4 SEPTEMBER 2021| Saturday 7.30 pm |
PEST VIGADÓ
Miklós Malek Jubilee Recital
Miklós Malek: Quo vadis
Miklós Malek: Valse triste
Miklós Malek: Trombone Concerto
Miklós Malek: Scherzo
Miklós Malek: Violin Concerto
Miklós Malek: By the Danube
Miklós Malek: Christmas Song
Conductor: Miklós Malek
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad)
Árpád Amirás (cello), Róbert Káip (trombone), Vilmos Oláh (violin), Andrea Malek (vocals)
Composer Miklós Malek, winner of the Erkel Ferenc Prize and Artisjus Lifetime Award, is associated with numerous hits and stage songs, although in the past quarter of a century he has been active almost exclusively in the field of symphony music. He is particularly attracted to the concerto genre and of his concertos for wind soloists (for example, for trumpet, horn, trombone, clarinet, bassoon, oboe and flute), many have been debuted by the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra or members of the ensemble. This composer’s recital includes not only symphonic concertos but string orchestral works (Quo vadis, Scherzo) and the choral composition By the Danube to the poem by Attila József.
Tickets: HUF 2000 (student and senior discount -20%) BUY HERE
10 SEPTEMBER 2021| Friday 8 pm |
STEPHEN’S BASILICA
Anno Sacri Season Ticket 1 – Part of the programmes of the International Eucharistic Congress
Striggio: Ecce beatam lucem
Striggio: Missa sopra ecco si beato giorno ’a 40 & 60
Conductor: Dominique Visse
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad) and Hungarian National Choir (choral director: Csaba Somos)
The brilliant Italian composer Alessandro Striggio (1536/1537–1592) was one of the most fascinating figures of the late Renaissance, while his son, similarly christened Alessandro, wrote his name into the history of music as librettist of Monteverdi’s landmark opera Orfeo. Striggio took his motet (Ecce beatum lucem) – composed for five choirs each of eight voices, that is, a total of 40 parts, with instrumental accompaniment – with him to London where he was on a diplomatic mission in 1567.
It is highly likely that English composer Thomas Tallis patterned his unique, also 40-part work Spem in alium on the Italian master’s composition. Striggio’s mass is similarly grandiose; its Agnus Dei movement is written for no fewer than 60 voices. French countertenor and conductor Dominique Visse played a key role in the rediscovery of this latter work.
Tickets: HUF 3000 (student and senior discount -20%) BUY HERE
27 SEPTEMBER 2021| Monday 6 pm |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir – season-opening concert
SENIOR CHOIR
Wipo de Bourgogne: Victimae paschali laudes
Aivars Kalnins: Christ ist erstanden
Orlandus Lassus: Alleluja, laus et gloria
Orlandus Lassus: Adoramus te, Christe
Orlandus Lassus: Motet (on Renaissance flutes)
Orlandus Lassus: Verbum caro, panem verum
Orlandus Lassus: Alleluja, laus et gloria
Renaissance motets and madrigals performed by chamber formations, works by Henry Youll, A. Holborne, De Nola
UPPER JUNIOR
Lajos Bárdos: Call the Field, Playing Ball (two canons)
Erzsébet Szőnyi: 11 Easy Songs for Children’s Choir – The Road to Eger, I Found Gold
Jenő Pertis: Folk Songs – piano accompaniment by Zsuzsanna Arany
Béla Bartók: Don’t Go
SENIOR CHOIR
Kodály: Tantum ergo V
Kodály: St. Gregory’s Day
Bartók: Teasing Song
Bartók: Birdsong
Bartók: Suitor
Kodály: Ave Maria
Kodály: Evening Song
Conductor: Soma Dinyés and Katalin Körber Vargáné
Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir
Tickets: HUF 3000 / 2500 / 2000 / 1500 – (student and senior discount -20%) BUY HERE
29 SEPTEMBER 2021| Wednesday 7.30 pm |
ELTE FACULTY OF LAW, AULA MAGNA
Hungarian Recital
Kodály: Transylvanian Lament
Ligeti: Pápainé
Bartók: Hungarian Folk Songs
Bartók: Two Romanian Folk Songs
Kodály: Mátra Pictures
Bartók: Slovak Folk Songs
Kodály: Evening Song
Conductor: Zoltán Pad
Hungarian Radio Choir
Zoltán Kodály regarded folk music researcher Bartók’s multifaceted, passionate interest in the music of distant regions lying far from the folk music of Hungarian and neighbouring peoples to be a sign of his eternal curiosity. Perhaps it was Kodály’s words that echoed in the memory of György Ligeti when he mentioned the composer’s versatility, that he was “constantly seeking the unknown”, as one of the wellsprings of his admiration for Bartók. “He was eternally curious in the best sense of the word.” This Hungarian Radio Choir recital features folk song arrangements – including pieces based on outlaw, highwaymen and marching melodies – by the three composers, Bartók, Kodály and Ligeti, thereby providing eloquent testimony of the many ways in which anonymous songsmiths of the people are capable of stimulating the intuition, interest and curiosity of composers.
Tickets: HUF 2000 (student and senior discount -20%) BUY HERE
1 OCTOBER 2021| Friday 7.30 pm |
ITALIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE
Concert marking International Music Day
Kodály: Dances of Galánta
Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3
Bartók: Hungarian Pictures
Liszt: Les Preludes
Conductor: Tamás Vásáry
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
József Balog (piano)
Melodies evoking the recruiting songs of Dances of Galánta, the beginning impacting like natural phenomena in the first movement of Bartók’s third piano concerto, An Evening in the Village or Bear Dance from Hungarian Pictures, and finally the unceasing rise and divine apotheosis of the Ferenc Liszt symphonic poem are all iconic musical moments from works by giants of Hungarian music history. These moments capture the essence of the style, way of thinking and personality of the three composers, and perhaps it is no coincidence that posterity endowed these pieces with symbolic meanings going far beyond themselves, moreover, these works are known in all corners of the world to have germinated in Hungarian soil.
Tickets: HUF 5000 (student and senior discount -20%) BUY HERE
16 OCTOBER 2021| Saturday 7.30 pm |
MÜPA BUDAPEST – BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
Lehel Season Ticket 1 – János Kovács 70
Wagner: The Mastersingers of Nürnberg – overture
Reinecke: Flute Concerto in D major, Op. 283
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, WAB 109
Conductor: János Kovács
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Emmanuel Pahud (flute)
Carl Reinecke was well past his 80th birthday when, in 1908, he completed his D major flute concerto. Many consider the work to be the final flicker of the Mendelssohnian spirit, certainly not regardless of the fact that Reinecke conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra for more than three decades, the reputation of which Mendelssohn himself established. A few years ago, the world-famous flautist Emmanuel Pahud recorded not only pieces by 20th century composers such as Penderecki and Takemitsu, but Reinecke’s concerto as well, which he considers beautifully illustrates the power of dreams. Under the baton of János Kovács, the work is performed between two late-Romantic, challenging yet exquisite compositions, Wagner’s Mastersingers overture and Bruckner’s final, ninth symphony.
The concert is our way of greeting conductor János Kovács who celebrates his 70th birthday this year.
Tickets: HUF 6000 / 5000 / 4000 / 3000 / 2000 (student and senior discount -20%) BUY HERE
27 OCTOBER 2021| Wednesday 7.30 pm |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Dohnányi Season Ticket 1
Bartók: Dance Suite, Sz. 77, BB. 86
Bartók: Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 2, BB. 35
Strauss: Burlesque for Piano and Orchestra
Strauss: Don Juan, Op. 20
Conductor: Riccardo Frizza
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Zoltán Fejérvári (piano)
Bartók’s youthful piano concerto movement – perhaps not independently of Strauss’s early work, which employed a similar setup – was originally to have had the title Burlesque. Later on, Bartók planned to introduce and publish it under the name Scherzo, although in the end both the premiere (Bartók refused to allow the ensemble to perform the work because they had not sufficiently rehearsed it) and publication of the work never happened. The composer himself appears to have wanted to forget the whole piece. The score of the movement only came to light more than 50 years later, and it now appears evident that from among the early Bartók compositions, the Scherzo displays many progressive elements.
Tickets: HUF 6000 / 5000 / 4000 / 3500 (student and senior discount -20%) BUY HERE
9 NOVEMBER 2021| Tuesday 7.30 pm |
MÜPA BUDAPEST – BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
Lehel Season Ticket 2
Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci
Conductor: János Kovács
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad), Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir (principal conductor: Soma Dinyés)
José Cura (tenor), Polina Pasztircsák (soprano), Zoltán Kelemen (baritone), Péter Balczó (tenor), Zsolt Haja (baritone)
José Cura’s expertise in singing and acting frequently pose a dilemma for critics. But a kind of pleasant dilemma in that critics often find themselves unable to state what actually José Cura is doing on stage; the fact is, they don’t see him but instead the character that he is playing, whether it be Othello, Calaf or Canio. His singing is always accurate, he adheres to the score, yet all his utterances appear like an address, a spiritual revelation. The persuasiveness of his artistic presence not only has a powerful impact on audiences but his fellow singers frequently recount that the atmosphere around Cura crackles and this brings out the best performances in everyone.
Tickets: HUF 6000 / 5000 / 4000 / 3000 / 2000 (student and senior discount -20%) BUY HERE
15 NOVEMBER 2021| Monday 7.30 pm |
EÖTVÖS 10 COMMUNITY AND CULTURAL THEATRE
Concert and formal announcement of the results of the competition marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of János Pilinszky
Lajos Huszár: Icons – in memory of János Pilinszky
Gyula Bánkövi: In the Splintered Field of the Setting Sun
Kurtág: Four Songs to Poems by János Pilinszky, Op. 11
+ the winning work of the Pilinszky 100 composers’ competition
Conductor: János Kovács
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Andrea Meláth (mezzo-soprano), Ágnes Anna Kun (mezzo-soprano), Attila Erdős (baritone)
We celebrate the centenary of the birth of János Pilinszky in 2021. On the occasion of this auspicious anniversary, the Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles announced a competition for the composition of a piece of music, the theme of which is the poet’s work Birth of the Sun. The winning entry is performed at this commemorative concert alongside works by Kurtág, Bánkövi and Huszár.
Entry on basis of registration. Send request to info@radiomusic.hu
21 NOVEMBER 2021| Sunday 7.30 pm |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Vásáry Brahms Season Ticket 1
Brahms: Piano Concerto in D minor, Op. 15
Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90
Conductor: Tamás Vásáry
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Varvara (piano)
The enormously talented Varvara Nepomnyashchaya burst onto the world stage at the Anda Géza Piano Competition in Zurich in 2012. Three years ago, she was the guest of Tamás Vásáry for his concert cycle comprising Beethoven works, where she performed the C minor piano concerto. In November, she returns to Budapest in a Brahms programme, where we hear her interpretation of a work reminiscent of the composer’s youthful, massive symphony that places enormous demands on the artistic and instrumental capacities of the performer. We can be confident that the artist who so captivated the Zurich jury will once again display her astonishing dimensions of music-making.
Tickets: HUF 8000 / 7000 / 5000 / 3500 (student and senior discount -20%) BUY HERE
26 NOVEMBER 2021| Friday 8 pm |
MATTHIAS CHURCH
Anno Sacri Season Ticket 2
Vivaldi: Sinfonia in C major, RV 192
J.S. Bach: Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust – cantata, BWV 170
Valentini: Concerto grosso in D minor, Op. 7, No. 2
J.S. Bach: Bekennen will ich seinen Namen – cantata, BWV 200
J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Dmitry Sinkovsky (violin, vocals)
Dmitry Sinkovsky is known globally as an artist in whom, figuratively and literally, the virtuosity of Russian musicians is combined with sensual Italian bel canto. He takes to the stage as both violinist and countertenor, functioning to the very highest degree in both fields with his apparent inexhaustible energy and stunning technique. Early in his career he performed alongside such ensembles as Il Giardino Armonico, Il Complesso Barocco, Il Pomo D’Oro, Musica Petropolitana and Accademia Bizantina.
Tickets: HUF 3000 (student and senior discount -20%) BUY HERE
4 DECEMBER 2021| Saturday 7.30 pm |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Dohnányi Season Ticket 2
Smetana: My Homeland – From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields
Janáček: Taras Bulba
Janáček: Jenufa – Jenufa’s aria and closing scene from the third act
Smetana: My Country – Sárka
Janáček: Sinfonietta
Conductor: János Kovács
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Zsuzsanna Ádám (soprano), István Kovácsházi (tenor)
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. 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 a disconcertingly uplifting 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 6000 / 5000 / 4000 / 3500 (student and senior discount -20%) BUY HERE
11 DECEMBER 2021| Saturday 16:00 |
BUDAPEST MUSIC CENTER
Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir – Advent concert
Conductor: Soma Dinyés, Judit Walter and Katalin Körber Vargáné
Zsuzsanna Arany (piano)
Virtually all chamber and choral formations of Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir make an appearance at this Christmas concert. The Upper Junior Choir comprising the youngest singers present a Nativity play while the Mixed Choir have a Christmas programme of carols sung in English and Hungarian. The unforgettable vibe of this annual concert fixture is further enhanced by instrumental and pure vocal chamber music formations.
Tickets: HUF 1000 (student and senior discount -20%) BUY HERE
15 DECEMBER 2021| Wednesday 8 pm |
MATTHIAS CHURCH
Sapszon Season Ticket 1
Josquin Des Prez: Ave Maria
Nicolas Gombert: Magnificat primi toni
Pierre de Manchicourt: O Emanuel
Saint-Saëns: Christmas Oratorio
Conductor: Zoltán Pad
Hungarian Radio Choir and Symphony Orchestra
Ágnes Kovács (soprano), Lucia Megyesi Schwartz (mezzo-soprano), Diána Hajdú (alto), János Szerekován (tenor), Pál Szerdahelyi (baritone)
‘In the style of Sebastian Bach’. These words are written on the title page of the Christmas Oratorio dating from early in the career of Saint-Saëns. The first six movements of the composition were completed very rapidly leaving him just a few days in December before its premiere. The 23-year-old composer debuted the new work at the midnight mass of the church of La Madeleine, Paris. After this he supplemented it with additional movements although the final version comprising ten movements only took shape several years later. Interestingly, even though the score was not published in printed form for three decades, in 1892, it was still widely known. The composer was in Hungary in the 1880s and a newspaper of the period appreciated the author’s church music style, saying that Saint-Saëns “sets down, so to speak, his secular musical qualities at the doorstep of the church, leaving outside his whims and ideas and bringing in only his devotion and taste. He learnt command and strength from Bach, charm and grace from Mozart.”
Tickets: HUF 2500 (student and senior discount -20%) BUY HERE
18 DECEMBER 2021| Saturday 4 pm |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir – Christmas concert
Conductor: Soma Dinyés and Katalin Körber Vargáné
Zsuzsanna Arany (piano)
The Christmas concert programme of Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir embraces beautiful choral works of the centuries starting with a Gregorian Advent hymn through motets by Jacobus Gallus and Heinrich Finck and works by the great masters, Kodály and Bartók all the way to pieces written by artists of our day. Seasonal Christmas works are sourced from all over the world.
Tickets: HUF 3000 / 2500 / 2000 / 1500 (student and senior discount -20%) BUY HERE
1 JANUARY 2022| Saturday 18:00 |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
New Year Overture
Joint concert by Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Liszt Academy and M5
Conductor: Ádám Medveczky
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
For the past two years, lovers of music have been able to kick off the New Year with a combined concert by Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Liszt Academy on the evening of 1 January. The concert of popular works of music under the baton of Hungary’s top conductors is broadcast by public service TV and radio stations. Tamás Vásáry was the first to conduct the ensemble and gifted students of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, followed by János Kovács. The standard is equally high this year. On the first day of 2022, Kossuth Prize conductor and Liszt Academy professor Ádám Medveczky guides us through a host of fizzing melodies, with the programme once again being broadcast by channels of the public media service.
Tickets: HUF 12,000 / 10,000 / 8000 / 5000
13 JANUARY 2022| Thursday 19:00 |
HÍRÖS AGÓRA, KECSKEMÉT
Brahms: Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73
Conductor: Tamás Vásáry
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra,
Júlia Pusker (violin), Dóra Kokas (cello)
14 JANUARY 2022| Friday 19:30 |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Vásáry Season Ticket 2
Brahms: Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73
Conductor: Tamás Vásáry
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra,
Júlia Pusker (violin), Dóra Kokas (cello)
Brahms’s last symphonic work, the A minor double concerto, is a heart-warming ode to a great friendship interspersed with highs and lows. Perhaps the first thing to come to mind in the dialogue of violin and cello is that of two ageing men, the composer and the violinist József Joachim. For this recital, however, two young women artists, Júlia Pusker and Dóra Kokas, approach the dialogue-character of Brahms’s music from a different angle. In the second half it is the turn of the master’s second symphony, which Brahms himself conducted at a concert in Pest in 1879. An article from the period stated of Brahms that “he now appears for the first time in the company of our philharmonic orchestra. He is often called the modern Bach, the heir of Schumann and Beethoven. We can agree with those who assert that such a symphony has not been written since Beethoven.”
Tickets: HUF 8000 / 7000 / 5000 / 3500 (student and senior discount -20%)
18 JANUARY 2022| Tuesday 20:00 |
SACRED HEART JESUIT CHURCH
László Lajtha Memorial Recital 1
Concert marking the 130th anniversary of the birth of László Lajtha
Lajtha: Magnificat, Op. 60
Lajtha: Three Hymns for the Holy Virgin, Op. 65
Lajtha: Mass, Op. 54
Conductor: Zoltán Pad
Hungarian Radio Choir
Márton Levente Horváth (organ)
László Lajtha was one of the most important artists of 20th century Hungarian music and his oeuvre still largely awaits discovery. Happily, the situation today is far better than it was some 50 years ago when Péter Várnai bitterly declared that “this world-famous great master remains obscure in his own homeland. His works are rarely performed not only after his death, but indeed even during his lifetime, even though every Lajtha appearance makes abundantly clear that the rare performance of his works represents a huge loss to our concert life.” He reckoned the Magnificat and Three Hymns to be “as though the music of the Renaissance had been revived with 20th century instruments.”
Tickets: HUF 2500 (student and senior discount -20%)
25 JANUARY 2022| Tuesday 19:30 |
MÜPA BUDAPEST – BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
Lehel Season Ticket 3
Smetana: The Moldau
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21
Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
Conductor: Gábor Káli
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Dénes Várjon (piano)
A visually potent, vibrant musical tableau, a piano concerto interwoven with delicate sentimentality, and a powerful orchestral composition that is a dance not only in its title, but is both grotesque and overflowing with passion. These, then, are the works on the programme of Gábor Káli and Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Soloist of the recital is Dénes Várjon who we are fully familiar with playing the concertos of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Bartók, whereas he more rarely tackles Chopin’s early piano concertos, thus his appearance tonight is likely to generate even greater excitement than usual. He last played the F minor concerto with the Radio Orchestra a decade ago when, due to his temperament, he drew attention to the chamber music elements of the work.
Tickets: HUF 6000 / 5000 / 4000 / 3000 / 2000 (student and senior discount -20%)
30 JANUARY 2022| Sunday 19:30 |
BUDAPEST MUSIC CENTER
László Lajtha Memorial Recital 2
Concert marking the 130th anniversary of the birth of László Lajtha
Two Choruses (I. Chanson, II. Rondel), Op. 23
Evening Conversation – The Mountains, Op. 16
Four Madrigals, Op. 29
Par Ou Est Passe Le Chant? Op. 32
Conductor: Zoltán Pad
Hungarian Radio Choir
“In numerical terms, choral works do not represent a significant part of the oeuvre of Lajtha. That said, from the aspect of their music value they belong, alongside the works of Bartók and Kodály, among the most important creations of the 20th century Hungarian choral genre,” wrote conductor Ákos Erdős. His works are significantly different tonally than the repertoire of the contemporary Hungarian choral movement, which mainly comprises adaptations of folk songs. Composing for vocal ensemble took on importance in two separate periods of his career. This recital by Hungarian Radio Choir presents Lajtha works written for mixed choir between 1932 and 1940; Lajos Áprily was his creative companion – as poet or literary translator – on all these works.
Tickets: HUF 2500 (student and senior discount -20%)
1 FEBRUARY 2022| Tuesday 19:30 |
PEST VIGADÓ
Kodály–Lajtha Memorial Recital
Kodály: Marosszék Dances
Hidas: Concerto
Lajtha: Symphony No. 6
Conductor: Gergely Vajda
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Gábor Varga (clarinet)
During the 1960-70s, close ties developed between Frigyes Hidas and Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; György Lehel, former principal conductor of the ensemble, conducted the world premieres of 17 of his works, among them several concertos such as the Bassoon Concerto, Violin Concertino and Trombone Concerto. This evening’s recital is a premiere of one of the last pieces written by Frigyes Hidas, the orchestral version of the concerto for clarinet. After the intermission there is the surprisingly upbeat sixth symphony by László Lajtha, which, one musicologist has pointed out, could equally be subtitled Summer.
Tickets: HUF 2500 (student and senior discount -20%)
8 FEBRUARY 2022| Tuesday 19:30 |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Dohnányi Season Ticket 3
Respighi: Concerto gregoriano
Puccini: Messa di Gloria
Conductor: José Cura
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad)
Ádám Banda (violin), István Horváth (tenor), Miklós Sebestyén (bass baritone)
Ottorino Respighi’s Violin Concerto, the Concerto gregoriano, was written in 1922 and just three years later it was performed under the baton of the composer himself in Budapest. A music critic of the daily Pesti Hírlap considered that Respighi was a virtuoso musical colourist, a superb orchestrator in grandiose effects, who was complex even in his simplicity. As a conductor, he was delicate and elegant, aethereal and sublime. The piece reappeared in Budapest in 1933 and interestingly, similarly to this Radio Orchestra and José Cura concert, a liturgical work (Ernő Dohnányi: Szeged Mass) also appeared on the programme. This time around it is Puccini’s work from his youth; elements of Messa di Gloria may be familiar from his later operas such as Manon Lescaut and Tosca.
Tickets: HUF 6000 / 5000 / 4000 / 3500 (student and senior discount -20%)
14 FEBRUARY 2022| Monday 19:30 |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Vásáry Brahms Season Ticket 3
Brahms: Piano Concerto in B-flat major, Op. 83
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
Conductor: Tamás Vásáry
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Ádám Balogh (piano)
Brahms loved Hungarian music and respected the Hungarians, and he was happy to hold concerts in Budapest. On one such trip in 1881, an entire concert was dedicated to his works; the performance of the second piano concerto with solo by the composer was actually the world premiere of the piece. If one can believe press reports of the time, Brahms played the principal part abounding in difficulties with tremendous technique and astonishing virtuosity. The recital by Tamás Vásáry and Ádám Balogh is partly a recreation of this concert because it is a good 140 years since the first symphony of Brahms was also played. One critic was so enthused by the composition that he wrote “if the composer had never written any other symphony than this sublime piece, still it would have been a fitting tribute to him.”
Tickets: HUF 8000 / 7000 / 5000 / 3500 (student and senior discount -20%)
18 FEBRUARY 2022| Friday 19:30 |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Virtuosi
Conductor: János Kovács
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, finalists of the 2020/2021 Virtuosi
Virtuosi is a classical music talent show launched by MTVA Hungarian television in 2014. This recital is a chance for the young artists discovered by the series to take to the stage in the company of Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. The concert featuring prizewinners is sponsored by MTVA.
Tickets: HUF 3000 (student and senior discount -20%)
19 FEBRUARY 2022| Saturday 20:00 |
MATTHIAS CHURCH
Sapszon Season Ticket 2
Clemens non Papa: Sanctus
‘Creatio’
John Rutter: Hymn to the Creator of Light
‘Incarnatio’ ‘…et homo factus est’
Lauridsen: O magnum mysterium
‘Transfiguratio’
Strohbach: Die Verklerung
‘Redemptio’
Paul Mealor: Ubi Caritas
‘Passio’
Poulenc: Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence
‘Crucifixio’ ‘…fulget Crucis mysterium…’
Vexilla regis – Gregorian hymn
‘Resurrectio’
Eric Whitacre: Alleluia
‘Emmaus’
Rheinberger: Abendlied
‘Pentecostes’
Zoltán Kodály – András Batizi: Come, Holy Spirit
‘Maria’
Dénes Harmath: Ave Maria
‘Assumptio Beatae Mariae Virginis’
Levente Gyöngyösi: Assumpta est Maria
‘Eucharistia’
Zoltán Kodály: Communion Anthem
Conductor: Ferenc Sapszon Jnr.
Hungarian Radio Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad)
Tickets: HUF 2500 (student and senior discount -20%)
27 FEBRUARY 2022| Sunday 19:30 |
MÜPA BUDAPEST – BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
Lehel Season Ticket 4
Brahms: German Requiem
Conductor: Tamás Vásáry
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad)
Lilla Horti (soprano), Mihály Kálmándy (baritone)
Brahms’s requiem helps audiences to experience the mystery of mortality and eternal life, pain and consolation, repentance and redemption. “Particularly if it is led by such a charismatic conductor as Tamás Vásáry, and when its superb choral tableaux are sung by such a brilliant ensemble as Hungarian Radio Choir,” wrote an enthusiastic critic nearly a quarter of a century ago, in 1998. Like many other grandiose Brahms compositions, the German Requiem also found its way to the Hungarian public very quickly; the work was first performed in Pest Vigadó in 1884 and even the dress rehearsal attracted enormous interest. Reports from the time say that conductor Imre Bellovics did everything to make sure the concert lived up to the heightened expectations.
Tickets: HUF 6000 / 5000 / 4000 / 3000 / 2000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Discount for Vásáry Season Ticket holders
28 FEBRUARY 2022| Monday 19:00 |
MISKOLC – HOUSE OF ARTS
Brahms: German Requiem
Conductor: Tamás Vásáry
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad)
Lilla Horti (soprano), Mihály Kálmándy (baritone)
7 MARCH 2022| Monday 20:00 |
MATTHIAS CHURCH
Anno Sacri Season Ticket 3
Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine
Conductor: Zoltán Pad
Hungarian Radio Choir and members of Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Ágnes Kovács (soprano), Andriána Kalafszky (soprano), József Csapó (tenor), Gábor Pivarcsi (tenor), Lajos Fodré (tenor), Zoltán Melkovics (bass), Szabolcs Hámori (bass)
One of the greatest ecclesiastical works of the early Baroque period, the vespers of the Virgin Mary by Monteverdi, was written in Mantua and its composer despatched it to the office of Pope Paul V in the hope of obtaining a post in Rome. However, it appears he suspected that the work would receive a warmer reception in Venice so he rearranged the score, like his famous Venetian colleagues, who made the city’s world-famous cathedral square (St. Mark’s) an organic part of compositions. Choir galleries set far apart from each other in the church made possible the contrasting performances of separate vocal and instrumental ensembles. This is referred to in the telling subtitle of Vespro: ‘Da concerto, composta sopra canti fermi’. Every performance of this work is a special treat for audiences and a special challenge for artists.
Tickets: HUF 3000 (student and senior discount -20%)
16 MARCH 2022| Wednesday19:30 |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Dohnányi Season Ticket 4
Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a
Liszt: Two Legends, S. 354
György Orbán: Cantico di Frate Sole
(St. Francis of Assisi, Canticle of Brother Sun)
Debussy: The Sea, L. 109
Conductor: Gergely Vajda
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Andrea Rost (soprano)
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 body of water is always closely associated with the concept of creation: pondering the infinity of the sea, many will experience primordial nature or God. We find three aspects of the sea in the music of Liszt, Debussy and Britten, but all three make infinity slightly clearer. György Orbán called the text of his Canticle of Brother Sun a “cosmic thanksgiving prayer”, which understands, and makes comprehensible, the world created by God through wonderful metaphors.
Tickets: HUF 6000 / 5000 / 4000 / 3500 (student and senior discount -20%)
24 MARCH 2022| Thursday 19:30 |
MÜPA BUDAPEST – BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
Lehel Season Ticket 5
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C minor, ‘Resurrection’
Conductor: Riccardo Frizza
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad),
Kodály Choir Debrecen (choral director: Zoltán Kocsis-Holper), Kinga Kriszta (soprano), Erika Gál (mezzo-soprano)
According to his own correspondence, Mahler began his second symphony with great questions: ‘Why have you lived? Why have you suffered? Is everything just one enormous, terrible joke? We have to answer these questions in some way if we want to carry on living – indeed, even if we must die! And this answer I give in the final movement. The second and third movements are conceived as an interlude. The second is a memory! A moment of bliss from the life of this hero, pure and tranquil.”
Tickets: HUF 6000 / 5000 / 4000 / 3000 / 2000 (student and senior discount -20%)
30 MARCH 2022| Wednesday 19:30 |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Vásáry Brahms Season Ticket 4
Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98
Conductor: Tamás Vásáry
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Vilmos Oláh (violin)
Brahms composed his sole concerto for violin specifically for József Joachim, one of the greatest violinists of the 19th century. The two musicians first met in 1853; the then 20-year-old Brahms was still a completely unknown composer whereas Joachim, who was two years his senior and had started out as a wunderkind, was already enjoying a significant reputation. A lifelong friendship developed between Brahms and Joachim, out of which grew works such as the Violin Concerto. Vilmos Oláh, soloist at the concert, once said: “I was about seven or eight when I started collecting records. I first heard the music of József Joachim on these discs and he had an astounding impact on me; for example, when it comes to playing Brahms pieces, I am guided by his interpretation.”
Tickets: HUF 8000 / 7000 / 5000 / 3500 (student and senior discount -20%)
6 APRIL 2022| Wednesday 19:30 |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Dohnányi Season Ticket 5
Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 2 in B-flat major, ‘Lobgesang’, Op. 56
Conductor: Carlo Montanaro
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad),
Ágnes Molnár (soprano), Atala Schöck (alto), Attila Fekete (tenor)
Today’s concert practice is to position the Lobgesang symphony in the shadow of the symphonies with the sobriquets Italian, Scottish and Reformation, even though the fact is that in the 19th century it ranked as one of Mendelssohn’s most popular compositions. In 1840, at the premiere of the symphony cantata, the composer had at his disposal an ensemble, soloists, orchestra and choir totalling no fewer than 500 musicians, thus one can well imagine that the audience gathered in the Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig certainly felt the full impact of the piece’s exceptional dimensions and joyous tone: and they had good cause for celebration since they were marking the 400th anniversary of the invention of printing.
Tickets: HUF 6000 / 5000 / 4000 / 3500 (student and senior discount -20%)
20 APRIL 2022| Wednesday 20:00 |
MATTHIAS CHURCH
Anno Sacri Season Ticket 4
Vivaldi: Magnificat, RV. 610
Telemann: Lateinische Magnificat in C major, TWV. 9:17
J.S. Bach: Magnificat, BWV 243
Conductor: Róbert Farkas
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad),
Andrea Csereklyei (soprano), Sára Banai (soprano), Kornélia Bakos (alto), Márton Komáromi (tenor), István Kovács (bass), Szabolcs Hámori (bass)
The Virgin Mary’s song of thanksgiving to God, the Magnificat in the Gospel of Luke, is a particularly common movement set to music of long-established liturgical church music. The list of just under 300 composers of Magnificats is far from complete. Interestingly, even in services conducted in the native tongue it was sung in Latin, and this was the case for Bach, too. The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir concert features three Magnificats that date from approximately the same time but were written in different music environments, thereby providing the opportunity not only to revel in the quality of music of the individual pieces but also to draw comparisons.
Tickets: HUF 3000 (student and senior discount -20%)
26 APRIL 2022| Tuesday 19:30 |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Gala concert of the György Cziffra Memorial Year
Liszt: Les Preludes
Liszt: Piano Concerto in E-flat major
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet – suite No. 2
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor
Conductor: Fuad Ibrahimov
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra,
János Balázs (piano)
The music of Ferenc Liszt played a major part in the career of György Cziffra and the Piano Concerto in E-flat major is virtually synonymous with his person. He also performed it to great acclaim in 1956, the final year he spent in Hungary. After the concert, he formulated his ideal by saying he wanted to progress in the school of Ferenc Liszt, in his footsteps, when playing popular orchestral works on piano with the means provided by this instrument. In recent years, János Balázs has given countless indications of how important it is for him to nurture Cziffra’s musical heritage and maintain his performance intellect. He comes to this concert intent on proving this as performer of not only the Liszt, but also the Rachmaninov piano concerto.
Tickets: HUF 6000 / 5000 / 4000 / 3500 (student and senior discount -20%)
29 APRIL 2022| Friday 20:00 |
MATTHIAS CHURCH
Sapszon Season Ticket 3
J.S. Bach: Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225
Heinrich Schütz: Geistliche Chormusik 1648
Selig sind die Toten, SWV 391
Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, SWV 386
Brahms: Warum ist das Licht gegeben, Op. 74, No. 1
Peter Cornelius: Requiem (Friedrich Hebbel)
Max Reger: Ach Herr strafe mich nicht, Op. 110, No. 2
Conductor: Florian Helgath
Hungarian Radio Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad)
Florian Helgath is one of the most engaged and sought-after conductors on the international choral ‘market’. He has been artistic director of Chorwerk Ruhr since 2011 and in 2017 he similarly undertook to act as artistic director of Zürcher Sing-Akademie. He has worked with the leading choirs of the world, conducting, for example, SWR Vokalensemble, RIAS Kammerchor, the Netherlands and Bavarian Radio Choirs; furthermore, the list of ensembles he has collaborated with includes Concerto Köln, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Orchestra La Scintilla, Brussels Philharmonic, Münchner Rundfunkorchester and Ensemble Resonanz. He is equally at home in Baroque church music as he is in contemporary music.
Tickets: HUF 2500 (student and senior discount -20%)
9 MAY 2022| Monday 19:30 |
MÜPA BUDAPEST – BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
Lehel Season Ticket 6
Cura: Requiem Æternam
Conductor: José Cura
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad), Children’s Choir
(principal conductor: Soma Dinyés) and National Choir (choral director: Csaba Somos)
Szilvia Rálik (soprano), Bernadett Fodor (alto), Dániel Pataky (tenor), Marcell Bakonyi (bass)
“I am a composer and conductor who fate has blessed with a significant singing voice,” José Cura declared about himself a few years back. Tonight’s programme is devoted to Requiem, a work he wrote in 1984 commemorating the victims of the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina two years earlier. The work was composed for two choirs with the aim of being performed by an Argentine and a British choir in the spirit of peace and reconciliation. Today, two brilliant Hungarian ensembles, Hungarian Radio Choir and National Choir, perform Requiem under the composer’s baton.
Tickets: HUF 6000 / 5000 / 4000 / 3000 / 2000 (student and senior discount -20%)
14 MAY 2022| Saturday 16:00 |
BUDAPEST MUSIC CENTER
Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir – Whitsun concert
Upper Junior Choir of Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir, Mixed Choir and chamber music formations, with instrumental productions.
Conductor: Soma Dinyés, Judit Walter and Katalin Körber Vargáné
Zsuzsanna Arany (piano)
Tickets: HUF 1000 (student and senior discount -20%)
17 MAY 2022| Tuesday 19:30 |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Dohnányi Season Ticket 6
Tchaikovsky: Variations on the Rococo Theme, Op. 33
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
Conductor: Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra,
Ditta Rohmann (cello)
He has been giving concerts in Hungary for 45 years, he has conducted many of the finest local ensembles, yet it is certain that Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra hold a special place in the heart of the legendary Japanese conductor Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi. And why not, given that right at the beginning of his career, when he won the Hungarian Radio and Television conductors’ competition, he worked together with this very orchestra, overwhelming the listening public as much as the jury. In the decades since, we have found him to be one of the most inspired interpreters of the music of Beethoven, Berlioz, Mahler and Kodály, and only few are able to project the emotional dimensions of Tchaikovsky’s music in such a broad perspective as he is capable of doing.
Tickets: HUF 6000 / 5000 / 4000 / 3500 (student and senior discount -20%)
29 MAY 2022| Sunday 18:00 |
GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir – season-closing concert
Upper Junior Choir and Senior Choir of Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir.
This concert gives prominence primarily to works of Bartók and Kodály marking an anniversary this year, thereby paying tribute to their composers.
Conductor: Soma Dinyés and Katalin Körber Vargáné
Zsuzsanna Arany (piano)
Tickets: HUF 3000 / 2500 / 1500 (student and senior discount -20%)