Programme

The Istanbul International Music Festival is a cultural event held every June and July in Istanbul, Turkey. It offers European classical music, ballet, opera and traditional music performances with the participation of famous artists from all over the world. This year, the Hungarian, Kossuth Prize-winning pianist, János Balázs and the Sárközy Trio will perform on this renowned festival. They will pay tribute to the art of György Cziffra, and at the same time, combining classical music and gypsy music, they will present Hungarian and European musical traditions.

Supporter: NKA

Programme

Performed by János Balázs, Sinfonietta Cracovia, conductor: Ma­ciej Two­rek

Chopin and Liszt are two prominent figures of the Romantic Period; their oeuvres are the foundation of classical music. Both composers spent most of their lives in Paris, yet, as faithful patriots of their home countries, Chopin made Polish and Liszt Hungarian music popular in their works. The two nations didn’t only give these two renowned composers to the world, but they also cherish a nearly millennium-old friendship. This relationship woven by many threads is now strengthened by the joint concert of the Krakow Festival of Polish Music and the Budapest-based Cziffra Festival. The pieces featured at the concert will be interpreted by the excellent conductor Katarzyna Tomala-Jedynak, the Sinfonietta Cracovia and the pianist János Balázs from Budapest. János Balázs dedicates his performance to one of the greatest Liszt-interpreters of the 20th century, the pianist György Cziffra

The joint concert of the Krakow Festival of Polish Music and the Budapest-based Cziffra Festival.

Supporter: NKA

Program leírás

This special concert evokes the traditional café life of post-World War II. in Budapest. At that time, the night life was an integral part of not only the crunchy czardas dance, the jazz and the violin music, but also the exceptional piano playing of György Cziffra. The diverse and endless cavalcade of bars and locales were the symbol of a new chance in addition to a fresh start after the end of the world,  without limits and genre boundaries.

This thousand-colored and endless world is conjured up from the past by the Hot Jazz Band, with the wonderful vocals of Andrea Malek in the framework of the György Cziffra Memorial Year.

Ticket price: 12€

Further information: +421 907 674 724

A program a Cziffra György-emlékév és a Občianske združenie KulTúra KN közös szervezése

Whoever has heard János Balázs play only once in their life must have had a highly impressive and unique concert experience since the pianist has a great knack for reaching the audience and making the distance between performer and listener fade away. He achieves this by – besides his fascinating technique – the delicate subtlety of his performance, the spellbinding colourfulness of his tones and the incredible limitlessness of his dynamic scope. His concerts enlisting the repertoire of the 19th-century Golden Age take us on time travel: beyond being able to re-create the intimate atmosphere of the period’s great composers and pianists, such as Franz Liszt, János Balázs also revives the Romantic traditions himself with his own arrangements, transcriptions and fascinating improvisations. It is, therefore, no coincidence that he is a returning guest artist of Europe’s top-ranking concert halls and that he has collected nearly all professional and state decorations of his home country as well as the title Young Steinway Artist and the state award of Poland for performing Chopin’s complete piano works. In 2016, he launched the György Cziffra Festival, dedicated to preserving the intellectual and musical legacy of his great role model. In a repertoire also inherited from Cziffra, János Balázs reveals the very best of his skills and the most profound layers of his musicianship: in Liszt’s lyrically sensitive works and concert pieces with a Hungarian touch and his Schubert, Albeniz, and Ponce re-arrangements, regardless whether it is a contemporary piece or János Balázs’ own breathtakingly true, yet unique and honest arrangement.

A joint event of the Hungarian Academy in Rome and the György Cziffra Memorial Year.

Free admission.

The concert is influenced by the romantic tradition of pianists and composers passionately improvising, alongside revising notorious operas and songs. The pieces played will range from Bach to Liszt, and expand through the improvisations of György Cziffra and János Balázs, showcasing the 200-year tradition of the performer becoming the companion of the creative artist. This is how János Balázs would like to call attention to the life of this art form in classical music, as well as pay tribute to the memory of György Cziffra.

Free entry. Booking: tom@schottmusiclondon.com

Co-organizers: Schott Music and Sheva Collection

Programme

Thanks to its remarkable ancient monuments and artefacts, the Archeological Museum of Teanum Sidicinum awaits its visitors with a timeless and singular ambience in a picturesque setting north of Naples. The institution also provides a venue for concerts, and today’s artists are just as inspired by the marvellous surroundings as Liszt was in his time. The Liszt- and Artisjus Award-winning pianist, Balázs Fülei, has compiled a fitting programme from his astonishingly broad repertoire. While Purcell’s keyboard suite from the 17th century evokes long-gone times, Beethoven’s “evergreen” Moonlight Sonata draws our attention to art’s sacredness and eternal value. A movement from Ravel’s piano suite, Miroirs, Une barque sur l’océan (in English “A Boat on the Ocean”) articulates on the piano keys the immense power of the seas embracing the Italian peninsula. Then, one of the most shining jewels of Romantic musical lyricism follows: Chopin’s gentle and bittersweet ballad, which takes us to the peak of the evening. His journey to Italy made such a profound impact on Liszt that years later, he felt compelled to complete the second volume of his Années de pèlerinage with three coherent pieces under the title Venezia e Napoli. The very essence of Italian music is woven into its movements.
(Joint event by the György Cziffra Memorial Year and the Summer Concert Caserta)

Program leírás

Performers: József Lendvay and Elemér Balázs Jr.

Admission to the concert is free of charge but bound to preliminary registration at the email address uki-s@uki-s.de .
(Joint concert of the György Cziffra Memorial Year and the Liszt Institute of the Hungarian Cultural Centre, Stuttgart)

Live music history, or in other words: how do a contemporary, a long-dead master, or a genre inspire a composer? Two artists will answer these questions, who, as children of musical families, form part of the great machinery. Ferenc Liszt had been an active pianist for over ten years when in 1932, he first heard Niccolò Paganini play in Paris. This experience completely transformed his attitude towards music. The first two pieces on the programme commemorate this encounter. Apart from two compositions in his youth, César Franck never again wrote for this instrumental setup, the violin and the piano, let alone the genre of the chamber sonata. With his Sonata in A major completed in 1886, he created a masterpiece; however, at a single stroke and with a doubtle twist: “This is not a sonata, but is damned beautiful anyhow!” were the word that Ernest Reyer, the work’s first critique. And indeed, Franck’s unique solutions in the form are quite different from those of usual sonatas. As the conclusion of the concert, the audience can enjoy Rachmaninov’s homage to Bach, which can also be interpreted as a style practice. Yet, it reflects profound insight and interest.

Program leírás

Admission to the concert is free of charge but bound to preliminary registration
Registration: https://forms.gle/6MMLkZHfgguJuWiJ9

(Joint event of the György Cziffra Memorial Year and the Liszt Institute Brussels)

The joint concert ‘Hommage à Cziffra’ of the Liszt Institute in Brussels and the György Cziffra Memorial Year isn’t only the musical legacy of a piano virtuoso but also pays tribute to the commitment to talent support. This time, the master and his student will take to the stage, forming a unique pair. With her 13 years, Viktória Kádár is a student of the School of Exceptional Young Talents of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. Her artistic personality demands respect as a soloist as well as a chamber music partner next to her Kossuth-Award-winning teacher. Together, they will be playing Schubert’s popular piece for four hands and János Balázs’ transcription of the Rákóczi March. Viktória Kádár’s virtuosity, sensitivity and playfulness show in János Balázs’ own programme, and in her master’s hands, the ethos of Romanticism and Cziffra’s legacy soar on, as he will be performing his own arrangements of Puccini, Liszt and Strauss’ melodies.