A podium conversation with music therapists. Music Therapy Club is an open meeting-place of music therapists, medical, educational and social workers, as well as of anybody interested in music therapy. (In Hungarian) 

Dear Guests, Due to circumstances beyond our control, Jenő Lisztes was forced to cancel his appearance. Instead, Áron Horváth will perform on the concert. Tickets and table reservations remain valid for the new lineup. We appreciate your understanding and looking forward to welcome you at the concert! "Somehow, it's so rare to be able to play music in a truly relaxed way. To create music regardless of time – even though we all long for it." The Surround of Silence project was born out of this inner need. The musical world of Gábor Weisz, Ernő Hock, and Jenő Lisztes is inspired by the freedom of American spiritual jazz, the subtlety of early 20th-century European classical miniatures, and the clarity of 1980s Japanese ambient music. In addition to original compositions, their repertoire includes arrangements of works by iconic composers such as Federico Mompou, Maurice Ravel, Hiroshi Yoshimura, and Pharoah Sanders. In their performances, they seek not dynamic peaks, but constancy and meditative stillness, inviting the listener on a shared inner journey woven around silence.

As a drummer and composer, Elemér Balázs is a defining figure on the Hungarian jazz scene, whose unmistakable drumming can be heard on nearly a hundred albums. In 2000, he founded and has since led one of Hungary's most popular jazz bands, the Elemér Balázs Group. He has played with many of the greats of Hungarian jazz, including Dezső Lakatos Ablakos, Gyula Babos, László Dés, Gábor Gadó, Aladár Pege, Ferenc Snétberger, Béla Szakcsi Lakatos, and György Vukán, and has also achieved success as a member of such bands as Trio Midnight, No-Spa, the József Balázs Quintet, and the Szakcsi Jr. Trio. In his quintet, formed with outstanding colleagues, he pays tribute to the pioneer of free jazz, Ornette Coleman. “I have wanted to make an album like this for a long time, and I felt that Coleman's works provided the perfect basis for it. In free jazz, freedom is the main goal, but that doesn't mean you can play haphazardly. Our goal was to convey our message in an honest, deep, and systematic way – that's the most important thing for us and for the audience, too.”

Bálint Gyémánt is one of the leading artists on the Hungarian jazz scene, attracted by all forms of music with genuine curiosity. He is open to new genres and styles, constantly searching for impulses that enrich his own sound world. In keeping with tradition, he will give his first trio concert of the year on the stage of the Opus Jazz Club. During the evening, the audience will get a glimpse of this year's artistic direction: more pronounced acoustic sounds, freer improvisations, and musical impressions of the world around us.  

Franz Schubert: String Quartet Movement in c Minor („Quartettsatz”), D 703 – in a string orchestra performanceFranz Schubert: „Arpeggione” Sonata in a Minor, D 821 – transcription for cello and string orchestraEdvard Grieg: Holberg Suite, op. 40

Montreux competition winner Nikoletta Szőke is one of the most popular jazz singers in Hungary. In addition to concert halls and festivals in Hungary, she has performed with great success in New York, Tokyo, Brussels, Copenhagen, London and Berlin, singing with Michel Legrand, Bobby McFerrin, Kurt Elling and Gregory Hutchinson, among others. She has released seven solo albums to date, with her latest album Moonglow produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Helik Hadar. Since the beginning of her musical career, Nikoletta Szőke has been a committed advocate of accessible vocal jazz; in 2006, she paid tribute to one of her greatest idols, Ella Fitzgerald, with her first national tour. In this concert, she will perform the standards made famous by Ella, her most iconic songs, with arrangements typical of the golden age of jazz.  

A celebration of music and posters. Through visual paraphrases of Kurtág's music, we aim to present the coexistence of poster art and music. Visual impressions inspired by the master's musical world, creating posters using collage techniques and gestural painting tools. The workshop is open to anyone interested, no prior training is required, just the joy of creating.  Workshop led by: Andrej Tóth, graphic artist

A celebration of music and posters. This exhibition is the result of two decades of acquaintance with and impressions of the world of Kurtág. The master's compositional methods (especially in the Games series), his unpublished gesture drawings and sketches, his musical notation using a unique visual sign system, and Andrej Tóth's personal connection inspired the poster designs created through experimentation with cyanotype and collage techniques and gestural painting. György Kurtág's sketches with their dynamic lines will also be on display. After the exhibition opening, the exhibition can be viewed between 16 and 28 February from 10 AM to 6 PM, in the foyer of the BMC Concert Hall. During the exhibition, works of MA graphic design students at Budapest Metropolitan University, inspired by Kurtág's musical world, will also be on display at BMC. The creators: Dániel Ankner, Katalin Dávida, Eszter Fazakas, Adrien Fazekas, Vanda Gödöllei, Anna Csilla Kiss, Máté Nagy, Lilla Ősz Varga, Péter Szalai, Anita Székely, Zsuzsanna Várnay.

The more we immerse ourselves in György Kurtág's music, and the more this music moves us, the clearer it becomes that – as pianist Gábor Csalog puts it – “the old and the new intertwine, blurring the boundaries between the past and the present.” Thus, on the evening with cellist Miklós Perényi and pianists András Kemenes and Gábor Csalog, it is not the music of Bach and Kurtág, Schubert and Kurtág, or Mozart and Kurtág that is heard, but “pure” music, free from all stylistic and genre constraints, which draws both performer and listener into its spell. It is uplifting to realise that, in Csalog's words, as Kurtág's contemporaries, “we were and still are witnesses to the continuity of music history.” It is often said that Kurtág's art is in lively dialogue with tradition, but it may simply be that the questions that can be raised and answered in music have not changed since Bach or Schubert. According to András Kemenes, only those who deeply understand Mozart “can truly understand Kurtág. That is why I cannot separate them from each other. These are inseparable qualities.” For the full festival programme and ticket purchases, visit: 100.kurtag.hu

Benjamin Appl recorded songs by Schubert, Brahms, and Kurtág on his album Lines of Life, released in 2025. On the album, the composers and their works are closely intertwined in the truest sense. Listeners will not only marvel at how Kurtág's music keeps the world of 19th-century German songs alive in various ways, but will also notice that at times Schubert or Brahms seem to continue or develop phrases, motifs, or ideas from Kurtág. The critic of Le Monde, for example, did not hesitate to state that the material on Lines of Life can be considered Kurtág's work from the first note to the last. In the first half of the concert, Benjamin Appl performs a partially reworked version of this uniquely effective series, while in the second half he sings Schumann's incredibly complex song cycle, Dichterliebe, accompanied by pianist Dániel Villányi. For the full festival programme and ticket purchases, visit: 100.kurtag.hu

In June 2025, BBC Music Magazine selected Pierre-Laurent Aimard's album as its Recording of the Month. The album features selections from György Kurtág's cycle Játékok (Games), including the then-unreleased 11th volume. According to a critic in The Guardian, “Játékok is one of the most significant works of the past half-century, and Aimard is the perfect guide to it.” On the occasion of György Kurtág's 90th birthday, English cellist Steven Isserlis said: “György Kurtág is music itself. He slowly, irresistibly flows from the depths of his being, bursting to the surface with an exceptional, all-encompassing intensity. I have never met a musician in my life for whom every single note was so important; whether it is his own work or a piece by one of the great composers he admires, for him every single note carries a whole world of meanings, events and intense emotions.” Pianist Dénes Várjon made a similar statement: “With Kurtág, even a single note is about the whole. In fact, if you study with him for many years, it becomes clear that there is much more to that particular note. A chain of connections emerges from a single note, leading to important insights into the composer’s entire oeuvre.” For the full festival programme and ticket purchases, visit: 100.kurtag.hu

"Jure Pukl once again proves to be a smart composer who is able to channel emotional depth through instrumental eloquence." – All About Jazz Broken yet intricate rhythms, modern bass lines, powerful saxophone melodies, rich harmonic textures, and lyrical, spontaneous, spacey, and unpredictable improvisation – this is the musical language of Analog AI, a bold new band born from the deep connection of longtime friends. Their music is a compelling response to the rise of artificial intelligence. They make a defiant statement: that music remains at its most powerful, beautiful, wild, lyrical, and sensual when performed by real musicians, in the moment, and in front of a live audience. Following his critically acclaimed albums Broken Circles and Melt (Whirlwind Recordings), Jure Pukl – one of Slovenia’s most celebrated jazz musician – returns with his visionary project Analog AI. The group now embarks on a tour to present the material from their highly anticipated new album.  

The international band founded by singer Ilka Kisgyörgy performs Transylvanian folk songs transcending traditional boundaries. DUNYHA's unique sound is created by collective free improvisation, complemented by elements of doom metal and punk. The musical approach creates a unique atmosphere that simultaneously evokes the roots of folk music and places it in a contemporary, experimental context. The band's concept emphasizes the role of "fresh ears" – musicians who come from outside the tradition and can therefore approach this musical material from a new perspective. The aim of the project is not to alter or question tradition, but to present the psychology of folk songs in a more intense way. The name of the band was inspired by a word known in Hungarian vernacular, archaic yet deeply ingrained in collective consciousness: dunyha. This traditional, thick blanket represents both warmth and protection, but its density can also evoke a feeling of heaviness. It is both soft and suffocating – just like folk songs: they offer comfort, yet they are deeply painful; they are beautiful, yet they carry a heavy burden. The emotional world of folk songs is at the heart of the concept. These lyrics convey the feelings and pains of our ancestors and help us understand our heritage. The recurring themes of our carefully preserved folk music heritage are obedience, suppressed desires, forbidden love, fear of or longing for death, and the shocking memories of wars. DUNYHA's dark, experimental musical environment further emphasizes the melancholy inherent in these songs, allowing us to connect with them on a deeper level. These songs are not just relics of the past, but emotional messages that are still alive today.

15.00–16.00 Launch of Volume 11 of Játékok (Games), "K.M. hangjegy könyvetskéje" (K.M.’s Music Booklet), and the kurtag.hu websiteContributors: Tünde Mózes-Szitha, music historian, director of UMB Editio Musica Budapest, musicologist Gergely Fazekas and László Borbély, pianist   16.00–17.30 Plenary lectures: Simone Hohmaier (D): A-Z. The alphabet of Kurtág's musical mother tongue between musical history and private cosmos. (With a gentle emphasis on the letter B.) Paul Griffiths (UK): Kurtág's Lichtenberg Karol Berger (USA): What is the game that is supposed to end in Endgame?   Participation in the event is free, but prior registration is required. The sheet music and website presentation will be in Hungarian, the plenary lectures will be in English, with simultaneous interpretation provided.   Two new Kurtág scores and a website collecting information about Kurtág's oeuvre will be launched, and a German, a British, and an American musicologist will give a lecture on Kurtág aimed at the general public on the day after his 100th birthday at the BMC Concert Hall. UMP Editio Musica Budapest, which has published Kurtág's music for more than seventy years, will release the new volume of the Játékok (Games) series – growing since 1973—to mark the anniversary. This volume contains pieces written since 2012 and some newly discovered older piano works. The publisher will also issue a facsimile edition of K. M. hangjegy könyvetskéje ('K. M.'s Music Booklet'). This latter work is perhaps the most personal in Kurtág's output, containing piano pieces intended for or written specifically for Márta from 1973 onward. The scores will be presented by Tünde Mózes-Szitha, music historian, director of Editio Musica Budapest. Also in preparation for the 100th birthday is the kurtag.hu website and database, which will bring together the most important information about György Kurtág's oeuvre in one place. The website, which includes a list of works, discography, bibliography, interviews, early reviews, biography, and previously unpublished video recordings of Kurtág's pedagogical work, will be presented by musicologist Gergely Fazekas, leader of the professional team developing the site. The presentation of the scores and the website will be followed by three lectures on Kurtág’s music. Simone Hohmaier, a researcher at the Berlin Institute for Musicology, will highlight the music-historical connections in Kurtág's oeuvre, with particular emphasis on the most significant composers whose names begin with the letter B. British musicologist Paul Griffiths, a renowned expert on 20th-century music, will discuss the relationship between Kurtág and late 18th-century polymath Georg Lichtenberg in connection with Kurtág's new opera, which will be performed that evening at Müpa Budapest. Karol Berger, professor emeritus at Stanford University, will give a lecture on Kurtág's place in music history and his role in today's musical culture in connection with Kurtág's first opera, Endgame. For the full festival programme and ticket purchases, visit: 100.kurtag.hu

The Daveform Quintet returns to the Opus Jazz Club with a renewed program, joined by guitarist Péter Cseh. The guitar plays a major role in this repertoire, as the band recorded their latest album with world-renowned Kurt Rosenwinkel in the spring. The band, working in the contemporary jazz genre, uniquely combines American, Balkan, and Scandinavian musical elements, leaving plenty of room for improvisation. Their repertoire features influences from contemporary classical music and the visceral energy of modern grooves. Composer and drummer Dávid Szegő and the cream of the Hungarian jazz scene guarantee an ecstatic experience for every listener.  

A full-day conference on the music, life, career and historical connections of György Kurtág, with the participation of Hungarian musicologists living both in Hungary and abroad. The language of the presentations will be Hungarian. For the full festival programme and ticket purchases, visit: 100.kurtag.hu

As in Anton Webern's work, the short piece, short movement, or musical miniature in György Kurtág's oeuvre is not the result of any form of reduction. It is well known that, for neither composer, brevity refers to the duration of musical processes, but rather to the density of musical communication. The large-scale cycles composed of these dense communications – from The Sayings of Péter Bornemisza to Kafka Fragments and beyond – are particularly characteristic of Kurtág's output. Some of these cycles present a serious yet ironic panorama of human existence (such as S.K. Remembrance Noise), while others focus on the tragedy of this existence (such as Attila József Fragments), or reveal the inexhaustible richness of musical expression without words (Officium breve in memoriam Andreae Szervánszky). This rich and representative selection of Kurtág's chamber music is performed by a young generation of musicians wholly dedicated to the composer's art, who may be considered Kurtág's musical grandchildren. For the full festival programme and ticket purchases, visit: 100.kurtag.hu

After five years of discographic silence, OZMA returns with The Day We Decided to Live at Night, an intimate album by drummer and leader Stéphane Scharlé, marking a major turning point in the band's history. Paradoxically, while being Scharlé's most personal work as a composer, this album is also OZMA's most collaborative project to date. Alongside his long-time partner, bassist Édouard Séro-Guillaume, he welcomes a new team, bringing a fresh wave of young talent: Musina Ebobissé on saxophone, Martin Ferreyros on guitar, and a new addition to the instrumentation, Dan Jouravsky on keyboards, replacing the trombone. He also invites guest artists from vastly different musical worlds, creating a bold fusion of jazz, metal, and rock – his artistic foundations – along with Peul music, Eastern vocals, and electronic influences, reflecting his more recent passions. These diverse layers blend into a joyful and communicative soundscape. The Day We Decided to Live at Night could be the soundtrack to a dystopian sci-fi film noir. Yet, the music never falls into melancholy or despair. On the contrary, it conveys a vibrant message with intensity and energy: an incitement to remain open, to embrace transformation, fusion, and enrichment through others. An album that bears witness to the continuous evolution we embody. A gathering of facets, memories, desires, games, and promises made over a lifetime to the person we have become and will become, without ceasing to be who we once were. A key figure in modern French jazz, OZMA has been touring the world for over twenty years. With eight albums and more than 600 concerts across 43 countries on four continents, the quintet champions bold music that blends rock energy, electronic textures, and the freedom of jazz. Under the direction of drummer Stéphane Scharlé, the Strasbourg-founded group has built a musical universe that is both accessible and adventurous, exploring interdisciplinary dialogues and giving birth to numerous collaborative and multidisciplinary creations that transcend stylistic boundaries. Each OZMA project reflects a constant desire to push boundaries, explore new artistic territories, and build bridges between cultures and disciplines, offering a universal, vibrant, and resolutely contemporary narrative.  

A series of lectures in which practising musicians introduce the audience to the art of György Kurtág; the day will conclude with a roundtable discussion featuring composers two generations younger than Kurtág. For the full festival programme and ticket purchases, visit: 100.kurtag.hu

“What does Ligeti mean to me?” asks Kurtág. “The sense that there is something higher, something more perfect than I can even imagine, that there are connections in art, science, and the universe that he can account for, and here the sentence breaks off.” If the works are truly capable of interacting with each other, if this dialogue can faithfully reflect the private conversation between the two composers, then the programme compiled from the compositions of György Kurtág and György Ligeti can give us a taste of how Ligeti guided Kurtág throughout his life, or, as Kurtág put it, how “I followed him, sometimes directly, sometimes with a delay of a few years or even decades. Yet – I call this my ‘Imitatio Christi’ syndrome – the early years of our friendship were not characterised solely by his intellectual guidance. Without directly influencing me, his example shaped my tastes and even the direction of my private life.” The concert will feature solo string works, songs, piano pieces, and a trio from each composer, all key works in the Kurtág and Ligeti oeuvre. For the full festival programme and ticket purchases, visit: 100.kurtag.hu

Baroque violinist Maya Homburger and her composer-double bassist husband Barry Guy regularly perform Kurtág compositions in their unique concerts, which span various periods and styles of music history. Their album Acanthis, recorded with Swiss percussionist Lucas Niggli, features medieval music as well as early Baroque and jazz-inspired contemporary works. One German critic described Acanthis as “a lively floating between free improvisation, new and old music. It is a joint performance full of tension and surprises, embellished with delicate, lyrical moments. It is impressive how harmoniously the violin and double bass breathe together; few are capable of such a thing.” However, not only the first half of the concert will be characterised by “lively floating” and “music-making together full of surprises.” In the second half, the Kelemen Quartet will perform string quartets by Beethoven and Bartók, conveying the experience of György Kurtág's high-voltage master classes, which they attended for more than 50 hours in the past couple of years. For the full festival programme and ticket purchases, visit: 100.kurtag.hu

Violinist and conductor Peter Rundel is a welcome guest with leading European symphony orchestras. He is equally comfortable in a range of styles and brings exceptional sensitivity to even the most complex musical works. He is an active opera conductor and has collaborated with theatre artists such as Peter Konwitschny, Calixto Bieito, Philippe Arlaud, Peter Mussbach, Heiner Goebbels, and Willy Decker. Peter Rundel was a violinist with Ensemble Modern for over a decade and studied conducting under the mentorship of Michael Gielen and Péter Eötvös. As a guest of the UMZE Chamber Ensemble, he can apply his dramatic imagination in Four Poems by Anna Akhmatova and his analytical thoroughness in Karlheinz Stockhausen's compositions. The concert will also feature a rarely performed piece, Luigi Nono's work for voice, wind instruments, and electronics (Omaggio a György Kurtág), written between 1983 and 1986. With this composition, the Italian master responded to Kurtág's choral work Omaggio a Luigi Nono. However, it is likely that there is more behind this gesture, as Nono himself said: “Kurtág's music convinced me that I had to find new ways to bring sounds to life.” For the full festival programme and ticket purchases, visit: 100.kurtag.hu

Pianist György Pataj graduated from the jazz department at the Academy of Music, Budapest in 1997. Over the past fifteen years he has played with such prestigious Hungarian musicians as Aladár Pege, Imre Kőszegi, Gyula Babos or the Cotton Club Singers. Pataj Jazz Quintet, his own band was founded in 2009, and after a few changes, the present solid lineup of prominent musicians of the Budapest jazz scene came to being. The quintet revives the hard-bop genre of the '60s and '70s: their sound reflects the world of groups led by outstanding personalities of the period (Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Cannonball Adderley).

Echo Award-winning Swiss singer Andreas Schaerer is a true vocal acrobat who defies genre boundaries, moving playfully and spontaneously through a wide variety of musical contexts, captivating audiences not only with his breathtaking technique but also a strong stage presence. His latest duo project features Spanish pianist Daniel Garcia Diego, who unfolds his instrumental skills and emotional depth in a unique blend of flamenco, jazz, and classical music. The two artists met for the first time in 2024, when the French Jazz Academy nominated them for the title of Jazz Musician of the Year. After playing together for just a few minutes, they decided to start a collaboration, and following their debut concerts last year, they are now touring Europe.

Founded in 1946, the SWR Vokalensemble (Stuttgart Radio Choir) is a leading interpreter of 20th- and 21st-century choral music. In recent decades, it has premiered more than 250 new choral works, including compositions by Maurizio Kagel, Heinz Holliger, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Wolfgang Rihm, among others. In 2006, it recorded three large-scale choral compositions by György Kurtág (Omaggio à Luigi Nono; 8 Choruses on Poems by Dezső Tandori; Songs of Despair and Sorrow) with its then principal conductor, Marcus Creed. The current director, Yuval Weinberg, is equally committed to contemporary choral music, and the SWR Vokalensemble is perhaps the only choir in the world currently capable of performing one of the key works in Kurtág's oeuvre, Songs of Despair and Sorrow. Musicologist Márta Papp wrote about the piece: “In it and through it, it is not a lonely person who shares his feelings and visions with the listener, as in the great vocal series of the past, but a multitude of singing voices, a real crowd that speaks, shouts, whispers and, above all, sings magically to the listener: sometimes making intimate, mysterious communications with each other, sometimes storming through a single word or fragment of a sentence with the many, often 16–18 voices of the two choirs.” For the full festival programme and ticket purchases, visit: 100.kurtag.hu

This concert will be a special occasion not only because the Béla Ágoston QRtet will be presenting the material of their recent album, Joculator City, but also because they will be joined by guest artist Okazaki Masato, a Japanese master of the dallang (singing saw) currently living in Budapest. Masato studied Hungarian in his home country and became a fan of Béla Bartók's work. This shared musical base inspired the QRtet to perform improvisational arrangements of some of Bartók's themes. The traditional sound of the jazz quartet will alternate with contemporary musical moods in the style of Béla Ágoston, which is infused with elements of folk music and free jazz, spiced with a touch of subtle humor.

Armenian-born David Yengibarian studied in Hungary from 1995, where he became one of the most sought-after jazz and world music performers and composers. He has released seven albums, and has also composed several theatre and film scores. The main sources of his folk-inspired music are the Armenian musical tradition, European and American jazz and improvisational music, as well as Argentine tango and the work of its greatest innovator Astor Piazzolla. Above all, his trio is characterised by an emotional performance style heavily drawing on improvisation. In recent years, the band has performed with many prominent national and international guests, such as Miklós Lukács, Tony Lakatos, and Gevorg Dabaghyan. Their own compositions form the backbone of their repertoire at this concert, but Balkan and Latin songs may also appear in the programme.  

Details soon...

Details soon...

Details soon...

Details soon...

Details soon...

Details soon...

In 1706 Antonio Vivaldi became violin teacher at the Pio Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage for girls in Venice, and remained associated with the institution for the rest of his life. During this period, the orchestra of orphans was gaining increasing recognition throughout Italy. Vivaldi composed most of his concertos, cantatas and church music for them. He wrote more than 500 concertos alone, including works for solo instrument – mostly violin or bassoon – and orchestra, as well as pieces for string ensemble, more reminiscent of later symphonies. The highly successful concert series of bassoonist György Lakatos and Concerto Armonico is based around Vivaldi's concertos. This time they will perform a selection of concertos for one, two, three and even four soloists, with a short Hungarian introduction by György Lakatos.

Details soon...

At some point in a composer’s life, it may happen that so-called “superfluous” pieces are written—that is, works not composed for a specific occasion or performer, but created out of inner motivation and the desire to realize musical ideas. Thirty years ago, however, it was not particularly worthwhile in Hungary to compose for the saxophone in this way, as there were no musicians for whom the saxophone was their primary instrument. In 1995, the first Hungarian ensemble of its kind, the Budapest Saxophone Quartet, was founded. Its members pursued professional studies on the saxophone and formed an ensemble together. As I was on friendly terms with them, I prepared numerous arrangements for the group, and soon afterwards my first works written specifically for the saxophone were composed. In the recent years, fortunately, an increasing number of classically trained saxophonists have emerged around us, making it possible for me to compose more and more works for the instrument. Almost without exception, these pieces are closely connected to a particular performer or ensemble. At my composer’s recital, several works from this collection will be performed, offering an overview of this thirty-year period. Balázs Horváth

Details soon...

Details soon...

Details soon...

Details soon...

Details soon...

“All week long I sat at the piano, composing and writing and laughing and crying, all at once.” Robert Schumann wrote these words in March 1839 in a letter to his beloved Clara, and the work that gave her a glimpse into his creative process was published at the end of the year as a cycle entitled Humoreske. It is rarely played by pianists, and critics are divided in their opinions: some consider it a dead end in Schumann's oeuvre, while others regard it as an undeservedly neglected piece. What is certain is that it is extremely exciting music, like everything that came from Schumann's hands, so it is worth talking about it and, above all, listening to it. Gábor Csalog and Gergely Fazekas's dialogue will also draw on Brahms's works alongside Schumann's, to see how the two composers are connected beyond the figure of Clara, and how the simultaneous state of crying and laughing can be represented in music. Not only Schumann, but Brahms was also a great master of this.The language of the discussion is Hungarian. Further concerts in this series:23 November 2025 6 PM – Gábor Csalog Sundays – Dialogues with (the) Music | Mahler and Schubert25 January 2026 6 PM – Gábor Csalog Sundays – Dialogues with (the) Music | Chopin and Mendelssohn17 May 2026 6 PM – Gábor Csalog Sundays – Dialogues with (the) Music | Kurtág and the Music History  

Music Therapy Club is an open meeting-place of music therapists, medical, educational and social workers, as well as of anybody interested in music therapy. (In Hungarian) 

The Big Fish quartet is the result of a collaboration between the ethereal trio Dancing Birds (Julien Soro, Gabriel Midon, Ariel Tessier) and alto saxophonist Léa Ciechelski; a journey into the imagination of water and air. Originally founded to celebrate the music of the great jazz composers and musicians of the 20th century, such as Paul Motian, Ornette Coleman, and Chris Lightcap, the group quickly took a more personal and original direction: each member adds their compositional touch to create music of depth and lightness. Saxophonists Julien Soro and Léa Ciechelski are the voices that sing, shout, proclaim, and whisper, while the rhythm section of Tessier and Midon holds the helm, supporting and guiding the big fish through the waves. Freedom, whirlwind, weightlessness, playfulness, power, contemplation... these are the words that come to mind when listening to Big Fish. In the Transcendent Triptych trio, three prominent figures of European jazz use early, classical, and folk music to recreate the concept of modern avant-garde jazz. The idea for the collaboration between János Ávéd, David Six, and Tilo Weber was born in 2022 at the most important meeting point for European jazz, the Jazzahead! showcase in Bremen, after which they quietly developed their new compositions. Their repertoire aims to discover transcendent realms beyond the material nature of music, through the extension of fixed and spontaneous musical forms. In addition to their new pieces, the concert will feature material from their first album, to be released in April 2025 on BMC Records.

South-Korean pianist Francesca Han, French double bassist Pierre Fenichel, and drummer Fred Pasqua combine their unique talents and worlds in Wakan. Being Dantès is the first fruit of this collaboration: a repertoire of compositions where obvious, familiar melodic lines navigate complex and unique structures. Inspired by the first part of Alexandre Dumas's novel, while imprisoned in the Château d'If, Edmond Dantès slowly transforms before being reborn as the Count of Monte Cristo. The trio invites us to a musical journey through this initiatory process that unfolds in sound. The pieces in the repertoire, which include a four-movement suite, are conceived as pictures that revisit the decisive moments in the intimate adventure of the walled-up Edmond Dantès. Tomorrow Is Minimalist. Three Independent Motions. Tall, Infinite, Microscopic. Folk songs, improvisation, variations on randomness, memory, and its degradation. Texts that play with the gaze of childhood. The meeting between two Norwegian musicians from the avant-garde for which Sébastien Palis imagined the music. A journey between shadow and light, acoustics and electronics. What becomes of beauty when it disappears? What becomes of memory when the time comes to forget? Karoline Wallace, Inger Hannisdal, Sébastien Palis. At a time when we should be striving for degrowth, faced with the extinction of species and cultures, Tomorrow Is Minimalist.

A companion of several French jazz legends, such as Daniel Humair and Bernard Lubat, Christophe Monniot has made a name for himself through his astonishing mastery of several instruments in the saxophone family (alto, baritone, and sopranino) and his ability to take musical cross-streets where the legacy of the great jazz innovators meets more European ways of improvising music. With this new quartet, which brings together strong personalities – pianist Sophia Domancich, double bassist Felipe Cabrera, and drummer Denis Charolles – he announces his desire to reconnect with certain aspects of the jazz tradition (Keith Jarrett, Cannonball Adderley, and Dave Brubeck are, according to him, in his sights). There is no doubt, however, that Monniot is as keen to play them as he is to game them during the concert. (Vincent Bessières) Pascal Niggenkemper, an adventurous double bassist who spent a decade experimenting and meeting new people on the New York scene, as well as in Aveyron in France, where he honed his sense of space and his relationship with time, presents The Ocean Within Us, a project first performed at the Jazzdor Strasbourg-Berlin festival last June. Blending spoken word, electronic treatments, groove and free improvisation, this band combines the rhythmic intelligence of Mariá Portugal, drummer from Brazil influenced by jazz and Brazilian popular music, the masked textures of Berlin of Berlin keyboardist Liz Kosack, and the saxophone riffs of Athens-based Nicky Kokkoli, transformed with the help of accessories by the leader, the true pivot of this grooving machine that is as improbable as it is dizzying. The Ocean Within Us is a Jazzdor production.

Clément Janinet is one of the most promising French violinists and composers who, although deep into jazz, emerge from it to retain only freedom of play and style. Marked by repetitive music as well as by traditional European and African music, his numerous projects each bear the seal of these interbreedings. In this new European quartet, featuring Arve Henriksen on trumpet, Ambre Vuillermoz on accordion, and Robert Lucaciu on double bass, the violinist builds on the aesthetics of previous projects (Ornette Under the Repetitive Skies, La Litanie des Cimes, Sokou) to unite musicians from diverse cultures. He explores the connections between free improvisation, baroque music, popular and repetitive music. Inspired by the instrumentation of Dave Douglas's album Charms Of The Night Sky, the quartet transcends traditional repertoires. Monteverdi, Buxtehude and Dowland engage with Swedish Nyckelharpa, intense improvisation blends with microtonal music, and contemporary chamber music meets folk dances and songs from the oral tradition. For András Dés, jazz is lived democracy: a collective process built on trust, openness, and deep listening. With his Vienna-based quartet – Martin Eberle (trumpet), Philipp Nykrin (piano), and Kenji Herbert (guitar) – he has found musical partners whose distinct voices, curiosity, and creativity shape a group of remarkable unity and freedom. Following the internationally acclaimed Unimportant Things (BMC Records, 2024), the András Dés Quartet returns in March 2026 with Decisions We Make (BMC Records). Conceived as a 49-minute, unbroken musical arc, the album weaves composed material with open musical spaces, allowing spontaneity, risk, and playful interaction to unfold in real time. As Gabriel Kahane writes in the liner notes, it is “as satisfying to the head as it is to the heart, shot through with hummable tunes, danceable grooves, and a jumbo crayon box’s worth of color. It is as much chamber music as it is jazz, and more than that, it is a formal wonder.”

This six-concert series for solo cello is based around Johann Sebastian Bach's suites. Alongside the well-known cello suites, Tamás Zétényi will also perform the French suites, originally for keyboard, which he and composer Marcell Dargay arranged for cello together. In addition to exploring the multifaceted suites, the cellist also aims to place the inexhaustible richness of Bach’s style in a wider context. The performance of the cello suites will be preceded by one piece from Domenico Gabrielli's Ricercar series, which, dating from 1689, are among the earliest examples of solo cello works and offer a glimpse into the virtuoso Italian music of the generation before Bach. The one-hour programme is rounded off by a Caprice of Joseph Marie Clément Dall'Abaco, working one generation after Bach. The style of the Caprices, written around 1770, represents a transition between Baroque and Classical, approaching the world of Empfindsamkeit, hallmarked by the name of Bach’s most successful son, Carl Philipp Emanuel. Yet their emotional, melancholic and sensitive tone can be seen as a direct successor to Bach's suites.

Details soon...

Closing concert of the 4th Tallér Zsófia International Contemporary Composition Competition Composer Zsófia Tallér, who contributed music to theatre productions and films, passed away young in 2021. As one of the creators and teachers of applied composition programmes at the Liszt Academy and the Academy of Drama and Film, she was an inspiration to an entire generation. Her memory is honoured with a festival and composition competition, held now for the fourth time. Entries to the composition competition were to reflect on some work by Zsófia Tallér. The chamber cantata Mum’s Old Picture was composed to poems by Dezső Kosztolányi and Judit Tallér, and is Tallér’s personal remembrance of her mother, in her characteristic, highly emotional musical language. Competitors were to create original compositions inspired by the atmosphere and theme of Zsófia Tallér’s cantata – without quoting its music or lyrics.

A fresh, elemental energy surges from this album, whose introduction itself is legendary: "We have something special down here in Birdland this evening," announces Pee Wee Marquette into the microphone. And it truly was something very special. This very announcement was famously sampled by US3 on their track "Cantaloop". Art Blakey was at least as fantastic a bandleader as he was a drummer, although his stick work was groundbreaking in its own right, with his storm-raising solos built on enormous crescendos. Pianist Horace Silver was still a member of the Blakey Quintet here, though they would later co-found the legendary Jazz Messengers. The sonic ideal strongly associated with Blue Note was primarily born through Blakey and his band, becoming the basic formula for jazz worldwide for decades, and remains just as fresh today as it was in 1953.

Details soon...

Details soon...

Details soon...

The internationally acclaimed, London-based pianist Simone Tavoni presents a recital featuring music by Erik Satie, the French master of refined eccentricity and delicate lyricism, and Manuel de Falla, whose works burst with the color and passion of his native Spain. These strongly contrasting voices create a fascinating musical juxtaposition.The evening culminates with Frédéric Chopin’s monumental Piano Sonata No. 3, a work of symphonic scope and emotional depth, bringing this captivating recital to a powerful close.

Details soon...

Details soon...

Details soon...

Details soon...

Details soon...

György Kurtág is often placed alongside avant-garde composers of the Second World War – Boulez, Stockhausen, Ligeti – and although in many respects he truly belongs among them, in terms of his connection to music history, Kurtág can be considered the odd one out in this company. For him, the search for novelty was never possible without a close connection to the classical tradition. His early viola concerto begins with the iconic timpani strokes of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, and there is no piece of his that does not reveal the presence of some important composer from the past thousand years. In addition to Kurtág's works, Gábor Csalog's concert will also feature classical pieces, making it clear that these connections are sometimes so concrete that Kurtág's musical universe is populated by fragments of music history like stars in the night sky. The discussion in the first half of the evening will not only focus on György Kurtág's relationship with music history, but also on a number of more general issues, as Gábor Csalog has been playing Kurtág for half a century and has been part of the hundred-year-old Kurtág's life and work for fifty years.The language of the discussion is Hungarian. Further concerts in this series:23 November 2025 6 PM – Gábor Csalog Sundays – Dialogues with (the) Music | Mahler and Schubert25 January 2026 6 PM – Gábor Csalog Sundays – Dialogues with (the) Music | Chopin and Mendelssohn22 March 2026 6 PM – Gábor Csalog Sundays – Dialogues with (the) Music | Schumann and Brahms

Founded in 2022 by the Leczky brothers, the Kodály String Duo (KSDV) has earned global recognition as the representative ensemble of the string duo genre. They are the winners of multiple international competitions and they are known for captivating performances in renowned concert halls in numerous countries, sharing their vision and mission with the audience. The brothers are highly supporting contemporary classical music through the KSDV-Contemporary Special Project, earning recognition from leading classical music platforms such as The Strad Magazine and The Violin Channel. Their debut at the Musikverein Vienna marked the beginning of their journey to redefine the boundaries of the string duo genre. The Kodály String Duo is prize-winner of multiple International Competitions, such as the International London Competition, the Medici Competition or the Warsaw String Competition. As the inaugural Ambassador of Universal Edition, the Kodály String Duo remains at the forefront of musical innovation, collaborating with esteemed artists such as Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Dominik Wagner, and Evgeny Sinaiski, among others.

This six-concert series for solo cello is based around Johann Sebastian Bach's suites. Alongside the well-known cello suites, Tamás Zétényi will also perform the French suites, originally for keyboard, which he and composer Marcell Dargay arranged for cello together. In addition to exploring the multifaceted suites, the cellist also aims to place the inexhaustible richness of Bach’s style in a wider context. The performance of the cello suites will be preceded by one piece from Domenico Gabrielli's Ricercar series, which, dating from 1689, are among the earliest examples of solo cello works and offer a glimpse into the virtuoso Italian music of the generation before Bach. The one-hour programme is rounded off by a Caprice of Joseph Marie Clément Dall'Abaco, working one generation after Bach. The style of the Caprices, written around 1770, represents a transition between Baroque and Classical, approaching the world of Empfindsamkeit, hallmarked by the name of Bach’s most successful son, Carl Philipp Emanuel. Yet their emotional, melancholic and sensitive tone can be seen as a direct successor to Bach's suites.