The Linda Kovács Recycle play songs of their recent album, Recycle, recorded at Opus Jazz Club and released last year on Hevhetia Records. "The special chemistry between the three musicians enables them to create a musical conversation across traditions - moving freely between styles without hindrances. Deconstructing musical boundaries through the re-interpretation of jazz standards and originals. Associations, reflections, free improvisation with a touch of electronics. It's music recycled."  facebook.com/Kovacs-Linda

Set up originally as a trio in 2018, with saxophonist Balázs Raboczki, drummer Ambrus Richter and bass player Márk Miskolczi, the outfit has been adventuring from the beginning in the more form-breaking, creative territories of jazz, emphasizing soloistic playing. With the addition of trumpeter Bence Táborszky to the line-up several months later, the band deliberately continued keeping its distance from a musical environment provided by harmony instruments. From the beginning of this year, however, extended to a quintet by pianist Rezső Jónás, the group embeds their free and matured way of expression gained so far, to new, more tight and yet more spacious dimensions offered by the prospects of harmonies. “Our goal is to try to give the audience as much as we can about today's jazz and its directions and to express our respect for the past and present music at our concerts from as many sides and as fresh as possible” - says Balázs Raboczki about the band, which earned great praise at this year’s Müpa Budapest Jazz Showcase.

The repertoire of Trio DeLyra's consists primarily of compositions by guitarist-leader Robi Dely, inspired by the music of predecessors such as Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, or Herbie Hancock, while showing also traces of twentieth-century composers, blues or Latin music as well. In the music, of course, the electric guitar dominates, but during the concert also a tenor saxophone will appear, and even as an exclusive guest, the young jazz singer, Virág Czakó joins the trio for a few songs, too.  soundcloud.com/robidely  

Dejan Terzic is one of the few truly European musicians. Grown up and educated in Germany he made his way through pan-European and multi-stylistic collaborations from the very beginning in the 90s. He molded his very own style of expression along routes to the North and the South of Europe including collaborations with New Zealand and American musicians to finally integrating it with the primal musical ground of his Serbian origin in the East of Europe. Terzic started Melanoia in 2012 and earned the German Grammy, Echo-Award with Melanoia’s debut album as Best German Drummer in 2014. On the present album Terzic relies on the rapport of 7-string guitarist Ronny Graupe and alto saxophonist Christian Weidner. He also joins forces for the first time with totally wired keyboard wizard Jozef Dumoulin as trailblazer in the sonic wilderness. The entanglement of melancholy and paranoia, of dream and observing your own dreaming, becoming aware of yourself and being yourself, the shifting, crossfading states of mind between dream, daydream and waking state became a leading inspiration and thematic basis of Dejan Terzic’s creative work in music. For Dejan Terzic a central key to deal with this existential experience in artful reflection and expression, is rhythm: rhythm to keep things together in dynamic, unifying ways when things start to drift, cross-fade or fall apart, when parts collide or entangled opposites threaten to suck each other’s energies. Rhythm canalizes collisions’ energies to rise from the ashes. Terzic developed this artful game as a distinct, passionate musical expression of reality. For Terzic reality has many competing and complementing layers, perspectives, faces, passages, wavelengths and sound prints. Musically he gives it shape and expression by turning the inside out and also by way of transcendental collision, all hold together and transported by his incisive odd meter rhythms, a strong, liberating force bringing forth concise and captivating leitmotifs. You can expect the unexpected throughout the whole album. It is however anchored in known sensations and experiences and based on a confining dramaturgy of moods, of transitions and resurrection, which keeps up tension and provides significance. The new album of Melanoia was released on May 10, on BMC Records.

“The best-kept secret of Argentinian tango!” Songlines Magazine (UK)“Maria Volonte is an Argentine singer whose refreshing interpretation of tango stole my heart… Her music is a potent brew. Consume responsibly.” NPR National Public Radio (USA)“An entrancing creative expression that is uniquely her own” Los Angeles Times (USA)“Maria Volonté is an intriguingly versatile and original Argentinian singer and songwriter... She has a cool, emotional style, plays impressive acoustic guitar, and is willing to experiment.” The Guardian (UK) Hailing from the colorful and gritty La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires, the María Volonté/Blue Tango Project is a ground-breaking exploration of the emotional and musical crossroads where tango and the blues embrace. It is a collaboration between Argentine Latin Grammy nominee María Volonté and California harmonica player Kevin Carrel Footer. This globe-trotting duo celebrates the deep spiritual bond that joins tango and the blues, as two musical genres born of desire and lost innocence, many times censored yet always resurgent and speaking directly to our hungry souls. Booked at SXSW in Texas, the San Francisco Jazz Festival and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles; nominated for a Latin Grammy and featured on National Public Radio’s (NPR) Tiny Desk Concert Series, the Blue Tango Project performs soulful songs that embrace music as the path to building connection and community. www.bluetangoproject.com  Blue Tango by Blue Tango Project

The Tokyo-Budapest Ensemble has been performing in Hungary each summer since 2002, this concert being their sixth in the BMC Concert Hall. The Ensemble's artistic director is Kálmán Berkes, music professor at the Musashino Academia Musicae in Japan and the artistic director of the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra in Hungary. Members of the Ensemble – young musicians from Japan and Hungary – are selected each year from Berkes's students and the musicians of the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra.

Three Hungarian musicans – Iván Gátos keyboards (Eszter Váczi Quartet, Szörp, Zorán, Random Trip), László Studniczky "Zsatyi" bass guitarist (Jazz + Az, Zséda, Geszti, Attila Kökény) and Lázár "Occam" Tibor drummer (Zagar , Dj. Bootsie Trio, Chalaban) – recently decided to unite their inexorable love for modern jazz, neo-soul, hip-hop, and funk. Although Arca De Noe uses elements of the above-mentioned contemporary underground world both in its sound and structure, yet these stylish frameworks are filled with musical content by experienced musicians, using their instruments. The joint exploration of free improvisation and the world of strict grooves finally creates the unique atmosphere of Arca De Noe. Motto: A little bit of everything, but not too much of anything!

The TransEuropeExpress is rolling: creative minds of the German and French jazz scene have united forces in this octet. Their 2018 CD release Polyjazz on BMC Records was celebrated by the critics as “a magnificent masterpiece” (Fono Forum) and nominated for the prize of the German record critique. At the Opus the ensemble is introducing the premiere of the first part of their big new project “on the edges”, which is conceived in four parts. It is inspired by Navid Kermani’s book Along the Trenches (Entlang den Gräben) and realizes a sort of musical journey along and beyond the borders of Europe. In the center of “on the edges 1” is guest soloist Majid Bekkas from Maroc who contributes with the lutes oud and gumbri, his voice and compositions of his own. For “on the edges 1” Hans Lüdemann and the musicians of the ensemble have created a program of new compositions and improvisations together with Majid Bekkas that generates musical energy and tension from contrasting elements and cultural backgrounds. The TransEuropeExpress is also an exciting live experience, their concert at the Jazzdor Festival Berlin in 2018 was seen by the French Liberation as a “superlative craze”. The Ensemble unites eight high profile German and French musicians who are crossing musical and human borders. Established masters like French trombonist Yves Robert work side by side with musicians of the younger generation like German guitarist Ronny Graupe and saxophone player Alexandra Grimal. In front are saxophonist/clarinetist Silke Eberhard and violin player Regis Huby. The energetic rhythmic base is provided by the trio ROOMS with Sebastien Boisseau, Dejan Terzic and the artistic director of the band pianist Hans Lüdemann. Majid Bekkas from Rabat, Morocco, is a great master of North African music. He unites elements from musical traditions like Gnawa music with an open and universalistic musical approach. He is an exceptionally gifted performer and known to the European public for his collaborations with Joachim Kühn in his trio. hansluedemann.de majidbekkas.bandcamp.com 

The five young members of Ég alatti 5 are inspired by the hard bop and modal jazz of the 1960s as well as Hungarian folk music and the sounds of nature to create their own disctintive voice. The compositions by band leader Márton Udvardi and Sámuel Baló are used as a starting point to conjure a free flow of musical ideas on stage. On this special occasion they are joined by the young saxophone talent, Dominik Kosztolánszki - who will return to Opus on the week following this concert with his own outfit, the Kosztolánszki Quintet.

“A crystalline clear voice full of boundless joy, freshness, and sweet life wrapped in timeless global rhythms. Beautiful.” – Kellylee Evans, JUNO AWARD winning jazz singer Hungarian jazz singer-songwriter Sugárka composes her originals in Spanish, English, and Hungarian creatively blending multicultural musical influences: bossa nova, tango, samba, flamenco, Hungarian folksongs, and also rhythms in odd meter with jazz. ‬‪Having performed in international jazz projects as an independent artist, Sugárka launched her debut album, Las puertas abiertas (The open gates) in 2013, and her second, You’re calling me, in 2017. Sugárka’s original Spanish lyrics on ’Everyone deserves a second chance’ was approved by Grammy award nominee Raul Midón and became the title song of her debut album. She has had many appearances on national television live programs, and has been working as an independent performing and recording artist since the beginning of her career. Her lyrics have been released on thirteen albums and were recorded by such masterly jazz singers as late Kevin Mahogany.‬ Sugárka has founded the ESJT in 2010. Since then her co-author, György Balázs Csicsák has won the first prize of World Harmonica Competition, Chromatic Category in 2017. Recently they have composed new jazz tunes in the style of bossanova, soul jazz, modern jazz. Sugárka’s lyrics are meant to tell about the beauty and the valuable meaning of life through her inner or real travels. Joined by Czech pianist and Hammond organ player Kuba Zomer, the band will deliver the brand new musical material of the singer - songwriter right before the songs enter the sudio. Kuba, also professor of the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory in Prague, has toured with Sugárka in her international jazz quartet for fifteen years in Europe. facebook.com/enyedisugarka 

The Kosztolánszki Quintet is a vibrant young group, playing modern jazz, based on the musical world of the sixties and seventies, inspired by their own individual musical culture and experiences. Their declared purpose is to open a window and give the younger generation an insight into their musical diversity, which, in addition to their originals, creates a rolling atmosphere through the compositions and styles of hard-bop musicians. The band is proud that, although the jazz genre is hardly the most popular among young people, they have managed to win a secure, inclusive and growing audience for their concerts. In addition to the 19-year-old tenor saxophonist and leader, Dominik Kosztolánszki, the Young Jazz Musician of the Year prize-holder drummer Ambrus Richter, the metronome of the quintet, and the three other young and talented musicians have also performed at numerous local and foreign club concerts already.

One plus one plus one is three. This trio proves that this is not always true, because as the three musicians interact, a fourth being, ‘the trio’ is born from their different personalities and musical temperament every time they play. CORONA is formed by three young European musicians: pianist Máté Lachegyi from Hungary, bassist Uldis Vītols from Latvia and drummer Clemens Lotz from Germany. They met each other at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. Although the music they play is jazz to the core, one could also find the roots of their music in classical music, in particular in Romanticism and early 20th-century music. Composition for CORONA is just as important as improvisation, and they often abandon the traditional jazz form of ‘theme—solo—theme’. They are also inspired by the legendary jazz trios of Brad Mehldau, Bobo Stenson and The Bad Plus. The name of the band refers to the importance of spaciousness and time in their music: corona is another Italian term for the musical symbol fermata (a stop or an elongated musical note).

Zane Massey and Matthew Mitchell were first brought together in mid 2016 by mutual friend and collaborator, Hungarian bassist Andor Horváth, and a musical rapport was immediately obvious to the three. The trio was soon joined by one of Holland’s finest modern jazz drummers Wim Kegel who assimilated into the music immediately. With a repertoire of original material composed for the band by Mitchell, the group’s sound is evocative of their diverse roots, the sounds disparate continents coming together to form an eloquent whole that truly speaks in the languages of American and European jazz tradition, free music, the folk music of Hungary and the raw accents of Oceania. Zane Massey is the son of the legendary trumpeter Cal Massey who worked with and wrote music for John Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard and many others. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York surrounded by jazz. Zane himself was a member of The Decoding Society, the late Ronald Shannon Jackson’s legendary blend of avant-garde jazz, rock, funk, and ethnic music, performed and recorded with Roy Campbell and released two records under his own name for the Delmark label. New Zealand guitarist Matthew Mitchell is based in Dortmund and Budapest and has worked all over the world in a vast array of genres including contemporary jazz, free jazz, African music, Indian classical music, new contemporary music and electronica.  matthewmitchell.de/intercontinental 

“We have been told that there is music. For all of us.It is a grace that we have been able to shape it as musicians. It is a wonder, from time to time, that we 'knit' the same thing all over the world. It is a gift that we can feed on the rich music environment and our roots around us.As musicians, we often believe that we are capable of shaping the processes of music through human intellect and professional skills, but we must accept that we will never be able to control them. Because of the first spark of the will, the power of music immediately slips away, it becomes a mere air vibration, an artificial manipulation. A musical moment without frills, sincerely glowing, is an eternal memory in memory.We are looking for these moments.” János Ávéd The quartet was created in 2013 in its current form. János Ávéd, Balázs Horváth, Zsolt Horváth and Zsolt Sárvári, each of them playing in numerous Hungarian formations, and Liszt and Gramofon prize winner László Fassang, an influential figure in the Hungarian organ life, approach from separate directions the implementation of a common, style-independent musical language. The music of Messiaen, Bartók, or Bach, jazz standards, free improvisations and their own compositions fit well together in their program. Instead of mixing the different genres forcibly, they build a brand new sound from stripped down elements of music. Their critically acclaimed album, Have News, released in 2016 on Hunnia Records received a five-star review in the Gramofon Classic and Jazz magazine. janosaved.com fassang.hu sarvarikov.com 

Tibor Echinger and Csaba Gavallér have been playing together since the 90s in several formations. In 2006 they formed the EEG Trio with Márton Eged, inviting often guest soloists to their concerts. This time their guest soloist is Istvan Szapudi, a guitar player residing in the United States. Early on, he was a finalist in the first jazz completion of the Hungarian Radio in both group and soloist categories. He moved to the US in the 90s, where he continued his musical development and education. During his three year stint in Chicago, he had the opportunity to play with many of the legendary AACM players. Istvan appeared with the EEG trio last summer for a few concerts, and this new formation, now called SzEEG, recorded several tracks in the studio. The performances range from compositions of the band members as well as free collective improvisations. This recording comprises their new CD, Screams and Dreams, appearing this summer. Istvan Szapudi and Tibor Eichinger live on the opposite poles of the Earth – one in Hawaii, the other in Budapest. Their stylistic roots thus could not be more different, yet, in this band, they blend into a harmonious unity. Istvan’s sensitive and subtle approach contrasts with Tibor’s eclectic and intense style. The title of the CD refers to this and the organic duality of the program. Sometimes they adhere to a strict jazz form, and other occasions they veer into free improvisation to which Márton Eged and Csaba Gavallér provide an inspiring rhythm section.

The rising star of flamenco singing, Pere Martínez captivates with his heartfelt performances and unusual interpretations. His new project with Aurora take the reinvention of folk and popular songs one step further: melodies by Manuel de Falla, poems by Garcia Lorca or Catalan folk music sound fresh and experimental. Young musicians add their bold take on heritage, while Martínez’s intense voice soars and a flamenco dancer captivates the audience. The group, earning wide appraisal 2 years ago for their performance at the Budapest Ritmo festival, now enters the stage of Opus Jazz Club.

The eight songs of the album Egy perc (One Minute) are eight stories about how to be an adult - from Eszter's point of view. The CD is produced by Helik Hadar, the 4times Grammy awarded producer-engineer. vaczieszterquartet.hu facebook.com/veqop 

The Jovićević - Miklós - Wójciński Trio brings musical freshness with its originality, open forms and freedom. All three musicians are known for improvisation, composition and contemporary approach in chamber jazz. They play original music, mostly spontaneously composed, collaboratively developed through improvisation and soundscape. Their new album, recorded in Serbia, will be released soon, they promote its material on their summer and fall tours in Central Europe. Jasna Jovićević, saxophone & bass clarinet player and composer from Serbia, studied jazz saxophone and music composition in Budapest, Toronto and Belgrade. She played with famous artists such as Hamid Drake, Mike Stern, Bojan Zulfikarpašić, Al Di Meola, performed at jazz festivals across Europe, US and Canada, released 4 solo albums, and is featured on ten further albums. She is also the leader of New Spark Jazz Orchestra - Women of Balkans in Jazz. The drummer from Budapest, Szilveszter Miklós, hails from Vojvodina. After he studied violin, he continued to learn and play jazz music on drums. He graduated from Jazz Department of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and he performs with famous avant-garde creative artists such as István Grencsó, Benkő Róbert, Pozsár Máté, Ajtai Péter, Mezei Szilárd, Szelevényi Ákos and Mihály Dresch. On the international scene, we could see him perform with Lewis Jordan, Johannes Bauer, John Dikeman or Peter Brötzmann. Double-bass player from Poland, Ksawery Wójciński, is a well-known active musician on the international contemporary jazz scene. He graduated from the music academy in Bydgoszcz, and he performed at important international festivals across Europe: Akbank Jazz Festival (Istanbul), Periferias Festival (Spain), JazzFest Berlin and Nordischer Klang (Germany), inJazz (Netherlands). He recorder more than twenty albums of original music as a soloist and backing musician, among others with Hamid Drake, Uri Caine, Charles Gayle, Nicole Mitchell, Satoko Fujii, Alan Bern, Michael Zerang, Mikołaj Trzaska and many others. jasnajovicevic.com/trio-private 

Klára Hajdu is a prominent figure in Hungarian jazz life. On the Hungarian jazz portal, jazzma.hu, she was chosen as Singer of the Year again in 2018. She performed in New York, Ottawa, Toronto, Oslo, Paris, London, Glasgow, Rome, Madrid and we could continue the line... The Klára Hajdu Quartet, founded more than a daceade ago, released two critically acclaimed albums so far, some of their songs being on air not just by Hungarian jazz radios, but also by Dutch and German national broadcasts. 2013 saw the release of their his first album, Come with me, with own compositions, covers of contemporary jazz pieces, evergreens and folk songs. In 2015, they released Plays Standards Dedicated to Chet Baker, paying tribute to the legendary jazz-trumpeter. Chet Baker's compositions are performed in their own style on the album, with the contribution of the great Hungarian trumpeter Kornél Fekete-Kovács. In 2017 the album was nominated for the Phonogram Prize in the category Hungarian Jazz Album of the Year. As acknowledged songwriter, Klára’s latest composition, You're Gonna Rise, arranged by Milán Szakonyi, was selected by the professionaly jury of Dal 2019 (Song 2019) among the Top 30 from altogether 416 songs nominated.   facebook.com/hajduklaramusic 

On the first weekend of August, on two double bills four different musical worlds will meet at the Opus Jazz Club. The only common on each of them is an outstanding creativity, a distinctly individual musical image, and a constant pursuit of renewal. Santa Diver was founded in 2006 by violinist-composer Luca Kézdy and multi-instrumentalist Dávid Szesztay, her husband. The third member of the trio is drummer Dávid Szegő. The three instruments and personalities represent a very unique and original musical world in the intersection of jazz, world and free music. Their sound is determined by the unusual line-up, the special narrative violin-playing of Luca Kézdy, the colorful and melodic bass lines, and the sophisticated, thrilling and energetic drumming. Their third album, Deep Diving, was released in December 2017 by NarRator Records. At present they are working on their next album. Máté Pozsár, Gergő Kováts and Péter Ajtai have been working together in various formations since the beginning of their career (KAMP, Máté Pozsár, Sextet, Baló project, etc.). They are approaching jazz primarily from free improvised music and creative music. In their drumless trio they play their own compositions and improvise within their own improvisation systems. The sound and flavour of Máté Pozsár's sextet, Péter Ajtai's large orchestras and Gergő Kováts’ music are all present in their trio.

The performers of this double concert share a common bond: they pursue to express their deep spirituality in music without even a hint of any narrative intent. At a certain level of maturity most creative artists realise that the journey is the destination. Not all of them, however, are able to get to the level of abstraction of Péter Rozsnyói. According to him, every beginning is an end, and anything that opens something also closes something else. You can only pray to be able to understand and internalise that which cannot change, and to change what needs to be changed. Rozsnyói’s solo performances are always daringly honest confessions, much like a stream of consciousness channeling Bach. The musical kinship of Gábor Gadó and János Ávéd roots of the two artists’ common attitude for fervently seeking new forms of expression. Their paths now cross again, looking for connections between music and spirituality. Prayer, meditation, vigil and contemplation all blend into a seamless stream of music that surpasses the contradictory temptations of tonality and modality so that the listener may, for some fleeting moments at least, lift the veil and see.

András Dés' Rangers will soon be entering a unique studio: the Hungarian Bakony forest where András and his friends will record their new album, coming later this year on BMC Records. Spontaneity, risk and improvisation - the fundamental elements of jazz - will define the album at this unlikely recording location where András Dés won't be taking his usual set of percussion instruments. Instead, he will play on the trees, stones, and water of the forest. Before the adventurous recording session starts, the Rangers will perform the new compositions at their favourite festivals and clubs across Hungary, including Opus Jazz Club.

“Hand on the heart. Which of us jazz fans has Hungary as a typical jazz region on his agenda? The times of Attila Zoller or Gabor Szabo's are long gone, but in recent years on the banks of the Danube a corps of young, promising talents has ripened, which raises hopes to the most beautiful expectations. The mere 27-year-old pianist, Aron Talas may certainly be counted among them. Talas' playing represents the fusion of different cultural traditions in the light of Ligeti or Kurtag. This very specific expression can be experienced here as well. Talas embraces the flexibility of jazz to his own, integrating free improvisation and typical Hungarian folk music, while parallels to Bartók seem also obvious. And rarely has one heard such a hellishly grooving piece as Ke-Bop - compliments, gentlemen from the land of the Magyars!”Tom Fuchs - Piano News, July-August 2018

“Dresch is one of the most influential nurturers of a fertile fusion between Hungarian folk music and jazz” John Fordham - The Guardian “Oriented towards his Middle European legacy ..., Dresch never forgets his equally powerful jazz roots. Recapping of the head is mandatory throughout his compositions...” Ken Waxman - JazzWord

Pianist György Pataj graduated from the jazz department at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music 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 outfit was founded by the 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 is reflects truly 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).

Loop Doctors plays a medley of different styles, including jazz, drum 'n' bass, jungle, hip-hop and rap, spiced with effects and samples. An overall category could be nu-jazz, but Loop Doctors can also be seen in clubs, where people actually dance to the music. Loop Doctors usually performs as a duo, Peter using an 'Octa-pad', from which the grooves, bass lines and additional synths are played, and also plays acoustic drums. Áron plays keys, and also does vocals and rap. Since 2006 they regularly tour as a duo, quite often with special guests, like Gary Willis, Eric Marienthal, Chris Hunter or – as now at the Opus Jazz Club – multiple Grammy-award winning US saxophonist, Brandon Fields. Loop Doctors’ recent album, Frontier Science, is exploring the final frontiers of music. The sci-fi inspired jazz crossover album boasts creative tunes, crafty musicians and an overall high energy vibe. An eclectic crossover of modern sounds, grooves and traditional jazz improvisation, referred to as ‘cyber-bebop’. The members of Loop Doctors are obsessed with space travel, nanotechnology, basically any area of science that involves exploration. They apply the same methodology in music: combining modern sounds with bebop, electronic music with improvisation.  loopdoctors.com facebook.com/loopdoctors brandonfields.com 

Pianist Károly Gáspár plays an important role in the Hungarian jazz scene. His trio, with both originals and standards on their repertoire, play a fresh, forward-looking, romantic and aesthetic music, while respecting the mainstream roots of jazz. After their 2017 debut, The Outsider, nominated on the Fonogram award, their new one, Salvation, containing besides Károly Gáspár originals some Charlie Haden transcriptionswas released in March on Tom Tom Records. facebook.com/gasparkarolyjazz  or listen on Apple Music

In July 2017, the Ákos Fekecs Project was founded with the aim to realize Ákos’ own musical ideas with his friends and fellow-musicians. The drummer-composer has been working on his own compositions since 2011. His first independent work, Reverse, was seen by more than fifty thousand at the Drum Talk TV Video Store. In Fekecs’ compositions, we can find from soft jazz harmonies, through world music elements, pulsations of fusion and odd meters up to modern electronic sound. Beyond the composed material, the group’s way of playing is also reflected in energetic improvisations. In 2018, the Ákos Fekecs Project won the Laureate World-Jazz International Competition at the Amersfoort Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, but they performed with big success at many other foreign and domestic festivals as well, such as Jazz in the Park Festival in Cluj-Napoca, Babel Jazz Festival in Balatonboglár, the PulzArt Contemporary Art Festival in Sfântu Gheorghe, the Valley of Arts in Kapolcs, or the Budafok Champagne and Wine Festival. akosfekecs.com  

Choose Cheese is a young jazz group “with aesthetic consistency avoiding any compromises”, as Kornél Zipernyovszky put it in Magyar Narancs. There are many sources in the music of the quartet – mainstream, avant-garde and free jazz, blues, Hungarian folk music, contemporary and classical music – and it is important to them to summon iconic figures of international and Hungarian music. At the same time, their purpose is to create from existing or non-existing style elements more in their music than the just the sum total of them. During their performances, in their own compositions, improvisations, or self-decomposing free improvisations, they emphasize compositional and improvisation techniques, different from those of the mainstream. Their most common means is melodic, linear and collective improvisation, and the steady rolling of each other’s ideas. The group is an open formation, so they often invite guests to their performances, this time the talented young pianist, Tamás Papp. In addition to the material of Choose Cheese’s latest album, Secrets, the concert program gives us a good taste of Tamás Papp's compositions as well.

The 19 years old young Catalan trombonist and singer Rita Payés has lived and breathed music since she was a child thanks to her musical family. She studied piano, and later trombone which became her main instrument. She entered the well-known Sant Andreu Jazz Band under the direction of bassist and tenor player Joan Chamorro, and participated  on several albums along with Andrea Motis, Eva Fernandez and Magali Datzira. At the age of 16 she released with Chamorro her first album Joan Chamorro presents Rita Payés featuring Scott Hamilton, Dick Oats, Scott Robinson, Toni Belenguer and Jo Krause among others, followed next year by her sophomore, Lua Amarela. Rita has performed in some of the most venerated stages and festivals in the country and abroad, such as Barcelona Jazz Festival, Jamboree Jazz Club, L’Auditori de Barcelona, Barnaswing, Summer Festivals in several villages of Catalonia as well as venues in France and Switzerland.  For her latest project, Imagina, Rita joined forces with her mother Elisabeth Roma, an exceptional classical guitarist. Mother and daughter launched their debut album during the London Catalan Festival 2019 in the beginning of June, giving their personal take on the music that has accompanied them all their lives, from traditional Catalan lullabies to bossa nova, fado, boleros… The family project started when Rita booked a two-day studio session for Elisabeth as a birthday present in June 2018. Rehearsing and preparing for that session, they re-evaluated and strengthened their repertoire and arrangements. It was then when they decided to take the project further and release it on album. Imagina is a meeting point between two generations, two points of view. It’s neither strictly jazz nor classical. It’s a highly personal interpretation of Rita’s and Elisabeth’s favourite music. Elisabeth Roma has a classical musical background but she has always been inspired by Latin American music, especially bossa nova, from the voices of Jobim, Chico Buarke and Elis Regina amongst others. Besides her work as a music educator, she has performed as a classical guitarist for most of her career, both as a soloist and in larger ensembles. Elisabeth has incorporated her visions of classical guitar into the repertoire that she plays with Rita, using her excellent musicality and techniques and combining them with the personal sounds of Rita’s melodies and improvisations. instagram.com/ritapayesroma 

Budapest Jazz Bones is a project put together by international trombone artist Zoltán Kiss, joined by some of Hungary's best jazz trombonists, Attila Korb, Krisztián Csapó and Murád Abbas. The ensemble combines the virtuosity of classical music and the freedom of jazz improvisation backed up by an amazing rhythm section, Gábor Cseke on piano, Ádám Bögöthy on double bass and László Csízi on drums.

The outstanding Hungarian cimbalom player and composer, Miklós Lukács, besides being involved in countless projects and groups, founded his own trio, Cimbiosis, in 2014. They have grown into one of the most original formations on the Hungarian jazz scene ever since. In addition to the unique line-up, the ever-expanding repertoire of original compositions, it plays a significant role in this fact that neither the leader nor the members have ever been afraid of experimenting and searching for new ways of expression. They have released three albums on the Fonó Records label, the third extended to a quinbtet by two reed players, and they record the material for their fourth CD in the end of June at BMC Studio. Their present concert on occasion of the BMC International Cimbalom Competition 2019 features the trio in the first set, mostly playing from the material of their forthcoming album on BMC records. In the second set two excellent musicians on reeds, Csaba Klenyán and Attila Jankó, both of them essentially active in classical-contemporary music, join them to play pieces from Lux et Umbra, Cimbiosis’ third album, seldom performed live. 

The Gipsy Cimbalom Band is a sextet of virtuoso musicians who combine Roma music, jazz, flamenco, swing, klezmer and ragtime. The end result is an incredibly diverse and universal music, offering new surprises each time. The band has a unique world that includes many European countries where Gypsies play folk music, jazz or any kind of fun music: both instrumental and vocal music fits in to the program of the sextet, and although the instrumentation is arranged around Kálmán Balogh’s cimbalom, the bass, violin, guitar or trumpet play also important role. This time, the Hungarian-Serbian singer Branka Básits joins the formation. Branka’s presence can open up new perspectives of musical cooperation, as she gives credentials to the Balkan music alongside Hungarian and Serbian folk songs, and captivates the audience with her passionate and unique performance.  kalmanbalogh.hu facebook.com/Balogh-Kálmán-the-Gipsy-Cimbalom-Band facebook.com/brankaofficial 

Ready for Freddie, the album by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, released on the Blue Note label in 1962, was identified by Scott Yanow in his Allmusic essay Hard Bop as one of the 17 Essential Hard Bop Recordings. “Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard really came into his own during this Blue Note session. He is matched with quite an all-star group (tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Art Davis, and drummer Elvin Jones in addition to Bernard McKinney on euphonium), introduces two of his finest compositions (Birdlike and Crisis), and is quite lyrical on his ballad feature, Weaver of Dreams. Hubbard's sidemen all play up to par and this memorable session is highly recommended; it's one of the trumpeter's most rewarding Blue Note albums.” Scott Yanow, AllMusic

Az amerikai modernista zeneszerzés két klasszikusa, Elliott Carter és Charles Ives művei szerepelnek a Ligeti Ensemble 2019–2020-as évadának első koncertjén. A matuzsálemi kort, 103 esztendőt megérő Carter még élete utolsó évében is alkotott: a Two Controversies and a Conversation ősbemutatójára 2012-ben a New York-i Metropolitan múzeumban került sor. A zongorista és az ütős szólista kamarakíséretes, zsebméretű kettősversenyének éppúgy a dialógus az egyik kulcsfogalma, akárcsak az Ensemble InterContemporain fennállásának 20. évfordulójára szerzett, 1996-os Klarinétversenynek: a héttételes alkotás ősbemutatóját Pierre Boulez vezényelte. Carter pályaindulásának bátorítója, az amerikai zene kultúrhérosza, Charles Ives még a múlt század első évtizedében komponálta meg III. szimfóniáját, de hiába érdeklődött a legenda szerint a mű iránt az akkor Amerikában vezénylő Gustav Mahler, az ősbemutatóra mégis csak majd' négy évtizeddel később, 1946-ban került sor. Igaz, akkor aztán rögvest Pulitzer-díjjal jutalmazták e háromtételes szimfóniáért a türelmes mestert.

If a symphonic orchestra might have a heartache, it is the fact that the queen of all genres, the opera is dealt with in its concerts only now and then. Verdi could not be omitted from this series of portraits of composers organized for the sixth year now in a row: he was one of the greatest not only in opera, but the whole history of music. It is his music and personality that we strive to unravel with the professional and knowledgeable assistance, and finally, we can submerge into the magical world of opera. Verdi’s choruses usually are equally important as a prima donna or a primo uomo. He spent his most beautiful and catching melodies into choral numbers like water, melodies that soon became top hits on the Neapolitan or Milanese streets. This was emphasized by the air of revolution that penetrated the Italy of young Verdi, and our hero apparently understood well the signs of time: his revolutionary choruses raised him to become the symbolic figure Petőfi was for Hungarians. Then, the passage of time left a mark on his music too: a delightful mark. When growing old, zeal of the sense of fairness softened to an appeal babbled to the eternal vigilante. Stabat Mater is one of Verdi’s last and, at the same time, most poignant compositions.  

An elegant gentleman enters the concert hall as the crowd is buzzing with excitement. He is wearing shiny shoes, a dashing black suit, a bow tie, and he is carrying a piece of wood in his hand. What is happening? Any why is everyone celebrating him even though he hasn't even started yet? Dear friends, it's time to meet Tom, the virtuoso. He has ruled music since hundreds of years with millions of fans watching his every move and buying his records by the thousands. Who is this person? Why do we love him? Why do we hate him? Everything you always wanted to know about virtuoso musicians - all in an hour-long program for children and families in Hungarian.

If a symphonic orchestra might have a heartache, it is the fact that the queen of all genres, the opera is dealt with in its concerts only now and then. Verdi could not be omitted from this series of portraits of composers organized for the sixth year now in a row: he was one of the greatest not only in opera, but the whole history of music. It is his music and personality that we strive to unravel with the professional and knowledgeable assistance, and finally, we can submerge into the magical world of opera. Verdi’s choruses usually are equally important as a prima donna or a primo uomo. He spent his most beautiful and catching melodies into choral numbers like water, melodies that soon became top hits on the Neapolitan or Milanese streets. This was emphasized by the air of revolution that penetrated the Italy of young Verdi, and our hero apparently understood well the signs of time: his revolutionary choruses raised him to become the symbolic figure Petőfi was for Hungarians. Then, the passage of time left a mark on his music too: a delightful mark. When growing old, zeal of the sense of fairness softened to an appeal babbled to the eternal vigilante. Stabat Mater is one of Verdi’s last and, at the same time, most poignant compositions.  

Egy hét intenzív felkészülés, mesterműhely előzi meg a koncertet, amelynek első felében a nézők bepillantást nyerhetnek a zenekari műhelymunka kulisszái mögé: Major Tamás kalauzolásával a közönség is részese lehet egy aprólékos zenekari próbafolyamatnak, szünet után pedig megszólal a várva-várt Mozart mű Ács Ákos klarinétművész közreműködésével.

On 6 October, 600 days will have passed since the death of László Melis, composer and performing artist, who wrote music for film and theatre, and was a founding member of the legendary Group 180. One of his last works, And the Dead Sing Again had its premiere at the 2017 CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival. The concert now held in his memory features such friends and colleagues who performed his works at their world premieres. In his last months he worked on some film music, an opera based on Hölderlin, humorous choruses, and a viola concerto.

Last year an impressive selection of the vocal works Béla Faragó composed between 1985–2009 was released on a CD. At this concert, two of the longer cycles will be performed. Dustball Songs and Dances collects the choruses of the composer’s opera, Metamorphosis, which was written after Franz Kafka’s novella of the same title. “The twelve movements of the choral suite represent not only the plot of the opera, but the way or path as well that the human voice has covered in the course of human culture’s evolution, through the different periods of musical history. To this end, I used different singing styles and voice techniques, from Gregorian chant, through madrigal, bel canto, and folk voicings, to noises and body sounds.” (Béla Faragó) In the second part of the concert, a now-classic work of 20th-century vocal literature, Luciano Berio’s cycle of songs for texts in different languages will be performed.

“For two hundred years the Europeans have been sending us their operas. Now I’m sending them back.” Europera 1–5 is a cycle of five self-contained productions, each an opera-collage pieced together with a different method, with a great deal of liberty accorded to the performers. John Cage wrote the last piece at the very end of his life, in 1991. Europera 5 was created for two singers, a pianist, and different sound reproduction devices. Each singer chooses five arias from the basic repertoire of opera, while the pianist plays different operatic arrangements.

Jointly presented by the Budapest Liszt Academy and the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, this concert features musicians who have completed their DLA studies, along with performers and creators who are also active as educators. The clarinet plays an important part in each of the works performed, as do the clarinet players, Péter Szűcs and Kyrill Rybakov. Each composition prompts important questions that are more difficult to answer in the framework of conventional concert practices and genre traditions, and some of them, like Samu Gryllus’s piece, also embrace the sister arts (film, theatre).

Modern Musici Aquincum was founded recently, on the initiative of Pierluigi Ruggiero, an Italian cellist and producer, who studied at the Liszt Academy with a scholarship. Comprising Italian and Hungarian musicians, the ensemble maintains a repertoire that promotes contemporary music, and they closely cooperate with some of today’s leading composers, as well as promising talents of the youngest generation. Their concert at CAFe Budapest features Hungarian musicians who are key to the local contemporary music scene, as well as singers and instrumentalists who studied at Italy’s leading academies: together, they will also introduce the Hungarian audience to composers who have already earned distinction in Italian musical life.

Raised in Israel, Omer Klein studied with Danilo Pérez at Boston’s New England Conservatory, and then with Fred Hersch in New York. Soon becoming a key player of that city’s jazz scene, Klein now lives in Germany. In 2018, his Sleepwalkers album won the ECHO Award, which is often called the German Grammy Award. “Klein shows with his speed, touch, refinement, and creativity, that he belongs to the small group of master pianists,” wrote the critic of Süddeutsche Zeitung. The New York Times called him a “borderless” musician, and the Westdeutsche Zeitung described him as “astonishing.” Since the internationally praised record, Fearless Friday (2015), his trio has become one of the most sought-after jazz bands.

If a symphonic orchestra might have a heartache, it is the fact that the queen of all genres, the opera is dealt with in its concerts only now and then. Verdi could not be omitted from this series of portraits of composers organized for the sixth year now in a row: he was one of the greatest not only in opera, but the whole history of music. It is his music and personality that we strive to unravel with the professional and knowledgeable assistance, and finally, we can submerge into the magical world of opera. Verdi loved women – this is clearly reflected by the way he treated heroines. Even if he blessed them with misery, disappointment and vulnerability, the ultimate divine truth was theirs. This antonym leads to the sensation of purging that passes through one when listening to Violetta’s, Leonora’s or Gilda’s tragedy. Verdi loved women – but he also knew them, that’s why his figures are never papier-machés. They are flesh and blood humans with faults, bad decisions, or crimes, however, Verdi always gently slides the olive branch of forgiveness to the audience’s hands, while mourning for their death struggle.

Itt a vissza nem térő alkalom: lerántjuk a leplet a karmester szakma minden csínjáról-bínjáról! Miért kell egyáltalán karmester, mire jó a pálca, mit figyel a brácsás és mit a triangulumos, ki a jó karmester, merre kell lengetni, mik a titkos jelek, miért nem szeretik a zenészek a karmestert, és miért szeretik? Ezekre és még ezernyi kérdésre adunk szórakoztató választ, miközben a közönség tagjai is kipróbálhatják magukat a pulpituson. Pálcákat előkészíteni, indul a karmesteriskola!

If a symphonic orchestra might have a heartache, it is the fact that the queen of all genres, the opera is dealt with in its concerts only now and then. Verdi could not be omitted from this series of portraits of composers organized for the sixth year now in a row: he was one of the greatest not only in opera, but the whole history of music. It is his music and personality that we strive to unravel with the professional and knowledgeable assistance, and finally, we can submerge into the magical world of opera. Verdi loved women – this is clearly reflected by the way he treated heroines. Even if he blessed them with misery, disappointment and vulnerability, the ultimate divine truth was theirs. This antonym leads to the sensation of purging that passes through one when listening to Violetta’s, Leonora’s or Gilda’s tragedy. Verdi loved women – but he also knew them, that’s why his figures are never papier-machés. They are flesh and blood humans with faults, bad decisions, or crimes, however, Verdi always gently slides the olive branch of forgiveness to the audience’s hands, while mourning for their death struggle.

Kétségtelen tény, hogy a szimfonikus zenekar legizgalmasabb, legsokoldalúbb alegysége az ütőskar. Milliónyi hangszer, csúnyán és szépen szóló vasak és fadarabok, műanyag vödrök és bezacskózott kések: szinte bármiből lehet ütőhangszer. És lesz is: egy órában mutatjuk be az ütősök izgalmas világát a törzsi dobolástól a rock and rollig és tovább. Becsatlakozni ér, sőt, szinte kötelező lesz, hiszen ütőzni végső soron mindenki tud, vagy legalább szokott. Üssed, öcsém!

If a symphonic orchestra might have a heartache, it is the fact that the queen of all genres, the opera is dealt with in its concerts only now and then. Verdi could not be omitted from this series of portraits of composers organized for the sixth year now in a row: he was one of the greatest not only in opera, but the whole history of music. It is his music and personality that we strive to unravel with the professional and knowledgeable assistance, and finally, we can submerge into the magical world of opera. Verdi requires rising to, at least as far as singers are concerned. This applies exponentially to masculine heroes: many great artists kept polishing a significant Verdi role until discovering the underlying human within the figure. For the miracle of the opera lies not in the sounds, but in the drama portrayed from those sounds – and this may seem a commonplace, but the big reunion happens scarcely. Verdi is slightly rigorous with men than with women heroes: more viciousness, more arbitrariness, however, hundreds of shades of the masculine soul which suffers and struggles may be discovered.

A születésnap kettős, hiszen nemcsak a névadó, Ligeti György születésének évfordulóját jelzi és ünnepli ez a koncert, hanem az együttesét is, amely 2018-ban, korántsem véletlenül, ugyanezen a május végi napon adta legelső hangversenyét. Még éppen csak két kurta esztendőnyi lesz tehát a múlt, amelyre ezen az estén visszatekinthet a Keller András és Rácz Zoltán által közösen életre hívott Ligeti Ensemble és közönsége, de az induláskor megfogalmazott kollektív vállalást, vagyis a zenetörténet jelenének és elmúlt bő évszázadának hangzó képviseletét, a napjainkra klasszikussá érett XX. századi remekművek népszerűsítését már így is életerős saját hagyományának tudhatja a méltán büszke együttes. A programban ezúttal a két magyar óriás, Ligeti és Kurtág György remekművei mellett az 1938-as születésű amerikai kortárs komponista, Frederic Rzewski 1985-ös ütős-kompozíciója, a To the Earth is szerepel majd.