Ladies and Gentlemen,
I clearly remember the moment in 2016 when the György Cziffra Festival began with its first event. Thanks to the love of the audience, enthusiasm, and the dedicated efforts of supporters and colleagues, the festival quickly gained recognition, and year by year we were able to realize an increasingly grand series of events. A significant milestone was the 2021 jubilee celebrating the 100th anniversary of György Cziffra’s birth, which also opened doors to international collaborations. The spirit and musical legacy of our namesake are regarded as important national cultural values, and today the György Cziffra Festival works alongside Europe’s most prestigious festivals, symphony orchestras, and artists, while also engaging outstanding Hungarian musicians who uphold Liszt’s heritage. From the very beginning, we have placed great emphasis on supporting young musical talents, helping them to develop their abilities through awards, concert opportunities, and masterclasses.
In the 2026–2027 season, the Cziffra Festival continues its mission of creating unique productions in collaboration with outstanding Hungarian and international performers, and introducing the youngest generation of talented musicians to audiences. At the same time, we strengthen the festival’s international presence, bringing the legacy and artistic spirit of György Cziffra to audiences beyond Hungary, with appearances at some of the world’s most prestigious concert venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York, Philharmonie Luxembourg, and Cadogan Hall in London.
All of our efforts serve the noble idea that György Cziffra’s artistic legacy should be a jewel of our country’s cultural essence, bringing joy to audiences through world-renowned artists’ concerts, and offering a vision for young musicians’ future.
János Balázs
Kossuth Prize-winning pianist, Artistic Director
Events
György Cziffra Festival's features
- Partnerships and
cooperations - Improvisation
- Meeting of
genres - The art of the
moment - Young talented
artists
György Cziffra toured the world’s cities, and now nearly all culturally important cities of the world are celebrating with us. Primarily, Cziffra’s second home, France (Paris and Senlis), but concerts will also be held in New York, London, Vienna, Prague, Stuttgart and Oradea. A series of Hungarian and international partner organisations are behind the Cziffra Festival, and numerous cultural institutions have taken their share in the noble mission representing Cziffra’s legacy.
Challenging boundaries has always belonged György Cziffra’s ethos. The art of improvisation is precisely about this inner freedom; when the emotions of the performer take shape as notes, they reach from the heart to the fingers, from the fingers to the keys and then the hammers that strike the strings. In improvisation, the player becomes unique, inimitable, special in themselves, as they become identical with what they are playing. Liszt, Chopin, Cziffra and the Romantic pianists knew this and let performers enjoy this freedom.
György Cziffra was an authentic interpreter of the Romantic piano repertoire – Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Brahm and Rachmaninov’s compositions – deeply rooted in European culture. A particular aim of the Memorial Year is to span a bridge between genres and art forms. Besides classical music concerts, also jazz, folk music as well as cross art-forms and various academic disciplines are featured in the programme. It was the great pianist’s vision that “the day will come when the representatives of various art forms (…) will walk hand in hand…”
During the Festivals, dozens of artists took to the stage to pay tribute to György Cziffra – musicians and non-musicians alike, who we can rightly be called the legends of our time: Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky, Denis Matsuev, Mikko Franck, Fazil Say, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Peter Eötvös and other great stars of the international music and art scene.
What binds them to Cziffra and one another? Mainly the performance practice that they all inherited and share, which deeply respects the composer’s intentions, yet will not “fossilise” into musical sculptures. While they are well aware that there is no such thing as “perfect” interpretation, they allow space for the performer’s personality and the magic of the moment.
When the profoundly respected pianist and composer and the main director of the Liszt Academy at the time, Ernő Dohnányi listened to the eight-year-old György Cziffra, he let slip the sentence that later turned into an adage: “this is not a rare treasure…, this is the Koh-i-Noor diamond itself.” The School for Exceptional Young Talents did not yet exist at the Liszt Academy, so the academic staff of the Academy registered the child prodigy as a university freshman. Having collected first-hand experienced of the “black bread” and “forced silence”, he really felt the need for talent fostering, and this might have been the motivating force behind his foundation and scholarship. This is why he had the early Gothic Chapelle Royal St Frambourg in Senlis restored, which was by no means a simple undertaking. Walking in Cziffra’s footsteps, during the Festival events, young talents are placed in the limelight by receiving the opportunity to take to the stage in Hungary and abroad.
