The 2016 Liszt Birthday Festival at the Old Academy of Music

On the five Saturdays of October, besides the usual matinée concerts in the morning, within the framework of the Liszt Birthday Festival organised by the Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum and Research Centre, also afternoon or evening concerts will be given by committed and well-versed performers of Liszt’s music and by dedicated friends and the supporters of the museum. The 11-part concert series attempts to encompass the widest possible selection of Liszt’s work ranging from various genres of piano compositions to chamber music and mixed choir pieces. The festival will also feature less frequently played works and music by composers who played an important role in Liszt’s life or were his contemporaries.

The opening concert on 1 October was given by the Saint Ephraim Male Choir (conductor: Tamás Bubnó) and Csaba Király (piano). It was followed by the piano recital performed by Balázs Szokolay and Diána Szőke. On 8 October, the festival continued with an extraordinary chamber music concert and the performance of the New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir. Alex Szilasi and Károly Mocsári will be taking to the stage on 15 October, while on 21 October, Gábor Farkas (piano) and Zoltán Takács (violin) will be making their appearances at the Old Academy of Music. On Liszt’s actual birthday, on 22 October, Edit Klukon and Dezső Ránki will be giving a two-piano recital, while at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, the young but already multiple award-winning students of the Piano Department of the Liszt Academy will present themselves: Krisztián Kocsis who excelled at the Liszt Piano Competition some weeks back or László Váradi who was one of the stars at classical music talent show of the Hungarian Television or Mónika Ruth Vida. Finally, on 29 October, the Liszt Birthday Festival at the Old Academy of Music will come to a closure with the piano recitals given by István Lajkó and Péter Nagy.

For the electronic version of the festival programme, please click here.