14 concerts of classical music, one hour each, by/in 14 festival cities of Hungary at the first weekend of June.
Interkultur Hungária Non-profit Ltd, the organiser of Zemplén Festival has requested Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra, the resident orchestra of the festival to perform at the concert that is being realised in Sárospatak as part of a country-wide initiative to celebrate opening up after the third wave of the pandemic. The venue of the festive concert is SRK Wáberer Sports Centre in Sárospatak.
Entry is free of charge but you need to present your immunity card. Registration tickets are available at: https://artfestivals.jegy.hu/program/grand-opening-sarospatak-122807/717738
Festive Overture by Erkel will be the first piece to be performed. One of the most well-known symbols of Hungarian national identity, Festive Overture was completed for the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of the Budapest National Theatre. In terms of its genre, it is genuine verbunkos music with the notes of Szózat (Hungary’s “second national anthem” – the tr.) sounding at its climax. The second work we will listen to is Movement 1 of Symphony No. 1 by Levente Gyöngyösi. It well deserves the title “Love” in that it is a serene, momentous, colourful piece. What makes it really special is how after an adorable concert of birds the finale turns into a boisterous folk dance. To close the concert, we are going to play Dances of Galánta by Kodály. Kodály composed a lavish concert piece out of folk music materials he had collected in Upper Hungary (the so-called “Northern Hungarian Highlands”, now part of Slovakia – the tr.). In fact, it is perhaps the most played and most well-known Hungarian music of the 20th century. The special feature of this performance is that the originally collected pieces will also be played just as Kodály must have heard them in the field: four musicians of Dohnányi Orchestra will form as if a folk band just for this occasion.
The concerts will be realised with the support of the Ministry of Human Resources and the joint effort of the members of the Association of Hungarian Art Festivals.
