18 | 19 2018 19 DEAR MUSIC FANS, Hungarian and international stars of concert life on the podium, a rich and varied repertoire, full-house concerts and thrilling artistic ventures: all this was true of Concerto Budapest’s previous season, and under the leadership of our music director, András Keller, this coming season promises to be just as exciting. We welcome back the enigmatic virtuoso of the piano, Boris Berezovsky, “the truest successor to the great Russian pianists”, who this time not only plays the piano but conducts the orchestra as well. This will be the first guest appearance with Concerto Budapest of that other Slav genius of the piano and superb Rachmaninov interpreter, Andrei Korobeinikov. A whole line of string instrument world stars are making their way here. The fantastic British cellist Steven Isserlis appears at two concerts in order to play Schumann and Saint-Saëns concertos with us. “Her violin tone is passionate, daring and electrifying, yet at the same time disarmingly warm and pleasant,” said The New York Times of Isabelle Faust, and this enthusiasm applies equally to another of our guest violinists, Nikolaj Znaider, who this time makes his stage appearance as conductor. András Keller has invited the youthful Clara- Jumi Kang, an artist with a bright future ahead of her, to take the solo part in Mendelssohn’s enormously popular E minor violin concerto. After two years, the Norwegian artist Arvid Engegård, world-famous also as a violinist, makes a return to our orchestra wielding the baton. Leading figures in Hungarian music life and our regular performance partners will, naturally, be with us again. Miklós Perényi, Dezső Ránki, Dénes Várjon and Gergely Bogányi all make appearances at our 2018-19 concerts, as will Zoltán Rácz, indispensable creative artist of our contemporary programmes, while we will also be making music with Fülöp Ránki and Mihály Berecz. Haydn’s immortal oratorio The Creation is interpreted by Andrea Rost, Miklós Sebestyén, Gyula Rab and the Purcell Choir. Alongside our established and popular season ticket programmes #Volumes, #Favorites, #Hungarian Gems and #Kids, #Stars and #Geniuses feature a quality pick of world-famous guest artists. We very much look forward to welcoming you at our concerts in the upcom- ing season! © Andrea Felvégi 2 3 CONCERTO BUDAPEST SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Concerto Budapest is one of the most progressive and versatile symphonic orchestras based in Budapest, Hun- gary. It has a rich, more than 100 years of history, and as a result of the current artistic leadership, it is full of dynamism of its young musicians, whose playing is char- acterized by the passion, energy and commitment they give to their performances of repertoire ranging from well-loved master pieces to newly composed works of the twenty-first century. Through its ambitious and innova- tive program and special sound, it provides a new colour to the international musical palette. In 2007, on its 100th anniversary, András Keller, world- renowned Hungarian violinist, pedagogue, and the founder of the Keller Quartet, was appointed as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the orchestra. Under his leadership, the orchestra underwent a major period of artistic growth and development, as the foremost young chamber musicians have joined him. In the recent years highly acclaimed soloists has been returning guests of the orchestra, such as Gidon Kremer, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Krzysztof Pende recki, Vadim Repin, Roberto Abbado, Heinz Holliger, Isabelle Faust, Steven Isserlis, Dezső Ránki, Dénes Várjon and Miklos Perényi and Evgeni Koroliov. Concerto Budapest has become a well-respected player on the international music scene. They toured with Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu and Gidon Kremer’s Kremerata Baltica in Europe and also in Istambul and Abu Dhabi. In 2017 the collaboration resulted a full merge of the two ensembles, creating the „Dream Orchestra”, and having a grandiose series of concerts in Asia with great success. © Sándor Benkő 4 5 “András Keller has been my best student and colleague for thirty years, and, besides performing outstanding musical pieces, he is the most authentic interpreter of my compositions…I have been following for two years how he has been becoming a conductor and also how the orchestra has developed under his leadership. It may even happen that András Keller will become the best in his generation, or even ‘the’ Hungarian conductor.” György Kurtág “András Keller is not just a dear friend of mine, but a wonderful musician. Shares with me, I guess the same values. He is as open minded as myself, we share the same attitude to musicians, we both do not like any routine, we want to explore music, music making. Our ideals are to reach people’s hearts. András has already worked with Kremerata Baltica many times and every musician in my orchestra enjoys working with him. He always brings something new, some freshness, some knowledge, and communicates it to in a way to colleagues, that everyone gets enchanted.” Gidon Kremer © Bálint Hrotkó © Gábor Fejér “My relation to Concerto Budapest is determined by that musician friendship of a decade that ties me to András Keller. Together, András and I regularly tour and discover the wealthy realm of chamber music – sonata, trio, quartet and quintet – and for me, this work with Concerto is continuing this path and placing it into a new dimension. This is precisely why I always look forward to not only our mutual concerts but the rehearsals, too, which are conducted with an incredible intensity and in a true chamber music atmosphere. The orchestra speak in numerous ‘languages’; over the past few years, I have had a chance to play with them works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt, Bartók, Dohnányi, Weiner and Veress. The most important event in our collaboration so far was to play Beethoven’s piano concertos at two concerts, and record them, which I believe involved a true journey of discovery for us all.” Dénes Várjon “Enthralling, with what proficience and passion they play Bartók!” Ta n D u n How would you describe the programme policy of Hungarian orchestras? “A future perspective is missing from the programme structure. There is no concept, for example, on a 10-year timescale, in which direction the audience is intended to be taken. Fantastic development and progressive attitudes can be experienced in the areas of domestic fine arts, theatre and film. However, in classical music, they still defer to the 19th century repertoire in order to serve the so- called demands of audiences. The fact is, things should be done in exactly the opposite way, to come up with new proposals, otherwise there is no continuity. Concerto Budapest are the only orchestra in classical music which start out planning their repertoire from this continuity. I am curious to see in which direction their recently founded formation, Ligeti Ensemble, go.” © Sándor Benkő P é t e r E ö t v ö s 6 7 “It was an honour for me to be present at the birth of the orchestra, and perhaps “I am not a music expert and aside from some studies in my childhood, I don’t play music I played some part in the fact that Concerto Budapest developed out of Matáv either. But the feeling, the inscrutable and wonderful feeling that Concerto Budapest Orchestra. As far as I am concerned, Concerto are the only orchestra on the domestic engender on each and every occasion, well, this is why, if I can, I am always there, scene who are not only professional but play with all their heart; what’s more, they listening. I am enchanted, made aware, made empathic, in a word, transformed. The are a ‘cool’ ensemble. Perhaps they alone are predestined in Hungary to step into the first Day of Listening expresses best what relationship Concerto created between the shoes of the greats from earlier times. András Keller starts to become for the orchestra music and me: personal, the discovery of small secrets, finding that which is not heard, what Ernest Ansermet was for Suisse Romande, or Karl Böhm for the Viennese, and a remarkable know-how and profundity paired with exuberant enthusiasm, my feeling naturally the reverse is true as well.” that music is being born now, at that moment and around us.” Szabolcs Czenthe, finance director, HungaroControl Judit Temesi-Hack, regular concertgoer “I love attending Concerto Budapest concerts. The atmosphere is good, the audience is good, and it is a great thing that their symphonic repertoire is ever wider and more var- ied. How can András Keller collect the best world stars? I love the fact that the orchestra comprising many young musicians became a closely-knit team ‘making music together’ because András Keller is a superb mentor. I really feel fantastic at their concerts, the music grabs me, and I am able to concentrate only on it. Because the parts just blend into the whole. Because if necessary, they stand out. Because András Keller conducts in a totally concentrated way, without any theatrical displays, and the musicians follow each movement of his baton. Their great virtue is that they play to a high standard even when they are not in their accustomed place. This is proved by their increasing number of tours abroad. I love the Manó concerts! It is a truly refreshing feeling to see ever increasing numbers of young people among the increasingly ageing audiences.” Judit Virág, art historian, gallery owner “A defining experience of mine with regard to Concerto Budapest happened in the spring eight years ago, when following the programmes of Kristóf Baráti I found the pure Brahms concert in Müpa Budapest with László Fenyő and Zoltán Kocsis conducting. The orchestra’s sound immediately stood out, as did the clear intonation of some solo instrumentalists and the synergy as a whole.