New Awards for the Renewed Liszt Academy

The Hungarian Chapter of the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) jointly with the Hungarian Real Estate Association organized the 16^th FIABCI Hungary Prix d’Excellence Awards competition in 2014. As Gergely Lakatos, chief engineer of the Liszt Academy, said to MTI at the prize-giving ceremony held on 10 December 2014, the Award of Excellence was granted primarily in recognition of the reconstruction of Liszt Academy’s main building on Liszt Ferenc Square, but it also took into account the refurbishment of the square in front of it, as well as the establishment of the Wesselényi Street building. In judging, the jury acknowledged the complexity of the reconstruction, since the Art Nouveau palace of music fulfills a triple function – as an educational, cultural and touristic center – and the coordination of these three aspects gave a hard task to both the designers and the building contractors. The objective of the Hungarian Real Estate Award is to prepare and promote the successful participation of Hungarian property development projects in the FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence Awards competition, wherein the Liszt Academy enters in the heritage category.
 

Illustration of the music palace on Liszt Ferenc Square by Lehel Kovács

The Liszt Academy’s single-evening concert sheets printed on environment-friendly paper have collected numerous awards in media and design competitions in the last two years. The pocket-book like, intimately formatted leaflets, with illustrations on a par with the world elite of contemporary book graphics (and essays introducing the audience into not only the actual programme but the whole mystery of live music), which represent a completely unique form of publication in the international concert scene convinced yet another professional panel: in December 2014 the single-evening concert sheet series of the Liszt Academy won first prize in the Kreatív Craft Award organized by the Kreatív Magazine. In the prestigious advertising and media competition acknowledging the greatest design achievements of Hungarian creative industry, the publication of the Liszt Academy won the appreciation of the jury among more than 70 entries.

This time, the jury awarded specifically the cover illustrations of the booklets, which are made by Lehel Kovács at the request of the Liszt Academy’s communications directorate. The freelance illustrator, who has also worked as a graphic artist, characterizes his unique style as follows: “I have a markedly colourful and lively style, and I like to combine hand-drawn designs with digitally mixed colours.” His illustrations are published in major daily and weekly papers, as well as in renowned magazines including The New York Times, Die Welt and Rolling Stone. In regard to the award, communications director Imre Szabó Stein, the visionary of the multiple prize-winning new corporate image of the Liszt Academy – presented among others with the Red Dot Communication Design Award – noted: “The most challenging and risky part of our new visual strategy built on the arc of tension between patina and progress proved to be the evening concert sheet series, since the pocket-book like format and the consciously used recycled paper, along with the unconventional cover designs are totally without precedent in international classical music circles. We are proud that our one-of-a-kind concert booklets not only pleased the artists and the audiences but have been awarded with many prestigious prizes by the creative industry as well.” As we have reported earlier, the single-evening concert sheets of the Liszt Academy received the Bronze Blade as category winner in the Golden Blade competition of 2014, and won second prize in the 2013 Media Design competition.

MTI/zeneakademia.hu