Fresh talents Together in the Autumn Season of Liszt Academy

Liszt Academy is introducing new programmes for Autumn 2023, but with a different focus than audiences have become accustomed to. "We are relying more on young talents, workshops and artist-teachers of Liszt Academy, the creative force that is the institution's existing asset. Our aim has always been to empower young people at the beginning of their careers, and this is even more important now," says programme director András Csonka. He adds that the Liszt Academy has been able to devote fewer resources to concerts this year due to significantly increased energy and service costs as well as inflation. He expresses hope that next year will bring the opportunity to invite more foreign stars and construct a renewed concert programme that reflects more to changed circumstances.

Both well-known and new thematic series will be offered, and the independent discount scheme will continue to be available. Simultaneous ticket purchases for two different concerts will be discounted by 10 percent, in case of three events by 15 percent and of four or more by 20 percent off the total purchase price.

There are also new and well-known thematic series. Genie Oblige features musicians at the beginning of their performing careers, Y Generation and Competition Winners showcases young but already respected musicians, Four Plus One introduces the Korossy Quartet with pianist Valentin Magyar, Black and White Colours focuses on the piano, while Masters of the Orchestra features the Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra with famous conductors and soloists. Chamber Music, So Close, Organ in the Centre, Jazz it! speak for themselves, Here and Now features contemporary and modern compositions, and Home at Liszt Academy as well as the popular children's programme, Liszt Kidz Academy also continues.

Three series will bring together musicians at the start of their performing careers: the students, still at the Academy, will have the opportunity to perform at the Genie Oblige concerts: Sebestyén Sztathatosz, Ádám Szokolay and Balázs Dolfin will perform a selection of works by Brahms, Hubay and Bartók on their chamber recital on 29 September. On 20 October, Era Nova Chamber Orchestra, formed in 2021 from students of the Academy, will perform pieces by Sibelius and Mendelssohn, as well as Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht and the premiere of Oliver Koudela's Nocturne, conducted by Péter Kemény. On 29 October, Zsófia Fóris, Boglárka Forgó and Áron Lescsinszky (winners of this year's Weiner Competition) will perform piano trios, while on 29 November, the Five Tones and Crosswind Quintet formed by students of the university will present the richness of sound of the bassoon, oboe, clarinet and flute in a concert entitled Woodwind Chamber Music.

The Y Generation series is a forum for musicians who have graduated but are still young. On 27 September, Trio Energico – Csenge Ilosfai, Eszter Mády-Szabó and Mónika Vida Ruth – will present piano trios by Haydn, Mendelssohn and Shostakovich, on 11 November, Duo Domo – Domonkos Hartmann and Domonkos Csabay – perform works by Strohl, Schumann and Thomas Adès, while on 8 December, Ágnes Langer – third prize winner of the 2017 Bartók World Competition – Eszter Karasszon and Éva Szalai will hold a chamber recital with pieces by Arensky, Shostakovich, Bonis and Ravel.

Competition Winners series features talents emerged at prestigious international events. On 9 October, Argentine baritone Germán Enrique Alcántara, special prize winner of the 4th Eva Marton International Singing Competition in 2021, will give an aria recital accompanied by pianist Knut Jacques and soprano Lilla Horti, 2nd at the 2016 Marton Competition. On 24 October, the winner of the Wieniawski International Violin Competition, Maeda Hina, will perform with Liszt Academy’s pianist student Takewa Nanami, with works by Bach, Mozart, Massenet, Richard Strauss and others. On 9 November, special prize winner of last year's Marton Competition, Czech singer Jolana Slavikova will perform a recital of folk songs and pieces inspired by folk music from the Caucasus, Hungary, Czechia, France, Spain and Ireland.

The Korossy Quartet and one of today's most promising talents, pianist Valentin Magyar, have a series of their own: the first of the concerts named Four Plus One on 18 December will feature chamber music by Haydn and César Franck. Next spring, on 11 March, a selection of late works by Mozart and Elgar, and on 26 May, pieces by Schubert and Shostakovich await the audience.

The piano recitals Black and White Colours are also partly about young performers. On 26 October, Ádám Balogh and Fülöp Ránki will give a taste of French and Russian music of the turn of the 20th century, while on 5 November, Dániel Villányi will give his solo debut after several successful performances, with a programme of fantasies from Bach to Scriabin. The series also features two music legends: on 28 September, Latin Grammy winner Sonia Rubinsky will perform works by Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Liszt and Villa-Lobos, while on 23 November Ilona Prunyi will give a piano recital celebrating the 60th anniversary of her career, with compositions by Schumann, Debussy, Dohnányi and Robert Volkmann, among others.

In Masters of the Orchestra series, the audience will also have the opportunity to listen to four concerts by Liszt Academy’s Symphony Orchestra, awarded the title of National Youth Orchestra. On 4 October, Gábor Takács-Nagy will conduct works by Tchaikovsky with violin solos by Giovanni Guzzo; on Liszt's birthday, 22 October, Kristóf Baráti will conduct a selection of works by the founder of the institution and Rachmaninoff, featuring pianist Gábor Farkas; On 14 November, on the "birthday" of the Academy, the ensemble will perform a Beethoven-Bartók programme conducted by András Keller, with solo by pianist Mihály Berecz; and on 16 December, the anniversary of Kodály's birth, the orchestra will perform under the baton of Gergely Ménesi and with the Alma Mater Choir. As part of this series, the wind ensemble made up of members of the above mentioned orchestra will perform a concert on 28 October with Jeroen Bearwerts Belgian and Gábor Boldoczki Hungarian trumpeter virtuosos, spicing up the popular baroque wind works with compositions by contemporary composers, and the suite version of Bernstein's West Side Story. 

The young musicians will be joined by master teachers in Chamber Music, So Close series, including guitarist András Csáki (3 October, with Bach pieces), violinist Oszkár Varga, harpist Anastasia Razvaljaeva (5 December, with flutist Máté Bán) and cellist Dóra Kokas (19 December, with pianist Marianna Shirinyan).

The season will again feature a series of concerts by the New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir, resident choir of Liszt Academy, led by Norbert László Nemes. Their concert on 18 October will feature motets by Heinrich Schütz and Barnabás Dukay, within Home at Liszt Academy series.

Here and Now contemporary music series will include the next concert of the Amadinda Percussion Project on 6 November, the Trio Passacaglia - Judit Rajk, László Kéringer and Tamás Zétényi - on 10 November, and a concert on 2 December, which will pay tribute to Zoltán Jeney, who was born 80 years ago and passed away in 2019.

As part of the Organ in the Centre series, David Titterington will perform unique pieces by British composers on 7 November, and on 20 December Dóra Pétery and the A:N:S Chorus will perform a Christmas programme spanning almost a thousand years.

In Jazz it! series, Attila László will perform on 15 November at a concert celebrating his 70th birthday with renowned jazz musicians including Tzumo Árpád Oláh, Nikoletta Szőke, Kálmán Oláh and Kornél Fekete-Kovács, while on 28 December Jazzation will once again welcome the audience.

Liszt Academy maintains close professional ties with several European performing arts universities and every year organises concerts that give students the opportunity to play together with students from other institutions. On 31 October, violinist Barnabás Kelemen, also a teacher at Liszt Academy, will conduct students from six prestigious European partner institutions at a concert, performing works by Bartók, Mozart and Tchaikovsky. With the international cooperation of the EU Erasmus+ programme, 3-3 students from music universities in Vienna, Paris, Helsinki, The Hague, Barcelona and Oslo will participate in an intensive workshop with students from Liszt Academy, followed by this final concert.

Liszt Kidz Academy will be back this time with a dance theme, with Dániel Mona leading the youngest audience through classical dance music from different eras.

A special event is the Bartók World Competition for violinists, organised by Liszt Academy from 2 to 10 September, which begins its 2nd six-year cycle. The final and gala concert will feature the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by János Kovács.