TICKET LINKS ARE OPENING AS OF JUNE 1, 2023, THURSDAY, 10 A.M. CET!
19:30 SUNDAY 27 AUGUST 2023, BUDAPEST CONGRESS CENTER
Petőfi 200
Hubay: Petőfi Symphony
Conductor: Gábor Káli
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad), Children’s Choir (principal conductor: Soma Dinyés), Honvéd Male Choir (choral director: Richárd Riederauer)
The country celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sándor Petőfi in 1923, when Jenő Hubay’s monumental composition debuted in the Municipal Theatre. A contemporary press report stated: “This symphony in effect crowns our modern-day homage to the great poet of liberty. Hubay has mobilized a huge apparatus for this occasion with more than 500 artists involved in the performance of the symphony. The expanded orchestra of the philharmonics, the choir of the Opera House, the Palestrina Choir and a children’s choir are given places on the stage, while the forest of instruments creates a near terrifying effect. The symphony truly does span Petőfi’s life with songs of the poet that signify all key moments. The first movement depicts birth, the second movement the homeland, the third Petőfi’s love, Júlia, the fourth the freedom struggle, death and apotheosis.”
Tickets: HUF 1823
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/10081156/petofi-200/8257012
19:30 SUNDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 2023, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Tamás Vásáry at 90 – celebratory concert
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125
Conductor: Tamás Vásáry
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad)
Lilla Horti (soprano), Bernadett Wiedemann (alto), István Horváth (tenor), Krisztián Cser (bass)
This iconic masterpiece has been an enigma for listeners and performers alike for no less than 199 years. It survives all ages and stands up to all kinds of interpretation. Tamás Vásáry has declared that Beethoven’s Ninth “is about humanity, but at the very highest level, infused with some kind of profound love”. Ferenc Erkel had already conducted the work several times when in 1867, on it being on the programme again, a contemporary report noted: “Real music is a true benefaction in this day and age. All is discord, doubts, brooding and travails; poetry itself follows the dishevelled spirit of the times. Harmony no longer rules supreme anywhere, except in his music.”
Tickets: HUF 8000/7000/5000/3000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/10081157/tamas-vasary-at-90-celebratory-concert/8257013
19:30 WEDNESDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2023, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Dohnányi Season Ticket 1
Berlioz: Harold in Italy, Op. 16
Verdi: Quattro pezzi sacri
Conductor: Riccardo Frizza
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad)
Győző Máté (viola)
Győző Máté, principal violist with Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, performs one of the finest works for viola in the canon. Unusually, the composition Harold in Italy by Berlioz was commissioned by the most brilliant violinist virtuoso of all time, Niccolò Paganini, but in the end he never debuted the piece that is considered far more a programme symphony than concerto. After the intermission, Verdi’s ‘four sacred pieces’ provide an ideal opportunity for Radio Choir to display their enormous versatility since these four compositions were actually written for different groupings: Ave Maria for mixed choir, Laudi alla Vergine Maria, a setting of a prayer by Dante, for female voices, Stabat Mater for orchestra and choir, and Te Deum for orchestra and double choir.
Tickets: HUF 6000/5000/4000/3500 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/54048/dohnanyi-season-ticket-1/8257002
19:30 THURSDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2023, AULA MAGNA, ELTE FACULTY OF LAW
Sapszon Season Ticket 1
Gioachino Rossini: Cantemus Domino
Gioachino Rossini: O salutaris hostia
Lorenzo Donati: Epithalame
Gioachino Rossini: La Fede
Gioachino Rossini: La Speranza
Gioachino Rossini: La Carità
Gioachino Rossini: Choeur
Gioachino Rossini: Preghiera
Lorenzo Donati: La Chate
Lorenzo Donati: La primavera
Gioachino Rossini: La passeggiata
Gioachino Rossini: Quartetto pastorale
Gioachino Rossini: O giorno sereno
Conductor: Krista Audere
Hungarian Radio Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad)
Balázs Réti (piano)
Latvian choral conductor Krista Audere, currently resident in the Netherlands, was winner of the prestigious Eric Ericson Prize in 2021. This season, she has already received invitations from renowned ensembles such as RIAS Chamber Choir, Latvian State Choir, MDR Radio Choir of Leipzig, Helsinki Chamber Choir and BBC Singers. The artist who studied in Riga, Stuttgart and Amsterdam approaches her Budapest concert with Rossini rarities along with works by the excellent conductor-composer of modern-day Italian vocal culture Lorenzo Donati, an enthusiast of Italian Renaissance madrigal art and poetry.
Tickets: HUF 2500 (student and senior discount)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/56587/sapszon-season-ticket-1/8256953
19:30 SUNDAY 1 OCTOBER 2023 , MÜPA BUDAPEST – BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
Lehel Season Ticket 1
Brahms: Academic Festive Overture, Op. 80
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74
Conductor: Riccardo Frizza
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Yunchan Lim (piano)
Riccardo Frizza conducts one composition from each of the like-minded towering composers of Romanticism, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Schumann. The popular piano concerto by the latter artist is performed with solo by the hugely talented Korean pianist Yunchan Lim. In 2022, the 18-year-old became the youngest ever artist to take gold at the Van Cliburn International Competition. Currently he is studying at the Korean National University of Arts yet his diary for several years ahead is already filled with engagements from the likes of the symphony orchestras of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston, Orchestre de Paris and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Following his Budapest concert, he debuts in Carnegie Hall in February 2024.
Tickets: HUF 6000/5000/4000/3000/2000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/57963/lehel-season-ticket-1/8256962
20:00 SATURDAY 14 OCTOBER 2023, MATTHIAS CHURCH
Anno Sacri 1
Tria sunt munera – Gregorian Responsorium
Bruckner: Locus iste
Palestrina: Sicut cervus
Schelle: Christus, der ist mein Leben
Kuhnau: Tristis est anima mea
J.S. Bach: O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht, BWV 118
Michael Bojesen: Plant a Tree
Shadi Kassaee: Roya
Kodály: Evening Song
Mozart: Ave verum corpus
Dmitry Klenin: Das Segel
Meir Finkelstein: L´dor vador
Morten Lauridsen: Dirait on
Conductors: Alexander Schmitt, Soma Dinyés
MDR Kinderchor (Leipzig), Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir and Symphony Orchestra
The joint concert of the 75-year-old MDR Kinderchor (Central Germany Radio and Television Children’s Choir) and Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir is one element in their long-term collaboration. 180 singers of different ages participate in high standard musical education in the ensemble operating out of Leipzig. The choir are totally at home in a wide variety of genres and they frequently make recordings of their performances. The multitalented choral director, singing teacher and singer Alexander Schmitt – who is always willing to experiment with non-traditional concert forms – has headed the choir since 2018. The Budapest concert includes pieces from representative composers of the Leipzig Baroque and artists of contemporary music such as the Iranian lutenist and composer Shadi Kassaee and the Jewish cantor Meir Finkelstein.
Tickets: HUF 3000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/54044/anno-sacri-1/8257014
19:30 THURSDAY 19 OCTOBER 2023, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Dohnányi Season Ticket 2
Khachaturian: Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 64
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27
Conductor: János Kovács
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Kristóf Baráti (violin)
“Throughout my life I have hunted three hares but I wonder which one should I have shot?” Rachmaninov once said, referring to a Russian proverb, when towards the end of his career he pondered whether his activities as a pianist and conductor had not taken too much time and energy away from composing. Whatever the case, his second symphony is one of the most beautiful and complex works of the genre, a bold synthesis of everything of critical importance to Rachmaninov from the 19th century. Here it is sufficient to mention just two of his great predecessors, Ferenc Liszt and Tchaikovsky. Of no lesser magnificence is Khachaturian’s D minor violin concerto (1940), which although not containing folk melodies directly still bears in virtually every detail evidence of the impact of Armenian folk music. “Themes came to me in such abundance that I had a hard time putting them in order,” the composer recalled of that delirious period of composition.
Tickets: HUF 6000/5000/4000/3000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/54049/dohnanyi-season-ticket-2/8257003
19:30 TUESDAY 21 NOVEMBER 2023, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Vásáry Season Ticket 1
Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95
Conductor: Tamás Vásáry
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Bence Temesvári (cello)
Tamás Vásáry conducts the two most popular grand orchestral works by the Czech master. Soloist for the cello concerto is the brilliantly talented Bence Temesvári, who was the only Hungarian musician to make it into the final of the Kodály International Music Competition in summer 2022. Naturally, here he performed the Dvořák concerto. The young artist, holder of the Fischer Annie Scholarship, was recently named principal instrumentalist of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. There are several common points of reference between the two Dvořák compositions: in tone and melody, the cello concerto reflects elements of the ninth symphony (‘From the New World’), transmitting an intense sense of nostalgia and homesickness.
Tickets: HUF 8000/7000/5000/3000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/53187/vasary-season-ticket-1/8256957
19:30 MONDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2023, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Dohnányi Season Ticket 3
Beethoven: Coriolan Overture, Op. 62
Mozart: Piano Concerto in E-flat major, K. 482
Schumann: Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120
Conductor: Gábor Káli
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Ádám Szokolay (piano)
In 2019, Ádám Szokolay took gold at the Bartók International Competition. One of the critics described the young pianist’s interpretation of Mozart (Piano Concerto in D minor) as basically tender and engaging, but at the same time, this character trait was combined with firm posture and sharp outlines. Arriving as guest of Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, we hear him in the E-flat major concerto, which he has recently added to his repertoire. Mozart played this piece several times; it is a rewarding challenge not only for the pianist but the ensemble as well thanks to its dense orchestration.
Tickets: HUF 6000/5000/4000/3500 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/54050/dohnanyi-season-ticket-3/8257004
19:30 SATURDAY 9 DECEMBER 2023, AULA MAGNA, ELTE FACULTY OF LAW
Sapszon Season Ticket 2
Dániel Dinyés: Modern Madrigals I
Brahms: Fünf Gesänge, Op. 104
Brahms: Capriccio in G minor, Op. 116/3
Brahms: Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118/2
Dániel Dinyés: Modern Madrigals II
Brahms: Es tönt ein voller Harfenklang (gesänge für Frauenchor, Op. 17. Nr. 1.)
Brahms: Zigeunerlieder, Op. 112b
Conductor: Zoltán Pad
Hungarian Radio Choir
Zoltán Pad sets the Romantic motets of Brahms against the modern madrigals of Dániel Dinyés. Similarly to the golden age composers of the madrigal period, Dinyés presents with his choral cycles organized in volumes, the first of which contains arrangements of the poems of Lajos Nagy and Dezső Tandori. He composed astonishingly richly woven, typically eight-part choral movements for the remarkably poetic world of the texts. In the second volume of Modern Madrigals there are seven compositions, which through their compositional unity follow each other closely. Zsolt Dicső wrote the poems and the ‘hero’ of the verses is a child, Dönci: he misses nothing, and nothing can entrap him.
Tickets: HUF 2500 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/56589/sapszon-season-ticket-2/8256954
16:00 SUNDAY 10 DECEMBER 2023, PESTI VIGADÓ
Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir Christmas Concert
Conductors: Soma Dinyés, Judit Walter, Katalin Körber Vargáné
The full children’s choir make an appearance at this concert distilling the atmosphere of Advent and Christmas. This means we can glory not only in the heart-warming pastoral play of the Upper Juniors but also the angelic voices of the Senior Choir. They demonstrate what pure joy it is to sing seasonal Christmas motets in chamber formations, and how uplifting it is to hear the velvety voices of enthusiastic girls and boys on the verge of their voices breaking in youth mixed productions. And last but not least: the abilities of our gifted instrumental soloists shimmer in the spotlight.
Tickets: HUF 1000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/81922/hungarian-radio-children-s-choir-christmas-concert/8257016
18:00 SUNDAY 17 DECEMBER 2023, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Concert by Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir – Petőfi 200
Conductors: Soma Dinyés, Judit Walter, Katalin Körber Vargáné
In an exceptional moment, Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir devote an entire recital to the memory of our greatest poet, Sándor Petőfi. Many composers wrote new choral works for Children’s Choir in the composer tender announced in spring 2023. This evening is the chance for the general public to enjoy the world premieres of prize-winning compositions, plus the jury use the occasion to present prizes to the medallist artists. As well as world premieres, there are performances of wintery works from the children’s choral repertoire interpreted by the Senior Choir as well as the Upper Juniors and Mixed Youth Choir.
Tickets: HUF 3000/2500/2000/1500 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/10081158/concert-by-hungarian-radio-children-s-choir-petofi-200/8257037
19:30 TUESDAY 19 DECEMBER 2023, MÜPA BUDAPEST – BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
80th Anniversary of Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra – Jubilee concert
Lehel Season Ticket 2
Liszt: Les Préludes, S. 97
Mendelssohn: Psalm 42, Op. 4
R. Strauss: A Hero’s Life, Op. 40
Conductors: Tamás Vásáry, János Kovács, Riccardo Frizza
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad) and Children’s Choir (principal conductor: Soma Dinyés)
Polina Pasztircsák (soprano)
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra gave their first public recital on 7 October 1943. Works by Tchaikovsky, Chopin and Ferenc Liszt (the latter’s Les Préludes symphonic poem) were performed at the concert under the baton of Ernő Dohnányi. Remembering this historical concert 80 years ago, Tamás Vásáry has chosen to conduct the very same Liszt work, while János Kovács has selected an exceptional Mendelssohn masterpiece. According to Schumann, the cantata composed to the famous psalm (As the deer longs for running streams, so my soul longs for you, O God) is not only Mendelssohn’s most important sacred work, but indeed that of the entire period. The composer himself was extremely proud of the result: a work “I hold in greater regard than most of my other compositions.” Finally, there is the chance to wonder at the infinite possibilities of the grand orchestral sound in the Richard Strauss programme symphony.
Tickets: HUF 6000/5000/4000/3000/2000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/57964/lehel-season-ticket-2/8256966
18:00 MONDAY 1 JANUARY 2024, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
New Year Overture
Joint concert with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Liszt Academy and MTVA
Dvořák: Carnival Overture, Op. 92
Gliére: Harp Concerto in E-flat major, Op. 74 – 3rd movement
Kodály: Hungarian Rondo
Khachaturian: Masquerade Suite – 5th movement
Erkel: Palotás (László Hunyadi)
Arban: Venetian Carnival
Delibes: Sylvia – Pizzicato
Weiner: Serenade in F minor, Op. 3 – 4th movement
Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66 – Waltz
Chabrier: España
Hubay: Hejre Kati, Op. 32, No. 4
Berlioz: Rakoczy March
Conductor: Gábor Káli
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
For the past four years, lovers of music could start off the New Year in style on the evening of 1 January with a joint concert by Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Liszt Academy. Previous concerts featuring popular works under the direction of the finest conductors in Hungary have been broadcast by public service TV and radio stations. The ensemble and young artists of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music were first conducted by Tamás Vásáry, followed in successive years by János Kovács, Ádám Medveczky and Oliver von Dohnányi. This year continues the tradition: fizzing melodies are performed under the baton of Gábor Káli on the first day of 2024, and once again the entire concert is broadcast by the public media channels.
Please come dressed in attire suitable for the occasion!
Tickets: HUF 12,000/10,000/8000/5000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/58787/new-year-overture/8257038
19:30 THURSDAY 11 JANUARY 2024, PESTI VIGADÓ
Gergely Vajda 50
Brahms: Tragic Overture, Op. 81
Brahms: Nänie, Op. 82
Schumann: Nachtlied, Op. 108
Gergely Vajda: Minden mindenkit érhet
Brahms: Variations on a Haydn Theme, Op. 56a
Conductor: Gergely Vajda
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad) and Children’s Choir (principal conductor: Soma Dinyés)
On the occasion of this landmark anniversary of composer and conductor Gergely Vajda, who has had close attachments to Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for many, many years, he debuts a new work of his in which Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles take to the stage as one. The libretto of the oratorio was compiled by the composer using different translations of the Bible (Book of Ecclesiastes, letter written by the Apostle Paul to the Philippians). “The piece examines the individual possibilities of the 21st century musical realization of sacred texts, and the concert hall usage of the choir-orchestra sound. The compositions considered to be worthy of example are the works by Brahms, German Requiem and Nänie, as well as Samuel Barber’s Prayers of Kierkegaard.”
Tickets: HUF 2500 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/10081160/gergely-vajda-50/8257039
19:30 MONDAY 22 JANUARY 2024, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Vásáry Season Ticket 2
Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream – overture, Op. 21
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 in D major ‘Reformation’, Op. 107
Conductor: Tamás Vásáry
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Oláh Vilmos (violin)
Mendelssohn exists in the memory of music-loving audiences as a musician who throughout his life enjoyed the flattering attention of the Muses, his works were popular and he himself elicited adoration. However, his fifth symphony, which evokes Luther’s chorale in its closing movement, was not a success, neither in Germany nor in France. Heine wrote about the hymn ‘A mighty fortress is our God’ that it is the “Marseillaise of the Reformation”, and that Luther himself was a true Romantic hero. “He simultaneously was a dreaming mystic and a practical man of action. He simultaneously was a cold scholastic quibbler and an enthusiastic intoxicated prophet. When during the day, he had slaved away at his dogmatic distinctions in the evening, he took his flute, looked at the stars, and melted in melody and prayer,” just like the hero of an out-and-out romantic symphony.
Tickets: HUF 8000/7000/5000/3000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/53188/vasary-season-ticket-2/8256958
19:30 MONDAY 29 JANUARY 2024, MÜPA BUDAPEST – BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
Lehel Season Ticket 3
Weber: The Marksman, Op. 77
Conductor: György Vashegyi
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad)
Csilla Kovács (soprano), Katalin Szutrély (soprano), Márton Komáromi (tenor), Krisztián Cser (bass)
The Marksman (Der Freischütz) has very close ties with the tradition of German Singspiel, for example, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, but it also opens the way to Wagnerian forms of Romantic opera and music drama. At the same time, it insists on questions that are eternally relevant irrespective of the age: what role do customs play in the life of a community and how long is it worth standing by them; but primarily, how can man resist temptation? In order to answer the latter, György Vashegyi – who is increasingly selecting from the Romantic repertoire – is sure to leave it to the listener, although when it comes to music and music history matters he represents a rock-solid, incisive standpoint.
Tickets: HUF 6000/5000/4000/3000/2000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/57965/lehel-season-ticket-3/8256967
19:30 FRIDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2024, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Dohnányi Season Ticket 4
Liszt: Orpheus, S. 98
Liszt: Dance of Death, S. 126
Bartók: Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, Op. 11, No. 48, BB.62
Conductor: János Kovács
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Dezső Ránki (piano), Zsuzsanna Ádám (soprano), Mihály Kálmándy (baritone)
Liszt’s work for piano and orchestra “from beginning to end is shockingly grim because it is none other than a series of versions built for the Gregorian ‘Dies irae’ melody, while the entire work always has an awe-inspiring impact on me,” wrote Béla Bartók in his memorable Academy inaugural lecture in connection with the music of Liszt. There is no question that Bartók’s one-act opera, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, is similarly “from beginning to end shockingly grim” – in connection with an earlier performance conducted by János Kovács, one critic used the adjective ‘spine-chilling’ about the moment before the opening of the mysterious, final seventh door. According to János Kovács, “parallel with the sung text, Bartók cast the type of thoughts into music forms, which can only be intuited but cannot be expressed in words”, and what else is the task of the performers than to convey the inexpressible.
Tickets: HUF 6000/5000/4000/3500 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/54051/dohnanyi-season-ticket-4/8257005
10:00 and 12:00 MONDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2024
10:00 and 12:00 TUESDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2024
STUDIO 6 HUNGARIAN RADIO
10:00 and 12:00 WEDNESDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2024
HOUSE OF MUSIC, HUNGARY
Youth Concerts
Tamás Beiser-Matyó: The Princess Who Laughed Roses
Conductor: Zoltán Pad
Hungarian Radio Choir
“Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there was a king and he had a beautiful daughter. When this princess laughed, roses fell from her mouth, and when she took off her slippers and walked barefoot on the road, a ringing gold coin appeared at every step.” This is the beginning of one of the most eventful of all Hungarian fairy stories. The choral composition written to the poems of Anna Mechler and a narrator poses an exceptionally complex musical performance challenge for the choir: the world of the fairy tale is represented by the singers in a complex manner, they demonstrate characters, environment and dramatic situations through voices, gestures and movement.
Free admission but prior registration required at info@radiomusic.hu
10:00 and 12:00 THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2024
HOUSE OF MUSIC, HUNGARY
10:00 and 12:00 FRIDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2024
STUDIO 6 HUNGARIAN RADIO
Youth Concert
Debussy: Petite Suite – 2nd movement (Retinue), L. 65
Bizet: Children’s Games – suite, Op. 22
Ravel: Mother Goose
Conductor: Gábor Hontvári
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Soap bubbles, blind man’s buff, shuttlecock, leap-frog, spinning top – these are just a few of the games that Bizet penned his four-hand piano pieces to, several of which were then arranged for orchestra. The influential music historian Winton Dean reckons these pieces foreshadow works of the modern French school, Fauré, Debussy and Ravel, associated with childhood, whereby the highest level of musical sophistication is combined with apparent naivety. As to exactly what Debussy and Ravel have to thank Bizet for, well, we can all make up our minds in the House of Music, Hungary and in Studio 6 of Hungarian Radio under the guidance of Gábor Hontvári, while also finding that this music is anything but childish.
Free admission but prior registration required at info@radiomusic.hu
19:30 THURSDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2024, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Vásáry Season Ticket 3
Mozart: Marriage of Figaro – overture, K. 492
Kodály: Háry János – suite, Op. 15
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92
Conductor: Tamás Vásáry
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
At the age of eight, Tamás Vásáry took to the stage for a Mozart memorial recital. He himself played a piano concerto while the concert started with the overture to Figaro. “It is interesting that at my very first public recital I played with an orchestra and a pianist-conductor (János Baranyi) conducted.” It is Vásáry’s recollection that this was the moment he decided that, besides playing the piano, he would also conduct. In the course of his career as conductor he has conducted works by many composers, but three artists have always remained particularly close to his heart: Mozart, Beethoven and Kodály, who “taught and set an example not only through his music, but through his very being in this world”.
Tickets: HUF 8000/7000/5000/3000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/53189/vasary-season-ticket-3/8256959
19:30 FRIDAY 1 MARCH 2024, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Virtuosi Recital
Conductor: János Kovács
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Finalists of Virtuosi 2023
The classical music talent show Virtuosi was launched by MTVA in 2014 and it is now in its ninth season. Today’s programme includes young artists discovered by the show, with accompaniment by Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Tickets: HUF 3000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/10080293/virtuosi-recital/8257081
19:30 THURSDAY 7 MARCH 2024, PESTI VIGADÓ
Sapszon Season Ticket 3
Stravinsky: Four Russian Peasant Songs W. 35 (Podlyudniye)
Bartók: Village Scenes – for female voice and piano, BB. 87a – No. 78
Debussy: En blanc et noir, L. 134, CD. 142
Stravinsky: The Wedding W. 37 (Les Noces)
Conductor: Zoltán Pad
Hungarian Radio Choir and artists of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Kinga Kriszta (soprano), Lúcia Megyesi Schwartz (mezzosoprano), István Horváth (tenor), Zsolt Haja (bass)
László Borbély, Péter Kiss, Dóra Bízják, Emese Mali (piano)
“Imagine, Mama, for yourself such a music, in which there is absolutely no room for feelings, in which you can find no part that causes tears to come to your eyes,” wrote Bartók’s wife, Ditta Pásztory, to the composer’s mother after a Stravinsky concert. “You know bare rhythm, bare hammering, bare some-kind-of-timbre. I can say that the whole thing, as it is, really carries one away.” This concert is bookended by two Stravinsky compositions that were written within a few years of each other. Both works were created in the final phase of the composer’s Russian period, in the second half of the 1910s, and they may well have provided inspiration to Bartók who was then composing his Village Scenes cycle.
Tickets: HUF 2500 (student and senior discount -20%)
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19:30 SATURDAY 23 MARCH 2024, MÜPA BUDAPEST – BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
Lehel Season Ticket 4
Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major ‘Symphony of a Thousand’
Conductor: Riccardo Frizza
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad) and Children’s Choir (principal conductor: Soma Dinyés)
Boros Csilla, Kinga Kriszta, Ágnes Molnár (soprano)
Vörös Szilvia, Atala Schöck (alto)
Boldizsár László (tenor)
Levente Molnár (baritone)
Simon Lim (bass)
It is a moment of celebration for all conductors and all orchestras when they can take to the stage with Mahler’s Symphony No. 8: at its world premiere, conducted by Mahler, more than 1000 performers took part in the production. Although the composer was not happy with the sobriquet ‘Symphony of a Thousand’, this formulation still manages to capture the extraordinary dimension of the composition. He himself put it this way in a letter written to Willem Mengelberg: “It is the greatest thing I have as yet done. And so strange both in content and form, that it is really not possible to write about it. Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. There are no more human voices, only planets and suns revolving in their orbits.” It is worth adding to this characterization how Mahler closed his lines dedicated to the legendary conductor: “The rest in person.”
Tickets: HUF 6000/5000/4000/3000/2000 (student and senior discount -20%)
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19:30 THURSDAY 28 MARCH 2024, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Dohnányi Season Ticket 5
Rossini: Semiramis – overture
Haydn: Sinfonia concertante in B-flat major, Hob. I:105
Albrechtsberger: Trombone Concerto in B-flat major
Voříšek: Symphony in D major, Op. 24
Conductor: Riccardo Frizza
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
László Nyári (violin), Péter Háry (cello), András Csizmadia (oboe), Jákob Bettermann (bassoon), Róbert Káip (trombone)
The short-lived Czech composer Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek (1791-1825) was a contemporary of Beethoven and Schubert. In fact, he knew them in person. His music contains similar Romantic elements to those of his distinguished fellow composers. He wrote only one symphony, which was performed for the first time in Hungary in 1973, thanks to the guest appearance of a Czech orchestra. “Vibrating dramatic tension emanates from this work,” wrote Péter Várnai at the time. Haydn’s Sinfonia concertante, written and premiered in London, offering excellent opportunities for four soloists as well, is the source of “the richest pleasure” according to a contemporary newspaper report. Everything can be discovered in this music, “profundity, lightness, it is both moving and original”.
Tickets: HUF 6000/5000/4000/3500 (student and senior discount -20%)
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19:30 TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2024, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Vásáry Season Ticket 4
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet fantasy overture
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker – suite, Op. 71a
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
Conductor: Tamás Vásáry
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Tamás Vásáry once called the music of Tchaikovsky “the pinnacle of emotions”. “Only few wrote about love as he did. From a certain aspect, there is nothing similar in the symphonic genre. This itself is love.” At this Liszt Academy recital, the rollercoaster of emotions will be made palpable not only through the Romeo and Juliet fantasy overture but also the fifth symphony that encompasses heaven and hell. The composer himself had the following to say about the latter: it is a sort of “fate symphony, a complete yielding to the inscrutable command fate, to destiny.” After this emotionally charged music, the charming dance movements of the Nutcracker come as bright refreshment to the soul.
Tickets: HUF 8000/7000/5000/3000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/53190/vasary-season-ticket-4/8256960
19:30 WEDNESDAY 17 APRIL 2024, MÜPA BUDAPEST – BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
Lehel Season Ticket 5
Debussy: Three Nocturnes
Poulenc: Concerto for Two Pianos in D minor
Stravinsky: Firebird
Conductor: János Kovács
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad)
József Balog, Péter Kiss (piano)
János Kovács’s recital fashioned from the works of Debussy, Stravinsky and Poulenc holds the promise of a luxurious wealth of tonalities and moods. The evening’s guest soloists, József Balog and Péter Kiss, are indefatigable pianists of music life, essential artists for modern and contemporary music performances. We hear them in Francis Poulenc’s concerto for two pianos, the piece that proved to be a turning point in the composer’s career, the summation and culmination of a dramatic period. In it we can discern the exoticism of distant lands and the sound of the greatest French composers of the time as well as unmistakable gestures of Mozartian music.
Tickets: HUF 6000/5000/4000/3000/2000 (student and senior discount -20%)
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19:30 TUESDAY 24 APRIL 2024, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Kodály: Dances of Galánta
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
Conductor: Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi has been part and parcel of Hungarian music life for many decades. His commitment towards Kodály is common knowledge, with several pieces of the Hungarian’s oeuvre forming the backbone of his repertoire. We always welcome his interpretation of Dances of Galánta because, as one critic put it, the careful and planned structuring of the development of the composition, the clarity and rich expressive mode of the formation, and music with a fiery and lively rhythm responding to the conductor’s directions always touch the audience.
Tickets: HUF 15,000/12,000/10,000/8000 (student and senior discount -20%)
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20:00 TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2024, MATTHIAS CHURCH
Anno Sacri 2
W. A. Mozart: Veni Sancte Spiritus, K. 47
W. A. Mozart: Ave verum corpus, K. 618
J. C. Bach: Salve Regina, W. E24.
W. A. Mozart: Mass in C major, “Missa in honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis”, K. 167
Conductor: Zoltán Pad
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir
Ágnes Kovács (soprano)
Two of Mozart’s early church music compositions have made their way onto the second Anno Sacri concert. Veni Sancte Spiritus dates from 1768, making it the work of a 12-year-old genius composer; the author of the Holy Trinity mass was all of 17. The curiosity of the latter is that it comprises exclusively choral movements. Johann Christian Bach’s Salve Regina, written when the artist was also young, is a real rarity on the concert stage; it was written in Milan by the 20-year-old Bach son on his travels to Italy while he was converting to Catholicism. Similarly to his church compositions written around this time, it was prepared under the supervision of Padre Martini, the most renowned composer-teacher of the age. We hear Ágnes Kovács in the composition written for vocal soloist and orchestra.
Tickets: HUF 3000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/54045/anno-sacri-2/8257015
19:30 WEDNESDAY 8 MAY 2024, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Dohnányi Season Ticket 6
Schumann: Violin Concerto in D minor, WoO. 23
Dvořák: Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88
Conductor: Renaud Capuçon
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Renaud Capuçon (violin)
The superb French violinist and chamber musician Renaud Capuçon has played together with the world’s most famous orchestras and soloists, added to which he is artistic director for two important festivals: Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, and the Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival he founded. He has been artistic director of Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne since 2021. He performs on a remarkable instrument: the Guarneri del Gesù ‘Panette’ made in 1737 was once owned by Isaac Stern. He has made several albums, most recently two violin concertos of Béla Bartók recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor François-Xavier Roth.
Tickets: HUF 6000/5000/4000/3500 (student and senior discount -20%)
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20:00 THURSDAY 16 MAY 2024, MATTHIAS CHURCH
Sapszon Season Ticket 4
J. S. Bach: Fürchte dich nicht, BWV 228
Rheinberger: Mass in E-flat major, Op. 109
Kodály: Jesus and the Traders
Mendelssohn: Richte mich Gott!, Op. 78, No. 2
Morten Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium
Mendelssohn: Warum toben die Heiden, Op. 78, No. 1
Rheinberger: Abendlied
Conductor: Michael Gläser
Hungarian Radio Choir (choral director: Zoltán Pad)
The highly respected German conductor and teacher Michael Gläser has undertaken leading roles in significant choral workshops such as Berlin Radio Choir and Bavarian Radio Choir. He was artistic director of the latter for a decade and a half, until 2005. Michael Gläser regularly appears as guest conductor with the top choirs in Europe, and since 1994 he has been professor at the Munich College of Music and head of the Evangelical Church Music Department. At his concert in partnership with Hungarian Radio Choir, he conducts grandiose works written for double choirs, for example, Bach’s funeral motet and Reinberger’s mass dedicated to Pope Leo XIII.
Tickets: HUF 2500 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/56594/sapszon-season-ticket-4/8256956
17:00 SATURDAY 25 MAY 2024, BUDA CASTLE RIDING HALL
Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir Whitsun Concert
Conductors: Soma Dinyés, Judit Walter, Katalin Körber Vargáné
Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir
At a Whitsun concert infused with the joy of impending summer we can marvel at how our instrumental soloists have become more virtuoso in this academic year; how the Upper Juniors choose the Whitsun king in the Whitsun folk play; we can hear the carefree singing shepherds as interpreted by chamber vocal ensembles, as was imagined in London in the 1600s; and the Youth Mixed Choir sing to us about the joy of hearts in love yearning for nature’s bosom.
Tickets: HUF 1000 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/10081183/hungarian-radio-children-s-choir-whitsun-concert/8257082
16:00 SATURDAY 1 JUNE 2024, GRAND HALL, LISZT ACADEMY
Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir Season Ending Concert
Conductors: Soma Dinyés, Judit Walter, Katalin Körber Vargáné
Klára Kolonits (soprano)
This afternoon is the chance to surprise our audience with short opera scenes alongside traditional children’s choral literature. The presence of Klára Kolonits is the guarantee to perform parts, and formulate scenes from the most beautiful operas calling on children and young girls to play parts, and all achieved to the very highest professional standards. The Whitsun play of the Upper Juniors once again promises much excitement and their standalone programme will not be short of the pearls of Hungarian rustic culture, our very own folk songs.
Tickets: HUF 3000/2500/1500 (student and senior discount -20%)
Buy here: https://jegymester.hu/production/10081184/hungarian-radio-children-s-choir-season-ending-concert/8257083