A concert by Omar Bashir and the MYNK Quartet – ZEMPLÉN FESTIVAL

As usual, the MYNK Quartet’s performance will include novelties and involve an outstanding world star this year. The quartet has been working with Omar Bashir and his orchestra for years. They presented their latest fusion at the Assyrian Congress at the University of Salamanca, where Omar Bashir’s wonderful, incomparable music – which combines Arabic culture with Hungarian, Assyrian, flamenco and gypsy elements – was a resounding success with international audiences.

All the songs in their production entitled Love & Peace are coming from the heart and reflecting Omar’s personality and his belief in peaceful and loving coexistence.

The one and a half hour concert will take place in one of Tarcal’s new establishments in which they take great pride and joy, the renewed Könyves Kálmán Cultural Centre, equipped with the latest technical facilities.

CORPUS TROMBONE QUARTET – ZEMPLÉN FESTIVAL

“These are sounds coming from the depths, although we have become accustomed to the fact that Dongó never reveals his treasures with a superficial expression. He descends on a rope like a fairy tale hero into the deep recesses of Music, always surprising us with some unusual, beautiful acoustic formation. And, of course, he polishes them to brilliance with incredible tenacity, skill and imagination. In this exhibition of sounds, he once again presents us with little gems, with the help of his excellent musical partners, the Corpus Trombone Quartet. This is neither folk music nor classical music. These are masterly articulated vocal messages from the realms of faith, virtue, suffering, childlike serenity and ballads.” (Ferenc Kiss – sound architect)

Hungarian folk music on brass instruments. It was in 2017 that the Corpus Trombone Quartet and Balázs Szokolay Dongó met for the first time. The first experimental works of the unique formation were already written that year, and now their second album is being released. The works of Balázs Szokolay Dongó – together with folk song arrangements by Bartók and Kodály – form the basis for their music-making.

The programme is free of charge.

With the support of the Municipality of Taktaharkány

InFusion Trio – ZEMPLÉN FESTIVAL

Peculiar sound, unusual instrumentation and a technical realisation that is unique in the world – these are the characteristics of the InFusion Trio. Formed in December 2011, it is a group of trained classical musicians, equally at home in classical and popular music.
The InFusion Trio’s peculiarity lies mainly in its unique choice of instruments. The electric violin, electric cello, bass guitar, synthesizer and electric drums led through effects pedals create a very special soundscape. Another defining innovation is the use of looper pedals, which allows the performing artists to record and multiply themselves live.
It is a unique concert experience as the listener can follow the building up of the loops and the joyful, virtuosic, effortless play of the musicians.
In this concert, they will present their fourth album, which features works by the greatest composers from Bach through Beethoven to Bartók, all dressed up in a modern guise and with the dynamism of electronic music.
The concert will take place in the picturesque park of the Vay Castle, on a stage on the water, where the audience can listen to the performance seated around a small lake, admiring the beauty of the Zemplén landscape around the castle.

 

The programme is free of charge.

With the support of the Municipality of Golop

ZEMPLÉN FESTIVAL – COMPREHENSIBLE MUSIC – Mozart: ‘Jupiter’ Symphony

Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony can also be interpreted as a kind of summary of the composer’s life and thought. It is a work of splendour, exuberance and captivating musical construction, and at the end of the piece the composer even offers the listener the gift of a grand fugue. All who listen to this work and its analysis will be enriched by the experience of a true, almost indecipherable miracle.

The programme is free of charge.

With the support of the Municipality of Sárospatak

ZEMPLÉN FESTIVAL – THE SOUND OF MUSIC

The sound of music. The title of today’s concert is no coincidence: through it, our intention is to point out how many ways there are in which music can make our lives complete, whether it’s about dancing, having fun, falling in love, feeling sad or just watching a good film.

This time, Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra will be directed by Gábor Werner, one of the orchestra’s conductors, who is also an excellent cellist and arranger. Our audiences have already heard his great transcriptions in productions such as Cinefonic, Christmas Actually and Gamer Symphony. The film music hits, dance songs and dance music (e.g. La vie en rose, Besame mucho, as well as the music of The Pink Panther, The Godfather, Harry Potter and Jurassic Park) that will be performed at today’s concert are also transcribed and orchestrated by Gábor Werner and Apor Szüts.

FAMILY CINEFONIC

The FAMILY CINEFONIC matinee concert on Sunday morning will feature more family movies than the traditional evening concert, with music that of course will be equally enjoyable for adults. The structure of the programme has been changed: the concert will be 70 minutes in total, with no intermission.

The concert is recommended for children aged 8 and over.

ZEMPLÉN FESTIVAL – PUCCINI: MESSA DI GLORIA

The concert congratulates and celebrates Gábor Hollerung, who turns 70 on this day, with Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, performed by two ensembles (the Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra and the Budapest Academic Choral Society) that have been associated with him for more than 30 years. This mass is one of the first major works written by the then 17-year-old composer, who sets the text to music with playful lightness, in the style of Italian opera. Although the title is Messa di Gloria, the work consists of the traditional five movements, forming a complete mass. Unlike in the composer’s operas, where the female parts occupy the central place, the solos here are all sung by men. It was first performed in 1880, and then faded into obscurity, only to be performed again in 1952, dusting it off after 72 years. However, parts of this work can also be detected in his operas: the melodies of the Gloria, Agnus Dei and Kyrie appear in Tosca, Manon and Edgar.

The choir will be joined by the Taipei Philharmonic Chamber Choir, with whom Gábor Hollerung also has a 30-year professional history in common.

ZEMPLÉN FESTIVAL VIENNESE CLASSICS

Today’s concert features two outstanding pieces from the Viennese Classical period. Without exaggeration, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto is one of the most important works of the Viennese Classical period, in which the composer gives the soloist a very difficult task, while presenting the audience with some truly wonderful melodies. The soloist is 16-year-old Gáspár Kelemen, who was awarded a special prize by the Zemplén Festival for his outstanding performance at last year’s Bartók World Competition.

In the second half of the concert, one of Mozart’s great symphonies, the so-called Linz Symphony will be performed, which is an outstanding gem of Mozart’s genius.

The conductor of the concert is Vakhtang Kakhidze, a distinguished Georgian conductor, heir to a long line of musicians and a leading figure in Georgian music. His father is the world-famous conductor Jansug Kakhidze. Since 1993, Vakhtang Kakhidze has been conductor of the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra.

With the support of the Municipality of Sárospatak

ZEMPLÉN FESTIVAL OPENING CONCERT

For years, Zemplén Festival has been traditionally started by a concert by Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra.

This year’s edition of the opening concert will showcase the typical characters of 20th century music, all of which draw on elements of folklore. Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue is 100 years old this year. The piece has nothing to do with the colour blue: the word blue in the English title refers to the genre of blues, a characteristically gloomy version of jazz. Rhapsody in Blue is in fact a piano concerto, an enjoyable, highly effective composition with varied, almost whimsical character changes, built up from elements of jazz and blues.

After the interval, an excerpt from a suite by Leó Weiner will follow. In Weiner’s drifting, impressive orchestral work, we can clearly recognise the original Hungarian folklore.

Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite is a concert piece compiled from the movements of the ballet by the same title. The firebird is a mythical creature of Russian fairy tales, whose character is combined with the story of the Russian folk hero, the immortal Khashey – and that is how one of the most important ballet scores of the 20th century was written. The concert will feature the suite, which preserves the imagery of the ballet’s concept, its most important characters and the musical phrasing of its scenes. A number of the elements of the work also emanate a sense of the melancholy, soaring and boisterous character of Russian folklore.

Tickets: HUF 4,900  HUF 5,900

In case of unfavourable weather conditions, the venue will change to the theatre hall of the local cultural centre (“Művelődés Háza”).

With the support of the Municipality of Sárospatak

HOLLERUNG 70

This jubilee concert by the Budafok Dohnanyi Orchestra is a 70th birthday celebration for their conductor, Gábor Hollerung, who himself chose the two works on the programme. In addition to playing an important role in his life, they also reflect the loftiness of the occasion. A true audience favourite who requires no introduction, Hollerung in 2024 became the first classical musician to win the Prima Primissima audience award. He has dedicated his life to spreading the love of music, with the aim of making it both accessible and comprehensible for all age groups and social strata. Featured at the concerts are two ensembles that Hollerung has led for more than 30 years, allowing the audience to witness the imprint made by two artistic collaborations decades in the making.