MAY, 19.00

SOLTI HALL CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE MIRIAM HELMS ÅLIEN, ILDIKÓ SZABÓ, ISTVÁN LAJKÓ & ELEANOR LYONS SHOSTAKOVICH RECITAL

Budapest Strings (concertmaster: János Pilz, artistic director: Károly Botvay) The String Quartet in D minor by Schubert is one of the greatest creations in the quartet canon. Its scale, concept and weight of message certainly make it worthy for performance in the greatest concert halls, which is why it must be performed there, or so Mahler believed, when he wrote the arrangement for string orchestra and 70 years after the original composition was completed, he directed the work in person at a

MIRIAM HELMS ÅLIEN / ISTVÁN LAJKÓ / ILDIKÓ SZABÓ Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor, Op. 8 Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok, Op. 127 Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67

Miriam Helms Ålien (violin), Ildikó Szabó (cello), István Lajkó (piano), Eleanor Lyons (soprano) Love and death – these two subjects have inspired countless artistic creations, and they count amongst those issues that engage humanity most frequently. However, while the motifs referring to these are easy to recognize in a poem or a painting, they are far more difficult to decode when manifest in a hidden form such as a piano trio. With an awareness of the circumstance of composition, however, it becomes clear that the two piano trios by Dmitry Shostakovich, one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, erect a memorial in music to love and mortality: the opus 8 work was influenced by his first love and written immediately after his father’s death, while the opus 67 is a tribute to his deceased friend. The concert includes the vocal work Seven Romances, which speaks of these two universal experiences in an explicit way. The trio made up of pianist István Lajkó, cellist Ildikó Szabó and Norwegian violinist Miriam Helms Ålien are joined by the Australian soprano Eleanor Lyons.

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

WEDNESDAY 6 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CHAMBER MUSIC – TUNED FOR GRAND HALL KRISTÓF BARÁTI, ISTVÁN VÁRDAI & MÁTÉ SZŰCS Mozart: Divertimento in E-flat major, K. 564 Beethoven: String Trio in C minor, Op. 9/3 Beethoven: String Trio in G major, Op. 9/1

Kristóf Baráti (violin), István Várdai (cello), Máté Szűcs (viola) For many years now we have enjoyed the fact that our young and hugely successful musicians Kristóf Baráti, István

MÁTÉ SZŰCS / KRISTÓF BARÁTI / ISTVÁN VÁRDAI Várdai and Máté Szűcs have implemented increasingly exciting programmes in Hungary not only individually but as a team, whether supporting gifted artists at the beginning of their careers, organizing festivals or joint concerts similarly to this promising Mozart-Beethoven recital. It is as though the genre of string trio had been tailored for them: seen from the angle of early string quartets, here the parts are more balanced and equally virtuoso, thus offering all three instrumentalists equally rewarding parts. Furthermore, these relatively rarely performed pieces are from the cream of the crop of these two composers: Mozart wrote his scintillating, six-movement Divertimento in the same year as his three final symphonies, in 1788, and the early Beethoven trios born just ten years later (especially the C minor) in many respects reveal the mature master’s contrasting, passionately energetic style.

Tickets: HUF 6 800, 8 500, 10 200, 11 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

FRIDAY 8 MAY, 19.00

GRAND HALL KEN-ICHIRO KOBAYASHI & MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Mozart: Requiem, K. 626

Orchestra. He won the First International Conductors’ Competition of Hungarian Television in 1974, launching him on a stratospheric international career. His connection with MÁV is special because this ensemble played in the first round of the competition, and as he himself said, they were the first orchestra he had conducted outside his own homeland, and the friendly, helpful reception he received from MÁV Symphonics was of great help in the other rounds of the contest as well. In the past decades he has conducted the orchestra virtually every season; he was elected honorary guest conductor in 2014. A Mozart’s Requiem is especially famous on the one hand for the mysterious circumstances in which it was composed, and on the other hand because Mozart composed it on his deathbed and it almost seems to project the experience of dying itself. He was unable to complete the work so Süssmayr, his most faithful student, completed the missing parts using the notes of Mozart.

KEN-ICHIRO KOBAYASHI

Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000, 6 000 Presented by MÁV Symphony Orchestra

SATURDAY 9 MAY, 19.00

Musashino Academia Musicae Chorus MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi

SOLTI HALL JAZZ IT! TAMARA MÓZES & JÁNOS NAGY DUO JAZZ-COSMOS

Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi has an extremely close relationship with MÁV Symphony

Tamara Mózes (vocals, keyboard), János Nagy (piano, keyboard) 75

The joint vocal-piano production by Sacem Prize-winner Tamara Mózes, pianist and vocalist, and the Erkel Prize laureate János Nagy, pianist, features works which blend electronic and acoustic, atmospheric and rhythmic, composed and improvizational elements, thus creating a truly cosmic sound force. The orchestration occasionally extends with such unusual instruments as the seaboard or keytar. Their ethereal, marvellous music is in large part due to the similar characters of the two artists: both know music inside out, besides which they are successful and famous pedagogues. This sparkling pair introduce their craft in the Solti Hall of the Liszt Academy, having already played the Milan world expo, Music Village in Brussels and the Marble Hall of Hungarian Radio, with own compositions and popular pieces on their repertoire.

TAMARA MÓZES

Tickets: HUF 1 900, 2 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Smetana: Má vlast – 4. Z českých luhů a hájů (From Bohemia’s woods and �elds) Janáček: Taras Bulba Janáček: Jenůfa – Jenůfa’a Aria and Final Scene Smetana: Má vlast – 3. Šárka Janáček: Sinfonietta

Zsuzsanna Ádám, István Kovácsházi (vocals) Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Conductor: János Kovács of the Liszt Academy. The Béla Halmos Trophy and the Béla Halmos Memorial Medal will be presented at a ceremony. The former was established by the Hungarian Heritage House, the latter by the Association of Friends of the Hungarian Heritage House. The Trophy, which is actually the violin once owned by Béla Halmos, is presented to an under40-year-old musician actively playing traditional folk instrumental music in dance houses, who in the course of his/ her work maintains contact with Hungarian communities living beyond the country’s border. The Memorial Medal recognizes outstanding professional and community ‘background work’ within the framework of the Dance House Movement.

Ticket: HUF 1 600 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music – Folk Music Department

SUNDAY 10 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC DANCE HOUSE DAY Featuring: teachers and students of the Folk Music Department of the Liszt Academy

Dance House Day is organized all over the country on the anniversary of the first ‘urban’ dance house in Hungary. The gala folk music concert is part of a national series, which this year is being organized jointly by the Folk Music Department and the Concert Centre

The Czech programme conducted by János Kovács primarily comprises symphonic poems. Originally, Janáček planned to give his remarkably orchestrated Sinfonietta such expressive movement titles as “The Mansion” and “The Monastery”; his orchestral rhapsody Taras Bulba was inspired by a Gogol novel. At this recital, two ‘chapters’ of Smetana’s grandiose series comprising six symphonic poems (My Homeland) are performed. A At the centre of the concert there is an opera scene which is exceptional not only in the opera oeuvre of Janáček: one rarely comes across such an upliing moment in the entire genre. Zsuzsanna Ádám, award winner at the third Éva Marton International Singing Competition, received the invitation to perform as the special prize of the Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles.

Tickets: HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000 Presented by Hungarian Radio Art Groups

MONDAY 11 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JÁNOS KOVÁCS

TUESDAY 12 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL WORKSHOPS OF THE LISZT ACADEMY ALMA MATER CHOIR LOVE Gesualdo: Cor mio, deh, non piangete Marenzio: O voi che sospirate Elgar: My love dwelt in a northern land, Op. 18 Miklós Csemiczky: Vox dilecti mei Grieg: 2 Symphonic Pieces, Op. 14

Cornelius: Love, Op. 18 Brahms: Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 52

Anna Shelest (piano) Concerto Budapest Conductor: Neeme Järvi

Katalin Gonda, Tamás Bácsi (piano) Alma Mater Choir Conductor: Gábor Horváth The Liszt Academy Alma Mater Choir, just like any music ensemble made up of students of an educational institution, are virtuosi of permanent renewal. At the same time, they retain the classical values through their excellent and carefully crafted performances. The inseparable nature of these two characteristics cannot be shown more clearly than in case of the topic they chose for this May concert. The concert programme parades the musical pictures of the power of eternal attraction experienced in a thousand different ways, adoration, destruction and renewal, that is, love, from the passionate madrigals of Gesualdo and Marenzio, through the works of Elgar, Csemiczky and Cornelius, to the nostalgically beautiful love song-waltz series of Brahms.

KATALIN GONDA

BALÁZS SZABÓ

Balázs Szabó (organ) “Because it’s there,” was the answer of George Mallory given almost 100 years ago to the question of why he had climbed Mount Everest. Liszt’s twelve transcendent etudes also constitute one of the highest ranges in the piano landscape, and still only few undertake to tackle them all, most artists only pick a few pieces from the stunning series. Now, Balázs Szabó, a well-known figure in domestic concert life, who also played a key role in the restoration of the Liszt Academy’s Voit organ, sets off on this most testing of expeditions, playing the cycle, which was earlier considered virtually unplayable and demanding diabolical virtuosity, in his own arrangement. Tonight, thanks to Balázs Szabó, we can be witnesses to this grandiose, daring and exciting enterprise allowing us to enjoy one of Liszt’s principal works in a form never heard before.

Tickets: HUF 1 800, 2 300, 2 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

Free tickets can be claimed at Liszt Academy ticket office one month before the concert. Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

THURSDAY 14 MAY, 19.30 FRIDAY 15 MAY, 19.30

WEDNESDAY 13 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL NEEME JÄRVI, ANNA SHELEST & CONCERTO BUDAPEST

GRAND HALL ORGAN IN THE CENTRE BALÁZS SZABÓ LISZT RECITAL Liszt: Transcendental Études (transcription by Balázs Szabó )

One of the doyens of today’s conductors is 82-year-old Neeme Järvi, the two sons of whom, Paavo and Kristjan, also belong to the international top echelon of conductors. He arrives in Hungary with a special 19th century Russian programme. Furthermore, he introduces the Ukrainian pianist Anna Shelest (currently resident in America); they have done much to promote the fine piano concertos of Anton Rubinstein at concerts and on recordings. This time the programme features the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major (1851): the solo part demands a flamboyant and true virtuoso (after all, Rubinstein intended it for himself). A Glazunov’s two orchestral concert waltzes also rank among the more spectacular numbers while the Rimsky-Korsakov composition, Antar, a work titled at different times ‘symphony’ and ‘symphonic suite’, is nearly as rare a visitor in Hungarian concert halls as the piano concertos of Rubinstein. The ‘title role’ of the work is a legendary Arabian warrior and poet, but the gazelle and the fairy queen of Palmyra inspiring the symphony also make an appearance.

Glazunov: Concert Waltz No. 1, Op. 47 Rubinstein: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 35 Glazunov: Concert Waltz No. 2, Op. 51 Rimsky-Korsakov: Symphony No. 2, Op. 9 (‘Antar’)

NEEME JÄRVI

Tickets: HUF 2 200, 3 100, 3 900, 4 800, 5 900, 7 500 Presented by Concerto Budapest 77

FRIDAY 15 MAY, 22.00

SATURDAY 16 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST – PREMIÈRE III GYULA CSAPÓ

GRAND HALL ZUGLÓ PHILHARMONICS BUDAPEST

GERGELY DUBÓCZKY Gyula Csapó: Viola Concerto (première of the revised, 2019 version)

Bartók: Two Pictures, BB 59 Bartók: Hungarian Peasant Songs, BB 107 Bartók: Rhapsody No. 1, BB 94b – Friss (Fast) Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances, BB 76 Dohnányi: Hitvallás – Nemzeti ima (Creed – National Prayer) Kodály: Psalmus hungaricus, Op. 13

István Kovácsházi (tenor), Zente György-Horváth (violin) King St. Stephan Oratorio Choir Zugló Philharmonics Budapest Conductor: Kálmán Záborszky

Gábor Homoki (viola) Concerto Budapest Conductor: Gergely Dubóczky Gyula Csapó’s single-movement concerto was commissioned by the brilliant violist Rivka Golani. The composer characterized his composition written in four years before the 2008 première thus: “I give a role to the orchestra not as a unified mass but chamber-like, or even as soloists. It is a viola concerto from the fact that the part of the bass violin runs all the way through the piece like a red thread. I imagined a rich instrumental environment around it in which the viola fills its very characteristic role in so many perspectives. It is a travel companion that accompanies the work, to which other join who then ‘descend’ at certain points. I wanted to demonstrate the duality of diversity and uniformity.” Csapó has rethought his viola concerto and it is this brand-new version that is performed under the baton of youthful conductor Gergely Dubóczky who has shown his particular sensitivity to contemporary works, and the globally soughtafter string artist Gábor Homoki who plays with Hungarian Quartet as a chamber musician.

Ticket: HUF 1 000 Presented by Concerto Budapest 78

BUDAPEST ACADEMIC CHORAL SOCIETY it was critically important for every text to be heard in concerts he directed because he only worked with actual passages taken exclusively from the Bible. For this recital, the audience can enjoy excerpts from Händel’s gigantic oratorio as interpreted by Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok’s regular partner, the Budapest Academic Choral Society.

Tickets: HUF 2 300, 2 700 Presented by Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok ZENTE GYÖRGY-HORVÁTH

Tickets: HUF 2 500, 2 700, 3 100 Presented by Zugló Philharmonics Budapest

SUNDAY 17 MAY, 11.00

GRAND HALL UNDERSTANDABLE MUSIC DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK HALLELUJA

TUESDAY 19 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL BALÁZS FÜLEI PIANO RECITAL MVM CONCERTS – THE PIANO Debussy: Estampes Franck: Prélude, Choral et Fugue, Op. 18 Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 (‘Appassionata’) Liszt: Venezia e Napoli

Balázs Fülei (piano) Händel: Messiah, HWV 56 – excerpts

Budapest Academic Choral Society Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok Performing and conducting: Gábor Hollerung Messiah (HWV 56) is still to this day the most popular work by Georg Friedrich Händel, and at the same time it is one of the most frequently performed oratorios in the world. It debuted in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and its triumphal procession continued in a series of concerts in London the following year. For Händel,

Balázs Fülei gave his first solo recital at the age of 12, then he joined the bloodstream of international music life having completed his years at conservatory as a graduate of the Liszt Academy. In 2005 he won the International Piano Competition ‘Arcangelo Speranza’ of Taranto, Italy and he also carried home trophies from Milan, Cagliari and Moscow. He has collaborated with the most important Hungarian and foreign symphony orchestras, he has performed in virtually every country in Europe as well as in Israel, the United States, Australia, Japan,

China and Vietnam. He has taught at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music since 2012, and was appointed head of the Chamber Music Department in 2015. In 2010 he was presented with the Junior Prima Prize, in 2011 the Artisjus Prize and in 2012 the Prize of the Solti Foundation. In 2015 he received the Diamond Career Grant from Charlotte White’s Salon de Virtuosi in New York, and in 2017 he was honoured with the Liszt Prize.

BALÁZS FÜLEI

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

two mass movements and the composer improvized in front of the public, too, indeed, at the last moment he decided to write an upliing choral work as a finale. This latter was the Choral Fantasy. The hall was unheated and it is said that Beethoven was amused that the majority of the audience stayed the course from beginning to end. Now we have the chance to hear the Choral Fantasy and Symphony No. 6 without shivering at all. Beethoven wrote short descriptions to movements of the Pastorale Symphony in F major. The first is about the beauties of rural life, the second is a scene by the brook. Then a merry village feast gets underway, only to be interrupted by a storm. The conclusion is a hymn of thanks to nature. These Beethoven works are preceded by the opening work, a three-movement, popular piece by Leonard Bernstein, Chichester Psalms, composed for the festival of the famous cathedral in England.

THURSDAY 21 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC CHORAL FANTASY Bernstein: Chichester Psalms Beethoven: Choral Fantasy, Op. 80 Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 (‘Pastorale’)

Péter Frankl (piano) Hungarian National Choir (choirmaster: Csaba Somos) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Nimrod David Pfeffer On 22 December 1808, the public gathered in the Theater an der Wien to hear new works by Beethoven. The programme was a success, albeit a slightly exhausting one, since it lasted four solid hours. It included two new symphonies (C minor and F major), the Piano Concerto in G major, a concert aria,

NIMROD DAVID PFEFFER

Tickets: HUF 3 500, 4 000, 4 500, 5 500 Presented by Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

LILLA HORTI / MIKLÓS PERÉNYI / PÉTER FRANKL / ANDRÁS KELLER

Lilla Horti (soprano), András Keller (violin), Miklós Perényi (cello), Péter Frankl (piano) Three leading figures of Hungarian chamber music, Péter Frankl, Miklós Perényi and András Keller, are joining forces for a performance of piano trios. Their programme comprises three composers and three kinds of music. Beethoven’s Kakadu Variations contains the vigour of the young master and his late style as well because the trio was probably written at the beginning of his career but reworked towards the end of his life. At the time Dvořák composed his dramatic and impulsive Piano Trio in F minor he had largely put aside the Slav national tone that until then had been his hallmark, instead searching for new ways, primarily by turning towards the style of his contemporary, Brahms. In the middle number, the talented young soprano Lilla Horti joins the ensemble for a performance of the meditative, melancholy yet translucently beautiful song cycle of Shostakovich written in 1967.

Tickets: HUF 5 300, 6 500, 7 700, 8 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre SATURDAY 23 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL CHAMBER MUSIC – TUNED FOR GRAND HALL PÉTER FRANKL, MIKLÓS PERÉNYI, ANDRÁS KELLER & LILLA HORTI Beethoven: Variations in G major on Wenzel Müller’s Theme ‘Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu’, Op. 121a Shostakovich: Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok, Op. 127 Dvořák: Piano Trio No. 3 in F minor, Op. 65

THURSDAY 28 MAY, 19.30

GRAND HALL SÁNDOR BALASSA 85 Sándor Balassa: City of Civis, Op. 91 Fantasia for Harp and String Orchestra, Op. 76 Hungarian Coronation Music, Op. 63 Tündér Ilona, Op. 45 Prayer of János Damjanich, Op. 48 Valley of Huns, Op. 69

Andrea Vigh (harp) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Ádám Medveczky “Let the work be new in thought, rich in its relations, multifaceted in its human gestures. Let it be pure in style: the sounds present should come only from themselves. (…) There is only one yardstick: we have to use this to measure a molehill and Ararat.” Sándor Balassa in an interview given more than 40 years ago said this about the artistic-human expectation that he primarily set himself, and although his compositional style changed over the decades, new compositions adding to his oeuvre have always been conceived in this spirit. The concert celebrating his 85th birthday validates this when, under the baton of Ádám Medveczky, a representative sample of works from the second half of his oeuvre are performed, which even with their choice of titles reflect the preservation of the traditions of national culture and the national past.

GRAND HALL JÁNOS BALÁZS & HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC RACHMANINOV’S COMPLETE PIANO CONCERTOS/2 Sergey Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40 Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30

ZSOLT HAMAR

János Balázs (piano) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Zsolt Hamar

GRAND HALL JÁNOS BALÁZS & HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC RACHMANINOV’S COMPLETE PIANO CONCERTOS/1

Concertos by Rachmaninov form core elements of the classical piano repertoire. János Balázs and Zsolt Hamar, leader of the Hungarian National Philharmonic, perform these masterpieces over two consecutive evenings, complementing them with virtuoso Paganini variations. The opening work is the young Rachmaninov’s first large-scale composition, which he significantly revised in 1917 in the midst of the revolutionary fervour. In its final form the piece retains its youthful dynamism and brightness, yet it also bears traces of the mature, experienced master. The sweeping success of the second piano concerto was the event that helped Rachmaninov climb out of the depression that had aﬄicted him for years. The continued popularity of the piece is not coincidental: the purified structure, the organic and economical use of music raw material, and the moving lyricism rightly place it on a pedestal. The variation series processing the legend of the ‘Devil’s violinist’ Paganini in a narrative mode introduces us to one of the most outstanding figures of late Romanticism in his full artistic maturity.

Sergey Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 1 Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18

Tickets: HUF 6 800, 8 500, 10 200, 11 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre, Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

SÁNDOR BALASSA

Tickets: HUF 1 500, 2 000, 2 500, 3 000 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre, MÁV Symphony Orchestra

FRIDAY 29 MAY, 19.30

SATURDAY 30 MAY, 19.30

János Balázs (piano) Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Zsolt Hamar Rachmaninov’s third piano concerto only gradually took its rightful place among the most important works ever written for the piano. He composed this piece, outstanding in every area, prior to his emigration to America and at the peak of his creative career, in which he succeeds in further enhancing all the merits of his earlier concertos (structural refinement, lyricism and virtuosity). The work looks not only to the past but the future as well: the use of chromatic harmony and percussive piano scoring brought new dimensions to the composer’s oeuvre. The complete exploitation of creative opportunities diverted Rachmaninov onto new pathways when it came to writing his next concerto. Although the fourth piano concerto lacks the emotional intensity that characterized its predecessors, there is no doubting its superiority. A There is little need to introduce János Balázs to

JÁNOS BALÁZS

domestic audiences; in him, we have a true master of the piano.

Tickets: HUF 6 800, 8 500, 10 200, 11 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre, Nemzeti Filharmonikus Zenekar

piano quintets, with the assistance of Russian-American pianist Kirill Gerstein, teacher at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart. The second half of the concert features an unusually keyed, sombre toned string quartet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky dating from 1876.

TUESDAY 2 JUNE, 19.30

GRAND HALL FOUR BY FOUR PLUS ONE KIRILL GERSTEIN & HAGEN QUARTET

Tickets: HUF 3 300, 4 500, 5 700, 6 900 Presented by Liszt Academy Concert Centre

WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE, 18.00

GRAND HALL END-OF-SEASON CONCERT BY HUNGARIAN RADIO CHILDREN’S CHOIR

KIRILL GERSTEIN / HAGEN QUARTET Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44 Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No. 3 in E-flat minor, Op. 30

Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Britten: Piano Concerto in D major, Op. 13 Elgar: Enigma Variations, Op. 36

This concert promises a pure, inimitable English medley: sandwiched between two notable and very popular orchestral numbers is a concerto sadly rarely performed in Hungary and most worthy of discovery. With its theme and archaic tonality, the most famous work (1910) by the ‘English Kodály’, Vaughan Williams, is a tribute to his 16th century fellow composer. Britten’s only piano concerto took final shape in 1945: some critics from those days judged the work in four movements as being lightweight music for radio, although musicians of the calibre of Sviatoslav Richter (who played it in Pest) argued in favour of the composition. For this recital, the soloist is the Berlin-resident Israeli pianist Matan Porat: he debuted in front of a domestic audience with Concerto Budapest in 2015, since when he has returned as both chamber musician and composer. “I have sketched a set of Variations on an original theme: the Variations have amused me because I’ve labelled ’em with the nicknames of my particular friends,” Elgar wrote in 1898 about the work in progress; as a true gentleman, he only ever ‘named’ the variations – that together brought him world fame – using monograms, pseudonyms or even three asterisks.

Matan Porat (piano) Concerto Budapest Conductor: Domonkos Héja

Tickets: HUF 2 400, 3 500, 4 300, 5 200, 6 400, 7 900 Presented by Concerto Budapest

Selection of four centuries of choral music from the Renaissance to works by Kodály, Bartók and Kocsár

Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir Conductor: Soma Dinyés Tickets: HUF 1 500, 2 000, 2 500, 3 000 Presented by Hungarian Radio Art Groups

Kirill Gerstein (piano) Hagen Quartet: Lukas Hagen, Rainer Schmidt (violin), Veronika Hagen (viola), Clemens Hagen (cello) The Hagen Quartet based in Salzburg are a genuine family enterprise: the chamber music ensemble were established in 1981 by four siblings, Lukas, Angelika, Veronika and Clemens, with Rainer Schmidt filling the role of second violinist from 1987. The quartet became known primarily for their translucent sound and their immersive interpretations of works by the classical masters, so it is particularly interesting to see that this time they are bringing to the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy something they are less used to performing, an out-and-out Romantic programme. In the first part of the programme they reinterpret a composition by Robert Schumann from 1842, one of the most commonly played

MATAN PORAT

HUNGARIAN RADIO CHILDREN’S CHOIR

SUNDAY 7 JUNE, 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST

FRIDAY 12 JUNE, 19.00

GRAND HALL DUBRAVKA TOMŠIČ & MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio – Overture Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 (‘Emperor’) Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93

Dubravka Tomšič (piano) MÁV Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Daniel Boico

DUBRAVKA TOMŠIČ

“The great movement of deliverance: from darkness to light, from the depths to the heights – a true Beethoven line, in melody, form and drama alike.” This is how Bence Szabolcsi characterizes Beethoven’s Leonore overtures. Beethoven composed four overtures for his opera Fidelio, the three Leonore overtures cover the plot of the opera in a symphonic way, but he was not satisfied with the first two, which is why he constantly rearranged them. A Beethoven’s final

piano concerto is similarly liberating music; he presented it in 1810, a year after Symphony No. 5. The English called it ‘The Emperor’ symbolizing the dignity and power inherent in it. A Symphony No. 8 stands out among the nine giants not for its drama but for its joie de vivre, its good humour, and in this respect it is a kindred spirit with the other two pieces of our concert, concluding in triumphant joy. A The soloist for this recital was born in Dubrovnik and continued her piano studies from the age of 12 at the Juilliard School in America. On hearing her play, Arthur Rubinstein, one of the greatest pianists of the age, invited her to study with him privately.

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

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2019.05.28. 10:26

PART OF THE CREDO MOVEMENT OF THE MISSA SOLEMNIS (DRAFT)

27 May 2020 Wednesday, 7.30 pm

Liszt Academy, Grand Hall

9–19 July 2020 Artistic directors

Katalin Kokas & Barnabás Kelemen

Béla Bartók 44 Duos for 2 Violins (BB 104) – selection Poems by Gyula Illyés, Miklós Radnóti, Attila József Dmitri Shostakovich String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 Franz Schubert String Quintet in C major (D. 956)

festivalacademy.org

Preliminary concert

Barnabás Kelemen, Katalin Kokas (violin) Maxim Rysanov (viola) Dóra Kokas, Kyril Zlotnikov (cello) Géza Hegedűs D. (actor) Host: Gergely Fazekas (musicologist)

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2019. 11. 24. 20:13

LISZT IN AUSTRIA INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION AT THE LISZT FERENC MEMORIAL MUSEUM

THE TITLE OF THE EXHIBITION MAY RAISE THE QUESTION OF WHETHER IT COVERS THE AUSTRIAN PART OF THE AUSTROHUNGARIAN EMPIRE IN LISZT’S LIFETIME OR THE WHOLE OF AUSTRIA TODAY. WE DID OUR BEST TO SELECT THE MATERIALS ON DISPLAY TO INCLUDE BOTH. THIS DISTINCTION IS PARTICULARLY RELEVANT TO LISZT’S BIRTHPLACE. THE VILLAGE OF DOBORJÁN, WHICH WAS PART OF HUNGARY IN THOSE DAYS, IS NOW CALLED RAIDING AND IS PART OF BURGENLAND.

The exhibition is intended to present in a nutshell all the threads that link Liszt to Austria. His career as a pianist and composer was rooted in his childhood studies in Vienna and the traditions of the virtuoso Viennese school. The exhibition highlights the reception of Liszt’s concerts in Vienna both as a pianist and composer, as well as their impact on the cultural life of the city, particularly on the events at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. His renowned 1838 series of performances were attended by members of the House of Habsburg, with whom he stayed in touch even in old age, as evidenced by scores of documents displayed at our permanent exhibition in the salon of the apartment. We conjure up Liszt’s artist friends, whether Austrian or others working in that country, such as Joseph Kriehuber or Kaspar von Zumbusch, whose works enhance the decor of his one-time service flat in Budapest. Liszt counted the piano maker Ludwig Bösendorfer among his closest friends and purchased quite a few of his pianos, but he also played on other pianos made in Austria. Of the Viennese composers, Franz Schubert receives top priority, since Liszt played numerous arrangements of his Lieder as early as his 1838 concert series. A highlight of the exhibition is the manuscript of an orchestral arrangement of Erlkönig, which is on public display for the very first time. The other priority composer is Beethoven, chiefly on account of Liszt’s involvement with the 1870 and 1877 jubilee celebrations of the great master. Additionally, the exhibition features less well-known composers who still played an important role in Liszt’s age and life, among them Johann von Herbeck and Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Liszt’s most influential Austrian relation was Eduard von Liszt, his own uncle. Since part of Eduard’s rich legacy adorns the composer’s Budapest residence and the other part is displayed at the Provincial Museum of Eisenstadt and Raiding, he too receives a prominent place in the exhibition. Besides Vienna, other Austrian cities and towns that were important to Liszt are represented at the exhibition, such as Graz, Eisenstadt (called Kismarton in Liszt’s time), Achensee, Graz, Hall in Tirol, Innsbruck, Pottendorf and Salzburg. The international exhibition, whose Austrian partner is the professional curator of the house in which Liszt was born, lays special emphasis on the current reception of the composer in Austria and specifically in Raiding.

Lending institutions: Liszt Ferenc Music Academy, Liszt Ferenc Research Library Hungarian National Museum, Historical Gallery Stamp Museum Budapest History Museum – Kiscell Museum MTA BTK Institute of Musicology, Museum of Musicology Eisenstadt Landesmuseum Burgenland Diözesanarchiv Eisenstadt Raiding Franz Liszt Gesellschaft Vienna Schottenstift

Curators: Dr. Zsuzsanna Domokos and Dr. Martin Czernin Support staff: Anna Peternák, Ágnes Watzatka, Júlia Fedoszov and Lilla Bokor Installation: Tímea Bősze The exhibition was established through an international cooperative effort among Liszt museums.

THE EXHIBITION IS OPEN FROM 10 MAY 2019 TO 9 MAY 2020.

THE NEXT TEMPORARY EXHIBITION AT THE LISZT MUSEUM: VISITING FRANZ LISZT’S HOME ON THE SUGÁR AVENUE 15 MAY 2020 – 7 MAY 2021 85

ConCerts at the old aCademy of musiC Liszt MuseuM Morning and evening ConCerts 29. 04. 2020

11.00

Piano Concert by Fülöp Ránki, performance by Adrienne Kaczmarczyk

04. 01. 2020

11.00

Zoltán Fejérvári (piano)

11. 01. 2020

11.00

Alisa Katroshi, Yvette Mondok, Manuel B. Camino (vocals), Szabolcs Sándor (piano)

18. 01. 2020

11.00

Klaudia Tandl (vocals), Niall Kinsella (piano)

01. 02. 2020

11.00

Tamás Kéry (piano)

08. 02. 2020

11.00

Judit Nagy (flute) and Tímea Papp (harp)

08. 02. 2020

18.00

Joint concert by the Ljubljana Academy of Music and the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music on the Day of Slovenian Culture

29. 02. 2020

11.00

Judit Rajk (vocals), László Borbély (piano)

07. 03. 2020

11.00

Francophone Festival – Nicolas Stavy (piano)

14. 03. 2020

11.00

Péter Kiss (piano)

28. 03. 2020

11.00

Márta Gulyás and her chamber partners

04. 04. 2020

11.00

Students of Márta Gulyás

11. 04. 2020

11.00

Jacopo Fulimeni (piano)

18. 04. 2020

11.00

Mirjam Gomez-Moran (piano)

29. 04. 2020

11.00

Piano Concert by Fülöp Ránki, performance by Adrienne Kaczmarczyk

02. 05. 2020

11.00

Angelo Martino (piano)

09. 05. 2020

11.00

Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra

16. 05. 2020

11.00

Concert related to the temporary exhibition: Ferenc János Szabó (piano)

23. 05. 2020

11.00

Anna Scholz (cello), Katalin Farkas (violin), Tamás Kéry (piano)

30. 05. 2020

11.00

Gregorio Nardi (piano)

16. 06. 2020

11.00

Márta Gödény (piano)

13. 06. 2020

11.00

Tibor Szász (piano)

20. 06. 2020

11.00

Simon Várallyay, Ábel Horváth (piano)

Price of tickets: 2000 HUF (for students and pensioners: 1000 HUF)

Concerts of the Liszt Society: 29. 01. 2020

18.00

Carnival music in the age of Liszt

26. 02. 2020

18.00

Benedek Horváth – Concert of the Junior Prima Prize winning pianist

25. 03. 2020

18.00

Concert of the National Széchényi Library Choir, conducted by: Mária Eckhardt

Admission to the concerts of the Liszt Society is free, subjected to the capacity of the room Location: Old Academy of Music, Vörösmarty street 35, 1064 Budapest

LISZT FERENC MEMORIAL MUSEUM AND RESEARCH CENTRE H-1064 Budapest, Vรถrรถsmarty u. 35. www.LISZTMUSEUM.HU

LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY EVERY CHILD IS BORN WITH MUSIC IN THEM. THERE IS NOT A SINGLE INFANT WHO IS NOT STIRRED BY THE MUSIC OF MOZART OR BACH. OR MAYBE ARIANA GRANDE, DEPENDING ON WHAT THEY HEAR AT HOME. NATURALLY, THE YOUTH EVENTS AT THE LISZT ACADEMY ARE NOT INTENDED TO ACQUAINT CHILDREN WITH THE VALUES OF POP CULTURE, BUT INSTEAD WITH THE THREE TRADITIONS OF MUSIC THAT DEFINE THE ACADEMY’S TEACHING AND CONCERT LIFE: CLASSICAL MUSIC, FOLK MUSIC AND JAZZ.

We don’t know how music came into being, but it is widely held that in ancient times humankind discovered the beauty of the sounds of nature and attempted to imitate them within their means. Regardless of how this really happened, the high-quality music that we describe as “classical” has always been inextricably bound with nature and with the question of how the world around us can be invoked through music. Academy of Liszt Kidz, a series of events organised by the Liszt Academy for young people, will be exploring the relationship between music and nature in its spring term. Starting from the sky and landing in the water, four morning shows in Solti Hall, performed again by outstanding musicians, will introduce children to compositions inspired by birds, insects, wild animals and fish. The matinees will again be moderated by musicologist Daniel Mona. We are looking forward to a season devoted to animals, to which we cordially invite children between the ages of 10 and 15, their parents and grandparents. Season tickets to the series are available. For details, please consult the programme guide in the concert magazine. Season ticket price before 1 January 2020: HUF 5 800 From 1 January 2020 to the first performance: HUF 6 100 We believe that music is much more than fun, so it is never too early to make it your own. In spring 2020, we will again hold small-group musical induction sessions for 6- to 10-year-olds on Saturdays at 10 o’clock in the Liszt Academy’s building at Liszt Ferenc tér. Also, there will be double sessions called Jazz Playground once a month at 10 and 11.30 on Saturdays for ages 5 to 12. Parents are not allowed to attend the sessions, but they may hear the rehearsal for the concert to be held in the Grand Hall the same night (provided that the performers have no objections). Ticket price for induction sessions: HUF 1 200 (Tickets to the musical induction and Jazz Playground sessions are only available to children attending the event.) For more, visit zeneakademia.hu/liszt-kukacok Facebook: www.facebook.com/lisztkukacokakademiaja #lisztkukacokakademiaja

DIPLOMA CONCERTS IN THE GRAND HALL 22. 01. 2020.

Semester BA and MA organ exam concert 31. 03. 2020.

István Márkus, Klaudia Berecki and Tamás Szarka: choral conducting MA diploma concert (featuring the Hungarian Radio Choir)

22. 05. 2020.

Conductor exam (featuring The Zugló Philharmonic Orchestra) 24. 05. 2020.

Eszter Kökény: violin diploma concert

02. 04. 2020.

04. 06. 2020.

07. 05. 2020.

05. 06. 2020.

Hagiwara Riku: violoncello diploma concert Aria exam 2020 (featuring the Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra) 09. 05. 2020.

Composition MA diploma concert (featuring the Óbuda Danubia Orchestra) 20. 05. 2020.

Ildikó Szabady: flute diploma concert

Anna Kissjudit: oratory and song diploma concert Anna Gál-Tamási: violin diploma concert 06. 06. 2020.

Kinga Várallyay: piano diploma concert 10. 06. 2020.

13. 06. 2020.

Dávid Vizi: organ diploma concert 13. 06. 2020.

Balázs Giczi: organ diploma concert 14. 06. 2020.

Gergely Brunda: organ diploma concert 14. 06. 2020.

Alan Zsilka: organ diploma concert 16. 06. 2020.

Martin Rajna: MA conductor diploma concert (featuring the Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra)

Dénes Seidl: trumpet diploma concert

For detailed programs, more diploma concerts and more free university programs visit: lfze.hu/programs

GIVE THE GIFT OF EXPERIENCE! ENTRANCE TO THE WORLD OF MUSIC The Academy of Music Gift Card allows you to buy tickets to any of the Liszt Academy Concert Center's own programs up to the topped-up amount. The gift card is valid for 12 months from the time it is topped up.

The gift card can be purchased at the Academy of Music Ticket Office.

CONCERTCALENDAR Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre Hosted Concert Concerts organized by Liszt Academy Concert Centre with cooperation Classical Jazz Opera World / Folk Junior University

JANUARY

FRIDAY 10 JANUARY SATURDAY 11 JANUARY 19.45

MONDAY JANUARY 13 19.00

19.30

WEDNESDAY 1 JANUARY 18.00

GRAND HALL NEW YEAR’S OVERTURE CONCERT OF THE RADIO ORCHESTRA & THE LISZT ACADEMY

SATURDAY 4 JANUARY GRAND HALL FÉLIX LAJKÓ

TUESDAY 7 JANUARY 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA TAMÁS VÁSÁRY – SCHUMANN CYCLE 2.

19.30

20.00

SOLTI HALL OPENING CONCERT OF THE TRANSPARENT SOUND NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL

GRAND HALL CHAMBER MUSIC – TUNED FOR GRAND HALL GAUTIER CAPUÇON & YUJA WANG

GRAND HALL DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK WEBER, HARLAP, RACHMANINOV

SATURDAY 18 JANUARY

THURSDAY 9 JANUARY GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA HUNGARIAN CONTEMPORARY RECITAL

GRAND HALL CONCERT BY ISTVÁN VÁRDAI & FRIENDS TO BENEFIT PEOPLE WITH AUTISM FRANCISCAN CHARITY RECITAL

FRIDAY 17 JANUARY

19.30

19.00

SOLTI HALL OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL RASHOMON PERFORMANCE BY THE LISZT FERENC ACADEMY OF MUSIC

THURSDAY 16 JANUARY 19.30

19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST

SUNDAY 19 JANUARY 15.00

GRAND HALL BALÁZS SZABÓ MUSICAL ORGAN HISTORY SERIES/2 (IN HUNGARIAN) VIRTUOSI OF ROMANTICISM – MENDELSSOHN, LISZT, REGER

MONDAY 20 JANUARY 19.00

SOLTI HALL OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL MILHAUD, PUCCINI PERFORMANCE BY THE HOCHSCHULE FÜR MUSIK DRESDEN

19.30

GRAND HALL DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA LISZT, BRITTEN, SAINT-SAËNS

THURSDAY 23 JANUARY 19.30

GRAND HALL BEETHOVEN + PHILIPPE JORDAN & THE WIENER SYMPHONIKER

FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA MOZART

SATURDAY 25 JANUARY 19.30

GRAND HALL FOUR BY FOUR PLUS ONE ISTVÁN LAJKÓ & THE DAVID OISTRAKH QUARTET

SUNDAY 26 JANUARY 11.00

GRAND HALL UNDERSTANDABLE MUSIC DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK CHOIR MUSIC’S OLYMPOS

11.00

SOLTI HALL LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY – MUSIC IN NATURE BIRDS IN MUSIC FOR 10-15-YEAR-OLDS

SUNDAY 26 JANUARY 19.00

SOLTI HALL OPERA EXAM FESTIVAL IL MATRIMONIO SEGRETO (THE CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE) PERFORMANCE BY THE HOCHSCHULE FÜR MUSIK FREIBURG

WEDNESDAY 29 JANUARY 19.30

WEDNESDAY 5 FEBRUARY 19.00

19.00

GRAND HALL KIRILL TROUSSOV & MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

19.00

SOLTI HALL BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS ROMAN RABINOVICH PIANO RECITAL

19.00

19.30

SUNDAY 2 FEBRUARY 19.00

SOLTI HALL HERE AND NOW NETHERLANDS CHAMBER CHOIR & QUATUOR DANEL

GRAND HALL BALÁZS SZABÓ MUSICAL ORGAN HISTORY SERIES/3 (IN HUNGARIAN) “MY ORGAN IS AN ORCHESTRA” – FRANCK, WIDOR, VIERNE

18.00

GRAND HALL ZUGLÓ PHILHARMONICS BUDAPEST

19.00

SOLTI HALL WINTERREISE/1

SUNDAY 9 FEBRUARY

19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA TAMÁS VÁSÁRY – SCHUMANN CYCLE 3.

TUESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 19.00

SOLTI HALL HERE AND NOW AMADINDA PERCUSSION PROJECT

19.30

GRAND HALL ORGAN IN THE CENTRE ZSUZSA ELEKES

WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 19.30

19.30

GRAND HALL BACH IN SOLO ZOLTÁN FEJÉRVÁRI

FRIDAY 14 FEBRUARY 19.00

SOLTI HALL CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE GABRIELE CARCANO, STEPHEN WAARTS & MARIE-ELISABETH HECKER

19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

HALL, SOLTI HALL, AUDITORIUM, ROOM X & XXIII, CUPOLA HALL DAY OF TALENT 2020 GRAND HALL MASTERS OF THE ORCHESTRA JÁNOS ROLLA & LISZT ACADEMY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA/1

GRAND HALL FOUR BY FOUR PLUS ONE CSABA KLENYÁN & THE HUNGARIAN QUARTET

THURSDAY 13 FEBRUARY

11.00– GRAND

TUESDAY 4 FEBRUARY GRAND HALL ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE DÉNES VÁRJON & CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF EUROPE

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST STRINGS & MÁTÉ SZŰCS

11.00

18.30

19.30

SOLTI HALL ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC RÓBERT ‘SZIGONY’ KERÉNYI & FRIENDS AUTHENTIC FOLK MUSIC FROM MOLDVA, GYIMES AND RAJASTHAN

SATURDAY 8 FEBRUARY

SATURDAY 1 FEBRUARY GRAND HALL ALICE SARA OTT PIANO RECITAL MVM CONCERTS – THE PIANO

SOLTI HALL WINTERREISE/2

FRIDAY 7 FEBRUARY

FEBRUARY 19.30

19.00

THURSDAY 6 FEBRUARY

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

THURSDAY 30 JANUARY

SOLTI HALL JAZZ IT! PETRA VÁRALLYAY

MONDAY 10 FEBRUARY

SATURDAY 15 FEBRUARY 19.00

SOLTI HALL QUATUOR MÉTAMORPHOSES & KOROSSY STRING QUARTET ECMA (EUROPEAN CHAMBER MUSIC ACADEMY) MASTERCLASS CONCERT

19.30

GRAND HALL HEINZ HOLLIGER, DÉNES VÁRJON & CONCERTO BUDAPEST

22.00

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST – PREMIÈRE II VERESS SÁNDOR – HEINZ HOLLIGER

SUNDAY 16 FEBRUARY 19.00

19.30

SOLTI HALL SELINI QUARTET & THE KRUPPA STRING QUARTET ECMA (EUROPEAN CHAMBER MUSIC ACADEMY) MASTERCLASS CONCERT

SUNDAY 23 FEBRUARY 11.00

19.30

19.00

SOLTI HALL HERE AND NOW KURTÁG – LIGETI

19.30

GRAND HALL CZIFFRA FESTIVAL 2020 JÓZSEF LENDVAY, KÁLMÁN OLÁH, JÁNOS BALÁZS PAGANINI+

GRAND HALL CZIFFRA FESZTIVÁL 2020 VADIM REPIN, JÁNOS BALÁZS & DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK GALA CONCERT AND AWARDS CEREMONY

WEDNESDAY 26 FEBRUARY 19.30

GRAND HALL ERIC TERWILLIGER & THE FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

THURSDAY 27 FEBRUARY 19.30

GRAND HALL HEINZ HOLLIGER, DÉNES VÁRJON & CONCERTO BUDAPEST

TUESDAY 18 FEBRUARY

SOLTI HALL LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY – MUSIC IN NATURE INSECTS IN MUSIC FOR 10-15-YEAR-OLDS

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC CHILDHOOD DREAMS

FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 19.00

OLD ACADEMY OF MUSIC, CHAMBER HALL ZSOMBOR TÓTH-VAJNA HENRY PURCELL AND HIS MASTER

19.30

GRAND HALL DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA SCHUBERT/SHOSTAKOVICH

SATURDAY 29 FEBRUARY 19.30

MARCH SUNDAY 1 MARCH 11.00– GRAND 22.00

HALL, SOLTI HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST/ MOZART DAY

MONDAY 2 MARCH 19.30

GRAND HALL ANDREA ROST, ANDREA VIGH & BARNABÁS KELEMEN MVM CONCERTS

TUESDAY 3 MARCH 19.30

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF VOCAL MUSIC VOX LUMINIS & L’ACHÉRON

WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 19.30

GRAND HALL EÖTVÖS ART ENSEMBLE

THURSDAY 5 MARCH 19.00

GRAND HALL DÉNES VÁRJON & MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BEETHOVEN RECITAL

FRIDAY 6 MARCH, 19.45 SATURDAY 7 MARCH, 19.45 SUNDAY 8 MARCH, 15.30 GRAND HALL BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA HOMAGE ON THE EARTH: TEMPÊTES, ORAGES & FÊTES MARINES

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF THE ORCHESTRA GÁBOR TAKÁCS-NAGY & THE LISZT ACADEMY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 93

SATURDAY 7 MARCH 11.00

19.00

GRAND HALL BALÁZS SZABÓ MUSICAL ORGAN HISTORY SERIES/4 (IN HUNGARIAN) THE GREAT PREDECESSORS – ANTALFFY, ZALÁNFFY, SCHMIDTHAUER, GÁRDONYI, LIGETI SOLTI HALL JAZZ ITT! BINDER TRIO

19.30

THURSDAY 12 MARCH 19.00

19.30

SUNDAY 8 MARCH 19.00

19.30

OLD ACADEMY OF MUSIC, CHAMBER HALL ÉVA BODROGI & MARIANN MARCZI BILITIS – GREEK HEROINES GRAND HALL 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE JUBILEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF ST STEPHEN GRAMMAR SCHOOL

GRAND HALL ENDRE HEGEDŰS ORCHESTRAL PIANO RECITAL

19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA TAMÁS VÁSÁRY – SCHUMANN CYCLE 4.

WEDNESDAY 11 MARCH 19.00

SOLTI HALL BÉLA BARTÓK CHAMBER CHOIR SZOLNOK

GRAND HALL BACH IN SOLO BARNABÁS KELEMEN

GRAND HALL DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA KURTÁG/HAYDN/DVOŘÁK

19.30

GRAND HALL ORGAN IN THE CENTRE WOLFGANG SEIFEN THE ART OF IMPROVIZATION

WEDNESDAY 18 MARCH 19.00

SOLTI HALL CONCERTS OF THE BARTÓK CONSERVATOIRE CONCERT BY COMPETITION WINNERS

19.30

GRAND HALL DÉNES VÁRJON PIANO RECITAL MVM CONCERTS – THE PIANO

THURSDAY 19 MARCH 19.00

SOLTI HALL BEETHOVEN + LEONARD ELSCHENBROICH & ALEXEI GRYNYUK

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC THE RHINE VALLEY

FRIDAY 20 MARCH 19.30

GRAND HALL FOUR BY FOUR PLUS ONE LÁSZLÓ FENYŐ AND THE BORODIN QUARTET

SATURDAY 21 MARCH 19.00

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA RUSSIAN EVENING

19.00

SOLTI HALL CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE JÚLIA PUSKER, CHRISTOPH HEESCH & MARCELL SZABÓ GRIEG RECITAL

TUESDAY 17 MARCH

TUESDAY 10 MARCH 19.30

OLD ACADEMY OF MUSIC, CHAMBER HALL QIAN ZHOU & BRIGITTA TARASZOVA

FRIDAY 13 MARCH

MONDAY 9 MARCH 19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST STRINGS & LÁSZLÓ FENYŐ

SUNDAY 22 MARCH 11.00

GRAND HALL UNDERSTANDABLE MUSIC/ THE SMILE OF BEETHOVEN

11.00

SOLTI HALL LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY – MUSIC IN NATURE WILD ANIMALS IN MUSIC FOR 10-15-YEAR-OLDS

19.30

GRAND HALL DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK ZOMBOLA, SCHUMANN, SCHUBERT

WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 19.30

GRAND HALL GERGELY BOGÁNYI

THURSDAY 26 MARCH 19.00

19.00

SOLTI HALL BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS FÜLÖP RÁNKI GRAND HALL ROBERTO GONZÁLEZ-MONJAS & THE MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

FRIDAY 27 MARCH 19.30

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF VOCAL MUSIC WIENER SÄNGERKNABEN MARE NOSTRUM

APRIL

WEDNESDAY 8 APRIL

THURSDAY 2 APRIL

19.30

19.00

SATURDAY 4 APRIL 19.30

19.30

SATURDAY 28 MARCH 18.00

19.00

GRAND HALL ZUGLÓ PHILHARMONICS BUDAPEST SOLTI HALL HERE AND NOW STUDIO 5

SUNDAY 29 MARCH 19.30

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF THE ORCHESTRA JÁNOS ROLLA & LISZT ACADEMY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

MONDAY 30 MARCH 19.30

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

GRAND HALL WORKSHOPS OF THE LISZT ACADEMY BRASS INSTRUMENTS

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL COLLEGIUM VOCALE GENT SOLTI HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL ENSEMBLE MANDEL VISIONS OF ST. HILDEGARD OF BINGEN

SUNDAY 5 APRIL HALL, SOLTI HALL, CUPOLA HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL PERCUSSION DAY

THURSDAY 9 APRIL 19.00

19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

19.30

GRAND HALL JONATHAN BISS PIANO RECITAL MVM CONCERTS – THE PIANO

19.30

SOLTI HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL OLÁH KRISZTIÁN: PARALLEL REFLECTIONS

WEDNESDAY 15 APRIL 19.30

TUESDAY 7 APRIL 19.00

19.30

SOLTI HALL BEETHOVEN + ILONA PRUNYI, VILMOS OLÁH & MIKLÓS PERÉNYI GRAND HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL SERGEI NAKARIAKOV & DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL JI’S PIANO RECITAL

TUESDAY 14 APRIL

MONDAY 6 APRIL 19.30

GRAND HALL MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BEETHOVEN RECITAL

MONDAY 13 APRIL

11.00– GRAND 22.00

GRAND HALL PURCELL CHOIR & CONCERTO BUDAPEST

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL GÁBOR FARKAS’S PIANO RECITAL SOIRÉES DE VIENNE

THURSDAY 16 APRIL 19.00

SOLTI HALL CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE MÁTÉ SZŰCS & KODÁLY STRING QUARTET

FRIDAY 17 APRIL SATURDAY 8 APRIL 19.45

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

SUNDAY 19 APRIL 11.00

19.30

SOLTI HALL LISZT KIDZ ACADEMY – MUSIC IN NATURE FISH IN MUSIC FOR 10-15-YEAR-OLDS GRAND HALL ORCHESTRA IN THE CENTRE DENIS MATSUEV & CHAMBER ORCHESTRA VIENNA-BERLIN

MONDAY 20 APRIL 19.30

GRAND HALL DANUBIA ORCHESTRA ÓBUDA SCHÖNBERG, BRAHMS

WEDNESDAY 22 APRIL 19.00

19.00

SOLTI HALL LUKA OKROS PIANO RECITAL

19.30

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF THE ORCHESTRA DENNIS RUSSELL DAVIES & LISZT ACADEMY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

GRAND HALL ISTVÁN VÁRDAI & MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

15.00

19.30

GRAND HALL MASTERS OF VOCAL MUSIC SIR JOHN ELIOT GARDINER, MONTEVERDI CHOIR & ENGLISH BAROQUE SOLOISTS SACRED AND SECULAR MUSIC OF MONTEVERDI

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST / VÁRJON, PERÉNYI, KELLER, HUNGARIAN QUARTET BEETHOVEN DAYS IN HONOUR OF ANNIE FISCHER GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST / VÁRJON, MARWOOD, KELLER BEETHOVEN DAYS IN HONOUR OF ANNIE FISCHER

SUNDAY 26 APRIL 15.00

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST / PERÉNYI, VÁRJON, KELLER BEETHOVEN DAYS IN HONOUR OF ANNIE FISCHER

19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST / VÁRJON, PERÉNYI, MARWOOD, KELLER BEETHOVEN DAYS IN HONOUR OF ANNIE FISCHER

THURSDAY 23 APRIL 19.30

WEDNESDAY 29 APRIL 19.00

SOLTI HALL BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS GÁBOR CSALOG

THURSDAY 30 APRIL 19.30

GRAND HALL DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK BRANDENBURG, MOZART, BRAHMS

SATURDAY 25 APRIL

GRAND HALL HENNING KRAGGERUD & FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

TUESDAY 21 APRIL 19.30

FRIDAY 24 APRIL

MAY SUNDAY 3 MAY 19.00

SOLTI HALL BEETHOVEN + VARVARA

19.30

GRAND HALL BUDAPEST STRINGS & KRISTÓF BARÁTI

TUESDAY 5 MAY 19.00

WEDNESDAY 6 MAY 19.30

MONDAY 27 APRIL 19.00

SOLTI HALL NEW LISZT FERENC CHAMBER CHOIR, JEAN-SÉBASTIEN VALLÉE

SOLTI HALL CHAMBER MUSIC, SO CLOSE MIRIAM HELMS ÅLIEN, ILDIKÓ SZABÓ, ISTVÁN LAJKÓ & ELEANOR LYONS SHOSTAKOVICH RECITAL

GRAND HALL CHAMBER MUSIC – TUNED FOR GRAND HALL KRISTÓF BARÁTI, ISTVÁN VÁRDAI & MÁTÉ SZŰCS

FRIDAY 8 MAY 19.00

GRAND HALL KEN-ICHIRO KOBAYASHI & MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

SATURDAY 9 MAY 19.00

SOLTI HALL JAZZ IT! TAMARA MÓZES & JÁNOS NAGY DUO JAZZ-COSMOS

SUNDAY 10 MAY 19.30

GRAND HALL ACOUSTIC, AUTHENTIC DANCE HOUSE DAY

MONDAY 11 MAY 19.30

GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

TUESDAY 12 MAY 19.30

GRAND HALL WORKSHOPS OF THE LISZT ACADEMY ALMA MATER CHOIR LOVE

22.00

19.30

11.00

FRIDAY 15 MAY 19.30

GRAND HALL UNDERSTANDABLE MUSIC DOHNÁNYI ORCHESTRA BUDAFOK HALLELUJA

TUESDAY 19 MAY 19.30

GRAND HALL BALÁZS FÜLEI PIANO RECITAL MVM CONCERTS – THE PIANO

THURSDAY 21 MAY GRAND HALL HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC CHORAL FANTASY

SATURDAY 23 MAY

THURSDAY 14 MAY GRAND HALL NEEME JÄRVI, ANNA SHELEST & CONCERTO BUDAPEST

GRAND HALL ZUGLÓ PHILHARMONICS BUDAPEST

CHAMBER MUSIC – TUNED FOR GRAND HAL PÉTER FRANKL, MIKLÓS PERÉNYI, ANDRÁS KELLER & LILLA HORTI

THURSDAY 28 MAY 19.30

GRAND HALL JÁNOS BALÁZS & HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC RACHMANINOV’S COMPLETE PIANO CONCERTOS/1

SATURDAY 30 MAY

SUNDAY 17 MAY

19.30

WEDNESDAY 13 MAY GRAND HALL ORGAN IN THE CENTRE BALÁZS SZABÓ LISZT RECITAL

FRIDAY 29 MAY

SATURDAY 16 MAY

19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST – PREMIÈRE III GYULA CSAPÓ

GRAND HALL JÁNOS BALÁZS & HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC RACHMANINOV’S COMPLETE PIANO CONCERTOS/2

JUNE TUESDAY 2 JUNE 19.30

GRAND HALL FOUR BY FOUR PLUS ONE KIRILL GERSTEIN AND HAGEN QUARTET

WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 18.00

GRAND HALL END-OF-SEASON CONCERT BY HUNGARIAN RADIO CHILDREN’S CHOIR

SUNDAY 7 JUNE 19.30

GRAND HALL CONCERTO BUDAPEST

FRIDAY 12 JUNE 19.00

GRAND HALL DUBRAVKA TOMŠIČ & MÁV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

GRAND HALL SÁNDOR BALASSA 85

GRAND HALL NEEME JÄRVI, ANNA SHELEST & CONCERTO BUDAPEST 97

CONTACT AND VISITOR INFORMATION Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music: 1061 Budapest, Liszt Ferenc tér 8. Tel (central): (+36-1) 462-4600 Customers can make enquiries at kozonsegkapcsolat@zeneakademia.hu and on (+36-1) 462-4680. TICKETING The Liszt Academy Concert Centre ticket office can be found by the main entrance to the Liszt Academy at Liszt Ferenc tér 8. It is open from 10am to 6pm daily and during concerts until the end of the first interval. For concerts starting at 10am or earlier, the ticket office opens half an hour prior to the performance. Ticket office contact details: Tel: (+36-1) 321-0690 / Email: jegy@lisztacademy.hu Ticket office staff will be pleased to help you with any inquiries related to concert tickets. Further information on ticketing is available on the Liszt Academy website: zeneakademia.jegy.hu/?lang=en Last-minute tickets are sold to students with valid student ID for HUF 500 in the hour before each performance held in the Grand Hall or Solti Hall. LISZT ACADEMY OPENING HOURS AND GUIDED TOURS Come and visit the singularly beautiful Art Nouveau main building of the Liszt Academy. Guided tours are held in Hungarian for individual visitors from 1.30pm on Fridays and Sundays. English-language guided tours take place daily from 1.30pm. Tours last approximately 50 minutes and may be completed with a 10–15minute mini-concert by students at the Liszt Academy. No previous registration is necessary; tickets for guided tours and extra mini-concerts can be purchased right before the tours. Foreign-language group tours are to be booked in advance. These are available in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Finnish, Czech, Slovak, Romanian, Portuguese and Japanese. Minimum group size: 12; maximum group size: 35. For tour booking, appointments, further information and partnership with travel agencies, contact turizmus@zeneakademia.hu Ticket prices: Guided tours in Hungarian: HUF 2 000 Guided tours in other languages: HUF 3 500 Mini-concerts (optional): HUF 1 000 Students with a valid student ID, senior citizens over 65 (with a valid pensioners’ card) are entitled to a 50% discount. These prices also include 27% VAT. Liszt Academy audiences can park for a discounted price just two streets from Liszt tér at the automated parking garage at Akácfa u. 60. You can obtain a coupon entitling you to one hour of free parking at the Academy’s ticket office on presenting your parking stub and concert ticket on the day of the concert, no later than the end of the first interval. A wheelchair-accessible entrance to the building is available on Király street.

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

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

MANAGING EDITOR:

AUTHORS:

Márta Katona, Musicologist

Anna Belinszky – Musicologist, Junior Member, Department of Musicology and Music Theory, Academy of Music Gábor Bóka – Critic Mátyás Bolya – Folk musician, ethnomusicologist, Assistant Professor, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music; Research Fellow, Institute for Musicology, Faculty of Arts, ELTE University Martin Elek – Musicologist Rudolf Gusztin – Musicologist, PhD student at the Doctoral School of the Academy of Music; Assistant Research Fellow, Institute for Musicology, Faculty of Arts, ELTE University Zsófia Hózsa – Musicologist, Student at the Doctoral School of the Academy of Music Ferenc László – Journalist, critic, cultural historian Péter Merényi – Musicologist, Student, Department of Musicology and Music Theory, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music Ágnes Mester – Member, Office of Communications and Media Content, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music Szabolcs Molnár – Musicologist, Teacher, Bartók Béla School of Music and Musical Instruments Dániel Mona – Musicologist Zsombor Németh – Musicologist, Research Fellow, Institute for Musicology, Faculty of Arts, ELTE University Zsuzsanna Rákai – Musicologist, Teacher, Bartók Béla School of Music and Musical Instruments Judit Rácz – Journalist Anna Scholz – Musicologist, cello recitalist, Assistant Professor, University of Debrecen György Szentgallay – Jazz bass guitarist, composer, journalist Anna Unger – Member, Office of Communications and Media Content, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music Tamás Várkonyi – Musicologist

MUSICAL EXPERT: Lívia Hajdú, Musicologist

COPY EDITOR: Edit Marosi

CURATOR FOR ILLUSTRATIONS: Anna Unger

PUBLICATION MANAGER: Erzsébet Issekutz

LAYOUT: Allison Advertising Kft.

MAKEUP: Laura Sásdi

PRESS: Keskeny és Társai 2001 Kft. Published in 1 000 copies by the Office of Communications and Media Content, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music Published with the support of the Concert and Events Centre, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music The organisers reserve the right to make changes to the programme.

DEADLINE: 15 November 2019

We are especially indebted to Klára Gulyás-Somogyi, Director of the Library of the Academy of Music, and Adrien Csabai, research librarian, for collecting and scanning the Beethoven scores.

SUPPORTER OF THE LISZT ACADEMY

Ministry of Human Capacities

PARTNERS OF THE UNIVERSITY ARCHIVE AND CONCERT PHOTOS, PORTRAITS OF ARTISTS: Acosta, Dario A Adrián Zoltán A Barsi Dorottya A Bartos Barna A Beck, Lukas (lukasbeck.com) A Benkő Sándor A Biffar, Denise A Birtalan Zsolt A Blaton, Tom A Borggreve, Marco A Borsos Mihály A Boxtel, Simon Van A Böröcz Balázs A Broede, Felix A Campa, Marc A Chan, Kurt A Cohen, Thierry A Cura, Zoe A Csányi István A Csibi Szilvia A Dobos Tamás A Dyck, Walter van A Ealovega, Benjamin A Egervári Gábor A Ekkehard, Jung A Emmer László A Erdős Dénes A Farkas Vivien A Fazekas István A Fejér Gábor A Felvégi Andrea A Fiala Gábor A Fotócenter Stúdió A Garnier, Michel A Glockner, Maren A Haase, Esther A Hamarits Zsolt A Hanck, Julien A Hargitay Olivér A Hegedüs Márton A Helbig, Maike A Hoffmann, Harald A Horváth Gábor A Horváth Péter Gyula A Horváth Zente A Hrotkó Bálint A Ifkovits, Johannes A Ignaszewski, David A Juhász Éva A Kakuszi Zoltán A Kende Luca A Ketterer, Priska A Kikkas, Kaupo A Kiss-Kuntler Árpád A Kondella Mihály A Kőhidai Szabolcs A Krakau, Wiebrig A Kurucz Árpád A Kürti Ákos A Leclercq, Francois A Leko, Mario A Leko, Mark A Lund, Nikolaj A Maeckelberghe, Wouter A Matasov, Egor A Matveev, Emil A Megrelidze, Gela A Mikes Réka A Molina Visuals A Monoki Attila A Möistlik, Ave Maria A Mudra László A Nagy Károly Zsolt A Németh Szabolcs A Nugent, Luke A Orbán Gellért A Pandzarisz Tamás A Petelinsek, Tamino A Philippet, Jacques A Pilvax Stúdió A Pilz Edina A Pufe, Daniel A Rabovsky, Daniil A Radnóti Róza A Raffay Zsófia A Reiszmann Marian A Roca, Jordi A Saunders, Keith A Schaap, Gerco A Sebestyén Zoltán A Speier Viktória A Szecsődi Balázs A Szekeres, Kasimir A Takács Andrea A Tuba Zoltán A Valuska Gábor A Várallyay Nóra A Várhegyi Klára A Vincze Marian A Vörös Attila A Wesely, Julia A Yu, Grace A Zih Zsolt A Zsugonits Gábor

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