This atypical orchestra of seven musicians has been offering joyful, unusual, generous, sensual, poetic and pleasantly crazy music for over twenty years. Before becoming Orchestra, Rêve d'éléphant was a dance show. From these origins, it keeps in its genes the love of rhythm and movement. Since its creation in 2000, the group has released five albums. The special sound of the Rêve d'éléphant Orchestra makes the group recognisable from its first notes. Didier Levallet – composer, French double bass player and director of the Jazz en Clunisois festival – talks about it better than we do: “(...) it's an orchestra that comes from Belgium... A title that I find quite appropriate because it's a bit surreal and we know that Belgium is a country that not only for reasons of internal politics, but also for artistic reasons has many links with surrealism. And this relatively large orchestra of seven musicians produces music that is at the same time very exuberant, very generous, very free, but also very rigorous in its writing, very colourful, very joyful. It's music that surprises us in the right sense of the word, very open to many things, many influences, that goes from one thing to another in a completely natural way; I don't find it artificial at all. Today, musicians have the possibility to pick from everywhere, and sometimes it's just pointless editing. It's not world music, it's still jazz, because it's the way of making music that counts, whatever the sources; besides, I don't think there are any literal borrowings from outside music, from world music, but it's an open state of mind.” Rêve d'éléphant now tours in Germany, Austria and Hungary with the support of Wallonie-Bruxelles International.  

The Coltrane Legacy sextet was founded in 2017, on the 50th anniversary of Coltrane's death, by one of the most sought-after musicians on the Hungarian jazz scene, bassist György Orbán. In the decade and a half from the mid-1950s until his death in 1967, the saxophonist laid new foundations for modern jazz. He created a legacy of music that has influenced generations of musicians ever since, reaching ever more spiritual dimensions. An experienced bassist who has played in many bands, György Orbán thought the best way to honour the saxophonist's legacy was to create a group that would play both original compositions inspired by Coltrane's music and new arrangements of Coltrane’s songs. The compositions, of course, take Coltrane's tradition as their starting point and continue to reflect the abstract spirit and tools of our time, thus continuing the spiritual jazz tradition. The members of the band are outstanding personalities of the Hungarian jazz scene, their progressive way of thinking and unique musicality have enabled them to work together as a team for the seventh year in a row with unbroken creative enthusiasm.  

Ki is volt ez a szuperhős – mesemondó, aki bejárta a világot, elvitte a hírünket Amerikába, és azóta is a leghíresebb magyar? Aki imádta a természetet, szeretett mindenfélét gyűjteni – állatokat, hangokat, dallamokat? Aki számára mindig fontos volt a barátság? Aki a testvériséget hirdette és persze az örömet, ami a zene egyik lényege? Most megtudhatjuk egy interaktív, zenés-táncos délelőttön.

Ki is volt ez a szuperhős – mesemondó, aki bejárta a világot, elvitte a hírünket Amerikába, és azóta is a leghíresebb magyar? Aki imádta a természetet, szeretett mindenfélét gyűjteni – állatokat, hangokat, dallamokat? Aki számára mindig fontos volt a barátság? Aki a testvériséget hirdette és persze az örömet, ami a zene egyik lényege? Most megtudhatjuk egy interaktív, zenés-táncos délelőttön.

Az üveggyöngyjáték, avagy a „játékok játéka” egy titokzatos, univerzális, magasrendű művészeti és tudományos játék, amely ugyanakkor szellemi virtuozitása mellett szemlélődést, elmélkedést is magába foglal. Egyfajta tudományokon átívelő egyetemes nyelv, a szellemi emberek valamiféle világnyelve, „amelynek értelmes jeleivel a játékosok értékeket fejezhettek ki, és képesek voltak őket kapcsolatba hozni egymással. A játék minden korban szoros összefüggésben volt a zenével, s többnyire zenei vagy matematikai szabályok szerint folyt.”Hermann Hesse 1943-ban publikált Az üveggyöngyjáték című regényéből megismerhetjük Josef Knecht üveggyöngyjáték-mester (Magister Ludi) életét, valamint a Kasztália nevű tudósállamot, amelynek középpontjában az üveggyöngyjáték művészete áll. Bár Hesse Kasztáliájában nincsen alkotóművészet, csak előadóművészet és (zene)tudomány, a regényből kiderül, hogy maga Knecht is végzett alkotói tevékenységet. Ezen felbátorodva arra kértem három magyar zeneszerzőt, hogy írjanak egy-egy kompozíciót Az üveggyöngyjátékra reflektálva.

"...A wonderful discovery..." (Citizen Jazz, France) Chamber music artpop is the expression that might best describe the unique genre of Mozes & Kaltenecker, a group formed by singer-pianist Tamara Mózes and keyboardist Zsolt Kaltenecker. This evening they will perform a special pogramme, playing their own compositions as well as some well-known songs in a new arrangement, with a variety of pop and rock elements and modern jazz improvisations. The band's debut album Futurized was released in October 2022 on BMC Records. They are currently working on their second album, and will give a taste of its material too. In recent years, the duo has performed at numerous venues abroad, including the Gaume Jazz Festival in Belgium, the Ljubljana Jazzfest+ in Slovenia, the Jazz u Vinogradu Festival in Croatia, and, last but not least, Jazzahead! in Germany, one of the most prestigious events on the European jazz scene.  

SONG OF THE CORNFIELDS(Ének a búzamezőkről)Hungarian drama film, 1947, 82 min. - In Hungariandirector, script writer: István Szőts writer: Ferenc Móracinematographer: Árpád Makay, Barnabás Hegyieditor: Mihály Morellmusic by Tibor Polgár Featuring: János Görbe, Alice Szellay, József Bihari, Marcsa Simon, László BánhidiThe First World War is raging. Men are at the Russian front, women and the elderly are working the land of the Great Plain village. POW Ferenc (János Görbe) escapes from captivity and finds his son living with the neighbour. After his wife died, the family of his comrade in arms took the child into their care. The man brings bad news: Rókus died in Siberia. After a while, Ferenc becomes close with the widow (Alice Szellay). They marry but the shadow of the past threatens their happiness... The screening will be introduced by film- and music critic László Kolozsi (in Hungarian).Guest: Marcell Dargay, composer

The Less Is More trio has been involved in the Budapest free music scene for over fourteen years. Recently renamed Less Is More 4 to reflect the addition of Bálint Bolcsó’s electronics, and with their third album Do the LimBo now available, their basic concept remains unchanged: total improvisation. Vibraphone, double bass and acoustic drums are manipulated live and in real time by Bolcsó’s arsenal of effects, creating genre-bending atmospheric soundscapes. Future jazz of the highest order.   Do The Limbo by Less Is More 4

The musical world of the French-Hungarian singer Izabella Caussanel has been unfolding in various dance productions and theatre music, as well as with the bands Ötödik évszak and Ephemere. Opus Jazz Clun has already hosted a concert by Ötödik évszak, which extends Carpathian folk music into improvisational genres, and Ephemere, recreating the atmosphere of early 20th-century bars. However, this time Izabella enchants the audience with her own group, focusing on songs, chansons and original compositions she has never performed before. For this adventure, the young singer has chosen musicians who will accompany her unique voice with world-class playing.

Goffredo Petrassi a 20. századi olasz zeneszerzés egyik legnagyobb alakja, a Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia zeneszerzés professzora volt, akinél számos jelentős a 20. század második felében kiteljesedő zeneszerző tanult. Az esemény a mester és olyan az iskolájában tanult jelentős magyar kortárs zeneszerzők szóló zongoraműveiből áll össze, mint Durkó Zsolt, Jeney Zoltán és Szőllősy András. A koncert emléket állít továbbá Durkó Zsolt születésének 90. évfordulója előtt.

Tamás Berki is one of Hungary's most popular jazz singers, who has achieved great success as a member of countless legendary jazz bands, and as a composer and lyricist in recent decades. He has recorded nearly half a hundred of his own songs, and is just as at home in the world of jazz standards. They have been playing together with the Péter Sárik Trio for a long time, and this year they released their joint album Hintaló. Besides performing their own compositions, the popular Péter Sárik Trio is boldly adventuring between genres: they have recorded four albums arranging songs chosen by their audiences, and often play classical arrangements too. As open, versatile musicians, they are able to appeal to a wide range of audiences with their immediacy and energy. Their performances are full of humour, playfulness and joy.

This year marks the 275th anniversary of the birth of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and the 250th anniversary of the publication of his play Clavigo. The February masterclass of the Péter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation at the Budapest Music Center was linked to this double anniversary, with the ultimate goal of creating a new contemporary chamber opera. Clavigo is the result of the Foundation’s last masterclass that was planned down to the smallest detail by Péter Eötvös, who sadly passed away in March. The scenes of the drama were set to music over the spring and summer months by four young composers: Aurélie Ferrière, Daniel Lee Chappell, Elias Frisk, and Daniele Di Virgilio, for string quartet and four vocal soloists, with the help of professors Gergely Vajda, Balázs Horváth and Robert HP Platz. The process will come to its conclusion in December: the Classicus Quartet, the vocal soloists and the four composers, under the direction of conductor Susanne Blumenthal, prepare for the chamber opera's concert premiere on 7 December at the Budapest Music Center, followed by a concert performance at the Collegium Hungaricum Berlin on 9 December. This project is supported by Kunststiftung NRW and Collegium Hungaricum Berlin.

Mahan Mirarab and András Dés, the founders of Mash, have been playing together regularly since 2019, after Dés moved to Vienna. The Iranian guitarist and the Hungarian percussionist's joyful musical encounters resulted in rhythmically and structurally fresh compositions that pointed in an inspiring direction for both of them. Vincent Pongrácz, the third member of the trio, opened up new perspectives for the band beyond their common musical intersections – the microtonal, metrically uneven compositions and Pongrácz's clarinet playing on the edge between jazz and hip-hop formed a harmonious unity, giving the band new momentum. Mash is the coming together of three pathfinder musicians with a distinctive sound. In many ways they come from different backgrounds, but their openness and common musical language unite them: they provide a basis for bringing their similarities and differences into harmony and creating something new out of their work together. The trio's debut album will be released in autumn 2024.

Peter Breughel's famous painting of the Tower of Babel, made around 1563 and preserved in two versions, captures the moment in the biblical story when the workers, no longer able to understand each other's speech, are setting up the columns on the leaning tower, which is apparently about to collapse at any moment. Are we here and now building the Tower of Babel, or a united Europe of peoples who do not necessarily speak each other's language, but at least understand each other? Or a Hungary of people who speak many languages and understand each other? UMZE Ensemble's concert explores the influence of French, Hungarian and, indirectly, countless other cultures through the medium of music. Their guest will be the internationally renowned saxophone virtuoso Nicolas Arsenijevic, who will perform the world premiere of a piece by Péter Tornyai for saxophone solo and chamber ensemble, alongside works by Bruno Mantovani and Michael Jarrell. In addition to Csanád Kedves's Next Step, we can also hear a new version of Máté Balogh's 2014 composition BABE(urope)L - Hommage à P. Breughel, specially reworked for the musicians of UMZE.

Ujházi Gyöngyi (gordonka) és Monostori Gábor (zongora) koncertjének műsora olyan zeneszerzők köré épül fel, akik házastársukkal a magánéletükön kívül szakmájukban is, zenészként is egymás szövetségesei, inspirálói voltak. J. S. Bach és Robert Schumann művei mellett napjaink zenéjét Balogh Máté darabjai képviselik, melyeket a szerző gordonkaművész feleségének dedikált.

If, at all, Herbie Hancock has ever made a wrong decision, then it was to give the name V.S.O.P. to one of the fieriest bands he ever had, as this is supposed to be the label for a cognac which paled for at least four years. Miles Davis, on the other hand, could have regretted in hindsight, that he did not honour the invitation of Hancock to play as a guest at the 1976 Newport Jazz Fest. Freddie Hubbard took the trumpet part to join a group of Davis alumni: Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. They played straight-ahead, so to say, but with a vigour that only jazz-rock musicians can display, nothing of paleness there, full power instead. They recorded this album three years later in Japan at an open-air festival, and they are on fire all the way through, displaying huge dynamism and vast perspectives, all five of them breathing as one. They only played originals until the encore, showing compositional bravado, exciting harmonic changes, and intriguing dialogues. They take us along the full scale of emotions from Eyes of the Hurricane to Fragile.   

After his contemporary and jazz projects of recent years, Miklós Lukács, the ambassador of the cimbalom in Hungary and worldwide, has returned to pure beauty on his new solo album Timeless, arranging well-known songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Sting, Ennio Morricone, Leonard Bernstein, Keith Jarrett, Harold Arlen, and Rezső Seress. The musical history of the past creeps again and again into his arrangements as a sweet spice, be it in the garb of classical music, jazz, or traditional musical cultures. Nevertheless, he focuses primarily on the present and not on musical precursors, so the singable melodies engage the listener's emotional memory and at the same time give us the pleasure of a first hearing. The arrangements are complemented by an original composition, Aura – Hommage à Péter Eötvös, in which Miklós Lukács creates a new quality by fusing accessible melodicism and experience in contemporary music. He performs the songs on Timeless live for the very first time. Miklós Lukács has brought the cimbalom as a solo instrument to the forefront of contemporary music and jazz both at home and abroad, and has developed a number of techniques beyond the traditional playing style to achieve unique sounds. Composers like Peter Eötvös and Béla Szakcsi Lakatos have written pieces for him, and he has played with musicians and orchestras such as Archie Shepp, Bill Frisell, Chris Potter, Uri Caine, Frank London, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. After his achievements in contemporary music and jazz, it was time to turn his attention to the popular side of the repertoire, where he is once again a pioneer: no other album has been released ever to showcase the diversity and potential of the solo cimbalom by performing well-known songs.  

Austrian musicians Klaus Paier and Gerald Preinfalk as well as Croatian Asja Valcic have formed a fascinating trio as their new creative grounds. Paier has been exploring the nuances of accordion and bandoneon playing, and traveling between jazz, world music and classical elements for decades. His curiosity and thirst for exploring sounds led him to design his own instrument, named “Passion”. Croatian cellist Asja Valcic found a way from classical music to improvisation. She played in chamber ensembles and co-founded the multistylistic radio.string.quartet.vienna. In jazz, she worked in a trio with Joachim Kühn and Prabhu Edouard, as well as in the quartet Fulsome X with Wolfgang Puschnig. Gerald Preinfalk presents contemporary music with the renowned Klangforum Wien and has also performed with the Wiener Philharmoniker. He played jazz in bands with George Garzone, Don Byron, Alegre Corrêa, Django Bates, Christian Muthspiel, Wolfgang Muthspiel, and in big bands such as the Vienna Art Orchestra. All three musicians contribute own compositions to the trio’s repertoire, further developing their creative journey between jazz, contemporary, classical and world music together. Within the written forms, there is ample room for fine tuned improvisation and solo highlights, appealing to the demanding music listener. In terms of its dynamics, virtuosity and fragility, the kaleidoscope of audiophonics devised on their new album Fractal Beauty is a bold blueprint on the path to perfection in sound that offers a balance of freedom and form, complex music and compelling melodies, suspense and release, and above all the purest of poetry.  

Kellene valaki, aki uralkodik a hangok rendszerén, aki eléggé geniális lenne hozzá,hogy a rekonstruálót, sőt az archaikusat egyesíti a forradalmival.Thomas Mann: Doktor FaustusA Kölni Rádió (WDR) Elektronikus zenei stúdióját 1951. október 18-án alapította Herbert Eimert zeneszerző, Dr. Werner Meyer-Eppler fizikus és Robert Beyer hangmérnők. A közfelfogás a kölni iskolát rigid, formaelvű, szintetikus hangzású kompozíciókkal azonosítja. A Stúdióban készülő korai művek elsősorban Meyer-Eppler Hangzó katalógusának hangmintáit hívják segítségül az új ZENE esztétikájának megteremtéséhez, mindeközben létrejön az elektronikus zenei szolfézs. 1953-ban csatlakozik a Stúdióhoz Karlheinz Stockhausen, aki Olivier Messiaen és Karol Goeyvaerts szerialista (sorozatelvű) szellemi impulzusainak hatására egy radikálisan új, magasan szervezett zenei nyelvet teremt: a szó szoros értelmében mindent az atomok (= a tiszta szinuszhang) szintjéről felépítve. A háromrészes előadás-sorozat a Kölni WDR Stúdió archívumának közelmúltban napvilágra került hangfelvételeiről készített zenei hangzásképek, azaz szonogramok segítségével ismerteti Faragó Béla készülő doktori disszertációjának kutatási eredményeit. Az első részben Herbert Eimert, Robert Beyer zeneszerzők és Heinz Schütz hangmérnök elektronikus kompozíciói mellett élőben megszólal Faragó Béla Quintetto per fiati című műve - a kompozíció megírását a Nemzeti Kulturális Alap támogatta.

Jelena Popržan, the charismatic and vocally nuanced viola player, singer and sound artist from Vojvodina (Serbia), who has injected some vitality into the Austrian music scene, is now setting up a new project and a new team after her highly acclaimed solo program La Folia, with three fixed sizes of the local jazz scene: Christoph Pepe Auer (in this concert substituted by Richie Winkler), Clemens Sainitzer and Lina Neuner. She found the poems of the Polish-Viennese poet Tamar Radzyner (1927–1991) in a booklet published by the Theodor Kramer Society and was deeply impressed. The Polish Jew, who was in the armed resistance and survived the Shoah, found a new home in Vienna and in the German language, worked with Georg Kreisler and Topsy Küppers, and wrote poems full of cheerful pessimism and bitter wit. Jelena Popržan created a musical monument to her with a song cycle. But the larger part of the program is taken up by her brand new instrumental compositions, pieces full of imaginative sound images and melodic stories.  

A Pax et Bonum Kamarakórus Balogh Máté, Erkel-díjas és Junior Príma-díjas zeneszerző sokszínű kórusműveiből nyújt válogatást. A koncert különleges műfaji kalandozásokat kínál: szavalókórus, bordal, poszt-spirituálé és zulu népdal is elhangzik, melyek mind Balogh szellemes témaválasztásait és újszerű kóruskezelését tükrözik. A művekben Balogh Máté Misztótfalusi Kis Miklós, Gabrielle von Baumberg, Edward Lear, James Joyce és Fehér Renátó szövegeit dolgozta fel. A szerzővel rendszeres alkotótársa, Fehér Renátó költő beszélget az elhangzó művekről.

Leonhard Skorupa somehow manages to leave his mark on every band he’s a part of. The Vienna saxophonist and clarinetist has a penchant for surprise and wry humor; he’s anything but a wet blanket. His Sketchbook Quartet is marked by a lively, contemporary sound – rooted in the jazz tradition, to be sure, but the band has no problem integrating influences from musical styles ranging from straight-ahead jazz to surf rock. The music of this refreshingly unconventional quartet could almost pass for chamber jazz – if it weren’t for the strong syncopated rhythms and the undertone of uninhibited rock-and-roll. In any case, the Sketchbook Quartet is partially responsible for the growing self-confidence of the Austrian jazz scene in recent years, as well as for its international mobility and popularity. The band can be counted on to deliver a fresh, vibrating sound, celebrating a quintessentially modern, joyful, prickly eclecticism.  

In 2024, soprano Gabriella Rea Fenyvesi and pianist Róza Radnóti received the Annie Fischer Scholarship, a Hungarian prize supporting young talents. The two musicians got to know each other thanks to this award, and their shared passion for the masterpieces of song literature led them to create a song recital. Both young artists studied with distinguished professors at the Academy of Music - Gabriella with Andrea Meláth, András Almási-Tóth and Szabolcs Sándor, Róza with Gábor Csalog, András Kemenes and Rita Wagner. Both obtained their MA degree with honours from the institution in 2022, and went on to broaden their studies abroad: Gabriella spent six months as a Weingarten scholarship student at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with British soprano Anne Dawson, and Róza studied with Imre Rohmann at the Mozarteum in Salzburg for two years. Their song recital features works by 19th and 20th century composers, almost all of which tell the story of love, and sings about its depths and heights.

Among the pillars of StEFREM's broad repertoire are works for male choir by Hungarian composers, primarily Liszt, Bartók and Kodály, as well as compositions dedicated to the ensemble by contemporary Hungarian masters. They have released several albums of these works on BMC Records. The series A Genius Is Born is a tribute to the male choir works by the three greatest Hungarian masters of music, so it is no coincidence that the concerts are taking place on the composers' birthdays. A special feature of the concert programme is that StEFREM's personal selection of works by the classical composers is complemented by outstanding and interesting pieces by their "heirs", the Hungarian composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. StEFREM is a Budapest-based vocal ensemble with a unique sound. The multi award-winning ensemble regularly performs throughout Europe, from London to Bucharest, and has also performed in Africa, India and South America. They have worked with renowned artists such as Abeer Nehme, Victor Solomon, and the King's Singers, and have released 18 albums since 2002. Their rich and varied repertoire includes Byzantine and classical pieces, crossover arrangements and acapella pop songs. 142 years ago on this day Zoltán Kodály was born, whose musical vision and work had a profound influence on the Hungarian musical world of the 20th century. His educational credo, known today as the Kodály Method, still helps achieve great results in the education of children around the world. Although he considered mixed choir singing to be the pinnacle of choral music, Kodály also composed many excellent works for men's choir. Today, the StEfrem performs some of these works, which are well suited to the sound of a small chamber ensemble. Great poems, quotations, sacred and folk texts from Kodály and Hungarian composers who proudly embrace his legacy will be brought to life. Further concerts in this series: 22 October 2024 19:00 St.EFREM: A Genius is Born I. | Franz Liszt and his Musical Heritage25 March 2025 19:00 St.EFREM: A Genius is Born III. | Béla Bartók and his Musical Heritage

Tether Trio is the new, genre-exploding project co-led by Grammy-nominated vocalist Theo Bleckmann and internationally renowned saxophonist Timo Vollbrecht (both from New York). Together with Amsterdam-based pianist Harmen Fraanje, they weave together explorative improvisation and melody-driven songs, allowing their music time to breathe, unfold, and claim its required space. The trio creates their highly personal sound by blending the instruments’ natural and acoustic timbres with the discreet and tasteful use of electronic live processing. After a joint performance for the Fajr International Music Festival in Iran in 2021, Bleckmann and Vollbrecht decided to further develop their immediate synergy and work out new music together. The resultant Tether Trio derives its name from the intertwining of musical ideas that these three free-thinking musicians merge into one.

György Szabados organised Christmas concerts in Budapest in the 1980s and early 1990s. After his death in 2015, the Adyton Art Foundation, which aims to keep his legacy alive, took over to organise events continuing his original initiative under the title Adyton Christmas. Szabados' musical world is complex and multifaceted, opening many paths leading in different directions and offering many points of connection. Among his former musical partners, István Grencsó and Szilárd Mezei have built their own musical worlds based mainly on the technique and spirit of free music. Today, both of them have moved quite far away from traditional jazz, and their music could be labelled as improvised contemporary music beyond free jazz. Róbert Benkő is Grencsó's oldest collaborator, who has joined him  in a constant search for new paths and changes of direction, and with whom they have an intuitive understanding of each other. Barnabás Dukay, the hiding icon of contemporary music, comes from a completely different direction. A composer, musicologist and Bach scholar, Dukay believes that in music, you have to improvise everything you can. This could be the motto of his ten-year-old collaboration with Grencsó, during which they have made wonderful recordings very difficult to classify. Three composers and an inspired bassist on the stage. The absence of percussion is no coincidence, as their music is not organized around rhythmic bases. Composing in real time is one of the most risky art forms, with no anchors, no safety net (say, sheet music). It depends on nuances whether it's free-flying or free-falling. They've never ever failed yet, presenting the miracle of creation in deep harmony. Zsolt Németh

Mozart's Clarinet Quintet is one of the earliest pieces written for a similar ensemble. Although the emotional complexity and contrast characteristic of his music is not absent here, it would be hard to guess that Mozart wrote this work in one of the most difficult years of his life. The Clarinet Quintet combines the three genres at which its composer excelled – opera, concerto and string quartet –, and was inspired by none other than the clarinet star of his day, Anton Stadler. At the premiere, the composer himself probably took up the viola to play alongside his friend. Weber's Clarinet Quintet follows up with Mozart's surely exemplary work not only by combining the soul of the concerto with operatic influences, but also by the fact that it was inspired by an exceptional performer, Heinrich Baermann. Apart from Weber's two most famous operas, his clarinet concertos are the only ones to appear in the repertoire, which is a pity: this chamber work is proof of the high quality of his other works.

Gábor Gadó and Veronika Harcsa are two artists who are known primarily as jazz musicians, yet their work is increasingly shifting towards classical and contemporary music. Another step in this direction was their previous album Shekhinah in 2023, and this year the dialogue between classical and jazz musicians continues in the songs of The Language of Flowers. But while Shekhinah features Gadó's recent compositions with lyrics by Veronika Harcsa, The Language of Flowers brings to life Gadó's compositions from more than two decades ago to lyrics by Eszter Molnár, and revives the brightest era of Hungarian vocal jazz, hallmarked by the name of Gábor Winand. Between 2002 and 2006, Gadó and Winand released four albums (Corners of My Mind, Agent Spirituel, Different Garden, and Opera Budapest), which have taken their careers to new heights. The Gadó – Harcsa Quintet has selected 11 songs from these albums, but their aim is not to replicate, but to approach these pieces as one would the repertoire of jazz standards or classical songs: as melodies and lyrics that anyone can perform, finding their own voice in them. Gábor Gadó has been working with BMC Records for a quarter of a century, releasing an incredible number of 25 albums for BMC Records. He couldn't have found a more suitable vocalist partner for reinterpreting the vocal jazz tradition than Veronika Harcsa, who is justly the most popular Hungarian jazz singer in the country and the most recognized one abroad. In the Gadó – Harcsa Quintet, we find musicians familiar from Shekhinah and Gadó’s other projects: Belgian trumpeter Laurent Blondiau, sound magician saxophonist János Ávéd, and the contemporary scene’s prominent cellist Tamás Zétényi add defining colours to the character of the music.  

European jazz is slowly moving away from the American mainstream style, retaining all its important values, yet creating an independent improvisational musical language. The Párniczky Quartet was created in 2016 with the aim to play the reworkings of the bandleader from Béla Bartók’s pieces. The fruit of the joint work and Párniczky’s doctoral dissertation (“Only from a pure source.” Living Béla Bartók's music in jazz – LFZE Doctoral School) is their first album, Bartók electrified, which was released on BMC Records in 2018. The immediate predecessor of Párniczky Quartet was the band Nigun, where three of the current quartet members played modern jazz based on Central and Eastern European folk music traditions. The second album of the quartet is Mikrotheosz. Their current repertoire equally includes elements of chamber jazz, contemporary classical and folk music. The compositions are performed by the members by giving them enormous creative freedom with great energy, yet articulately.  

Duke Ellington was the one whose eponymous composition made Sacred Music an acceptable term in jazz, to signifiy an inspired and elevated state of mind, one which was reached by many jazz musicians to go beyond the world of regular music played in the church. Although one of the early albums of the Modern Art Orchestra is a Christmas album, but this time they have shifted more towards expressing those deep and inner feelings that do not really resemble the seasonal repertoire, rather the experience of the transcendent in a more personal way. This was the artistic position leading to the adaptation of the oratorical piece by Franz Liszt, Via Crucis, but they will also interpret classic parts of Messiah by Händel, and Bach will also be adapted for the big band.

The Dresch Quartet has been playing in its current lineup for four years, and its founder, the highly acclaimed Mihály Dresch, has been a key figure in etnojazz and in Hungarian music in general since the 1980s. His quartet consistently and confidently treads its own unique path with an individual fusion of Hungarian folk music and African-American jazz, jointly developed by Dresch and the band members. Commitment to the musical concept, respect and humility towards the sources, outstanding musicians, new and evergreen compositions, standards in the Dresch manner – all these combined create the musical experience that strikes the audience again and again with its freshness.  

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Mint tudjuk, Beethoven a zene Mozartja. Magyarul: minden klasszikus zenészek alfája és omegája, a legnagyobb lázadó, a legvagányabb rocker, aki a zenét a sarkaiból fordította ki, aki a sorssal is dacolt: pá-pá-pá-páááám! Ezt a szuperhőst hozzuk el szűk egy órában Szemenyei János színész és Hámori Máté házigazda-karmester segítségével, bemutatva, hogy hogyan is lehet egy kétszáz éves zene ma is kemény, feszes, forradalmi, pörgős és megdöbbentően érzékeny egyszerre. Lesz zongorázás, zenekari lárma, siketség-szimulátor és sok minden más. Csak erős idegzetűeknek!

Mint tudjuk, Beethoven a zene Mozartja. Magyarul: minden klasszikus zenészek alfája és omegája, a legnagyobb lázadó, a legvagányabb rocker, aki a zenét a sarkaiból fordította ki, aki a sorssal is dacolt: pá-pá-pá-páááám! Ezt a szuperhőst hozzuk el szűk egy órában Szemenyei János színész és Hámori Máté házigazda-karmester segítségével, bemutatva, hogy hogyan is lehet egy kétszáz éves zene ma is kemény, feszes, forradalmi, pörgős és megdöbbentően érzékeny egyszerre. Lesz zongorázás, zenekari lárma, siketség-szimulátor és sok minden más. Csak erős idegzetűeknek!

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This evening actually happened on three nights, recorded during three different studio sessions between April 1954 and August 1955. O’Day was signed by the young Los Angeles producer Norman Granz (Jazz at the Philharmonic), Jimmy Rowles and two lesser-known pianists were engaged, and guitarist Tal Farlow contributed on four tracks. The singer’s straightforward, veiled delivery, which avoids the broader vibrato and is equally captivating when ironical or wistful, has been likened by many to a saxophone. Her performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in a few years is in the annals of jazz history. Here, O’Day makes the standards (The Man I Love, There’ll Never Be Another You) her own, and her original blues track shows why black jazz musicians always said yes right away when Anita O’Day invited them. The internationally renowned singer Júlia Karosi, who is also breaking new ground with her own band, recommended the production to the orchestra and will also take on the role of O’Day. 

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Haydn életét végigkísérte a kvartett-komponálás, első és utolsó vonósnégyese között 48 év telt el, több, mint Schumann teljes élete. A romantikus mester pedig szinte összes kamarazenei művét egyetlen év alatt írta. Kurtág György művészete sok szállal kapcsolódik mindkét nagy elődhöz. A Dohnányi Quartet idei koncertsorozatában e három szerző vonósnégyesein keresztül nyújt bepillantást a műfaj mélységeibe, sokszínűségébe.

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The brilliant and versatile Roy Hargrove summoned this parade 30 years ago, documented on 73+ minutes. Hargrove (1969-2018) created wonders: in addition to his quintet albums, he founded a big band and opened wide doors to hip-hop and R&B. Here, as one of the ambitious young lions, he provides yet another example of positioning his generation in the jazz tradition, while happily savouring every minute of musical encounters. The Cyrus Chestnut-Rodney Whitaker-Gregory Hutchinson rhythm section features saxophonists in their 30s: Ron Blake, Branford Marsalis and Joshua Redman, as well as grand masters Johnny Griffin, Joe Henderson and Stanley Turrentine. Hargrove shines as a bandleader, composer, soloist and host, smiling as he opens the door to the parade of saxophone stars. Kristóf Bacsó, János Ávéd, Árpád Dennert and Balázs Cserta - almost the entire MAO saxophone chorus - take turns interpreting the music of their great predecessors, while Kornél Fekete-Kovács takes the trumpet part.    

Romanticism – Grieg, Dvořák and Tchaikovsky Shouldn't we get carried away by the extremely powerful musical motifs or melt away listening to the melodies gently finding their way to our hearts? Of course, we should! The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra intends to achieve just that with the programme compiled from the best-known Romantic compositions. Among the three great Romantic masters, there is a Czech composer whose name might sound somewhat unknown. Josef Suk, however, does belong to the 'family', Dvořák’s family: first, he was Dvořák's student, and then later, he joined privately as well. At the age of 19, he managed to write his Saranade in a nearly perfect Dvořákian style as the follower of his future father-in-law.

The new production of harpist Anastasia Razvalyaeva, singer Veronika Harcsa and composer Bálint Bolcsó translates Schubert's music into contemporary musical language. After their album Debussy NOW!, released in 2020 on BMC Records and acclaimed internationally, the artists adapted the songs of another composer to their own instruments and language. Improvisations, timbres between classical and jazz vocal techniques, and live electronic effects further expand the infinite, sensual and eerily beautiful universe of Schubert's songs, while at the same time enhancing the expressive tools of the human voice, and the harp. The well-known, perennial songs are transformed into a truly contemporary spatial experience in the trio's performance. The full material of the album Schubert NOW!, to be released in early 2025, will be heard live for the first time at this concert, in the Concert Hall of BMC.  

In the early 20th century, his music found its way easily into the affected world of operetta with Das Dreimäderlhaus, and his oeuvre is full of light, casual pieces written for the music lovers of early 19th-century Vienna, yet few in the history of Western art music have gone as far as Franz Schubert in capturing human hopelessness. “All is going shamefully,” he wrote to a friend in the early 1820s, “for in this miserable world it is the fate of almost every sensible man. And what are we to do with happiness when unhappiness is now our only stimulant.” The biographical reasons for this unhappiness (ranging from love disappointment to financial difficulties and fatal illness) are less interesting than how we listeners today, 200 years later, can experience the hopelessness represented in Schubert's music – in this case, in the grand Piano Sonata in A minor composed in 1825. In the first half of the evening, pianist Gábor Csalog and music historian Gergely Fazekas will discuss how the feeling of hopelessness can be expressed in music, using examples from other works too. The language of this conversation is Hungarian.

Founded in 2018, the Korossy Quartet aims to transmit the famous Hungarian string quartet tradition, and to present the broadest possible repertoire to Hungarian and foreign audiences. In 2021, the ensemble was awarded 5 different special prizes at the international Bartók World Competition, and a year later they were accepted into the class of Günter Pichler, first violinist of the legendary Alban Berg Quartet, at the Reina Sofia School of Music in Madrid. The Korossy Quartet's Bartók series, starting in autumn 2023, includes all of Bartók's string quartets in 6 concerts over 2 years, paired with a selection of works by the greatest composers of music history. Béla Bartók's String Quartet No 5 is perhaps the most outstanding reflection of his genius in the genre. While each movement in the bridge form is an exemplar of musical streamlining, each note captivate the listener with an elemental expressive and magnetic quality. Mozart also shows the very best of his composing abilities in his last String Quartet in F major. Both works are characterised by wise structures, and stunningly perfect and sensuous formal design. The instruments exist both in their individual capacity and in community, so that they can sometimes become instruments of the most intimate confession. This kind of dramatic writing also refers these two works in the highest ranks of string quartet literature. Photo: Andrea Felvégi

Not just the members of the quartet, this album is a legend in itself. Two originals have become standards from it. By 1965, the self-taught Montgomery received many invitations, including one from New York’s Half-Note. The rhythm section, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb, had accompanied Miles Davis for four years. For some reason, only No Blues and If I Could See Me Now have made it from the concert onto the first release, the rest were studio recordings three months later. Two tracks with numbered titles, Unit 7 and Four on Six, became standards from this album, but the bluesy, hidden tension of What’s New is also full of excitement. The almost breathless momentum all the way through is impressive, like a hissing steam engine at full speed, and it’s not just the guitar that gives that feeling. It’s the piano and accompaniment throughout as well, as they reveal simple yet nuanced melodies with the endlessly precise interplay of the whole quartet. The first LP release has been followed by numerous analogue and digital discs since 1965, because this material never gets old. The guitarist of MAO, Áron Komjáti, a master of shades depicting any colour of jazz, interprets the classic tracks as a soloist on the podium.

The Modern Art Orchestra's À la MAO... series aims to present compositions and adaptations, sometimes originals, by members of the orchestra in a new context. In recordings and concerts, the orchestra has created a repertoire that is unparalleled in the history of Hungarian jazz. Some of these pieces have never been heard before by old or new followers, arranged in a new thematical, stylistic or other way. Additionally, some of them have never been released on disc or digitally. Big bands achieved their greatest popularity during the swing era, and the Modern Art Orchestra, embracing the jazz tradition, is keen to return to its roots. Recently, trombone player Attila Korb's suite Swinging on the Danube was written entirely in this style, in which the composer plays several instruments, including a memorable bass saxophone solo. Not only Korb performs regularly in traditional orchestras, also some other composers are rooted in the swing tradition, whether in rhythm, harmony or the pulsation of the kind that the Ellington and Co’s song says without swing „it don’t mean a thing”. 

After four concerts in 2023, János Mátyás Stark, Gergely Devich and Fülöp Ránki are announcing a new series at the BMC, now under the name of Trio Haris. The third concert will feature two of the classical giants of the piano trio genre, Haydn and Beethoven. Haydn, as in so many of his works, is making countless subtle jokes in his Trio in E major. Even the string pizzicatos of the main theme at the very beginning of the piece are not out of the ordinary, not to mention the long piano solo in the slow movement and the sometimes breakneck modulations. The work's majesty and loftiness make it an ideal counterpart to Beethoven's 'Archduke' Trio – although their character makes it evident that while Haydn dedicated his trio to a virtuoso pianist, Beethoven's piece is addressed to Archduke Rudolf of Habsburg-Lorraine, to whom the composer dedicated many of his compositions. One of the most large-scale works in the trio repertoire, it is symphonic in scale yet retains the softness of the B flat major tonality and the the intimacy so characteristic of a small chamber ensemble, and its Andante in D major is one of Beethoven's most touching slow variational movements. Further concerts in this series: 5 October 2024 7 PM Trio Haris (Ránki – Stark – Devich) I. | Haydn, Liszt, Schubert4 January 2025 7 PM Trio Haris (Ránki – Stark – Devich) II. | Takemitsu, Schubert, Shostakovich7 June 2025 7 PM Trio Haris (Ránki – Stark – Devich) IV. | Schumann and Brahms

Among the pillars of StEFREM's broad repertoire are works for male choir by Hungarian composers, primarily Liszt, Bartók and Kodály, as well as compositions dedicated to the ensemble by contemporary Hungarian masters. They have released several albums of these works on BMC Records. The series A Genius Is Born is a tribute to the male choir works by the three greatest Hungarian masters of music, so it is no coincidence that the concerts are taking place on the composers' birthdays. A special feature of the concert programme is that StEFREM's personal selection of works by the classical composers is complemented by outstanding and interesting pieces by their "heirs", the Hungarian composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. StEFREM is a Budapest-based vocal ensemble with a unique sound. The multi award-winning ensemble regularly performs throughout Europe, from London to Bucharest, and has also performed in Africa, India and South America. They have worked with renowned artists such as Abeer Nehme, Victor Solomon, and the King's Singers, and have released 18 albums since 2002. Their rich and varied repertoire includes Byzantine and classical pieces, crossover arrangements and acapella pop songs. Béla Bartók was born 143 years ago on one of the most important Christian feasts: the Feast of the Assumption, also known as the Feast of the Annunciation, on 25 March. Bartók's unique, pure art has quickly become particularly influential for the whole music culture, and continues to be so even 80 years after his death. Out of the Hungarian geniuses, Liszt wrote more than sixty male works, Kodály twenty, Bartók only six, but these are true gems of the genre, and span his entire oeuvre. In particular, the Songs from Olden Times and the Székely Folk Songs are seminal in the literature of men's choral music. In the final episode of the three-part concert series A Genius is Born, Bartók's works will be accompanied by compositions and transcriptions by six contemporary Hungarian composers. Further concerts in this series: 22 October 2024 19:00 St.EFREM: A Genius is Born I. | Franz Liszt and his Musical Heritage16 December 2024 19:00 St.EFREM: A Genius is Born II. | Zoltán Kodály and his Musical Heritage

Bassist Stanley Clarke’s name is at the top of this studio album cover only because of the alphabetical order: the quintet (with Freddie Hubbard, Lenny White and Chick Corea) was mainly known as the Griffith Park Band. Perhaps the biggest star at the time was saxophone legend Joe Henderson, so he got to play the first solo on most tracks. The band, acoustic throughout, presents a wide cavalcade of moods. The musicians move like big cats, stretching lazily and then rushing to attack. It’s no coincidence that the orchestra has more concert than studio recordings. Only a Steve Swallow composition is featured here, the others are original compositions in which both the highly inspirational interplay and the far-reaching impros are perfectly developed. It’s good to experience the giants of jazz-rock bath together in a hard bop river before crossing it. MAO soloists, on the other hand, can reflect on this album with four decades of accumulated musical knowledge. 

Contemporary – Miho Hazama, U. C. Erkin, Christopher Cerrone, Pavel Fischer Like sports, music also has its 'tools' for performance increase and relaxation. The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra highlights 'contemporary' in their programme without inhibitions, as with similar compilations, they have garnered great success with the audience several times before. The globally recognised ensembles strike a perfect balance in the effects by spoonfeeding us with alternating more meditative and lax works with quick and ecstatic pieces. During the concert, the audience can experience a refreshing rejuvenation and recharging of their batteries, just like after a good training session.

The Modern Art Orchestra's À la MAO... series aims to present compositions and adaptations, sometimes originals, by members of the orchestra in a new context. In recordings and concerts, the orchestra has created a repertoire that is unparalleled in the history of Hungarian jazz. Some of these pieces have never been heard before by old or new followers, arranged in a new thematical, stylistic or other way. Additionally, some of them have never been released on disc or digitally. On International Jazz Day, an initiative associated with the name of Herbie Hancock, one of the founding fathers of jazz-rock, it almost goes without saying that the Modern Art Orchestra will be drawing on the extensive repertoire of the jazz-rock genre. Works by the versatile trumpeter-composer Gábor Subicz, pianist Gábor Cseke, saxophone soloist Kristóf Bacsó and bandleader Kornél Fekete-Kovács form the backbone of the programme. A surprise guest will be sitting down into the drum chair.

This album has been overshadowed by an even more legendary recording, but it has a lot of beauty. Saxophonist Paul Desmond is the only member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, apart from the bandleader, to become a big name outside that quartet. Desmond recorded the album Time Out with the Dave Brubeck Quartet in August 1959 - one of the most successful jazz albums ever made. In September, guitarist Jim Hall, as well as Percy Heath and Connie Kay of the Modern Jazz Quartet joined Desmond for his second solo outing, producing another example of the golden age of laid-back, cool, elegant, swinging jazz. The quartet consistently and unwaveringly performs the hits of the era, which include MJQ numbers and standards, but the CD reissue also includes a Desmond composition. The alto saxophone is lilting and flattering, seductive and reassuring. That's why it was voted number one again in Playboy magazine that year, as the album title suggests. As many of the series’ regulars will have guessed, Árpád Dennert will evoke the sound of one of the saxophone’s unforgettable masters with the MAO's rhythm section.

“These are no longer the happy times when we see the glories of youth around every object, but the fatal realisation of a miserable reality which I try to embellish as much as I can with my imagination (thank God for it).” Franz Schubert wrote these lines in 1824 to his brother Ferdinand. That beauty was central to Schubert's compositional thinking hardly needs to be proved to anyone who have heard even a few minutes of Schubert's music in their lifetime. But it was precisely at the beginning of the 19th century that the concept of “sublime” began to take over the place of “beauty” in musical aesthetics, so the ineffable, unearthly beauty of Schubert's melodies was thus an imprint of an earlier era, that of Mozart and Haydn. The Piano Trio in B flat major (B. 898), which Schubert began to compose in 1827 but only completed next year before his death, offers numerous examples of the musical representation of both the concept of “beauty” and the “sublime”. Before playing the piece, Gábor Csalog, his musician friends and music historian Gergely Fazekas will discuss the change in musical aesthetics and show other examples of Schubert’s concept of beauty. The language of the conversation is Hungarian.

The Modern Art Orchestra's À la MAO... series aims to present compositions and adaptations, sometimes originals, by members of the orchestra in a new context. In recordings and concerts, the orchestra has created a repertoire that is unparalleled in the history of Hungarian jazz. Some of these pieces have never been heard before by old or new followers, arranged in a new thematical, stylistic or other way. Additionally, some of them have never been released on disc or digitally. The Modern Art Orchestra's last concert of the season might as well bring up Herbie Hancock's name again, because this is the title of the Hancock's sextet album released almost 30 years ago.  They have been instrumentally reworking current pop hits. Of course, ever since jazz emerged, it has been using the hits of the day as a starting point to improvise, and the Great American Songbook was almost exclusively made up of musical, pop and film hits from the 1930s. In the last few decades, the freshness of new styles of pop has inspired some of the most famous foreign artists. The Hungarian jazz repertoire has also included songs by the most successful pop ensembles, while composers such as Gábor Subicz, Kristóf Bacsó and the orchestra leader Kornél Fekete-Kovács have also adapted film or stage music, creating a whole series of new jazz standards.