Two weeks, 13 venues, 10 genres and over 130 events, which included Hungarian premieres, festivals-within-the-festival and a whole range of unforgettable moments: between 9 and 22 October, the Liszt Fest once again invigorated the city, making Budapest one of the most exciting meeting places for the contemporary art scene of Hungary and the world.
The Liszt Fest electrified the capital again, with 13 emblematic venues receiving audiences, from the Akvárium Klub to the House of Music Hungary, from Müpa Budapest to the Budapest Music Center, from the Liszt Academy to the Ludwig Museum, and from the Millenáris to the Museum Garden. The festival atmosphere engulfed the city, with crossover genres, literature, jazz, the visual arts, classical and popular music, opera, dance, contemporary circus and world music intertwining to create a vibrant, throbbing cultural fabric. Every venue showed a different face of the festival, but all were marked by the same unquestionable quality, virtuosity, passion and diversity of genres that bring to mind the spirit of Liszt.
The concert hall of Müpa sold out for Christian Löffler © Zsófia Pályi , Müpa
If the walls of the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall could tell stories, they would reminisce about those two weeks when between László Fassang’s memorable silent film concert and Christian Löffler’s standing ovation-worthy DJ set, the Danubia Orchestra and their Argentinian conductor, Mariano Chiacchiarini, charged the air with South American rhythms, and János Palojtay and the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln indulged us with a unique and unrepeatable international collaboration.
The Gürzenich-Orchester Köln and their conductor for the evening, Andrés Orozco-Estrada © Attila Nagy, Müpa
Nor did, of course, those who visited Pesti Vigadó had anything to complain about: in addition to the grand event that celebrated the 90-year-old Arvo Pärt, the Estonian composer known for works of ethereal moods, Esszencia and István Szalonna Pál and his Band also gave a concert, while at the gala event of Musical Hungary spirits were high thanks to the first violinists of Gypsy bands, the ambassadors of the traditional musical fare of cafés and restaurants. At BMC, a concert dedicated to the compositions of Lukas Ligeti gave a taster of the work of one of the most widely acknowledged artists of contemporary music, who performed drumming duties at another concert, which featured Kornél Fekete-Kovács as the guest of Hypercolor. At this iconic venue of Budapest’s jazz scene, the feast was brought to a satisfying conclusion by the Israeli Chamber Project, which features world-class soloists and played a programme that ran from Debussy to Ravel.
Natalie Tennenbaum's cocnert was one of the most awaited programme of the festival © Gábor Valuska, Müpa
One of the favourites of the festival was Natalie Tenenbaum, who is less known in Hungary while she nears cult status internationally; at MOMKult, she demonstrated her virtuosity and light-heartedness with a programme that also paid tribute to the namesake of the Liszt Fest, much to the delight of her audience. Other performers were, of course, also happy to sample Liszt’s oeuvre; the Hungarian National Male Choir, for instance, found success with some of the composer’s rarely heard but all the more exciting choral works.
The Budapest Dance Theatre's new production, Toldi also premiered on the festival program © Attila Nagy, Müpa
This year’s festival hosted nine premieres. With their immersive theatre show, Walk My World, Recirquel opened a new chapter in the history of the company, while Artus and the Budapest Dance Theatre illustrated the latest directions in contemporary Hungarian dance with the productions Fata morgana and Toldi, respectively. The Hungarian premieres included such special treats as the world-famous Compagnia Finzi Pasca’s TITIZÉ, which fuses circus clowning, body language and acrobatics, and Winter, or the Ear of the Wall, a boldly experimental musical piece for the stage by Máté Balogh and Renátó Fehér. We also celebrated the Hungarian premieres of four other works – pieces by Riho Esko Maimets, Igor C Silva, László Tihanyi and Balázs Horváth – all of which proved how invigorating, diverse and accessible the world of contemporary music can be.
For the fourth time in a row, Isolation Budapest filled every inch of Akvarium Klub with the freshest contemporary pop-music © Attila Nagy, Müpa
Fifty-eight of the more than 130 events could be attended free of charge, making this year’s Liszt Festival another truly open event for the community. Particularly popular were the occasions for children and young people, who could meet the arts at eleven experiential events.
The Autumn Margó Literary Festival, the PONT Festival, Isolation Budapest and Art Market Budapest were again organized under the banner of the Liszt Fest, adding more colour to the cultural offer of the season and enriching audiences with new, inspirational experiences.
